I had a great weekend of celebration for my 33rd birthday, which was yesterday. Saturday night Debbie and I went to the Va Va Voom Room, the burlesque show at Fez hosted by the hilariously deadpan Miss Astrid. "We have to come every week!" said Debbie afterward, and I tend to agree. I wonder if they allow kids?
Yesterday, we had a little picnic in the park. David, Liz, Colin, Andrea, Jay, Trip, Jenni, Patrick, Katey, and Nicholas joined us. I got waaay too much sun, but had a great time. Ben is now obsessed with the tunnels in Prospect Park. We then braved the lines at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for their annual Cherry Blossom Festival, joining Chris, Emily, Cebra, Nadine, and Matt. Unfortunately, the cherries aren't quite in bloom, (at least at the esplanade) but we had fun anyway. Ben liked the Japanese dancers a lot.
Then we retired to our place to play with my new birthday present. Possibly the Best Birthday Present Ever. Debbie has been dropping hints for a while now, and for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. I knew it was expensive -- not hellaspensive, but more than she'd ususally spend. And I knew she'd been meaning to get it for me for years, which ruled out anything invented recently. (No iPod, no Segway...) I picked up the box from the local copy shop, so I knew it was bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a refrigerator, and kind of heavy. But nothing prepared me for what it was:
Now if you've never heard of a theremin before, it's a musical instrument invented in 1919 by Leon Theremin, a Russian physicist (who may or may not have also worked for the KGB). You've heard it in countless science fiction movies, and of course in "Good Vibrations" -- that weird wobbly sound.* You don't actually touch the Theremin. There are two antennae, one controlling pitch and the other volume. By moving your hands in the air above the instrument, you can produce notes. Wiggle your hand and you get vibrato. It's pretty damn cool. Then again, so is Debbie. Here's what one looks like:
I'll let you know when I'm able to start giving concerts. Maybe by the time I'm 34.
*Actually, the instrument the Beach Boys used was a Tannerin. The things you learn.
Sorry I'm late on this, but Happy Birthday, Mike!
I'm not sure if anyone's a fan of This American Life on NPR, but they did a show with a theme on classifieds (10/11/02 - Episode 223 if you want to hear it in realplayer format). The entire episode is quite charming, but especially Act 3, where they decide to find out what happens when they assemble a band-for-a-day from several different musicians (one among them being a theremin player) who've put up ads searching for other musicians. They made a recording of "Rocketman," which is also available on the site. The show runs about an hour, and it's well worth the time.
Thanks Dot! And I'm a biiig TAL fan. I'll have to check that ep out.
Comment #2 :: link :: May 1, 2003 9:00 AM :: homepage
