I Was Not There

I was nowhere near the earthquake that is called "Thriller." I was in Saudi Arabia and then Lebanon. When I got back to the states my brother had to describe break dancing to me. I still have trouble understanding the excitement. It's just an album.

Channeling the Big Bands

Here's A Taste of Nate doing a low key cool impression of Louis Armstrong although the band prefers Duke Ellington and I can see that, too. Go back to the lush 40s and hear what it was all about with the 40s Oldies Channel on AOL Radio. Why be chronologically challenged?

Time Waits For Everyone - An Opinion

As I listened to Viggo Mortensen's piano poems, these words came to mind: tentative, exploratory, meditative, dissonant. Like good poems they blend into the time continuum. This music is a comforting backdrop for quiet activities like writing, meditating, laying on your back gazing at the stars, and watching the sun filter through the trees. I am vaguely reminded of Poulenc. There are rhythms that remind me of of Ravel. There is also a thinness (or transparency) in the style of Leon Russell.

These pieces are a quilt of quiet musings. For some reason I got the picture of a lover waiting for his love to wake as he patiently sits in the next room picking out the notes of his affection. I also thought of rain drops sliding down glass or dripping off trees (for example). If you like ambient music, you will like this CD.

i know you're out there somewhere

the secret of your beauty
and the mystery of your soul
i've been searching for in everyone i meet
and the times i've been mistaken
it's impossible to say
and the grass is growing underneath our feet

— The Moody Blues

Where in the world is Bob Dylan?

Proving yet again that I am indeed a drifting outsider, I announce my discovery of Bob on AOL Radio*. I didn't discover AOL Radio very long ago either. But it's really great: XM for free! The quality is excellent. It's like the performers are right here in the room with me. Well, as close as my speakers can get them. Did I mention I hooked up my computer to play through my 1995 stereo? (purchased over six weeks on layaway from Circuit City)

Anyway, back to Bob. He has this weekly show that airs beginning at 6 a.m. ET (this morning - I don't have a schedule, don't hold me to it). The show is "Theme Time Radio Hour." Bob as a dee jay. Wow. Not a thing that crossed my mind in 1969. Or 2007 for that matter. But it's cool. Bob read the Ages of Man from William Shakespeare and then said "Willy the Shake said it all. The rest of the show is just footnotes." Then he proceeded to play songs related to the ages of man from all sorts of genres together with his personal and historical notes. I wish I could offer up some details as illustrations but it's a great show. Believe me. It's nearly over (now playing Neil Young singing "Old Man") and I need to get going so I can get to the jobsite on time for a change. ... after I spread a little weed and feed over the yard.

Here's a juicy fact from Bob: the most common birthday is October 5 because of New Year's Eve. So watch out this New Year's Eve (those of you with the potential).

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* If you scroll down the page you can download an application for your computer which is what I use. It's excellent. Or you can listen online. I haven't tried that. It might be good, too. Oh. And you need an AOL account. Mine is free. I think you can just use one of those free email accounts. Or is AOL totally free now? I don't know. Anyway. Check it out. Definitely worth it.

song of the day

I have discovered Beck. Reminds me of my childhood. Well, of high school anyway. Lovely to be young again.

Timebomb


Current Fads
Listening. Timebomb, Beck and Walls and Bridges, John Lennon; locusts
Watching. Miss Potter (2006)
Activity. home improvement
Gadget. Palm Zire 31
News Source. the default news feeds in Safari
Reading. School Days - Robert B. Parker; Tarot Games - Cait Johnson & Maura D. Shaw; Richmond Times Dispatch - online; GD USA; Fortune (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

beauty or something like it

I'm listening/watching Leonard Bernstein deliver a lecture about "The Poetry of the Earth" in 1992. I picked it up at the library (VHS tape!) to learn something about poetry. And I have. I've also learned something about music and trends across artistic endeavors.

Bernstein breaks down and analyzes the combinations of phrases that make up a composition. Finally, after about 45 minutes, he talked about poetry in relation to music which actually was quite enlightening but also raised my hackles against formula. By breaking down how music and poetry are put together, he constructs a formula for what is appealing or beautiful.

It's okay that formulas are found and used. It's not okay when the formulas become standards—when only creative works that fit the formula are right, okay, acceptable or beautiful. It's interesting to discover how my experience of beauty breaks down and knowing that might even help me find other beautiful things to enjoy. That knowledge also tends to make a box that I then, somehow, feel compelled to live in.

I now recognize that sometimes I search for understanding so that I can have a short cut to creativity. I take the short cut at the risk of losing my own sense of beauty and limiting my creative flow. There is no easy way to manifest art. There's no one right way. Creating is an experience. Experiencing beauty is a subjective act—not something someone can tell you how to do. Nor can someone else tell you what is beautiful.

Beauty, like Truth, may not exist or, if it does, has a purpose that has nothing to do with yardsticks.

My iTunes Purchases

Wow! This is a great widget! Forgot to mention you can choose from three sizes and five color schemes. Love this one. I hope you will, too!

If I had to define my taste, I'd say "eclectic." And you?

