It's the 21st century!

All I can say is, it's almost Christmas, a time when we need to reflect on the theme "Peace on Earth"

These vigilantes should be prosecuted and people need to see the humanity of all mankind.

Check out some unreleased music

"We Got It" and "So Off The Hook" are fairly recent tracks. "Avoiding A Movie" is several months old at this point. Check em out and let me know what you think!

Come post on my messageboard

www.polyrhythmatics.net/forum
Do it!!!

Letter to Xavier

I'm participating in a pen pal program through work. I wrote a letter to a 4th grader today. Here's what I wrote:

Hello Xavier,
It is a pleasure to write to you. My name is Forbes Graham and I work at the Harvard Business School as a Faculty Assistant. I am originally from Silver Spring, MD which is a suburb of Washington, DC. I have lived in New England since 2003.
As a child, my favorite subject was math. How about you? I also enjoyed reading about the solar system. I was sometimes teased for being a nerd. But I didn’t let it get to me that much.
Do you have any favorite books or stories? I love science fiction and tales about robots. Robots are an interesting topic to me. Do you think there will be ever be cool robots walking around? I think I’d rather just read about robots than actually live in a world with cool robots that can walk around.
I also play the trumpet and have been doing so for about 22 years. I love music of all types. Are you interested in any forms of art? I think that the arts are a great way to express yourself. Drawing, painting, sculpture, music, they are all fantastic.
Do you have any pets? I have a cat named Mickey. He is an American shorthair. He is very shy and runs away from me a lot, which makes me sad sometimes. My fiancé Lillian takes care of him. She loves pets. Do you keep any animals at your school?
When I was your age, I wanted to ride a motorcycle and own a bookstore on Mars. What are your dreams for the future? Whatever they are, think big and think positive. Anything can happen.
I hope that you will write me back soon. Take care, Xavier. It was nice writing to you.

Going back to school

I am going back to school, starting in January. I will be entering a part time program in Web Development, taught at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University. My main purpose is to improve my economic prospects, because I'd like to earn more money in the hopes of saving more money. I intend to save the money for this purpose:

Early retirement.
(not to mention supporting a family - now Lillian won't get too mad at me ;0 )

I also am interested in self-employment. And with that in mind, if you need a webpage, let me know. I need to build my portfolio, so we can do deals. I am learning more by the day. Check out www.polyrhythmatics.net for my latest work. I'll be redoing www.blaqlghtn.com eventually too.

If you live in the Boston area, I'm looking for someone to help me out with The Music Workshop. All you would need to do is program and promote one concert a month. You need to promote the concert as well as program it. I will maintain the internet stuff, but any flyering and mailing list stuff is on you. I need a bit of a break to deal with school and have some space to deal with planning a wedding, etc. I may not always make it to your event, but I will certainly try at least some of the time. If you live in Hyde Park, Roslindale, JP, or on the South Shore this is perfect for you, because it's close by.

Played some great gigs last week. I'll bug Lily to get me some pictures so that I can post them.

Dave Fischer took this

You can look at the rest of the photos here.

Fuck it, I'm posting!

First black president! 2008!
As for me, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, working on my music and trying to make a positive contribution to society, which is what I think everyone should do regardless of your whole voting thing.

Lo Shu - 2nd order segments

From the 4x4 square generated from the pair 7 and 5

Wow!

To see the rest of the pictures click on this
All jumping pictures ever.

A new composition

Gentle Fall Soup

1 cup of water
1 cup of vegetable stock
1/2 cup of rice
4 celery stalks
2 large carrots
1 small apple
2 handfuls of cashews
1/2 onion
tbsp of curry powder

Set 1 cup of water to a boil. Add rice and turn heat to low, cover.
Chop your carrots, onions, and celery. I prefer to do the carrots lengthwise.
Add vegetables to pot. After about 25 minutes, add the vegetable stock, apples, cashews, and curry powder.
Turn heat up to medium. Stir occasionally for 5 minutes. Soup should be ready. The rice might be a bit al dente. I like it that way, but if it's not soft enough for you just turn down the heat and cook until it is.

