Tomoyasu Hotei and “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” from Kill Bill

Tomoyasu Hotei (born February 1, 1962), also known simply as Hotei, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, and actor, with a career spanning more than 35 years, and record sales of over 40 million copies, who has collaborated with acclaimed artists from around the world and first rose to prominence in the 1980s as the guitarist for Boøwy, one of Japan’s most popular rock bands, before starting a solo career.  Hotei was born on February 1, 1962, at Takasaki, Gunma, Japan, to a Korean father and a Russian-born Japanese mother.  He first began playing the guitar in junior high school. Inspired by a poster of T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan, he stole money from his mother’s purse and bought a Stratocaster at fourteen years old. His first band, Blue Film, finished runners up in a school contest to Death Penalty, a band led by Kyosuke Himuro. Hotei was expelled shortly before graduation, because, when warned about his long hair he replied “Jesus had long hair!”

     After being expelled from high school, Hotei traveled to Tokyo. He became better acquainted with Kyosuke Himuro and they decided to hold auditions for a new band, which in 1981 became the six-member Bōi (lit. “Tyranny”).  After changing their name to Boøwy, they released their first album Moral in 1982. They then became a quartet and went on to become major stars in Japan, releasing six studio albums in six years, and even playing the Marquee Club in London in 1985.  In 1986 they released their first million-selling album, Beat Emotion. In 1988, the year they broke up, they became the first male artists to have three number-one albums within a single year on the Oricon chart.

     After the break up of Boøwy, Hotei released his debut solo album Guitarhythm in 1988 via EMI Records, and established himself as a solo artist. Throughout the 1990s Hotei’s profile continued to grow in Japan, with regular album releases supported by major tours and with Hotei writing songs and producing for other artists, including collaborations with both Japanese and international artists. Hotei also made two albums with Koji Kikkawa as Complex, both of which went to number one in the national charts. Guitarhythm is currently his only album sung completely in English. Hotei has recorded most of his albums outside of Japan, largely in Europe, including in London, Berlin, and Montreux.

     Hotei has recorded with many foreign musicians, including playing on The Stranglers Hugh Cornwell’s 1993 solo album, on stage with David Bowie at the Nippon Budokan in 1996, and at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics with Michael Kamen. He later recorded Guitar Concerto with Kamen. He has worked with Andy Mackay of Roxy Music, guitarist Chris Spedding and Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones. Hotei also sometimes tours Europe, including at a number of major festivals. His regular drummer in recent years, Zachary Alford, has previously played with Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie.  Hotei’s 1998 album Supersonic Generation, recorded in part with Apollo 440 and Ofra Haza, was released in 14 European countries.

     In addition to many bestselling solo albums, Hotei composed and performed the score for Hiroyuki Nakano’s Samurai Fiction, as well as starring in the film. He composed three tracks for the cult classic American film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas together with Ray Cooper. Hotei’s best known song “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” was used in Quentin Tarantino’s feature film Kill Bill, the PlayStation 2 version of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA, and Michael Bay’s feature film Transformers. Hotei recorded a cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” for Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas, an instrumental guitar Christmas album featuring tracks from guitarists including Richie Sambora, Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai and Steve Morse.  Hotei has been married to singer and actress Miki Imai since June 1999.  They have a daughter (born July 26, 2002).

     In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Boøwy at number 22 on their list of the “100 Most Important Japanese Pop Acts” and ranked Hotei as number 70.  An iconic artist in his native Japan, he moved to London in 2005 and continues to perform and release music globally. Hotei’s song “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” has been featured in numerous films, commercials, video games, and events, including Quentin Tarantino’s feature film Kill Bill. Hotei collaborated with Char for the 2006 single “Stereocaster”. The following year he, Char and Brian Setzer held a short joint tour.  He ranked second in a 2011 poll on who the Japanese people thought was the best guitarist to represent Japan.  On July 30 and 31, 2011, Hotei and Kikkawa reunited as Complex for two nights at the Tokyo Dome. All proceeds were donated to aid the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

     On February 1, 2012, Hotei performed a concert at the Saitama Super Arena to celebrate his 50th birthday. Former Boøwy drummer Makoto Takahashi appeared as a special guest and together they played Boøwy’s “Justy” and “No. New York.”  Hotei made his directorial debut in April 2012, with the stage play Psychedelic Pain, for which he also wrote the music. On May 8, it was announced that Hotei would move to London in June, in hopes of starting an international career.  After years of spending a great deal of time in the UK, Hotei and his family relocated fully to London in June 2012, primarily for Hotei to pursue his dream of an international career. Hotei played his first major show in the UK in December 2012 at The Roundhouse in London. In November 2013 Hotei played 2 headline shows, first at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London, and then at the Highline Ballroom in New York. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hotei commented, “Last year I turned 50…time goes quickly, it’s my last chance to try and get my dream. I want to play all over the world.”  Although based in London, Hotei travels frequently between Japan and the UK for concert tours, recording, and event appearances. In February 2013, BBC World News ran a feature on Hotei and his recent life in London

