Third Wheel

One of the benefits of being in an ensemble as awesome as Third Wheel is the opportunity to work with real live composers. We got to do so today, and it is just so exciting to be in the same room with the person who wrote the dots on the page in front of you. Mark Popeney is a talented composer who also happens to be a friend of ours, and a little while ago we approached him (or was it the other way around? I don’t remember) about writing a piece for us. Actually, we had this great little meeting at Wurstkuche – one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. But I digress … this is not a food blog, I promise.

Mark finished the piece recently, and we have been learning it, and so today we got together to work with him on it and get his perspective. Usually, as performers, we spend a good amount of our rehearsal and practice time trying to decipher the precise meaning and intention of every little black mark on the page of music. It is quite a different experience to have the composer in the same room as you’re trying to decipher these things! It’s also interesting how easily printed music can be misinterpreted. Or over-analyzed. We spend so much time trying to convey every dynamic, every accent, every slur and every tempo change — but sometimes that wasn’t the composer’s goal at all! It’s good to take a step back every once in awhile and make sure that the big picture of the musical statement is being conveyed. What good are a few perfectly manicured trees if there’s no forest?

Being in the presence of a creative mind is a wonderful thing, and I am so excited for the world to hear this cool piece that Mark composed for us. It will be even more fun to listen to after he tells you about how he composed it, and where he got the idea for the piece. But all of that will have to wait until the world premiere. Stay tuned for a big event announcement, coming soon!

Ilan Hall's restaurant The Gorbals in downtown Los Angeles

Third Wheel holds regular business meetings, and since we all enjoy eating, we hold business meetings over meals. It’s more fun that way. We use it as an opportunity to get out and sample some new restaurants that we might not otherwise try. Today was no exception! Since all three of us are avid “Top Chef” fans, we decided to check out the restaurant of Season 2’s Ilan Hall: The Gorbals.

The name refers to an area of Scotland known for its Jewish population — also where Hall’s father grew up– and the influences of both of those cultures are apparent in the food. The place is charming and I got a big kick out of watching Chef Hall work his magic in the kitchen. I’m not going to pretend that I’m a food critic, and The Gorbals has already seen plenty of critiques, but I will tell you that the brunch I had there today was quite delicious. Challah french toast with orange marmalade? Yum. But the cheese blintzes with brown butter? Ohmygoodness. Completely to die for. As in, if I were to request something as a last meal, those could quite possibly be it. (I’m unwilling to commit to such a thing as of yet. But I would want to be prepared with a list of options in case the occasion arose.)

So, before this turns into a full-on food blog, I want you to know that we discussed all sorts of interesting things that were musically and business-ally related to Third Wheel. But some of them are TOP SECRET! So I can’t disclose all the juicy details. Just know that there are great things ahead this year. Really, really great exciting things. You will want to be a part of them.

As we were leaving the meeting, we noticed a few other places in the neighborhood that could be fun for our next rendezvous.  What do you think?

Weeneez? Really?

Rich is excited about this one. Can't you tell??

Tough financial times call for extreme creativity … apparently that extends to store names as well. As far as marketing campaigns go, I can just imagine that the possibilities for a restaurant called “Weeneez” would be endless. But good job, Big Man Bakes — it’s definitely about time that luxury cupcake industry started catering to their male audience!

Today we performed two really fun assemblies for some students at Manhattan Beach Middle School. We had such a great time! The school’s facilities are just gorgeous, and the students were an absolutely excellent audience. They even laughed at our bad jokes. We showed them all of the crazy sounds our instruments can make — Rich quacked on his reed, I made a siren on my mouthpiece, and Karin sang and flutter-tongued her way through a tune. I think that we managed to teach the students a few things, but I know that they also loved our versions of “I Want You Back” and “Don’t Stop Believing.” It’s still funny to me that the quintessential 80s rock song is now beloved by an entirely new generation, thanks to “Glee.” Have these students even heard of Journey, or do they just know the song? Either way, it’s a great tune, and it was great to play it for an appreciative audience.

It is so much fun to connect with the next generation of musicians, we had such a great time meeting everyone! This is actually the first educational outreach program that Third Wheel has done, and now that we know how much fun it is, I’m sure it will not be our last. So many thanks go to Jim Eninger for stopping by, and Karla Devine at Trinity Lutheran Church for sponsoring our program today! And of course thanks to Denise Haslop and everyone at Manhattan Beach Middle School for hosting us and leading such a strong music program. The three of us at Third Wheel are all products of public school music education, and it means so much to us to be able to support and continue that tradition!

For the past few months, there has been quite a lot of reconstruction going on over here at the Third Wheel website. The end result of many meetings, emails and long hours is about to be revealed to the world, and we are all really excited.
The re-launch of the site is probably going to coincide with Third Wheel’s third anniversary, which is so exciting! And, after three years of playing together as a group, we have finally gotten ourselves a real, honest-to-goodness logo too. Didn’t you see it on the homepage? Isn’t it great?
But of course the biggest change out here on Third Wheel’s webspace is what you’re currently viewing: our new blog! This is quite possibly the most exciting change we’re adding for 2010. It has been pretty difficult the past three years to restrain ourselves from posting incessantly about all of the adventures we have had as a group, so now we are opening the floodgates.
Here we go! Hope you enjoy the ride.