Animation
Romance with a Double Bass
The following digital prints reflect reports of UFO sightings from the National UFO Reporting Center, during the month of October 2002.
A multimedia composition project with composer Momilani Ramstrum, musician Bert Turetzky and visual artist Lori Gordon. This piece consists of an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's comic short story, Romance with a Doublebass combining live music, narration, and animation.
Screenings
2005- Calit2
Building Dedication Ceremony, Center for Research in Computing and
the Arts), UC San Dieg, CA
2005- Music for a Desert Evening,
Casa Jaime [Anza-Borrego Desert], Canebrake, CA
2004 - University of California, Berkeley (Center
for New Music & Audio Technologies) (UCIRA Grant)
2004 - UC Santa Barbara (UCIRA
Grant)
2003 - Fin-de-Semester,
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2003 - Mandeville
Recital Hall, University of California, San Diego CA
2003 - International
Society of Bassists Convention, University of Richmond, VA
2002 - Center
for Research in Computing & the Arts, UC, San Diego [Preview]
PRESS RELEASE
** No sound available at this time.
vignette 1 (20 seconds of 2:18)
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1. Pitsikatoff arrives with double-bass on back, takes off clothes and goes swimming. Pitsikatoff was making his way on foot from town to Prince Bibuloff's country villa with a gigantic double-bass in a leather case on his back. He was walking along the bank of a river whose cooling waters rolled on, if not majestically, then at least most poetically. 'How about a dip?' he thought. In the twinkling of an eye he had taken off his clothes and immersed his body in the cooling stream.
vignette 2 (20 seconds of 1:20)
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2. Pitsikatoff sees Princess Bibuloff asleep. It was a glorious evening, and Pitsikatoff's poetic soul began to attune itself to the harmony of its surroundings. He beheld a beautiful young woman sitting on the steep bank fishing! Standing before this sleeping beauty, suddenly, against his will, he felt stirring in his breast something akin to love...
vignette 3 (20 seconds of 1:45)
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Pitsikatoff leaves Princess Bibuloff a token. He stood and looked at the fair one a long time, and was just about to swim back when an idea flashed into his mind. 'I'll leave her a token!' he thought. 'I'll tie something to her line .. . . "from an unknown admirer".' Pitsikatoff quietly swam to the bank, culled a large bouquet of wild flowers, bound them together and attached them to the end of the line. The bouquet sank to the bottom, pulling the gaily painted float after it.
vignette 4 (20 seconds of 3:00)
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Pitsikatoff finds his clothes stolen and goes under bridge On reaching
the bank, Pitsikatoff got a shock. His clothes were gone. Stolen
. . . While he had been gazing in admiration at the fair one, anonymous
villains had pinched everything except his double-bass and his top-hat.
'Accursed Fate!' he exclaimed. 'Oh Man, thou generation of vipers!'
He sat down on his instrument case and began to think how he was
going to get out of this dreadful situation. 'I can't go to Prince
Bibuloff's without any clothes,' he mused. 'There will be ladies
present. What is more, the thieves have stolen not only my trousers,
but also the rosin I had in my trouser pocket!' He thought long
and painfully, until his head ached. 'Aha!' - at last he'd got it
- 'not far from here there's a little bridge surrounded by bushes.
I can sit under there till nightfall and then make my way in the
dark to the nearest cottage . . .' And so, having adopted this plan,
Pitsikatoff put on his top-hat, swung the double-bass on his back
and padded off towards the bushes.
vignette 5 (20 seconds of 1:45)
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Princess Bibuloff's line is stuck so she takes off clothes and goes
in to free it. When the young lady who was fishing awoke, and could
see no sign of her float, she hurriedly tugged on the line. The
line tautened, but neither float nor hook appeared. Presumably Pitsikatoff's
bouquet had become water-logged and turned into a dead weight. 'Either
I've caught a big fish,' thought the girl, 'or the line has got
entangled.' After another couple of tugs she decided it was the
latter. In the twinkling of an eye the eccentric young lady had
cast aside her garments and immersed her beauteous person in the
cooling stream right up to her marble-white shoulders. The line
was all tangled up in the bouquet, and it was no easy matter extricating
the hook, but perseverance triumphed in the end, and some fifteen
minutes later our lovely heroine emerged from the water all glowing
and happy, holding the hook in her hand.
vignette 6 (20 seconds of 1:03)
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Princess Bibuloff's clothes are stolen also and she heads for the bridge. But he wretches who had stolen Pitsikatoff's clothing had removed hers as well, leaving behind only her jar of bait. 'What am I to do?' she wept. 'Go home in this state? No, never! I shall wait until nightfall, then walk as far as old Agatha's cottage in the dark and send her to the house for some clothes . . . And in the meantime I'll go and hide under the little bridge.' Our heroine scuttled off in that direction, bending low and keeping to where the grass was longest.