     On March 6, 2014, Hotei joined The Rolling Stones on stage during the final show of their tour in Japan. He was a surprise guest at their Tokyo Dome concert, playing the song “Respectable” before a crowd of 53,000 fans. Hotei’s most famous song “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” was selected for a nationwide TV commercial in the UK for Buxton Water’s “Naturally Pumped Up” campaign. The campaign launched in June 2014, with plans to run for six months.  Joined by band members Zachary Alford (drums), Tony Grey (bass), and Toshiyuki Kishi (keyboard/programming), Hotei played a series of private shows and summer festivals during June, July, and August 2014. This included appearances at England’s Cornbury Festival, Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival, and the UK’s Y Not Festival. An earlier warmup gig was held at The Lexington in London, and Hotei was also invited to perform solo as a special guest of Lord March during the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Live4Ever covered the Y Not Festival, describing Hotei as “undoubtedly the coolest man on site during his afternoon set on the main stage, performing instrumental sections fit for several people in his ability to flick between technically staggering solos and crunching guitar chords whilst jumping around the stage like an excitable Duracell rabbit.”

      During a brief trip back to Japan, Hotei played four sold-out shows at the Blue Note Tokyo in late August, and also performed at a private party for the launch of the new Lamborghini Huracán automobile. Hotei wrote and performed the theme song, “Trick Attack (Theme of Lupin The Third)”, to the 2014 live-action film adaptation of the Lupin III manga.  After spending much of the year writing and recording with a variety of collaborators, the album New Beginnings was released in Japan on October 1, 2014, the title a reflection of the new chapter in Hotei’s career, after relocating to London. Iggy Pop contributed lyrics and vocals to two tracks on the album and Vula Malinga vocals to one.  Hotei’s released the single “How The Cookie Crumbles” featuring Iggy Pop on vocals in June, the first single to be released from his forthcoming second English-language solo album Strangers, which was released by Spinefarm Records/Universal Music on October 16, 2015. It was his first album to be released globally outside Japan. It includes several songs released on New Beginnings. In addition to Pop, it also features Richard Kruspe from Rammstein, Matthew Tuck from Bullet for My Valentine, Noko and Shea Seger.[5] The album release was accompanied by a performance at Islington Assembly Hall in London, with special guests Seger and Gary Stringer from British rock band Reef.

     Hotei celebrated his 35th anniversary in music in 2016, which included 57 live shows in Japan in a variety of different venues, from small clubs to major arenas, and finishing with a 35-song performance at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on December 30. As well as his anniversary, Hotei continued to work internationally to support his Strangers album. In February 2016, Hotei performed showcases at Paradiso/Amsterdam, La Boule Noir/Paris and Cassiopeia/Berlin, with Noko on bass and Cliff Hewitt on drums. In July 2016 he performed live in Los Angeles for the first time, selling out The Troubadour, and also returned to Highline Ballroom in New York. A third single was released from the album, “Move It” featuring Richard Kruspe was released in April 2016, and a fourth, “Walking Through The Night” featuring Iggy Pop, was released in November.  Hotei contributed guitar to Zucchero Fornaciari’s song “Ti voglio sposare” for the Italian singer’s Black Cat album, which was released in April 2016, beginning a series of collaborations between the two artists which included Zucchero’s first ever performances in Tokyo in May 2016, accompanied by Hotei, at an event organized by the Italian Embassy in Tokyo, and Hotei’s first ever live appearance in Italy, at Zucchero’s record-breaking Verona Arena run of dates, in September.

     In February 2017 Hotei joined Fornaciari on stage at the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy and returned to Arena di Verona in May for two more performances. In April 2017 Hotei completed his first tour of Europe, performing in 8 cities in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Belgium over 2 weeks, including Paaspop Festival in the Netherlands. In May 2017 Hotei was special guest at Zucchero’s first ever headline show in Tokyo with his own band. Hotei also performed his first headline live shows in Asia outside of Japan, in Taipei and Hong Kong.  Having completed the album in July, with recording largely taking place again in London, Hotei released his 17th solo album Paradox worldwide on October 25, 2017. It is his first Japanese-language album since Come Rain Come Shine almost five years earlier. The album was launched with three lyric videos, for the songs “Dreamers are Lonely”, “Amplifire” and “Hitokoto”. Hotei completed the Paradox tour in Japan in December 2017. His song “Kill to Love You” featuring Matthew Tuck from British heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine was used in the UK trailers for Russian action movie Attraction in December 2017 and January 2018.

