Unless you live in a cave, you’ve no doubt heard about the big financial crisis the country’s currently enduring. That hit home today in Baltimore when the Baltimore Opera Company filed for Chaper 11 bankruptcy protection, something that had been rumored for a good month. (Baltimore Sun classical music critic Tim Smith broke the story yesterday afternoon.) As a result, the BOC will be canceling its remaining 9 performances this season while it enters a reevaluation phase. This announcement comes hot on the heels of a Chapter 11 filing by the Tribune Company, the Sun’s parent company. I wonder what’ll happen to the paper; it certainly doesn’t seem like the bosses could slim it down any more than they already have.
The weather’s getting chilly, the lights are up in Hampden, and the Salvation Army bells are a-ringing outside the market. Yes, the holidays are just around the corner here in Baltimore and that means that it’s time once again for our annual performance of Phil Kline’s ambient Christmas classic, Unsilent Night, Baltimore’s best boombox Christmas parade. For the third year running, Baltimoreans will take to the streets and spread noisy Xmas cheer to everyone within earshot. This year’s festivities will kick off at 8 p.m. at the Male/Female sculpture in front of Penn Station, where tapes and CDs will be distributed. It is recommended that you arrive no later than 7:45 p.m. to claim your copy of the piece. We’ll then wind our way around the streets, head over to the Meyerhoff, inside the Charles Theater and finally end up at the door of the Metro Gallery, where the Unsilent After Party, featuring music by Parachute Musical, Pianowire, and The Noises 10, will be awaiting us. (N.B. There is a $7 cover charge.) Visit www.unsilentbaltimore.com for all the dirty details.
Though it’s certainly been sad to see a lot less hardly any classical music coverage in the new (and definitely not improved) streamlined Sun, one of the consequences has been that their music critic, Tim Smith, now has his very own space in the blogosphere. While we sometimes miss the feel of our fair city’s paper in our hands while absorbing a review of last night’s concert, Tim’s writing on Clef Notes (I’ll wager the name wasn’t his choice) more than makes up for that. As a Baltimore resident for nearly six years, I’ve come to know Tim’s work and—now, I’m being ultra-presumptive here—based on his blogging style, which is packed with personality, feel like he was maybe edited to death by the Sun. Translation: I like his writing on the blog. Though Tim’s already had his coming out in the blogosphere (geez, 140 comments!?), SLN thought it was time to send out some full-blown blog love. We hope to see Clef Notes gracing many more blogrolls in the future.
It was a sad day when I learned that Erik Spangler, my great friend and co-conspirator with Hybrid Groove Project and Mobtown Modern had decided to put his DJ name, DJ Dubble8, to sleep. While in Iceland of all places, I saw an investigative television program that described hardcore neo-nazis in America. One of the things that caught my attention was their use of the number 88 (a.k.a. Dubble8) as one of their maxims. Surprised, I told Erik when we got back, but he thought that it was such an obscure reference that he still felt comfortable with it. Fast forward a few months to the middle of the Presidential election. The neo-nazi connotations of 88 came to the forefront of the American MSM as Erik reported on his site:
A news story about a couple of snotnose skinheads planning to assassinate Barack Obama among 88 other black people has focused on a ridiculous neo-nazi meaning attached to the number 88. While it is true that the 8th letter of the alphabet, H, repeated twice can abbreviate a couple of unfortunate German words, it can also stand for Hip Hop. It is also an extremely lucky number in Chinese culture. I chose my alias of DJ Dubble8 because of my birthdate, August 8th (8/8). The day before the “skinhead-88″ story broke, it also occurred to me that as of this year in 2008 I have lived in 8 states (Virginia, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Massachussetts, New York, Florida, Maryland). 8/8 is the time signature of Baltimore Club, the dance music of my city . . . I’m putting the alias to rest, with sadness, as of today.
So from now on, Erik’s just going to be Erik Spangler on all his projects. That’s cool, there’s certainly nothing wrong with a name like Erik Spangler, but I think he needs a new DJ name. That’s why I’ve decided to issue an official call for submissions to the Rename DJ Dubble8 Foundation. If you’ve got a name you’d like considered, send me an email or add a comment with your suggestion. When I’ve collected a handful of names, we’ll take a poll to see which one wins. I thought DJ ESP was cool, though it’s already taken.
The biggest musical news coming out of Baltimore these days has to do with one of the 10 biggest orchestras in the land—the Baltimore Symphony. Despite receiving perplexed looks from people outside the curved lobby windows of the Meyerhoff for a decision to remedy years of operating in the red by dipping into their endowment, the BSO has made a much bigger (and better) national impression this season, owing much, if not all of that to its new media maven music director Marin Alsop, the first female to front a major American orchestra. Despite a chilly initial reception from the orchestra musicians, which bordered on an outright revolt—nearly 90 percent of BSO players objected to a search process in which they felt that had little or no say—the orchestra appears to have warmed to the Maestra and her agenda, central to which is a commitment to new American music. Alsop, who also directs the annual Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California, fancies herself a champion of the new and her programming—and the massive media offensive—for her inaugural season has certainly reflected that.
