Federal Way, WA School Blocks Al Gore Film

gore-truth.jpgExcerpt: This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert “An Inconvenient Truth.”

After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The movie consists largely of a computer presentation by former Vice President Al Gore recounting scientists’ findings.

Read the Seattle PI Article on Blocking An Inconvenient Truth.

High School Musical Conductor Question

Hi,
I’m doing HS Musical at Irvington Town Hall Theater in a little over a week. I’m playing and conducting and my old Mx8 midi patchbay has just died. Would you recommend a replacement to control my synth rig, either standalone or computer based is fine? What do you use?
Thank You,
Julius Petty

Hi Julius, I only use a midi patchbay in the studio, not live. When performing live I use 4-5 keyboards to cover different sounds, so no need for a patchbay. (Keyboards used are dedicated weighted piano, Hammmond B3 clone, Synth controlling laptop with virtual keyboard I use for custom FX, and two utility boards for synth, strings etc. ) You can usually daisy-chain up to three midi units together without an audible delay. Off the top of my head I think delay per midi daisy chain “through” is around 3-7 milliseconds. Audible delay usually occurs somewhere around 20 milliseconds for most people. So, you can hook up to three units together before you reach a delay that’s audible. Do you need to link together more than three modules per board?

Hope that helps. We’re just starting to rehearse our production, so let me know if you have any super-duper secret insider tips or errata info on the scores.
Conrad