     Hotei did an exclusive live streaming performance from British Grove Studios in London on March 24, for a NTT phone app. The one hour performance at 1pm was able to be watched live in Japan at 10pm and available for a few weeks thereafter. Hotei continued his live collaborations with Zucchero Fornaciari, joining him at two arena shows in Turin and Milan in January 2018, and then for two shows in Piazza San Marco, in Venice in July, for the Wanted – Un’altra storia Tour. Hotei collaborated again with the Hokuto no Ken franchise in September, for their 35th anniversary, with a new single called “202X”, which was accompanied by an animated video and a second song “Boombastic”.  On October 20, 2018 Hotei performed his first headline show in London for three years, at a special concert at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, featuring his largest band presentation in the West, including a horn section, backing vocalists and featuring special guest Zucchero. The concert was again filmed for streaming by NTT in Japan. Hotei also toured again in Europe, with a return to Brussels and Zurich and his first headline show in Milan, which also featured Zucchero as special guest. Hotei ended 2018 with his first tour of Japan that was not tied in with an album release. The Tonight I’m Yours Tour featured a repertoire from Hotei’s entire career and visited 18 Japanese cities. He performed live on Kohaku Uta Gassen on December 31 in Tokyo, his second performance on the major New Year’s Eve TV show.

     Hotei released his 18th solo studio album, Guitarhythm VI in May 2019, 10 years after Guitarhythm V. It features collaborations with Man With A Mission, Cornelius, keyboard player Mike Garson, and Hotei’s former Boøwy bandmates Tsunematsu Matsui and Makoto Takahashi. The album was preceded by three singles in the month before its release, with lead single “Give It To The Universe” becoming Hotei’s fastest streamed track up to that point. A nationwide summer Guitarhythm VI tour followed the album release, with Hotei using a UK rhythm section for the first time for a Japanese tour – Steve Barney (drums) and Mark Neary (bass). In September Hotei was special guest at two shows for the all star SAS band in Portsmouth and London UK, sharing the stage with Roger Taylor, Spike Edney and Justin Hawkins amongst others. Hotei reprised his GuitarRhythm Tour in Japan in December.  On November 25, 2020, Hotei released the collaborative album Soul to Soul, which features collaborations with his fellow Japanese Kazuya Yoshii and Glim Spanky, as well as international acts like Carlinhos Brown, Marc Lavoine, Calogero and Yang Kun.

     The following work by Tomoyasu Hotei is contained in my CD collection:

            Kill Bill (2003): Battle Without Honor or Humanity. 

Pleasant Hill School (Warren County, MO), Wright City, MO

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Pleasant Hill School – Warren County, MO

17785 Ranch Rd.

Wright City, MO 63390

The Pleasant Hill School, once part of a family farm, out in the boonies, on Ranch Rd. in Warren County 3 miles N. of Warrenton, MO, was founded in 1841 as a log school oral tradition says by the Pleasant Hill family, but maybe it was called that because the nearest farms were the Archer-Pleasant Hill farms.  The small uncared for Archer-Pleasant Hill cemetery is just behind this school in the woods. The school is well cared for. One source says that the local DAR owned it, but another source said it was a local historic minded group formed for the school specifically.  Either way, information about the school on the Internet is practically non-existent. More oral history propounds the belief that this structure was originally built as a church and then converted into a school, but there is no documented proof of that belief.

John Ottman and X2—X-Men United Suite

John Ottman (born July 6, 1964) is an American film composer and editor who is best known for collaborating with director Bryan Singer, composing and/or editing many of his films, including Public Access (1993), The Usual Suspects (1995), Superman Returns (2006), Valkyrie (2008) and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), as well as the X-Men film series.   Ottman was born on July 6, 1964. in San Diego, California. Growing up in San Jose, Ottman made many amateur films garnering local attention in the community. He attended De Anza College and then transferred to the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1988.   One of his first assignments was to provide original music for the computer game I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.