Rainbow Salad

Rainbow Salad #1
Cauliflower (a quarter of a head should do)
Yellow Pepper (1/2 a pepper)
Tomato (2)
Carrot (1 chopped edgewise)
Spinach (1/2 a bunch)
Purple Cabbage (1/4 of a head)

Rainbow Salad #2
Endive (1/2 a head)
Golden Raisins (3 handfuls)
Red Delicious Apple (1 apple)
Sweet Potato (1/2 a potato, spiralized or chopped into thin slices)
Lettuce (use generously)
Plum (2 plums)

Use whatever dressings you like. Both of these would work well with walnuts as well I think. My guess is this would serve 2-3 people.

Composition 103 + 169 - an insider review

A long time ago I knew that October 11 would be the day that I would don a green outfit, cape, hat and a zorro mask and make my way through Composition 103 for 7 trumpets. I had performed the piece almost a year earlier, so I knew what I was getting myself into. This time, I was better prepared for the constant meter changes, position changes, and mute changes. At least I hoped that I was. Deep down, I was afraid that I wasn't. And although I had a vague idea of where this music lived as a complete being, I wasn't sure that I personally had found it's life.

All of that was on my mind as I drove to New York city last Wednesday for the first rehearsal. I don't really remember the drive down very much. I left early so that I had plenty of time. I don't recall taking advantage of it to do anything great. Actually, strangely enough, I wanted to stop in Middletown to eat and catch a breather, but I missed the exits. Then, I stopped in New Haven trying to find this raw vegan restaurant, even though I don't know where in New Haven it is. I got stuck in traffic on the way to New Haven.

I forgot to write down the address of the rehearsal space, I only had the directions. Luckily Nate was early and he was standing out in front of it. Luckily I did not leave the area to get a drink, because a tow truck showed up and began preparing to take my car away. I ran across the street and hopped into the car, laughing. It turns out that almost the entire West side is for commercial vehicles only until 6pm. I returned and parked the car right in front of the rehearsal space and watched it until rehearsal.

The first rehearsal was sort of riding a bike after having not done so for 10 years. I know what that is like because I went that long not riding a bike once. Everything was familiar but on shaky ground. We gradually got our bearings together. The other trumpet players really helped me to grasp the method of conducting all the measures with the extra 16th. This was my real eureka moment. Once I got the hang of that I could focus on feeling the music.

I left the rehearsal feeling ok. Not great, just ok. I went and got some food and then connected up with my old friend Jessica at a karaoke night in Brooklyn. I got to meet her boyfriend and some of her other friends. I sang "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper and "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. Afterwards, I headed to my motel in Nyack. It was my first time on the Palisades Parkway. I'd love to see it in the daytime.

The next day I went to a vegetarian Caribbean place (my favorite food) in Spring Valley. I was really trying to get off the beaten path and explore new areas. Spring Valley was ok. It sort of reminded me of that movie "Be Kind Rewind" with Jack Black and Mos Def (I can't remember where that took place - Hackensack?)

Afterwards I drove into the city, bought a suit, some ties, and a belt (for a wedding) and headed to rehearsal. For me personally, the rehearsal went much better than the first. I walked out feeling really confident. Back to Boston, and to work.

The day of the gig I drove down to New Haven to pick up Taylor. Then we picked Tim up in Washington Heights and finally we were off. We discussed the usual topics, politics and music. Not that I am the most interested in discussing politics, but I can contribute. Tim and I were discussing post-modernism and an image came into my mind that has humorously stayed there. I tried to find it on youtube but I didn't see it. It's the scene in Coming to America where Eddie Murphy's characters joyously yells, "Yes! Fuck you too!" in response to his neighbors yelling "Fuck you!" at him because he is practically serenading the neighborhood.

