I always love reading what happened on this day in history, and today is particularly fun. On this day in 1785, French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American doctor John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a hot air balloon, marking the first aerial crossing and setting an example of Franco-American cooperation that I can’t help but be proud of. Ballooning was all the rage at the time, according the Blanchard’s wikipedia entry:
The early balloon flights triggered a phase of public “balloonmania”, with all manner of objects decorated with images of balloons or styled au ballon, from ceramics to fans and hats. Clothing au ballon was produced with exaggerated puffed sleeves and rounded skirts, or with printed images of balloons. Hair was coiffed à la montgolfier, au globe volant, au demi-ballon, or à la Blanchard.
Monsieur Blanchard made a career out of ballooning, and ended up touring America and Europe, wowing George Washington and four future presidents on one day alone. He also teamed up with Sébastien Lenormand, the inventor of the parachute, endorsing it as a great way to escape safely from a hot air balloon (the parachute had been invented as a means to escape from burning buildings, but Blanchard had a one-track mind). Blanchard took his obsession slightly too far, and eventually had a heart attack whilst inside the balloon and fell out and died. His wife suffered a similar fate a few years later (which was documented by Norwich Duff, born down the street from me in Edinburgh), though not before she was proclaimed the “Official Aeronaut of the Restoration” by Louis XVIII.
For his part, John Jeffries studied medicine in Edinburgh, was a Loyalist who was involved in the Boston Massacre trial (he testified that in Ireland the soldiers would have fired even sooner) and was a surgeon for the British Navy during the occupation of Boston. Also, this fascinating article claims that he and Blanchard pretty much hated each other, and may have killed a small dog during their journey.
All of this reminded me of another balloon journey that took place much later – the ill-fated attempt by S.A. Andrée and his two assistants, Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel.
Mr. Andrée was a Swedish engineer with a passion for ballooning who got caught up in all of the turn-of-the-century excitement surrounding polar exploration. He combined these two interests and formulated a plan for travelling across the North Pole in a balloon from Sweden to Canada. His plans were based on completely unproven and blatantly impossible theories (steering a balloon with ropes, for example), but his enthusiasm appealed to the Swedish power structures at the time, which were concerned that their supposedly inferior neighbors Norway were winning the polar exploration race (who eventually won is disputed, but the Swedes certainly didn’t end up doing that well at all). The Swedish Academy approved his plan and funded his project.
The expedition was doomed from the start. The balloon couldn’t hold air, the steering mechanism didn’t work, they didn’t bring enough food, and their clothing was totally unsuitable. After a disastrous first attempt, one of Andrée’s assistants quit, and was replaced by Knut Frænkel (who seems to have been younger and less critical). They finally took off in 1897. The steering ropes and seven hundred and forty kilograms of weight were jettisoned within a few minutes of takeoff. The flight lasted 10 hours, followed by 41 hours of bumping along the ice before they landed. The three of them wandered around the ice floes for three months (with Knut taking lots of lovely photographs) before dying, probably from contracting a disease by eating raw Polar Bear meat. Their bodies were found 33 years later and they were returned to Sweden as national heroes.
And 75 years later, my brother Cory and I read about this expedition and wrote a song about it! It’s called “The Ballad of Knut and Nils”, and you can listen to it right here:
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The song features me on guitar, recorded in Pittsburgh, and my brother on a Bolivian Charango (which was subsequently destroyed by British Airways). It is on our album “Sediment”, which you can buy simply by emailing me (rolo at theamazingrolo.net).
I also can’t help thinking that this all somehow relates to Mujik, with the balloon thing and all. Hmmmm.
I’m back in Scotland now after a lovely break with the family in the States. I got to play a few shows with my brother Cory – together we are the Seznec Brothers, and in between our shows we managed to record a couple of videos and even a new song! Here is the first of these:
I’m heading off to London tomorrow to play a gig with my brother and his awesome band Groanbox. It’s all going to kick off tomorrow night at 7:30 pm at the Luminaire in Kilburn. Tickets and info about the gig can be found here, it should be a great show! I’ll be bringing a whole bag of tricks from Wii remotes to solenoids to Gelkies and back again, and a large part of my set will be devoted to remixing Groanbox songs…here’s a remix I’ve been working on especially for the show, of “Bogeyman” from their latest album Gran Bwa:
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and here’s an older remix I did a few years ago of “Sea Bone Howl”:
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[edit // thanks to all who came down, I've added a few pictures from the night! there are a few more on my flickr page]
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago at 3:56 pm. Add a comment
August was a slightly crazy month of amazing projects for me, which were all topped off by a visit from my brother Cory. We played two gigs at the Edinburgh Book Festival, which turned out to be a brilliant little venue. We had tons of fun, and we were able to get a few videos recorded. Here are two songs for you…first is “Fat Fanny Stomp”, which is an old song by a pianist called Jim Clark that we found in this awesome collection of old 78s. The second is a Seznec Brothers song called “Promised Land” which is based on a 19th century spiritual. Enjoy!
If you made it this far, you can also listen to our original recorded version of Promised Land here:
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Wow, yesterday was an epic day. I just wanted to put a quick post up to mention three projects that all came together yesterday.
