“Stride” – Musical Offering

Yesterday I composed this tune using Logic Pro X, digital audio workstation for the Mac. I call this tune "Striding." I like how it came out, especially the expressive trumpet sound Logic offers onboard (it comes in at 1:05). I didn't know this sound existed until yesterday. FYI, all of these sounds come with Logic and were played with a keyboard controller, with the exception of my real life wooden Fender Jazz bass guitar. Those of us who were making digital music 35 years ago are in heaven with these modern digital tools.

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Erich Vieth Photography Website Upgrade

I'm about to hear a ratchet click of yet another year of age. Time is truly flying by! One way I try to keep track of things is by taking photos. It started as a hobby, then grew into a business about eight years ago. And it is also therapy. Photography helps me to stay in the moment. Photography is also exciting, and post-production is as exciting as capturing images.

I have accumulated an unwieldy number of photos over the past eight years. Given that I'm about to be a year older, I decided to steer away from any existential funk by going through my favorite images from home and abroad. It then occurred to me that I really ought to share these by making them accessible in a website. Over the past two days I have designed my official photography website. I invite you to take a look at some (or many) of the hundreds of images you can find in the seven Galleries.

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The Dialogue Continues . . .

Today I decided to play the album Chicago V while working.  That album includes a two-part song called "Dialogue."  I remember this song well, including all the lyrics.  That's because I sing one of the lead voices of this song (along with Charles Glenn) with a band I formed with Charles Glenn back in the late 1970's. We were an 7-piece jazz-rock band that performed many types of music, including the music of Chicago, including "Dialogue."

"Ego" in 1975.: Tom O'Brien (bass), Tom Atkinson (woodwinds), Erich Vieth (guitar), Mike L'Ecuyer (keyboards), Sharon Schutte (vocalist), Charles Glenn (percussion and vocalist), Mark Harmon (trumpet), Ron Weaver (trumpet) and Mike Harty (trombone).

---- As I heard this tune today, it very much brought me back to the happy times of playing with such an extraordinary group of good friends.  It also struck me how little things have changed.  It also haunts me that the vocal part of the song that I sang in our performances (sung by Terri Kath on the album) is an extraordinary challenge.  I very much meant those opening words as an 18-year old young man and they resonate with me today. 

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Worst movie of all time?

For many years, I was under the impression that the 1959 film, "Plan 9 from Outer Space," was the worst movie of all time.  It is very good at being bad: But I was just introduced to "Turkish Star Wars," a move with Spanish subtitles. I don't know anything about whether this movie ever hit the big screen anywhere, but it is quite entertaining for its many failures. It's difficult to think of any aspect of film-making that this movie doesn't fail at.  From Wikipedia:

Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saved the World) is a 1982 Turkish science fantasy adventure film also known as Turkish Star Warsbecause of its notorious use of unauthorized footage from Star Wars and other movies worked into the film.

Upon its initial release, the film was panned by critics for its incoherent storyline, poor performances, and use of stock footage and music from other films.

Despite this (or possibly due to this), the film has gained a significant cult following over the years. Louis Proyect of Rec Arts Movie Reviews called the film "classic midnight movie fun."[2] Phil Hall of Film Threat gave the film a perfect 5 stars, calling it "jaw-droppingly insane ... a film that makes criticism moot."

Here is "Turkish Star Wars" in its entirety:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4441&v=arpH88Mx3z4

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