     Ottman directed (in addition to editing and scoring) the 2000 horror film Urban Legends: Final Cut. He won a BAFTA Award for Best Editing for The Usual Suspects, as well as two Saturn Awards for Best Music for The Usual Suspects and Superman Returns.  Ottman is best known for his multi-tasking as editor and composer for Bryan Singer’s films, and on a few occasions, producer roles to boot. The Usual Suspects, Apt Pupil, X2, Superman Returns (including adapting themes originally composed by John Williams), Valkyrie, Jack the Giant Slayer, X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse. Other notable films he worked on as composer are Snow White: A Tale of Terror, the 2005 remake of House of Wax, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Fantastic Four and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, The Invasion, and Astro Boy.

     In 2007, Ottman appeared in the documentary Finding Kraftland for his agent Richard Kraft.  For his work on Singer’s 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Ottman won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.  Upon Bohemian Rhapsody getting nominated for, and winning its Best Editing awards, a scene of the band outside a pub went viral online after a post by someone critical of the editing style. Ottman, aware of the clip, explained that for a test screening, a heightened pace for the first act was asked for by the studio. After the test, Ottman returned the scene to its original pace and design. Ottman regretted that he missed returning the scene outside the pub closer to his original version. The scene (directed by Fletcher) contained no master shot of the band at the table.

     In 2019, Ottman was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Editing and won the ACE Eddie Award and the Academy Award his work on Bohemian Rhapsody, a film Ottman saw through on his own after both directors’ departure (Bryan Singer being fired and Dexter Fletcher beginning pre-production on “Rocketman” shortly after finishing the shoot.) Ottman navigated the film’s development in post and the tricky waters between film-maker and studio, working with producer Graham King and Dennis O’Sullivan.

       My CD collection includes the following works by John Ottman:    

.           Fantastic Four (2005): Main Titles. 

            Valkyrie (2008): They’ll Remember You. 

            X2—X-Men United (2003): Suite.

Silkville One Room School, Williamsburg, KS

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Silkville One Room School

Old Highway 50

Williamsburg, Kansas

Silkville is a ghost town in Franklin County, Kansas. It is now a place name on Google Maps, lying just inside Franklin County heading north on Old Highway 50. Where once a three story home stood, there is nothing. A mailbox down a dirt road that says dead end marks the site of Silkville Ranch and the new home that replaced the dream of Ernest V. Boissiere, a Frenchman from Bordeaux who hoped to create an utopian village.  In fairness, one has to admit that Silkville was never really a town, but it did possess a farm on 3000 acres that was home to 40 families, equipment to make 224 yards of silk a day, a dairy operation, a blacksmith shop, a winery, and an orchard. It was also a flag stop on the Santa Fe Railroad.

     Ernest V. Boissiere owned an estate, Chateau de Certes on the Bay of Biscay in Bourdeaux France. He was successful in harvesting fish from the waters and wood from the land. In the late 1840’s he was involved in politics and sided with the republicans in the formation of the French Second Republic. In 1851, there was a coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte overthrowing the republic and establishing the Second Empire. Boissiere, a friend of Victor Hugo, became persona non grata and left for the United States. For a time he lived in New Orleans. During the American Civil War he returned to his estate in Bordeaux. During this time he became acquainted with the Fourierists and the desire to help the “human family.”

     Boissiere, with Charles Spears, E.P. Grant, and Albert Brisbane, planed an utopian community along the ideas of the Fourierists. In 1869, Boissiere through agents, purchased 350 acres of land in Franklin County, south of Ottawa. That first year Boissiere wrote, “I am living on the wide prairies … I sleep in the top of a small garret of a rough farm house as cold as the outside temperature… Sometimes immigrants come and ask for shelter. It is a rough life for me, used to the mild temperature and comforts of Southern France, but I think the sufferings of the flesh are nothing and preserve the predominancy of the spirit.”  Over the next several years 40 families from France came to stay and work at the farm.

     Boissiere imported mulberry trees from Russia and silkworms from California for the production of silk. A winery was started. Later a butter and cheese operation began. But the operation of the farm failed, as the French families found better opportunities elsewhere. Then too, competition made Boissiere’s farm unprofitable.  In 1883, he deeded the property to the Odd Fellows and returned to Bordeaux. The United States Census in 1900 enumerates the names of several families living on the farm. But even the Odd Fellows could not financially keep up the property and it eventually became the property of lawyers from Topeka. Today, the Silkville Ranch supports cattle, and the only building still standing is a one room school house made out of limestone that sits just off of Old Highway 50.

