JournalNo2

for solo multi-percussion and live processing

My “Journal” series are compositions which are inspired by locations or buildings and are musical representations. JournalNo2 is inspired by a building in downtown Raleigh, NC which lies abandoned as of the writing of this program note. In its past, it served as a minor hotel, a cafe, and a dive bar known for its live music performances. Today, remnants of its past lie on its exterior in the form of faded murals and decaying signs painted on the brick. The actual design of the building is rather unremarkable, but it was the boarded up broken windows and decaying paint stating “Hotel & Cafe” that attracted me to it. On my first impression, I was left fantasizing about its past and the lives that have passed through it. And how, in the present, it is completely lifeless—a shell of what it once was. The piece is in two movements: I. Hotel, and II. Cafe.