So we got to the gig and had a short rehearsal with Anthony conducting. His conducting cleared things up for me even more. At this point I was feeling fairly confident. So on to my sentiments on the performance: Overall I think we did a fantastic job. The inner logic of the composition was able to shine forth on at least some level. The bullfight theme is perfect for the work because there is certainly a feeling of man going up against something large and perhaps barely making it through, but making it through with a feeling of victory. We didn't really do the movements this time, but I hope that they will come back in the future. Because I can see better now how the movements go together with the music. Anthony told that he was (for the future) working on 3D strategies, but I think he's already approached that with this piece.

Composition 169 for brass quintet is very different from 103. It has a more homophonic feeling, with many of the parts playing the same stuttered, challenging rhythms together. The discipline of holding these parts together is impressive. Not only that, I am impressed by the discipline of the composer, to develop it slowly. This piece is golem like, evoking the images of our historical mythic tales. Particularly I found myself thinking of Promethus, bringing fire to man.

It was a great time, a bit too much like a vacation. I wish more of my life could be like last weekend. Not that I don't appreciate what I have here, I'm just saying.

"I Won't Stop" on Amazon.com

Get "I Won't Stop" in mp3 format from Amazon

I wonder if anybody remembers these death metal bands

Afflicted
Acrostichon
Disharmonic Orchestra

"I Won't Stop" on eMusic

You can buy "I Won't Stop" on eMusic. Check it out!

Inspired by the stupid financial crisis

... I gave money to my alma mater (American University)
Before you become a pauper (if you are not one currently), may I suggest you do the same if you have not already? If you didn't go to college then give to your state institution or something like that.

Blah blah blah...

Weasel Walter quartet - last week

Youtube

Embedded videos don't seem to be working right now! Bamas.

My thoughts on the economy

Here are my brief thoughts on the situation:
1) There is a lot of money out there that does little or nothing productive that is of actual value.
2) But remember, that money is not everything, unless you are down to your last 2 dollars and you have to walk into town because you can't afford to drive and you are living off ramen. In that case, money might be the only thing. I remember buying ramen and a couple pieces of kale in some of my worst moments. Luckily I had a family.
3) As artists, what we do doesn't put food in anyone's mouth, or keep anyone warm. But it has a value, and the only way it will have a value is if you put something into it. STOP making shitty music that doesn't mean anything! Create something that is beautiful, thought provoking, brutal, harsh, intense, loving.
4) Life is about more than possessions, so treat yourself and the people around you like you are worth more than whatever "things" you can get. Live your life with a value system that affirms what you believe in! And if you don't believe in anything, at least try to have some fun.
5) Do whatever you can to get out of debt, and stop living beyond your means, unless you have to just to eat.

Everyone has their own view, based on their own life, of what they think our society should be. I believe that everyone reading this should take some step towards making that society possible. It's time to stop being bought off by fucking Ipods, videogames, eating out, and whatever else we use to get through life. Stop living the unexamined life right now.

Pitch class squares

7 5 2 3
5 2 3 1
2
1 1 2 3
1 2 3 5

4 x 4 square with a pivot generated from the pair 7 5

2 0 2 2
4 2 2 4
6
2 4 2 2
4 6 2 8

4 x 4 square with a pivot generated from the pair 2 8

6 5 1 4
5 1 4 3
1
4 5 1 6
5 1 6 7

4 x 4 square with a pivot generated from the pair 6 7

"Rediscovering" things you should already know

I started playing around with Max/MSP again yesterday. I had a very simple goal, which was to generate a really big and fat synth bass sound. I had no idea that my simple hunch of using three sawtooth waves slightly out of tune would have done the trick. I'm glad that I didn't end up buying the keyboard that I was thinking of buying!

All I need to do now is put some envelopes and filters on the thing. But I already generated some great sounding material.

That means some new music is coming!

Oh yea, look what Lily made for me on Friday!

I have a wonderful life!