Range School Museum, Marquette Historical Museum Complex, Marquette, KS

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Range School Museum

Marquette Historical Museum Complex

206 N. Washington Street

Marquette, Kansas

The Range School Museum is an authentic one-room schoolhouse that was moved into Marquette, KS, from its location northwest of town. It was built in 1906, and is very unique because of its all-wood interior. The school has been beautifully restored and is operated as a museum by the Marquette Historical Society.  It was moved here in 1986 to offer visitors a rare glimpse into pioneer life. The museum gives local school children an eye-opening experience, too. Each spring and fall, students travel to the school on foot for a half day of class.  Also included in the Historical Museum Complex are the Marquette Historical Society Museum and the Depot Museum.  There is free admission, but donations are appreciated.  The hours are Saturday and Sunday 1-4 P.M. (April-October) or by appointment.

John Murphy and the “Adagio in d minor” from Sunshine

John Murphy (born March 4, 1965) is a British film composer and self-taught multi-instrumental musician who began his career in the 1980s, working with The Lotus Eaters, Thomas Lang, and Claudia Brücken and has collaborated with directors Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Michael Mann, Matthew Vaughn, Stephen Frears, and James Gunn, with awards including the Silver Award (1st Prize) at the Cannes Film Festival, a British D&AD Award, and a BMI Award. Born in Liverpool, England, on March 4, 1965, Murphy began composing music for films in the early 1990s and scored his first hit with Leon the Pig Farmer. Together with former OMD member David Hughes, he worked on several successful British movies, enjoying particular success and gaining recognition in the film industry while working with Guy Ritchie on with the soundtrack to his 1998 film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as various films by Danny Boyle.

     Since 2000’s Snatch, Murphy has worked independently and has been based in Los Angeles. His successes include Danny Boyle’s box-office success 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Weeks Later.  His instrumental track “In the House – In a Heartbeat” from 28 Days Later has been featured in a variety of TV shows, commercials, and film trailers. He also collaborated with Underworld to score Danny Boyle’s science fiction film Sunshine. Other excerpts from his scores have been released for advertising, in particular “Adagio in D minor” from Sunshine.  In 2006, Murphy composed the score for Michael Mann’s Miami Vice. In 2009, he composed the music for the 2009 remake of the 1972 film The Last House on the Left, followed by Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 Kick-Ass, based on the comic book of the same name.

     In 2014, Murphy released an album titled Anonymous Rejected Filmscore that had been, as the title suggests, composed for a film whose studio head had rejected for being too ‘weird.’  Murphy promised the director that he wouldn’t name the film. The score was allowed to develop in directions unconstrained by the original film’s narrative, and the cover art is a photograph of Murphy’s son, taken by his wife through her sunglasses.  In 2019 he scored “Les Miserables” for the BBC, and in 2020, he composed the score for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.

     The following works by John Murphy is contained in my CD collection:

            28 Days Later (2002): In the House – In a Heartbeat. 

            Sunshine (2007): Adagio in dm.

Ellet #7 (Centerfield) One Room Schoolhouse, Latham, KS

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Ellet #7 (Centerfield) one room school house

120 South Cherry St.

Latham, Kansas

Latham, Kansas, just north of Rock Creek in Union Township, Butler County, was once a thriving town serving farmers and ranchers in Rock Creek Valley, a stop on the short route of the Winfield Southwestern Railroad (later, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad) that connected Beaumont to Winfield.  In 1885, Latham already had a hardware store, general store, and pharmacy all advertised for business; one could eat at the Star Restaurant two blocks west of the depot on Main Street and even find overnight accommodations.  Today, the railroad tracks are gone but the town lingers on. The Latham Saloon provides weekend entertainment. On Sundays, one has a choice of two churches, Baptist and Methodist. Otherwise, it is a Rip-Van-Winkle kind of town.

     Housed in a one-room schoolhouse, the collection of the Ellet Museum named for Civil War General General Alfred W. Ellet who came to Kansas to make a new life after the Civil War, or his also well-known son, Edward who settled on Rock Creek in nearby Cowley County, includes the written and pictorial history of the Latham area, cemetery records, and artifacts from the school itself.  The Ellet school was built in 1880 and named the Centerville School. Ellet was the name everyone knew it by, possibly because the school house was located near Colonel Bill Ellet’s land and his hand in forming District 7. W.H. Ellet served on the board as director from 1880 to 1895.

