Filming the Charlie Parr video last weekend
As I mentioned earlier, last weekend I went down to the river with a bunch of gear to help Dan Huiting shoot a music video featuring Charlie Parr for City of Music and the video is premiering this coming Monday on the site.
See more stills from the shoot and read the article in City Pages
Charlie Parr in Minneapolis this morning
Amidst such a perfect backdrop for his sound, the morning flew by listening to him sing and play his National down there along the river while we did our three-camera shoot. He has a new album out soon, too, so keep an eye peeled for it.
I’ll be sure to post the final edit here but, meanwhile, please enjoy this clip taken in ‘09 while Charlie played Cheap Wine at the Victoria Pub in Birmingham, UK:
Meta and Frankie Hula @ Lofto Relaxo
Steelpans may be the friendliest instrument of all – unless you can think of one that’s any friendlier…?
This particular steelpan is not full-sized but still has an incredible sound. It’s tuned diatonically and is a magnet to even the slightly curious. Something about it makes it less intimidating than it is friendly.
It’s not an instrument to be used in every song or arrangement but anytime it’s played it injects the space with its festive mode. It has an easy feel to it, played with small, wooden mallets with rubber tubing on the ends for tips. An old pal showed me how to swirl various sized metal balls around the inside to make a hypnotic sound.
From Wikipedia:
The first instruments developed in the evolution of steelpan were Tamboo-Bamboos, tunable sticks made of bamboo wood. These were hit onto the ground and with other sticks in order to produce sound.
A wall is accidentally knocked over leading to a discussion about the roles of choice and fate across cultures.