vignette 7 (20 seconds of 1:61)
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Princess Bibuloff finds Pitsikatoff under the bridge. She crept
in under the bridge, saw a naked man there with artistic mane and
hairy chest, screamed, and fell down in a swoon. The fair one recovered
consciousness. 'Do not kill me!' she whispered. 'I am the Princess
Bibuloff. I was disentangling my fishing-hook just now and some
thieves stole my new dress and shoes and everything!' 'Mademoiselle,'
Pitsikatoff replied, 'they've stolen my clothes too - and the rosin
I had in my trouser pocket!'
vignette 8 (20 seconds of 2:00)
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Pitsikatoff offers to carry the Princess in his case. Usually people
who play the double-bass or the trombone are not very inventive,
but Pitsikatoff was a pleasant exception. Mademoiselle,' he said
after a pause, 'I see that my appearance embarrasses you. You must
agree, though, that there is just as good reason for me to stay
under here as for you. But I have had an idea: how would it be if
you were to get into the case of my double-bass and close the lid?
Then you wouldn't see me . . .' So saying, Pitsikatoff dragged the
double-bass out of its case. Just for a moment he wondered whether
he might be profaning Art by using his case thus, but his hesitation
did not last long. The fair one lay down in the case and curled
up in a ball, while he fastened the straps with a feeling of pleasure
that nature had endowed him with such intelligence. Now, mademoiselle,
you cannot see me,' he said. 'You can lie there and relax, and when
it gets dark I shall carry you to your parents' house. I can come
back here for the double-bass afterwards.'
vignette 9 (20 seconds of 1:04)
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Nightfall, Pitsikatoff with the bass on his back, sees the theives
and runs after them. When darkness fell Pitsikatoff heaved the case
with the fair one inside on to his shoulders and padded off towards
Bibuloff's villa. His plan was that he should walk as he was, to
the nearest cottage, get some clothing there, and then go on . .
Suddenly the gallant Pitsikatoff thought he saw ahead of him two
figures shrouded in darkness. Peering more closely he assured himself
that it was not an optical illusion: there really were two figures
walking ahead and - they were carrying bundles of some kind. 'The
thieves!' it flashed through his mind. 'And they're carrying our
clothes!' Pitsikatoff put the case down at the side of the road
and chased after the figures. 'Stop!' he shouted. 'Stop thief!'
The figures looked round, and seeing they were pursued, took to
their heels. The Princess continued to hear the sound of rapid footsteps
and cries of 'Stop, stop! For a long time, then all was quiet.
vignette 10 (20 seconds of 1:20)
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The double-bass case, with Princess Bibuloff in it, is found by
Pitsikatoff's friends. Pitsikatoff was quite carried away by the
chase, and no doubt the fair one would have been lying out there
for a long time to come, had it not been for Pitsikatoff's two colleagues,
Dronin the flute and Flamboisky the clarinet, making their way along
the road at that same time. Tripping over the double-bass case,
they looked at each other with surprise and puzzlement. 'A double-bass!'
said Dronin. 'Why, it's old Pitsikatoff's! How could it have got
here?' 'Something must have happened to him,' Flamboisky decided.
'Either he's got drunk or he's been robbed . . . Anyway we can't
leave his instrument lying here. Let's take it with us.' Dronin
heaved the case on to his back and the musicians walked on. 'What
a ruddy weight!' the flautist kept groaning all the way. 'I wouldn't
play a monster like this for all the tea in China . . . Phew!'
vignette 11 (20 seconds of 1:87)
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At the villa, the Princess' fiancé talks about playing double-bass, finds Princess within. When they arrived at Prince Bibuloff's villa they deposited the case at the place reserved for the orchestra and went off to the buffet. Princess Bibuloff's fiancé, Counselor Sikofantoff, a nice handsome official, was standing in the drawing-room, chatting to Count Tippovitch. They were talking about music. 'You know, Count,' said Sikofantoff, 'in Naples I was personally acquainted with a violinist who could get the most fantastic trills out of a double-bass - an ordinary double-bass! He could even play Liszt. I shared a hotel room with him and got him to teach me Liszt's Hungarian rhapsody on the double-bass. 'Come now . . . you're pulling my leg,' his companion retorted. 'Ah, you don't believe me?' laughed Sikofantoff. 'Then I'll prove it to you. Let's get an instrument!' Bibuloff's prospective son-in-law and the Count made for the orchestra. They went over to the double-bass, quickly undid the straps and . . . oh, calamity!
vignette 12 (20 seconds of 1:32)
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Pitsikatoff bemoans his loss of the Princess. The unfortunate Pitsikatoff, not having caught up with the thieves, went back to the spot where he had left his case but could see no sign of his precious burden. Lost in bewilderment, he walked up and down in vain. 'How awful' he thought, feeling his blood run cold. 'She'll suffocate in that case. I've murdered her!' 'I shall find her!' he muttered, taking off his top-hat and tearing his hair. 'Even if it takes me a whole year - I'll find her!'
And to this day the peasants who live in those parts will tell you that at night near the little bridge you can sometimes see a naked man all covered in hair and wearing a top-hat . . . and occasionally from beneath the bridge you can hear the melancholy groaning of a double-bass.
