Brad McConahay

The wife gives me grief for occasionally “ego surfing” on Google. I suppose it sounds like a really self-centered thing to do, but since I’ve been promoting my original music and various web sites since 1995, I’ve always been curious to know what pages my name might turn up on. I have other excuses too, but I’ll save them for the wife.

The search usually turns up the same basic list of ham radio, original music, and weather station pages, but something new and odd will turn up from time to time. The last time, I found my music listed on a Japanese site that may or may not be called “goo”.

Click here for … goo?

From what little I can read on the page, I apparently sound like Chick Corea and Return to Forever. While I am a huge fan of Chick Corea, I don’t consider myself in the same league. Who knows, maybe it says something like “he could never be as good as Chick Corea and Return to Forever.” Flattering none-the-less.

The new discovery this time out was finding my old general MIDI songs for sale on a CD in the Netherlands.

Click here.

You can find me in the huge listing of artists right in between Boyz 2 Men and Brahams (yuck and yuck, respectively) as having “27 nummers” on the CD. Thanks to Babel Fish, my suspicion was confirmed: nummers means numbers! (duh) You know, I don’t honestly recall ever having put 27 general MIDI files on the web. Maybe 10 or 12. What gives?

Since I’ve yet to find another person on the Internet with the same name, let alone somebody with the same name who also posted original MIDI files on the web, it has to be me. So curious. I guess I’ll try to buy the CD if I can even figure out how…

“Contact” has always been one of my three favorite movies, and now I’m finally getting around to reading the book. I just ran across this paragraph…

“Beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, on the other side of the sky, is a universe teeming with radio emission. By studying radio waves you can learn about planets and stars and galaxies, about the composition of great clouds of organic molecules that drift between the stars, about the origin and evolution and fate of the universe. But all these radio emissions are natural-caused by physical processes, electrons spiraling in the galactic magnetic field, or interstellar molecules colliding with one another, or the remote echoes of the Big Bang red-shifted from gamma rays at the origin of the universe to the tame and chill radio waves that fill all of space in our epoch.” – (Carl Sagan, “Contact,” [1985], Pocket Books: New York NY, 1986, reprint, p.41)

While this is just one paragraph that leads to a larger idea within the context of the story, I think it stands on its own as pure poetry.

Wow, I don’t have enough good things to say about the new Porcupine Tree DVD, Arriving Somewhere. From the tight musicianship to the crisp cinematography, this is just a well done concert DVD. I ordered a limited edition numbered advance copy of this DVD a few months ago from Burning Shed, and then promptly forgot about it. A week ago from today, it showed up in the mail. For the next two hours I was totally mesmerized.

The main things that draw me to PT are drummer Gavin Harrison, and the heavier, more progressive parts of the music. Before now, I’d never really given the older or mellower material much of a chance. I really only listen to four songs on In Absentia, and most of Deadwing. Thanks to this DVD, I’m finding some older songs I enjoy, like “Even Less”, “Hatesong”, “Don’t Hate Me”, and the ultra-mellow “Heartattack in Lay By” – I would never have discovered the cool vocal arrangement at the end of that song otherwise. “Trains” is another song that somehow eluded me before.

My wife has always liked “The Sound of Muzak” and “Blackest Eyes”, but she never really cared to explore PT beyond that. She’s now discovering the songs I knew she’d like if only she would give them a chance, mostly from Deadwing. She loves “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here”, “Lazarus”, “Heartattack in a Lay By”, “The Start of Something Beautiful”, and “Halo”. The only other time we’ve bonded on any progressive music was Rush’s Counterparts. She was a big fan of the Moody Blues and Pink Floyd in high school, so I had a feeling she’d like Steven Wilson’s vocal sensibilities. British. Very British. In layers and layers.

Some notable things:

• Compared to the rest of the package, the DVD menus seem really cheap, like something you’d make with an off-the-shelf DVD authoring program. This isn’t a bad thing, though. One of my main complaints with DVDs is the silly menus you’re forced to wade through and wait on.
• Colin Edwin (bass) always looks like he just heard a good dirty joke, as though he’s just on the verge of busting out laughing. Or maybe he has a secret that he’s not going to tell you. The wife says he looks like he just “eeked one out.” Oh yeah, he’s also a kick-ass musician.
• The background vocals seem like they’re mixed a little too loudly on “The Sound of Muzak”. And Wilson’s lead vocals sound like maybe they’re a little low in many spots on the DVD. But if this is my only complaint, who cares.
• I could write many paragraphs on why I think Gavin Harrison transcends even the best prog and jazz drummers that I admire, but I’ll hold off.

The Porcupine Tree Official Website is at http://www.porcupinetree.com.