Cellist Mika Larson (center) with members of Street Symphony at the debut performance of “Pasadena Right Here Right Now.” [Eddie Rivera/Pasadena Now]
The film captures the band’s June 6 debut at the Crown Theatre at Crown City Dance. Mark, ever industrious, edited the footage himself, cutting only the dead air, he said, so what remains is the night as it happened: 11 songs over an hour and three minutes.
The turnout surprised its creators. About 250 people RSVP’d, a number Mark said rarely translates into actual attendance. This time it did, and the room was full.
“I know that the venue was not expecting it, that’s for sure,” he said, sitting with his wife and bandmate, cellist Mika Larson at their East Pasadena home.
The night had its complications. Mark performed seated because of a leg injury, and Mika arrived straight from a daylong video shoot. The show started a few minutes late, and Mark said he didn’t feel as prepared as he wanted.
The recording surprised him anyway.
“I’ve been playing for 25 years in this town and not once have I heard a live recording where I’m like, ‘we should put that out,’” he said. “This is the first time.”
He credits much of the sound to the string quartet, which paired Larson with three musicians from Street Symphony, the nonprofit founded by violinist Vijay Gupta.
Video was a late decision, Mark recalled. A friend who often works with Larson brought two cameras, and Larson ran another. Mark then spent a few weeks editing the footage and mixing the music around his schedule.
The band came together the way the songs did, from the neighborhood. Mark met the bass player when both of their bands played the Buccaneer on the same night, and found his second guitarist watching that player’s band at the Old Town Pub.
The project was funded in part through a City of Pasadena individual artist grant, and though those obligations are complete, the work continues anyway. The band has since played selections at Urban Homestead, and Mark is also planning an event with Pasadena City College students, possibly built around a science fiction role-play situation in which travelers from the future and the past take questions about life in Pasadena. In November, he is hosting an informal gathering of this cycle’s individual grant recipients.
Mark also sent the song “Center of the Universe” to Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, who responded with talk of turning it into a city anthem, mariachis included, of course.
Next on the calendar is Friday night, September 25, when the album comes out on the usual online outlets, and the band plays Fables and Fancies, the Sierra Madre bookstore, in what Mark is calling an informal record release. It is the shop’s first music night, as well.
Mark hopes to finish new material by the end of the year, filling in the plot the current songs leave largely unspoken, with a possible Neighbor Day showing in late January.
More information on the rock opera is available at russellmarkmusic.com/pasadena.