     The school is on Cherry Street just south of 200 Street. It is a typical white clapboard construction with three windows to each side and a single door in front.  When the school was first built the chimney was in the center, later it was moved because the teacher could not see the children behind the stove. In 1931, the Ante room was built onto the building.  Nell Hawley was Centerville’s first teacher, teaching during 1881, 1882 for 4 months and in 1883 for 8 months. Her salary was $40 a month.  During the 1914 school year discipline problems caused Myrthe Mohler to resign after teaching 16 weeks. Due to declining enrollment the Centerville school closed in 1942.  The one-room school house was a very important part of the community it served, not only as a school, but also as a gathering place for programs, suppers, and Sunday services.  Originally the school was located 8 miles west of Latham. In 1980, the Latham Lions Club moved it into town.

Cliff Martinez and “Don’t Blow It” from Polaris

Cliff Martinez (born February 5, 1954) is an American musician and composer, who, early in his career, was known as a drummer notably with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart, but since the 1990s, has worked primarily as a film score composer, writing music for Spring Breakers, The Foreigner, and multiple films by Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Solaris, Contagion, and Traffic) and Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon, and the miniseries Too Old to Die Young).  Martinez was born on February 5, 1954, in the Bronx, New York. His grandfather migrated from a small village in Spain to the United States.  Raised in Columbus, Ohio, his first job composing was for the popular television show Pee Wee’s Playhouse.   At the time, however, he was more interested in rock bands, and played drums in a variety of them, mostly in a temporary capacity.

     After several years drumming for such acts as Captain Beefheart, The Dickies, Lydia Lunch and The Weirdos, in late 1983, he and Jack Sherman were drafted in to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the recording of their eponymous first album after Jack Irons and Hillel Slovak left the band to concentrate on their other project at the time, What Is This? Martinez again played on the recording of the band’s second album Freaky Styley and its subsequent tour.  Eventually, Martinez’ interests shifted and he focused his attention toward film scoring. A tape Martinez had put together using new technologies made its rounds, leading him to score an episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. The same recording also ended up in Steven Soderbergh’s hands, and Martinez was hired to score the famed director’s first theatrical release, 1989’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape. 

      Martinez’s nontraditional scores tend towards being stark and sparse, utilizing a modern tonal palette to paint the backdrop for films that are often dark, psychological stories like Pump Up the Volume (1990), The Limey (1999) Wonderland (2003), Wicker Park (2004) and Drive (2011).  Martinez has been nominated for a Grammy Award (Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic), a Cesar Award (Xavier Giannoli’s À L’origine), and a Broadcast Film Critics Award (Drive). He earned a Robert Award (Danish Academy Award) for his work on Only God Forgives.  Martinez’s use of audio manipulations, particularly for percussive sounds, has been evolving through the years and is evident[citation needed] by the hammered dulcimer of Kafka (1991), the gray-areas between sound design and score for Traffic (2000), the steel drums and textures of Solaris (2002), what Martinez called “rhythmi-tizing pitched, ambient textures” of Narc (2002), and “using percussion performances to trigger and shape the rhythmic and tonal characteristics of those ambient textures,” as he described his score for 2011’s The Lincoln Lawyer.

     Martinez’s recent films include Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep, Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage, Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers (co-composed with Skrillex), and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon.  Martinez composed the main menu music titled “Galaxy Theme” for Spore in 2008.  Martinez served on the International Feature nominating committee for 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards and served as a juror for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. On April 14, 2012, Martinez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.   Martinez performed with the band for the first time in 26 years when he joined them along with former drummer Jack Irons on their song, “Give It Away” during the ceremony. In 2013, Martinez scored the “Fly Beyond” Grey Goose vodka commercial.  Martinez also composed two songs, “Vibe” and “Kotopuls,” for the 2014 Lincoln Motor Company advertising campaign featuring Matthew McConaughey.  Also in 2014, Martinez also composed the title score for Far Cry 4.

       My CD collection includes the following work by Cliff Martinez:    

Polaris (2002): Don’t Blow It. 

Milo #7 One Room School, Delaware County Historical Museum, Hopkinton IA

OLD SCHOOL OF THE DAY

Milo #7 One Room School

Delaware County Historical Museum

101 NE College Street

Hopkinton, IA 52237

The Delaware County Historical Museum is a newly renovated nine-building complex centered around the former Lenox College which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The beautiful, restored college buildings and landscaped campus contain Civil War monument/memorabilia/resources, old fashioned drug store, 1930’s print shop, general store, country school, library, depot/caboose, college gym, natural history exhibit, toys, costume display, fiber arts, farm displays, crockery, medical/dental exhibits, church with stained glass windows from Bavaria, musical instruments, advertising display, 4-H/FFA, local memorabilia, etc.  The open-air museum is run by the Delaware County Historical Society and was established in 1959.

