Pretty Ok Week!

Pretty productive week. Reached out to a few more possible performers/collaborators. Nailed down an interview with Sgt. Matthew Zarrella, rescue dog trainer extraordinaire, to talk about his work with his dog HANNIBAL (thanks Mary Healy Jamiel) who searched for the Emerys' bodies underneath the Newport Bridge.

Worked on electronics/programming for the CURTAIN ROOM: an installation room with multiple curtains hooked to motors which turn to reconfigure the room as people move through it. Think a changing Red Room from Twin Peaks, but instead of it being red, are projections on the curtains as they move and change the space.

Servo vs Stepper motors, that is the eternal question. I managed to fail in my last attempt a few years back building this room with Servos (weird false triggers and VERY SPOOKY curtains spinning for no reason), though I never really knew what I was doing. Went back to basics this week and had a lot of luck getting the Servos to do what I wanted them to. Now I got this big beautiful Stepper Motor, but couldn't get it to work before busing-home-time today, only managed to over-heat the H-bridge ...the diagram below is the bane of my existence. At least I wrote some music this week (crappy MIDI realization samples up soon).




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Creative Arts Council Grant Award

Thanks so much to the Creative Arts Council for awarding me their maximum $1000 to help realize The (unfinished) Ballad...!







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Castle Theater Pictures

Some pictures of the Castle Theater including main screening room, bar room, some connecting halls and basement stuff.






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Update on Castle Theater

Last Friday spent an hour with Joe Warzycha from Rhode Island SPCA and 7 firemen (including a captain) in the catacomb basement of the Castle Theater as well as all the other rooms in this amazing building. I coordinated this time for the inspectors to meet with Joe and me there to get their take on whether it will be kosher from their end to perform in this beautiful building. It was a very cool visit: what an incredible building. One of the firemen told me about going to see 99 cent movies there as a kid. Despite the fact that the building is decaying, the prognosis could have been worse. I can perform there if there are a few replaced exit/emergency lights, 3 borrowed/rented fire extinguishers, if I clear out a couple blocked exit doors, and if I clearly cordon off the rooms in the theater that are not being used.

However, the sprinkler system still needs to be checked, and if it works (unlikely) that's fine. If it doesn't work (much more likely), that would also be fine since I will have a fire marshal on premises, but the problem is that it is against code to have a sprinkler system visible if it isn't working...Something about how it gives a false sense of security...The RISPCA would have to cap all the visible sprinkler heads (not gonna happen).

I fear I'm living on borrowed time as far as this location is concerned. The next step is to see the results of the sprinkler test, which the RISPCA needs to get done anyway, but probably won't be for a while.

So I'm in a bit of a holding pattern for now as far as locations. But hey! They sure is a lot more of the actual piece i need to make...so get back to work, you!

Super duper thanks to Joe at the RISPCA, who spent a lot of time working with me on this, for free even.






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