My iTunes

Here's a nifty widget from Apple that shows you my iTunes favorites. It seems to be a list of the music I play or have played at least once using iTunes on my machine. Some of the names in small type don't look familiar to me, but I have a lot of tunes. The big, bold names are really the ones I play most often so if you want to know what I like, check those names. I thought I played U2 more often than the size of its name shows, but I realize now that I play them a lot in the car, and that's not reflected in this widget.

Downside? I had to partially break my privacy with the iTunes Store to do this. I had to agree to let Apple access my account but just for this widget. I don't know. I feel a bit squidgey about that but, obviously, not too much to not do it. Anyway, this is a trial. If it works then I'll be making this a regular feature. Let me me know if it makes my page way too long to load.

I'll be testing it myself this weekend when I shut down my machine. We'll see how it works then.

Nice blogger swag, btw.

John Lennon on iTunes!!

Yippee! Plus exclusive videos! I'm checking it all out as soon as I get back from the job.

George is the only hold out now. I guess some grudges die really, really, really hard.

Current Fads
Listening. my alternative library and Memory Almost Full -Paul McCartney; weird shrieking dog noises
Watching. Art Heist (2004)
Activity. changing my diet
Gadget. none!
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. The Dark Endless Tea Time of the Soul - Douglass Adams; The Schwarzbein Principle - Diana Schwarzbein and Nancy Deville; Feeling and Form - Susanne K. Langer; GD USA; MacWorld; Media Week (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

Memory Almost Full

This morning in a TV Interview (an ABC exclusive), Paul was asked about the title of the album being an anagram of "For My Soul Mate LLM." He replied, "Yes. It is." Long pause. "But not one I intended." So there. He's a real practitioner of things meaning whatever you think they mean. As you might already know, he got the title from his cell phone (his message box was almost full).

I've been enjoying the album, DVD and "making of" since yesterday. It's great! There is more unique stuff on the album site (link above). However, the digital insert is a bit of a rip off as it needs to be folded and I am not about to sweat over printing double-sided, cutting and folding. They should have just put the animation into the digital disk instead of the PDF and then put in one page that is a facsimile of the folded cover so you could print and cut that out if you burn an "official" disk. Also missing from the site are a screensaver and a desktop. The screensaver is too much for me but I did make a desktop. Here's a copy for you! It's widescreen so you traditionals will have to adjust. Just click on the image to download.

Naturally I was going to do a real review but instead I'll list my favorite songs: Dance Tonight (should have named it The Mandolin Song), Ever Preset Past, You Tell Me, Vintage Clothes, That Was Me, House of Wax. I don't like Gratitude. It's corny and thin. And I don't like See Your Sunshine. It doesn't sound true somehow.

Don't get me wrong, this album is a real tour de force of McCartney's talent. He can write a song about anything. This album is well worth owning.

Added 6/8: Having written all that, I must add that the two tracks I like the best are from the 2 CD version: In Private and 222. Both are free flowing and fresh. In Private is a collection of syncopated loops synthesized into a sort of strolling flow. There's something Palestrina about it as if Palestrina would make something almost like this if he were composing today. 222 is a sort of continuation of In Private except that now there's a destination for the strolling and it's more like jazz than motets. Reminds me of Soft Machine. In between (trackwise) is Why So Blue which some fans think makes the three tracks a medley. It makes the three tracks a modern rock/pop symphony, if that's what it is. But Why So Blue doesn't seem to fit. It's almost like a pause or interruption. But then I haven't studied classical composition so that may be right on. Anyway, get the 2 CD version. It's worth it.

Paul!

I just pre-ordered Paul's new album through iTunes and I'm 14 all over again! And he also makes great music. I still remember holding my first 45 with "She Loves You" on it. I'd still have it, too, if someone hadn't lifted it (and the whole book where I kept my 45s). Unlike others, I didn't have a favorite Beatle. I loved them all. And I was right. They are all great.

Song of the Day: Ever Present Past



Two down, two to go.

Nicky Holland

Whatever happened to this woman? Some day I'll have to do some research and find out.

Song of the Night: Tongue-tied and Twisted, Nicky Holland.

In the meantime, I'm plunging back into Joan Hess with Poisoned Pins. Why aren't more of her novels available? I've been reduced to driving 30 mintues to the far west end to get the ones I haven't read.

Waiting for me is The Prophecy (a movie from 1995). Blockbuster! Never be without a movie!

Although I have been productive today, taking a 2 hour hike with Pip and weeding for an hour, I have also successfully avoided doing any editing on my novel whatsoever. I did empty some stuff off of my thumb drive and saw that the file is still there. Oh well.

Okay, okay. Here's my favorite poem from Coincidence of Memory, by Viggo Mortensen:
Castro's
Am I as gone as October
at this table, two
from the one we talked
at for hours of plans
for summer and rivers,
where I marveled at
the new mystery just
inches of white linen
away?

You are still present,
dressed warmer than
necessary, tame enough
to be understood, to
say that you too are
curious about how
we might go places.
The waiter looms,
inadvertently breaking
the news that you're
really back home, perhaps
in a relieved apron state
that may fit you just fine,
for all I ever knew.
(2000-02)

Half-Price Sale at Perceval Press!