Forbes and Lily's (and Martin and Taylor's) trip to NYC

Dave Douglas: FONT Mogul

Yesterday morning Lily and I left for New York so that I could play at the FONT Benefit concert. Plans changed a couple of times literally as we were leaving, which left Lily in a bit of a grouchy mood. It didnt help that she was hungry. We brought peaches and diluted pomegrante juice along with us, but it didn't do too much good. Things got a little better after I repeatedly apologized and she had a granola bar.

We first went to Middletown, CT to pick up Martin. We ate first, because at that point both of our stomachs were planning an insurrection. Lily was happy, and so I was. Boy that Cajun Spiced Tempeh was good. That's what I'm talking about. It was nice to return to Middletown, a place that I hadn't been to in about 3 years. As we left, I thought about the future of the defense industry, a major employer of Middletown citizens.

Our next destination was Fair Haven, CT, home of Taylor, who finally escaped New York. He and his wife Rachel haven't really finished unpacking yet (the move was recent), but it seems like they are living in a cool little spot. Too bad I've had enough of cities.

We continued the journey, finally arriving at the venue, where Nate Wooley (our co-conspirator in trumpet) was waiting for us. I hadn't seen Nate since last year's FONT, so we chatted a bit and caught up.

Lily had to go pick up her artwork, which had been hanging at the Supreme Trading bar, which (lot of which's in this sentence) was very close to the venue. She returned shortly thereafter and noted her dismay at the complete lack of a security protocol at Supreme Trading. She simply walked in, said she was taking her artwork, and walked out with it.

After we had a short rehearsal, Lily and I braved the hipster wilds of Williamsburg in search of food. We had dinner at Bliss, a spot I hadn't eaten at in years, and then hit up Pennylick's, a new place that has a lot of vegan sweets. It was fun. At least hipsters are down with decent food.



Dave Douglas and Taylor presented an award to Wadada Leo Smith, who this year's festival is honoring. After a couple of short speeches, we opened up the concert with a series of escalating solos, duos, and trios, leading to a fanfare and one of Martin's compositions. I was very satsified with everyone's playing, even my own.





After us John Zorn and Dave Douglas played a duo. I've been listening to John's music for years, ever since I was a teenager, and let me tell you, he put it down. In fact sitting there I found myself a bit embarassed that it took me that long to come see him play. Well minus the time I tried to go see Painkiller in DC in 94 and my dad wouldn't let me go, lol.

They were joined by Josh Roseman, the proprietor of the venue for an excellent trio. Dave Douglas played with a lot of economy and soul. I was very pleased with the music. Josh did funny dances while he played. He also played great. It was awesome to meet him.





Finally Wadada did a duo with Pheeroan AkLaff, which ranged in texture from the bombastic to the sublime. Every time I've seen Wadada play has been great and this was no different.

As an encore Dave, Nate, Martin, and myself joined Wadada and Pheeroan for a short piece. Also superb.



Basically, I had a great time, everyone was really kind, there were a lot of good vibes all around, and I got to see some friends that live in NYC too.

We drove back that night which was pretty punishing. Luckily Martin and Taylor helped.

Thanks guys! And everyone else too.
All photos posted by Lillian Schrank.

Blaq Lghtn on Facebook

Join the Facebook group!

Alvin Ayler and other stories

Here is a write up of Weasel Walter, who I'll be playing with (along with Greg Kelley and Paul Flaherty) this Tuesday. Really exciting, I feel it will go well. White Mice are also on the bill and they are a band that I've always liked.

Please note that we all make mistakes, but I definitely did a slight chuckle at the mention of Alvin Ayler.

I'm going to call Albert Ailey about this!

I'm also playing in NYC on Saturday at a benefit concert for the Festival of New Trumpet. I'd like to thank Taylor for getting me involved again.

In closing, a word of advice: In music, don't play by the common groupthink rules established by your particular sector of musicland unless you really truly believe in them.

Chris Rock is my favorite comedian

My dad was an early adopter of cable: we had it in the early 80s.
My mother also got cable fairly early, and I remember watching Comedy Central at her house as a pre-teen. Back then Comedy Central was mostly clips of stand up. No South Park, Daily Show, none of that. I loved Margaret Cho and I was even a big Ellen Degeneres fan back in the day. She has a good self-deprecating style of stand up.

