Many thanks to Silver Lake comrade Brother Lee for tipping me off to one of his busy neighbors, saxophonist Pat Posey. I’m posting Posey’s improvisational version of Debussy’s Beau Soir because it deserves way more views. The visuals also perfectly sum up a typical evening in Los Angeles under the rat infested palms and circling police helicopters.
Earlier in the pandemic Posey used seven different saxophones ranging from the baritone to a sopranino to record Ravel’s Bolero all by himself. Let that sink in.
In spite of my comfortable and privileged position during this pandemic I’ve found it hard to access the muses. I’m okay with that but I really respect the creativity of people like Posey who have made the best of a bad situation.
I am impressed by this human very, very much. Thanks for the putting him on my radar. And for your wonderfully descriptive intro for the video, too. I just realized that I’d never once imagined police helicopters circling over my neighborhood like that. I mean, I am sure we have police helicopters here in Montana, but probably just for rescuing knuckleheads lost in the mountains or something. I really don’t know. It was an oddly beautiful juxtaposition though, for the piece.
This is very beautiful, but also rather unsettling. Vague hints of Blade Runner, which was also set in LA, but in 2019, so we’re a couple of years late here!
What are the police looking for? Illegal parking? Litter bugs? Roof-top marijuana farms? Who knows?
two helicopters could be just switching (one’s running out of gas)— it has to be really serious to use two in one spot because helicopters are needed throughout the whole city, ie. waste of resource.
as for type of crime, has to be serious (violent), and the suspect is still in the area, hiding. a car chase will be moving, like following a car; this doesn’t seem following a car, so it’s looking for a violent criminal on foot.
there would be other police cars setting up perimeter to ensure the suspect doesn’t escape. if they are hiding they’ll be found usually (FLIR), if they ran bee line out before helicopters got there, they ‘re probably long gone.
So no to illegal parking, nor litter bugs; nor root top marijuana farms (that’s more DEA) it’s legal here now.
Thanks for this! Greatly enjoyed it.