the still of you at the end of your movie is way too cute–looks like you are a naughty child getting away with something

Isn’t the theremin the instrument used to make that woo-woo noise over the chorus of “Good Vibrations”? Before this thread, that was all I knew (believed?) about the theremin.

Imagine seeing your mother for the first time since you were a toddler at age 34. That story reminded me a little of the Edwidge Danticat piece in the second to last New Yorker. There obviously are many reasons why an immigrant might be unable to see her kids, but the effects of immigration policy on families should not be forgotten.

Speaking as the sort of person who would have been giving that guy dirty looks for yapping on his cell in the quiet car, there is a lot to be said for the enforced sociability of public transport. In a car, it’s all too easy to maintain one’s self-righteousness at a satisfying level. Trapped in a long metal tube, you have to deal with people.

I saw an interesting use of a theremin at a Victor Wooten concert. The percussionist had one, and ran it through some distortion boxes. He made no effort to play it melodically, he just waved past it, quickly and rhythmically. The effect was sort of like when early rappers would scratch on a vinyl record. Theremin as percussion!

The operation is both simple and complex. There are two antennas on the device, one vertical and one horizontal loop. Each antenna is part of a variable capacitor. Moving your hand near the vertical antenna controls the pitch, and moving your hand near the horizontal loop antenna controls the volume. You don’t actually touch either antenna. The challenge is in learning where different pitches are in the air, and moving between them consistently. I definitely did not have the pitch control that the fellow from One Ring Zero had tonight. Yes, I went to the reading at Happy Ending — I’ll give a full report after Alison does, assuming that she does blog the event — and heard what may be the first time that a Neil Diamond song had been played on the theremin. I also met Alison (yay!) and bored her talking about the theremin and its inventor. (Leon Theremin’s life story is great, too — did you know he gave Lenin theremin lessons, and invented the electronic bug? — but it’s 2:17 now and I’m going to sleep, so I won’t bore y’all about it now.)

“Well, how would Jesus drive in downtown Chicago?!” lol. This may be a rhetorical question, but I’m going to answer it.

Yell at the top of his lungs, “JESUS CHRIST! YEAH, THAT’S ME. PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!! or maybe a simple, “Oy Vey.”

The other day, “Closer To Fine” was on my car radio, and I was merrily singing along (loudly) as I made a right turn in the outside lane of a double right turn lane. Someone in the inside lane honked at me. I snapped my head around and furiously yelled, “IT’S A DOUBLE RIGHT TURN LANE, ASSHOLE!! PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!!” Then, without missing a beat, went right back to singing – “I go to the Bible, I go through the workouts…”

Well, how would Jesus drive in downtown Chicago?!

Josiah – how the heck does a theremin work, anyway? It looks like you just wave your hands over it and weird sounds result.

1) My wife and I are going to be at the Happy Ending thingy tonight — no carnation, but I’m wearing a Keith Haring peace T-shirt, so if any blog folks want to introduce themselves I’ll be easy to spot.

2) I’ve had the pleasure of playing the theremin as background music to a live sci-fi radio drama. (In the 1950s, the theremin was the sound of outer space.) It’s amazingly groovy and extraordinarily difficult to play with any sense of musicality.

3) Dunno if it ups my wannabe dyke cred any, but I’ve got every Indigo Girls album and I’ve seen them in concert twice (and I almost never go to concerts, so that means something). Once was way back in the ’80s, in the “Closer to Fine” era, and the second time was in the ’90s at Lilith Fair. I suppose I’m due to see them again before this decade is out…