   The centerpiece of the campus is the Civil War Monument, dedicated November 17, 1965. Construction of Old Main began in 1856 when the school was known as Bowen Collegiate Institute. The Victorian style east wing was added in 1875. Clarke Hall, the dormitory for girls, was built in 1890. Doolittle Hall, constructed in 1900, contained the Library and Literary Societies. Finkbonner Hall (the gymnasium) was erected in 1916. Other buildings in the complex include the Hopkinton Depot, which was moved to the present site in 1969. The Reformed Presbyterian Church, with its remarkable Bavarian stained-glass windows, was dedicated in 1901 and donated to the Society in 1969. A Farm Machinery Hall, which houses displays of horse-drawn farm equipment, was added in 1973. A second Farm Machinery Hall was built in 1982.

     The Milo #7 one-room school was purchased in 1971 and moved to its present location on 4th St, next to the 1901 Presbyterian Church on the corner of College.  These buildings are across College St from the college.  The College operated from 1859 until 1944, and was affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.  Milo School was built in August 1880, and was moved to this location from the James Worm Farm, two miles east of Ryan, IA.  It still has the wooden flag pole. 

Yann Tiersen and La Valse d’Amelie

Yann Tiersen (born June 23, 1970) is a French-Breton musician and composer, whose musical career is divided among studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting, incorporating a large variety of classical and contemporary instruments, primarily the electric guitar, the piano, synthesizers, and the violin, but also instruments such as the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, piano accordion or even typewriter. Tiersen was born on June 23, 1970, in Brest, in the department of Finistère, part of Brittany in northwestern France, into a French family of Belgian and Norwegian origins. He started learning to play the piano at the age of four, the violin at the age of six, and received classical training at several musical academies, including those in Rennes, Nantes, and Boulogne-sur-Mer.  In the early 1980s, he was influenced as a teenager by the punk subculture, and bands like The Stooges and Joy Division.  When he was 13, he broke his violin, bought an electric guitar, and formed a rock band. Tiersen was living in Rennes back then, home to the three-day music festival Rencontres Trans Musicales, which is held annually in December. That gave him the opportunity to see acts like Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Television, and Suicide. A few years later, when his band parted, Tiersen bought a cheap mixing desk, an 8-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, and started recording music on his own with a synthesiser, a sampler, and a drum machine.

     Before releasing film scores under his own name, Tiersen recorded background music for a number of plays and short films. During the summer of 1993, Tiersen stayed in his apartment with an electric guitar, a violin, and a piano accordion, recording music on his own. By the end of the summer, Tiersen had recorded over forty tracks, which would most be used later on for his first two albums. Tiersen’s debut album, La Valse des monstres, limited to 1,000 copies, was first released in June 1995 by independent record label Sine Terra Firma, and then reissued by Nancy-based record label Ici d’ailleurs in 1998 as the second album of its catalogue.  In April 1996, one year later, he released Rue des cascades, a collection of short pieces recorded with a toy piano, a harpsichord, a violin, a piano accordion, and a mandolin.  The title track, sung by French solo singer Claire Pichet, was used the following year for the Palme d’Or nominated French drama film The Dreamlife of Angels.  Tiersen usually plays most of the music instruments himself during both studio recording sessions and his live sets; he has won theatrical appeal as a one-man show and was invited to play, among others, at the 1996 edition of the Avignon Festival, the oldest live arts festival in France.

     Tiersen rose to domestic fame upon the release of his third studio album, Le Phare (The Lighthouse) in 1998. Tiersen provided a new arrangement and played strings, vibraphone, bell, the mandolin, the electric guitar and bass guitar for the song “À ton étoile” by French rock band Noir Désir which was featured on their 1998 remix album One Trip/One Noise.  During that period, he also recorded songs for the soundtrack of several films, including the award-winning and multi-nominated film The Dreamlife of Angels (French: La Vie rêvée des anges) (1998), André Téchiné’s Alice et Martin (1998), and Christine Carrière’s Qui plume la lune? (1999).  In 1999, Tiersen together with The Married Monk, Claire Pichet, and Olivier Mellano released his first collaboration album, Tout est calme. Tiersen also featured on The Divine Comedy’s single “Gin Soaked Boy” released on that same year, and on three tracks for Françoiz Breut’s second studio album Vingt à Trente Mille Jours (English: Twenty to Thirty Thousand Days), and on Têtes Raides’ Gratte-poil, both released in 2000.

