Imagine an America different from the one we know. What if Nixon had never been found out? What if he had been able to strip term limits from the Constitution and gone on to a fourth term in office? What if America had prevailed in Vietnam, making it the 51st state in the Union, and now stands on the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union ?

In 2005, I was commissioned to compose soundtracks for two video-dances produced for WOSU television in Columbus, Ohio. These were created in collaboration with Norah Zuniga-Shaw and Mary Rathke. Nearing was composed using samples of music by Mike Vargas, a marimba performance by Joe Krygier, and my own field recordings. The Rhythm of Things was composed in collaboration with percussionist Joe Krygier. In addition to working with his loops and recordings I manipulated the field recordings and ambient sound to give them a rhythm of their own.

Flurotica was composed for Rebecca Ashe to play at Electronic Music Midwest in 2010. She is a performer with a distinct performance presence and the ability to pull of a piece with some crazy staging. I took this opportunity to compose something a little different, something that includes some theatrical staging and performance. For this project I repurposed the musicI had created for Two Burlesques, eliminating the video and adding a flute part.

I was thrilled to have my music included on Jon Nelson's Some Assembly Required radio show on several occasions. Before his final episode he put out a call of 50-second works for a special CD he was making. I wrote two pieces for him, using samples of his voice. In the end he decided not to include any pieces that sampled his show on the compilation, but he did play a couple of them on his final show.

Here are links to the Some Assembly Required archive for the episodes that include my music:

The Ballad of Milt Famey tells the story of the 1920 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians. The pitcher for the Dodgers was a young Milt Famey, who had compiled the greatest win-loss record in the history of the National League. His ERA was incredibly low, a stunning 0.38. In the season leading to the World Series Famey had won 38 flawlessly pitched games with zero losses. This amazing feat has never since been matched.

So why don’t we all know who he is? We know Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, but not Milt Famey. For all of his skill and prowess he never won the World Series. Famey struggled with alcohol, and attempted to close the seventh game of the 1920 series while severely drunk. This great pitcher threw four balls, walking Elmer Smith and losing the game and the series. He never recovered from that loss, and the rest of his career was unremarkable.