Mirror Man
- I am dreaming no problem, but are the poems in Bay-City the same as Act 2 MM is my querelous query. Only two titles coinspire ((Black Coffee(Dawn) and Salt(9)).
- Bay City, Act 2 of Mirror Man, is not the same as Bay City, the album from David Thomas and foreigners-- content-wise. Now it's true that 2 titles "coinspire" but that's because I wrote them with the foreknowledge of the next MM performance. And because I put stuff together in streams one project always follows from or leads into the next, so be informed by Bay City, the album, but do not be confused by it.
- The CD player says this is cut #4, also says there are only 11 cuts, while the CD booklet lists 15 titles.
- Clearly I mean to shortcircuit the pearls-on-a-string format and since the event flows from one "piece" to a narrative to the next "piece" I want to force the listener to (1) hear the introductory narrative and (2) to recognize that by skipping around the listener is interrupting the event.
- Why the title? What is a Mirror Man?
- Mirrors and reflections figure throughout the piece. Man is like a mirror / A man is like a need / Somewhere between the two the heart roams like a refugee.
- Why no Act 2 of Mirror Man?
- Works are clarified by performance. Themes need strengthening. Other avenues and possibilities are revealed. Act 2 will be reworked for the next performance of the piece. Any cd release of Act 2 waits on that.
- What do you mean with "from Disneyland to Disneyworld"?
- I don't know if that's the phrase used but the point is the contrast between the parochial ambitions of the original Disneyland in California versus the globalist agenda of the Disneyworld in Florida.
- Is Mirror Man an improvisation or did you work alot on the project before getting to the stage?
- I assembled musicians, singers and poets-- each with a strong sense of place & person. I wove elements of their own lives and hopes and dreams into the fabric of the piece that I was writing. I think some of them guessed that was what I was doing. Andy Diagram, Keith Moliné and I collected a series of musical themes and agreed on keys and instrumentations. The entire cast had two rehearsal sessions which amounted to a couple run throughs of each piece improvising a way through. These sessions were sketchy and informal. Along the way I sketched out the vision of the piece to both the singers and the musicians, describing the nature of each component. I encouraged the singers to take the story as a starting place and to improvise across the narrative/thematic framework. Bob Holman talked to each of the singers privately, probing. Much of the music was improvised. Much was simply under-rehearsed-- which amounts to the same thing. We spun a tale out of nothing and the result has an integrity and unity that is at times breath-taking. No one who participated in the event, from those on stage, to the technicians, to the production staff, will ever forget the evening. It was special. And rare.
