Category Archives: Music

The geek who captured the Castle

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That’s the headline for the interview with me that appears in today’s Boston Globe. The print version has two really nice photos, one of which made it to the online version:

Jon Bernhardt (right, performing with the Lothars) plays the theremin for a new White Castle Commercial. (Wiqan Ang for the Boston Globe)

I’ve been interviewed a bunch of times over the years. Inevitably the writer always gets something wrong. Either misstating some fact, misquoting me, or putting one of my quotes out of context. This piece is the first I can remember where the writer got it perfectly. She edited down a long and rambling conversation into a fast-paced Q&A, yet managed not only to keep the facts straight, but also to allow my personality to get through.

So, kudos to writer Linda Laban, and also to photographer Wiqan Ang who took some great shots.

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Digitally Delicious!

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I just made a couple of changes to the Lothars website:

  1. I added our SNOCAP widget (kindly provided at no cost by CD Baby) to a new “Digital Download Store” page in the Merch section. I put our iTunes Store links on the same page.
  2. I noticed some formatting problems when viewing the Lothars site with IE7. I fixed them, I think, but did so in a rather ugly manner. I’m going to need to do a bit of research to create a more elegant fix.
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Hands Off 2007!

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Hands Off 2007!

An ambitious UK thereminist by the name of Gordon Charlton is organizing what looks to be a fabulous theremin symposium just outside London for the weekend of July 27, 2007. Lots of great thereminists are scheduled to attend including Lydia Kavina, Wilco Botermans, Barbara Buchholz and Carolina Eyck. Events will include performances (including jam sessions and theremin circles!), talks, master classes and demonstrations of various theremins, theremin techniques and theremin effects. I’m planning to attend as well; Gordon has asked me to demonstrate how I create those wacky sounds on Video Killed the Radio Star.

Right now, Gordon is still trying to get enough folks to put down the required 50% deposit (he needs around 30 people). If this is something you think you’d like to attend, then visit the event’s official web site and make it so! My reasons for passing on this plea have a selfish component — I don’t want to buy a plane ticket until I know for sure whether it will happen!

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Open Sourced

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In the Lothars News email I sent out at the beginning of last week, I mentioned that the Lothars might be heard on the NPR program Open Source. Well, that didn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean we were totally shut out.

During the program, which you can download here, I was quoted (in actuality, they quoted me quoting Herb Deutsch) and then thanked at the end. I highly recommend listening to the whole thing. Thereminist Pamelia Kurstin was a guest; she performed live and played beautifully! Also, they posted a brief but very nice interview with me where I talk about the White Castle Saga, how I first became interested in the theremin, and other fascinating insights.

This White Castle thing’s really got legs. Earlier this week, I was interviewed about it by the Boston Globe, who say they’ll be running the story sometime in the near future. Of course, I’ve probably jinxed myself by talking about it now.

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Lothars News

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This is a copy of what we have just sent out to the Lothars Mailing List:

The Lothars: Live(!), On the Radio(!!) and On the TV(!!!)


Live(!)

On April 29, The Lothars return for their annual visit to local Somerville haunt P.A.’s Lounge. This time around, we are opening for Alasehir, a side project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael Gibbons with drummer Michael Zangha. Also on the bill are D.C. psych improvisors Kohoutek. Come for the theremins; stay for the barrage of psychedelic noise!

On the Radio(!!)

Listen closely to your local NPR radio station over the next day or so and you may hear some Lothars music! Open Source is a radio program syndicated by Public Radio International to radio stations around the country. The episode being taped this evening (Monday, April 23) features the theremin. The guest will be the always charming Pamelia Kurstin, who will perform and be interviewed by host Christopher Lydon. We’ve been told that they will be playing tunes by the Lothars coming out of the breaks.

Open Source airs live in Boston at 7pm EDT on WGBH, 89.7FM, and either live or pre-recorded elsewhere. Here’s a list of stations that carry the show. You can also listen to WGBH streaming live over the Internets.

On the TV(!!!)

Lothars member Jon Bernhardt was recently “discovered” by the folks at White Castle who whisked him to Los Angeles to film a pair of 30 second ads. Trying to cram all the details into this email wouldn’t do it justice, but you can read all about it on the Lothars Blog. It’s the hilarious but heartwarming tale of a small town thereminist trying to make it big in the City of Angels. Or not.

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They’re Heeeeeeere….

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The folks at White Castle have posted two versions of my ad onto YouTube. Aside from the fact that they’re titled “theramin 1″ and “theramin 2″ (emphasis mine), I think they came out pretty good!

I’m having trouble embedding them into this blog, but here are the links:

theramin 1

theramin 2

[edit 4/27/07: Perhaps due to a nudge from me, they fixed the spelling of the youtube titles]

[edit 6/30/08: The White Castle folks have taken down the videos, but I posted my own copies of them here and here]

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April 29, 2007, P.A.’s Lounge

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This just added to the Gigs sections of the Lothars website:

On April 29, The Lothars return for their annual visit to local Somerville haunt P.A.’s Lounge. This time around, we are opening for Alasehir, a side project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael Gibbons with drummer Michael Zangha. Also on the bill are D.C. psych improvisors Kohoutek.

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A Somervillain Thereminist in White Castle’s Court: The Voyage Home

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Feb. 21, 2007: Got to LAX at 7am for my 8:45am flight, only to find that it had just been canceled. Luckily, I was able to get another flight that would have me back in Somerville only a few hours later than scheduled. Otherwise, my voyage home was uneventful. It gave me time to reflect on the last few days. Everyone was so kind and patient! There are lots of people not already name-checked who I should mention: Gabrielle, the casting director, who gratiously tolerated my repeated emails asking for status updates; Chip, the assistant director, who let me use his office to practice in, and emailed me the storyboard drawings moments after I asked; Dana, the assistant wardrobe stylist, who made sure that they didn’t accidentally keep any of the costume clothes I’d brought with me; Ed, the VTR operator, who printed out a stack of still images from the shoot for me to take home as souvenirs; and, most of all, Jim, the production supervisor, who made sure everything ran smoothly, but apologized profusely when even the slightest thing went awry. They knew I’d never done anything like this before, and they went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. I think they got a kick out of the fact that I wasn’t (and wasn’t looking to become) a professional actor. I was probably a breath of fresh air to them. Jim emailed me yesterday about something and closed with, “Hope you enjoyed the experience and perhaps someday we’ll meet again.” I can say with complete sincerity that I don’t think my experience could have been any better! While I doubt that we’ll ever meet again, who knows? Maybe I’ll be the next Fred the Baker….

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