Among the notable American composers represented in Alsop’s first season included Baltimore’s own Christopher Rouse, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Corigliano, Joan Tower, the U.S. premiere of Steve Mackey’s Time Release, and John Adams, who in addition to being featured on one of Alsop’s programs, took the helm on a separate occasion to conduct his My Father Knew Charles Ives and The Wound Dresser. Perhaps as a way of reassuring audiences that new music is something to get excited about rather than fear, Alsop instituted the Composers in Conversation Series, an informal discussion with the composer featured on the upcoming program at the nearby intimate Theater Project venue. Alsop is a bridge builder and her push to broaden the BSO’s audience (and lure more season subscribers in the process) also included a few creative but questionable extracurricular programs such as CSI: Beethoven, a play off of the popular television program, which paired excerpts of Beethoven symphonies, scholarly research, medical and forensic experts, and even a Beethoven impersonator to supposedly unearth some of the mystery surrounding the composer’s death. And with the addition of cheap subscription tickets and new web content, including resourceful preview-the-concert and meet-the-Maestra videos, the BSO is taking giant steps in an effort to brand itself and its new leader as approachable and fun—a huge change from Temirkanov, who despite his brilliant command of some very meaty repertoire, was often portrayed as icy and old-fashioned.
So how do you follow an opening season like that? Not the way you might think. In her press conference announcing the BSO’s next season—streamed live online—one noticed that Baltimore’s new music champion seemed to have put less stress on the new, with the only living composers represented on her programs being Michael Daugherty, Joseph Schwantner, more of her perennial favorite Christopher Rouse, and the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Jennifer Higdon. Instead, Alsop is devoting much of the BSO’s 2008-2009 season to the work of one of her mentors, Leonard Bernstein, as well as trying her hand at more substantial repertoire that at first glance might seem to suit her traditionalist predecessor Yuri Temirkanov a bit more than a self-styled contemporary music crusader. Also sadly going the way of the dodo next season is the Composers in Conversation Series, which seemed to be a lynchpin in Alsop’s campaign to advocate new music in a town that has in recent years grown more accustomed to old war horses than young lions.
The greatest challenge for Alsop and the BSO next season will be living up to the hype that they’ve created for themselves. Much of the buzz this season had to do with novelty and newness, musical and otherwise, so it will be interesting to see how long the BSO can sustain that and if the immense momentum from Alsop’s first season will translate into a boon at the box office years down the road. Alsop is full of fresh and imaginative ideas, but what impact those ideas will have and if the public will continue to buy into them remains to be seen. But if one thing is certain, it’s that Alsop and the BSO have been the talk of the town this season. From the glossy monthlies to the mainstream media to the free alternative press, Baltimore has embraced the new-look BSO and expects big things. All there is to do now is to wait and see if they deliver.
SLN is issuing an apology on behalf of Mobtown Modern to any early adopters of Mobtown’s podcast. Initially, we were calling the podcast, The Modcast. However, due to the large number of Modcasts in the iTunes podcast directory, we’ve decided to change our podcast name from The Modcast to The Mobcast. (You win, Erik.) Sorry about that. Please click here to resubscribe to The Mobcast (formerly, The Modcast). We’ll post a direct link to it in the iTunes store as soon as we receive that info. Stay tuned.
We’re back! Following a critically acclaimed debut mini-season, the chamber music insurgents of Mobtown Modern bring the noise back to Bmore in 2008-2009 with a six concert all out aural assault. From Adams (John Luther, that is) to Zappa, we’re leaving no new music stone unturned this season and minding all the gaps in between. So pick a show, any show (though we’d recommend them all), and find out why the Baltimore Sun recently called Mobtown Modern “one of the coolest things to emerge in Baltimore.” And be sure to check out the new website with all its fancy features, like the Mix Tape, The Modcast, and more!
Mobtown Modern, your purveyors of fine new music in Baltimore, is making mix tapes for each of our 6 concerts for the 2008-2009 season, serving up more tracks that you need to check out. In advance of each show, we’ll distribute a new mix with songs associated with the show’s theme. We’ve got the first one up. Click here to get it.
Mobtown Mix Tape, Vol. 1: Back to School Trax
- Boogie Down Productions, “You Must Learn”
- Mos Def, “Mathematics”
- J-Live, “True School Anthem”
- Gil Scott-Heron, “Sex Education – Ghetto Style”
- DangerDoom, “Old School (feat. Talib Kweli)”
- Mötley Crüe, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”
- Quasimoto, “Microphone Mathematics”
- MATHSoundsystem: Maryland Academy/BALTIMORE CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, “Team 6 Song”
- Gorillaz, “Kids With Guns”
- Defari, “Spell My Name”
- Dead Prez, “‘They’ Schools”
- Milkshake, “School”
New Music Duo Hybrid Groove Project Drops Latest Hit “HGP Anthem”
Summer’s just beginning and Hybrid Groove Project, the genre-bending new music duo from Baltimore, is already heating things up with their number one summer jam, “HGP Anthem” In the grand tradition of the great hip-hop conflicts like Tupac v. Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre v. Eazy-E, and 50 Cent v. Kanye West, “HGP Anthem” brings some much needed antagonism to a new music genre more accustomed to passive aggressive behind-the-back cattiness than drive-bys and street corner stompings.