Different comedians have different strengths, Dave Chappelle can distil larger bits of information into a soundbite, Katt Williams is an amazing physical comedian. Chris Rock does some of the best things that comedy can do: make us look in the mirror.

I can't tell a good joke to save my life though..

Yesterday I was playing around with Garageband making beats out of the pre-made loops that came with my computer. Which was fun and all until I asked myself the question "what do I want to say with this?"

I didn't have the slightest idea. Hopefully I'll figure it out.

Still not too motivated to write

Also I hate politics.
I redid the Blaq Lghtn site
www.blaqlghtn.com

I have been listening to a good deal of juke and ghettotech lately.
Also, I am doing the edits on the recording I did with Tatsuya Nakatani in July. Trying to get some more records out.

Basically yea thats the deal.

I wish I could dance! (I mean like real good. That reminds me Hive is coming to Boston!)

Check this out! Michael Myers meets footworking

Sorry I haven't posted lately

I have been very busy and I haven't been very motivated to post.

Quantum Jazz Music Suites is out!

In fact, we (Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble) had the cd release concert a couple of weeks ago and it was incredible. I just received my copies of the recording from that and it's quite superb! So I felt it was my duty to inform you that you can buy a copy of Quantum Jazz Music Suites by visiting fmrje.com.

Listen to "I Won't Stop" in it's entirety on last.fm

I Won't Stop by Forbes Graham
Forbes Graham - trumpet, electronics
And if you want to buy a copy, you can visit Blaq Lghtn

Books of late

Picked up both of these recently (yesterday) and so far I am very pleased. Whoever thought you could make a pancake out of flaxseed meal! Well, it was more like a weird cookie but man did it taste good.

I can't lie, there's a bit of the pretentious know it all tone in the books, but a strong personality is often the type that ends up doing things like writing a vegan raw food cook book.

I also picked this book up for my godson's birthday:

I hope that he likes it and it makes a positive impact on him. Lillian said he's too young (he's not even a pre-teen), but hey my dad had me reading Richard Wright and James Baldwin when I was his age..

The Mackie Burnette

Check out this wild video, a mash up between Tony Hawk and Fully Celebrated Orchestra!

Labelling your music

What do you call your music?
(Inward groan) "Oh, it's a little bit of this, and it's kind of like that, and sometimes it's like this"

If you don't want your music to be called a certain thing, the only solution is to decide what it should be called, and start calling it that. The challenge (and indeed this is my problem) is to *insist* that it be called that thing YOU say it should be called.

That's scary! I'm not sure if I'm ready for that part yet. But it's going to happen soon.

Wild May @ Washington Street Art Center, July 11

I will probably put some other clips on YouTube, but here's my opening solo from our set last Friday.

A page from "Asymptotes"

Summer 2k8 yung mix - imeem

I'm chillin at work and I decided to quickly put together this little mix. So check it out, it covers many genres, juke, conjunto, zydeco, freestyle, bhangra, reggaeton. Except it won't display in here right. Way to go.

Summer 2k8 yung - the mix

Chipmunk metal!!

I don't know how many people reading this are going to like this, but you should check out Chipmunks on Speed! I am really loving them right now, especially "When Chipmunks Attack" and "Chipmunk Mix"

"I Won't Stop" getting props

Thanks to Rare Frequency for putting "I Won't Stop" in their top list for the month of June 2008!

Firehouse12 recording session pictures

Thank you Ethiopians!!


Ummmmm....


Croix the mogul


Jacob getting ready


Jim getting ready


Jacob and Jim


From inside the lounge


Good job Nick!

July 11 in Somerville

Next stop: New Haven

I had a great time playing some shows with Stern and Hazel-Rah. Now I'm headed (literally) out the door to do a recording session with Secondary Deviations. The session is taking place at Firehouse 12 studios in New Haven. It'll be nice to finally see the place.