     Tiersen remained relatively unknown outside France until the release of his score for the acclaimed film Amélie (Original French title: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, English: The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain) in 2001. French film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet had something else in mind for the film score, but one day one of his production assistants put on a CD of Tiersen, and the director found it absolutely superb. Jeunet bought all of Tiersen’s albums, and then contacted him to see if the Breton composer was interested in writing the film score for Amélie. In two weeks, Tiersen composed nineteen pieces for the film and also allowed the production to take anything they wanted from his other records.  Amélie received great critical acclaim and was a box-office success. The film went on to win the Best Film award at the European Film Awards, four César Awards, including Best Film and Best Director, two BAFTA Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for five Academy Awards. The soundtrack was a mixture of both new and previously released material, and Tiersen was also the recipient of the César Award for Best Music Written for a Film, and of the World Soundtrack Academy award. The soundtrack album charted in many countries, including the number one position on the French Albums Chart.

     While he was writing the film score for Amélie, Tiersen was also preparing his fifth studio album L’Absente.  At this time he was married to Belgian actress Natacha Régnier, co-star of The Dreamlife of Angels. Régnier became a singer and Tiersen wrote three songs for her including his arrangement of Georges Brassens’ “Le Parapluie,” a song featured on the tribute album Les Oiseaux de passage, released in 2001. That same year they toured in France and abroad. They have a daughter, Lise, born in 2002.  In this period, Tiersen also took his music out around the world, playing shows with a full orchestra and an amplified string quartet.  From February 15 to 17, 2002, Tiersen with many of the collaborators who participated in the recording sessions for L’Absente plus Claire Pichet, violinists Nicolas Stevens and Renaud Lhoest, bassist Jean-François Assy, viola player Olivier Tilkin, and uilleann pipes, bagpipes, and low whistle player Ronan Le Bars, performed live at the Cité de la Musique (City of Music) in Paris. Part of these three concerts went on to form Tiersen’s second live album C’était ici (It Was Here), which was released through EMI France on 30 September 2002.

     Tiersen’s skills as a composer of film scores were much in demand, and the soundtrack for Amélie was soon followed by the film score for Good Bye, Lenin!, a 2003 German Tragicomedy film directed by Wolfgang Becker.  On November 15, 2003, Tiersen with Stuart A. Staples, the lead singer of indie band Tindersticks, actress and singer Jane Birkin, singer and songwriter Christophe Miossec, and Dominique A released 3 New Tracks for the Benefit of FIDH) a three-track CD that was part of the On Aide benefit collection for raising funds for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).  Tiersen’s list of collaborators continued to grow album after album and in October 2004 he released Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright, a collaboration album with American singer-songwriter Shannon Wright, and, in the same year, he is featured on The Divine Comedy’s album Absent Friends. In 2005, Tiersen released his fifth studio album Les Retrouvailles.   The subsequent world tour of 2006 replaced the multi-instrumental ensemble with electric guitars and an ondes Martenot, and produced his third live album, On Tour, which was released together with a DVD, directed by Aurélie du Boys, about the tour, in November 2006.  In 2006, he also released two singles, “La Mancha” and “La Rade”, and he was featured on The Endless Rise of the Sun, the third studio album by electronic group Smooth, Raides à la ville extended play by Katel, and 13m² by David Delabrosse.  After a five-year absence as a composer of film scores, Tiersen provided the background music for Tabarly, a 2008 documentary film by Pierre Marcel about the French sailor, two-time champion of the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race, and father of French yachting Éric Tabarly.   

     October 2010 saw the release of Tiersen’s sixth studio album titled Dust Lane. The album was two years in the making and was largely recorded in Ushant, France. Further parts were recorded in the Philippines.  The record was promoted in a tour beginning in October 2010, starting in New York City. In 2010, Tiersen also contributed to the tribute album to cross-genre, experimental music group Coil The Dark Age of Love by This Immortal Coil, a one-off tribute formation, and to Li(f)e, the fourth solo studio album by hip-hop artist Sage Francis.   October 2011 saw the European release of his seventh studio album, Skyline.  On February 18, 2012, Tiersen with Lionel Laquerriere, and Thomas Poli, presented his side project, Elektronische Staubband, at La Route du Rock music festival in Saint-Malo. Tiersen was also chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England. Skyline was released in North America via ANTI- Records on April 17, 2012, and it was followed by the Skyline Tour with dates in the United States, Canada, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, France, Slovak Republic, Austria, Finland and the United Kingdom.

     The following work by Yann Tiersen is contained in my CD collection:

            Amelie (2001): La Valse d’Amelie.