1. The iPhone app that I have been working on has been released! Click here to go to the official Mujik website to learn more. The response was absolutely overwhelming and amazing. Extra special thanks the the lovely reviews…Create Digital Music has described it as Interactive Musical Whimsy With Lightning Bugs (couldn’t have said it better myself!) and TUAW said “Every so often something hits the App Store that is interesting but difficult to explain. At the same time, it is enjoyable to use, and you tip your hat to the people who thought it up, even if it has no real practical use.” (who needs practical things anyhow?).
2. I had the final sound check with Gol, my Iranian electronic jazzfunk band, for our show today at the MELA Festival right here in Edinburgh. We’ve prepared a brand new specially commissioned set, full of awesome live audio/visual triggering and sampling and Santurs and percussion and other amazing stuff.
3. I went to the opening of Rough Cut Nation at the National Portrait Gallery. I was lucky enough to be a part of the show, having built some fun little UV LED contraptions that allowed people to interact with the artwork…the opening was absolutely phenomenal, and was a testament to the amazing work by all of the artists. I was extremely proud to be involved, I can’t say enough positive things about the whole experience.
I have tons more to say about all three of these projects (and even a few more coming up next week), so I will expand on them very soon. I’m now off to Pilrig Park for the Gol festivities. Wish me luck!
Many of you already know what I’ve been working on for the past few months with Jon and Mike – Mujik, a charming and fun music toy for the iPhone. We have submitted version 1.0 to Apple and we are just waiting for them to approve it and put it on the app store. In the mean time, here are two sneak peek videos that show what Mujik is all about…check back very soon for more details. Lots more to come!
Posted 7 months, 1 week ago at 1:38 pm. 2 comments
With so much going on (most of which will hopefully be explained and elaborated on in a flurry of posts in the next few weeks) I nearly forgot to mention on this blog that my track “EarthFireWindWaterHeart” has been featured on a TenTracks album…Check it out on TenTracks.co.uk!
If you’re not familiar with TenTracks, you definitely should be. They are offering a really cool new model for downloading and consuming music, and they are definitely getting some traction. From their website:
1. Tentracks.co.uk is a platform for the marketing and retail of music which responds to online music listening culture in a way that has not been achieved to date by the major music industry.
2. Sets of 10 bands provide a track each per month. All 10 are available to listeners for £1 per month (or £10 per year).
3. The bands involved cross-promote each other via their social networks.
4. The tracks are also advertised each month in free arts and culture publication The Skinny, who are partners in the business. The Skinny distributes 32,500 copies around Scotland every month.
5. Over time, the listener-base will grow, providing significant fees to each band for their work.
6. Musicians give tentracks.co.uk no ownership rights, and have the freedom to remove their track from the site after its release month has ended (though there are incentives to stay on).
7. At as little as 10p a track, the price structure is almost but not quite ‘free’. This is great value for the listener, and means artists are remunerated for their exposure in a way that is not possible from most free downloads, illegal or otherwise.
8. We understand the benefits of radio-play and commercial broadcast, and do not impede other income streams for musicians. Tentracks.co.uk is licensed by MCPS-PRS.
9. The tracks are without the restriction of DRM.
10. Scotland is well placed in terms of geography and creative potential to be host to this new, more economical and honest way of doing music business, but we are looking for partnerships elsewhere in the UK and internationally. If you’d like to work with us, get in touch.
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago at 12:42 pm. Add a comment
I’ll be heading down to London early next week to play at a very exciting launch party for My-Um.com! The show starts at 8pm on Monday the 15th on June at The Dublin Castle in Camden, and is only £6. Expect Wii remotes, Jam Jars, and other excitement. I’m looking forward to it!
Goodness me, yesterday was amazing. I met tons of interesting people here at the Maker Faire, and I’m sure today will be no different! Thanks to everyone who dropped by and said hello and played with the Jam Jars and the Wii LoopMachine. My favorite moment so far?
Boyfriend: “beep beep boooop” (playing with jars)
Girlfriend: “What’s it for?”
Boyfriend: “What do you mean ‘what’s it for’? It’s awesome!!”
I’ll be posting the schematic and directions for building your own Jam Jars in the days following the Maker Faire, I’m afraid I don’t have time to do it right away! So check back soon for all of that. In the mean time, if the first people to come down to booth number 121 (next to the Tesla coils) today and say “Jam Jars For Life!” get a free Amazing Rolo t-shirt!
Okay! They just made the announcement that the doors are opening for day two in less than five minutes. Let’s power up those Jam Jars!
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 5:57 pm. Add a comment
Here’s a demo video of a new mini piece of wii music software, made in preparation for my trip to the Maker Faire next week. The BeatLooper is a fun scratching looping device! I’ll be posting this software very soon, along with the Max Patch, and of course there is much more on the way!
Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago at 9:20 pm. Add a comment
The Amazing Rolo is sound designer, musician, and digital artist Yann Seznec. He is based in Edinburgh, and is currently guest lecturer at the University of Abertay Dundee, where he recently completed the Digital Media Arts Residency. He specializes in interactive installations, ragtime piano, Wii music software, and sound art.
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