I'm engaged!

And you should celebrate with me tonight at Zeitgeist Outpost.
186 1/2 Hampshire St
Cambridge, MA
8pm

We are going to have such cute Afro-Semitic children!

Untitled

This is one of the compositions that Polyrhythmatics Brass Quartet will be performing on Thursday at Zeitgeist Outpost.

Secondary Deviations in Lowell on Saturday night

Photo by Lillian Schrank

Soulja Boy disses Ice-T

I made a re-mix because I thought it would be fun. And if you are wondering, "What does Forbes think?", well first off my opinion doesn't matter. Secondly, I think this whole thing is stupid, but it's also funny, which is why I made the song. Lastly, I was born in 1977. That last thing should clue you in.

Here's the original video.

My first remix..

So I started working on a re-mix. It was not easy, in fact I'm embarassed to say that I ended up using a garageband loop for the beat! The whole loop based thing is definitely something else. Not to mention trying to get the bpm right, etc. Much harder than one might think. I know that it's going to be stiff and kind of crappy sound but hey, you have to start somewhere! Anyway, I'm going to try to wrap it up tonight and then I will post it.

ps. Notice how I didn't say what it was hahaha

Kevin Garnett is bugging out!!!

Everybody is bugging
We even bugging out in Malden!!
The Lake has been DRAINED!!
My girlfriend is on the phone with her brother in Houston

GREAT JOB CELTICS!!! INCREDIBLE!!!

THE LAKE HAS BEEN DRAINED!!!!

Wow!

That is my Max/MSP teacher performing a piece from his composition, "12 Etudes for Clarinetist Dancer"

Totally, totally badass.

Sorry I was late, guys

The meet up time for the Dedham Flag Day parade was 5pm. We did not step off until..6:30, 7pm? And I got done a little after 8pm, and had to get back to my car and then hurry over to Cambridge to play with Secondary Deviations. I don't think I made it over there until almost 9:20.

Jim made some gay jokes and told everyone that I was playing a "Fag Day Parade" which some people believe because it actually is Gay Pride Week. So I set the record straight (haha) but I also made mention that I support gay people. It's all good, I got no problem with gay people.

I'm just getting back from doing the Bunker Hill Day parade in Charlestown. Which was tiring since it involved going up a lot of hills. I really enjoy doing the parades though. It's nice getting cheered on by people and having them clap as you go by.

Secondary Deviations Quartet @ Zeitgeist Outpost tomorrow!

Photo by Lillian Schrank

Secondary Deviations Quartet:
Jacob William - bass
Croix Gallipault - percussion
Forbes Graham - trumpet, electronics
Jim Hobbs - saxophone

Here's a clip from a our last appearance at Zeitgeist Outpost:
Secondary Deviations at Zeitgeist Outpost

Zeitgeist Outpost is located at:
186 1/2 Hampshire St
Cambridge MA
Music starts at 8pm

I will be coming from doing a Flag Day Parade in Dedham so it's going to be a busy day for me..

Lo Shu Magic Squares

Using pitch class sets generated from the Lo Shu magic square (above), I wrote the 2 voice phrase seen below.

Scientific Word Training

I'm at work chillin on a break during this training for the program Scientific Word. The teacher is a delightful and funny nerdy dude. He has a British accent and his hair is slightly wavy and it kind of makes me think of a jheri curl. I'm not saying that he has a jheri curl, just that his hair makes me think of one.

I hope that I never have to use this program Scientific Word. But props out to the teacher, he's cool.

I've also been sneaking drawings of quadrilaterals based on the Lo Shu magic square. Which I will be posting about later.

A Cartesian Approach To Generating Pitch Class Sets

I start off by drawing a shape in two-dimensional space. So far I have only drawn triangles and quadrilaterals. At this time the quadrilateral corresponds to a quartet and the triangle corresponds to a trio.

Each pair of co-ordinates that define the perimeter of the object in space correspond to a pair of pitch classes that can then be manipulated in any way the composer chooses.