“By droppin’ this track we’re showing all these new music fakers who the real playaz are,” say Sacawa and Spangler. “It’s like we’re telling everyone, “Yo, we’re hot, and you’re not,” you feel us? Like, y’all need to get out of the game. Plus, we need to show love for Bmore, you know what we’re sayin’?”
Indeed, new music will soon regret its unofficial partnership with indie rock with the release of Hybrid Groove Project’s latest hit, the number one summer jam of 2008. But don’t call it a comeback, HGP’s been making heads nod since 2004. Just hope it’s not too late to return those skinny jeans.
Click below to hear “HGP Anthem” along with the skit “We Need More Beef”:
VERSE:
Conversin’ in a dialect, not what you’d expect
We’re from a city that’s too gritty for the New York set.
Mobtown! Gets down to the sound that makes you move
Listen up, worldwide, we’re known as Hybrid Groove Project.
We’re so hot we melt ICE from Chicago to Manhattan.
We got Claire chasin’ her tail ’cause they lookin’ like has beens.
Mad kings, Berio… Sound original? Nope!
We’re putting new dope twists on licks that Philip Glass wrote.
So Percussion! So what?! Think they’re in touch with the street.
On your minimalist tip we got that champion beat.
Iannis Xenakis. What? You think you bad playin’ hard shit
with nested triplets and septuplets?
You down with MTT? Yeah you know me!
S.F. Symphony, but that’s not all that he be.
American Mavericks, spinnin’ fab shit,
like Milton Bizabbitt, but HGP’s so past it.
Like our last hit, where we extended our reach
and sent Mike packin’ down to Miami Beach.
New World, same game with HGP off the chain,
gonna dis you other suckas but first check the refrain!
CHORUS:
The chamber music insurgents with an urgence to earn it,
We’re steppin’ forth in new directions cuttin’ beats like a surgeon.
With the sound causin’ all these flat composers to flee,
it’s the Mobtown Modern and HGP.
Knockin’ ivory towers down, bringin’ it straight to the hood,
it’s Dubble8 and SLN and we’re up to no good.
Spinnin’ wax, playin’ sax and makin’ music with poise,
we’re the best, oh so fresh, and all the rest is noise!
VERSE:
We ain’t a flash in the pan, like Bang On A Can.
We keep our sets tight not like a marathon, man.
You’re makin’ music for the people, we feel you, no doubt,
But if you do step to us, my friends, we will take you out!
Who’s that Eastman group known for rockin’ Nancarrow
and makin’ unplayable arrangements that sound like a player piano?
Call Aphex Twin he’d know what’s down in that town.
Nah, he wouldn’t hang with people like that… oh wait, Alarm Will Sound!
Eighth Blackbird we can play your music backward
Then chop it up and serve it to you 13 Ways!
Y’all stuck on Kronos carbon copy new music cliches
Straight pimpin’ Fred Rzewski for that Grammy mo-NAY.
Now that Boston’s got Levine and playin’ Wuorinen all the time,
They’ve got a lot of people sayin, “Oooh, that’s so divine.”
But HGP’s on the scene and we’re gonna shake it up,
So mind you’re business, Gil Rose, or we’ll BMOP you up!
West coast! Kronos! Pimpin’ all kinds of cheap tricks.
What’s next summer of love, like Haimovitz covering Hendrix?
From San Diego to Frisco we’re leaving bit playaz bereft.
Like Del Sol, CMP and the EAR Unit who must be deaf!
CHORUS:
The chamber music insurgents with an urgence to earn it,
We’re steppin’ forth in new directions cuttin’ beats like a surgeon.
With the sound causin’ all these flat composers to flee,
it’s the Mobtown Modern and HGP.
Knockin’ ivory towers down, bringin’ it straight to the hood,
it’s Dubble8 and SLN and we’re up to no good.
Spinnin’ wax, playin’ sax and makin’ music with poise,
we’re the best, oh so fresh, and all the rest is noise!
@fireball005 ditto on the RR. BikeJam is kind of lame, frankly. But if you want to race against Optum Pro Cycling you should come! #2012/05/16 follow Brian on Twitter »
Listen While You Read
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Unless you live in a cave, you’ve no doubt heard about the big financial crisis the country’s currently enduring. That hit home today in Baltimore when the Baltimore Opera Company filed for Chaper 11 bankruptcy protection, something that had been rumored for a good month. (Baltimore Sun classical music critic Tim Smith broke the story yesterday afternoon.) As a result, the BOC will be canceling its remaining 9 performances this season while it enters a reevaluation phase. This announcement comes hot on the heels of a Chapter 11 filing by the Tribune Company, the Sun’s parent company. I wonder what’ll happen to the paper; it certainly doesn’t seem like the bosses could slim it down any more than they already have. 
The weather’s getting chilly, the 
It was a sad day when I learned that Erik Spangler, my great friend and co-conspirator with 
