| Philip Bimstein provides us with our first answers....
Philip, from reading over your bio, I am touched that you've directed your life through unique experiences...rock stardom, environmental activism, now politics. How does someone choose a life of world service as you have?
I can't honestly say that I have chosen a life of world service.
I'm actually rather self-indulgent. I simply pursue whatever intrigues me and follow whatever path that leads me to. I like to create things, especially music, and I try to encourage a world where both individual and community creativity is promoted, where alternatives are explored, where minds are open to questions and our full potential is allowed to flower. I am glad to have opportunities to do this, not only through my own music, but through my participation in community life. I believe our political discourse is strengthened when each of us listens and contributes to the dialogue, in the same way that a collaborative improvised performance benefits from the focused and well-intentioned back-and-forth of the participating musicians. By becoming engaged, paying attention, being open and creative while also listening to our own heart, we can all choose to serve our local community as well as our world.
I have to imagine people still remember your days in Phil n' The Blanks?
Yes, I am very touched when fans from those jumping new wave days contact me, send me some news, recall some old but lively memories, or order some of our vinyl. We may put up a blanks website next year(2003).
When did you decide to turn to alternative classical and away from the notoriety gained from rock and related music?
I studied classical music at Chicago Conservatory and I always
have lots of melodies and musical ideas running around in my head.
In 1989 I wrote a piece called "The Louie Louie Variations" which deconstructed and took that riff on a wild ride through a contemporary classical environment. It was fun, and it won the Pacific Composers' Forum contest, so I decided to see what other musical adventures I could go on. Next I wrote "Garland Hirschi's Cows" which sampled the voice of my neighbor and his cows. I discovered I had a knack for writing music which told stories, explored the musical potential in everyday voices and sounds, and was both accessible and avant-garde. There's a lot of freedom when you disembark from well-traveled popular vehicles.
How is the campaign going? Where can people find more information about your platform and its progress?
Running as a Democrat in one of the most heavily
Republican districts in our nation, I was the underdog all the way. Democrats don't usually even bother running there. But I wanted to speak on the issues and let people hear some alternative views. I knew I couldn't win, but I ran hard all the way and was honored to get lots of local support, plus the support of musicians and composers from all around the country. As expected, I lost, but I feel good about the experience and am grateful for the opportunity. Now I am glad to be able to sharpen my focus on music, environmental work, and board service for the Utah Humanities Council, American Music Center and the Mesa, an artists and writers retreat in southern Utah.
Take your readers back with you to the UT mesa and how blue-haiku formed.
It was a cold winter
solstice night but there was a warm group of friends around a bonfire and a party inside Logan and Angie's house on the Rockville mesa. The members of what-was-soon-to-become blue haiku had driven down from Salt Lake to spend Christmas with me and begin our first rehearsals. We went to the party and performed 3 or 4 songs in rough semi-improvised arrangements, which we later honed over the weekend and recorded in a demo a month later. The holiday party with friends was a great way to get our music started and traveling out into the community.
Westwind is my favorite track. What are your favorite tracks? And can you describe some of the stories behind the music?
"Westwind" is one of my favorites also. They change as time goes by. Right now I also like "Venezuela" and I am surprised that "Desert Rain" is coming up for me again.
"Westwind" was written in honor of the Grand Canyon Trust's successful effort to limit the amount of
air pollution coming out of a power generating plant. I also thought about the pollution from Los Angeles and Las Vegas which is carried on the west winds into the canyons of the southwest, and more generally about how the impacts of the cities are sprawling and spreading wider and deeper into our rural areas and natural landscapes, affecting our quality of life.
I wrote the words to "Venezuela" after sharing some Venezuelan dark chocolate and tea with Charlotte, out on my
deck overlooking Zion, reading the chocolate wrapper and imagining a story of a woman working in a Venezuelan chocolate factory.
I wrote "Desert Rain" out on that same deck, as I watched some virga (rain that doesn't hit the ground because it evaporates in the heat) in the distance and thought about how much moving to the Utah desert had nurtured me.
I wrote "Did You Cry Too?" after my wife (Blanche, from Phil 'n' the Blanks) and I divorced and we had an emotional
late-night phone call in which we recalled old memories. Blanche and I are still best friends.
Any special highlights in the recording of 'heat beneath the sand'?
I especially like the solos that Harold, Flavia and Charlotte played, and the way the three of them
partner with each other so well in the creation and performance of the music.Their warmth and care, their musical heart and sensitivity gives our music a rich and deep resonance. Our co-producer Herc also had a very fine ear and technical abilities, and he helped us greatly in the recording. |
