Two more from Oenyaw

[Wayne Higgins]

http://www.oenyaw.com/A_Line_From_A_Pale_Blue_Dot.html

A Line From A Pale Blue Dot
Total Time: 6:00:00

In the book "2001: A Space Odyssey", Arthur C. Clarke discusses the solitude of space travel. I had been pondering the idea for an obscenely long piece of music for quite some time. I had recorded approximately 18 hours of music and was in the process of editing. I had the idea of taking the parts that fit and combine them, with the different parts drifting into each other. The overall theme of the piece was that of taking a long journey and looking out the window. I am scared to death of airplanes, but it's the quickest was to get to Italy. One time on the return trip, I was drugged with sedatives and Dramamine and spent the day looking out the window at the Atlantic Ocean. It was so beautiful. 40,000 feet and it looked like textured glass.

The question was, if this was going to be about a long journey, then what would the journey be? What could happen, where could one go in 6 hours. A drive to Atlanta, a walk to the Auscilla River, or a flight to Vancouver?

I began to think in terms of "where would the music go?" Knowing radio waves travel the speed of light, I calculated that over a 6 hour period, the radio waves in a continuous broadcast would travel roughly 4 billion miles. The next question was "What is 4 billion miles from earth. So I do a Google search for 4 billion miles from earth and discovered the whole Pale Blue Dot thing. The probe Voyager took a photograph from 4 billion miles out, which is the furthest photo ever taken of earth. So, basically, if I can ever get a radio station to play this on some late night show, it will theoretically form a continuous line from earth to the edge of the solar system. I think it is a great description of how far does light travel listen to this, and travel at light speed, and you'll be out past Neptune.


http://www.oenyaw.com/A_Party_Of_One_at_the_Restaurant_at_the_End_of_the_Universe.html
1: Ganesha 3:10
2: 3am Cab Ride From The Airport to the Hotel 30:45
3: Belvedere 7:43
4: Lysergic Martini 22:43
5: The Pumpkin Girl 6:15
6: On A Distant Shore 10:47
7: Idyll Idol Idle Ideal 29:49
8: Land Of The Elephants 18:40
9: Deadalus 34:45
10: Initiation of Mithras 8:55
11: Underneath The Overpass 11:33
12: The Dreams Of The Innocent 49:11
13: Left For Dead On The Subway Tracks 19:43
14: Vanilla Shake 20:41
15: 112807 (Live From The Lighthouse Keepers Convention) 61:25
16: Mei Fu Flies a Phoenix To Feihong 5:27
Total Time 5:41:38

Most of the music on this disc was recorded "live". One track recordings that were duplicated to become stereo. Enhancements consisted of dynamics for continuity and Pantheon reverb software to simulate space, or an illusion of a room the piece was performed in. Everything was recorded around the same time as "A Line From A Pale Blue Dot." I grew tired of constructing pieces of music, or maybe even lazy. The Blue Dot thing was a burn out, let's make something as long as possible, no cuts, no tracks kind of disc. I was thinking of Jethro Tull's "A Passion Play" when conceiving that one. This happens to be a series of works that I can best describe as exercises in solitude, hence the title. Alone at the restaurant, waiting for a table, staring at the pictures on the wall, checking out the groups coming in.

A few samples are here:
http://www.virb.com/oenyaw