If you've ever wanted a piece of Viggo or other artists that he thinks are cool, now is the time to buy. Get fine art for as low as $3.50 (Just Another War, Exene Cervenka "soft cover")! Such a deal! There were free t-shirts but they are gone now. Sale ends June 17th!

A Classical Gap

Yes, there has been a gap in my classical music education. This isn't the first I've known of it. I fell into the gap years ago listening to Debussy and Ravel while studying in the library at George Mason University. I sat in a carrel with huge earphones clamped to my head and lost track of space and time watching the sun shine intermittently through the multi-story glass wall into my eyes while a part of me that I barely new existed went to places off the map. Brilliant.

Today's gap discovery is Poulenc, Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, a french composer with serious breadth and depth, who's music has taken me there again. iTunes is full of versions of his work, so you can sample plenty of them. I purchased the "Song of the Night" there because it seemed like a nice play on themes (Poulenc was tagged as "half bad boy, half monk") and it will fit in nicely into my "Sunday Morning" playlist. So, that's a start. Actually, I started with an Ogg Vorbis file from wikipedia (Capriccio) but you need a third party player (try Audacity). Now I'm going to find an album, or at least a small flock of pieces, of real Poulenc and for a little while magic will live again.

Monk Meets Poulenc (medley)

Punk/Metal with Hank

Another happy thing has plopped into my life. It's WBAR, the college station of Barnard College. I've been trying to catch Hank on Sundays for some time but I've always seem to have Sunday noon covered and totally forget about WBAR. Today I hit it. I'm putting decorative film on the bedroom window and WBAR is a great distraction.

Hank's show interests me because it's a sort of essay on Punk/Metal rock and I've never really fully appreciated this particular genre. However, listening to the show I discovered that I do have a bit of understanding as I like the Cars and they were (according to Hank) a punk group. I also like the Sex Pistols but I can't say I really understand them.

So far I've enjoyed Eddie and the Hotrods "Do what you wanna do" and Syd Barrett "Two of a Kind." Great show. Go listen. Chuck Barry is doing the "My Ding A Ling" sing along.

I promise to listen to other shows as they will fit more easily into my schedule and I totally believe that the college radio needs a place to be. Every college must have a radio staion. Must.

I used to get my musical updates from my own college students but sadly they've all moved out. So, kids, feel free to mail me a list of your lastest favorites. You know how to reach me. :-)

Music Monopoly - Liberate the Music!

I wandered over to Apple and discovered a link on the home page to an essay by Steve Jobs on music. He makes many good points. Among them

• iPod users are not locked into buying their music from the Apple iTunes Store,
• billions of CDs are sold by the major music companies (who control 70% of the music) every year with absolutely no protection at all, and
• DRM (Digital Rights Management) has primarily created an international game with cryptographers creating increasingly difficult locks that uncrytpers (primarily thieves) keep trying (sometimes successfully) to break.

Steve's recommendation:

Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat.

Great decision! If you'd like to know more about his argument then hie thee to the link. I'm a sucker for great writing, facts and consistent logic. If you are too, you will find reading the essay time well spent.

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it. – John Lennon

it took a long time to get back here

"can't sell your soul for piece of mind ... my slate is clear. rest your head on me my dear. took a world of troubles. took a world of care to get back here."
Song of the Day:
Square One
In a word: morose. Feeling strongly the pull of the great wide open. Yearning to sell up everything, invest in an iMac (or possibly a Macbook Pro) and an Airstream Bambi or Basecamp and hit the road. Can you stop me?

Song of the Day: Both Sides Now

This comes to mind after wandering in Barnes and Noble for two hours, sitting in the coffee bar drinking Peppermint Mocha and reading love poems. The old year is wheezing to an end full of things that gone good-bye and also full of things that have said hello. Maybe Tim Buckley is more appropriate?

i have faith

that it will all work out for the best. Machiavelli be damned.

Song of the Night: Song for a Winter's Night

Lyrics

answers to v.m. - 102306

v.m. has posted some questions at Perceval Press, which I have the audacity to answer here.

Q: Do we have a relationship to anything that we do not immediately perceive?
A: Yes. We have creative imagination and memory to construct and reconstruct things. We also have relationships to things we do not perceive. This is unawareness.

Q: And in that moment of perception, do we remain ourselves, or do we, rather, become the connection itself, purely the vantage point we have in a given instant?
A: Both. Quantum mechanics teaches us that we change the thing we perceive. Surely the thing perceived changes us as well. The universe is a dialogue, not a static mirror. A connection entails at least two vantage points and the flow of the common perception(s) between them. We are the connection and the vantage point. How can we separate this? Should we? We are not only what we see, we are also all the things we have ever seen and what we were before we began seeing, which can be transformed by the seeing. We are also everything we have ever experienced and what we were before we began experiencing. Perception flows. Can we also be everything we have the potential to see and experience?

Q: Maybe the why, where, or when of things is irrelevant; only the what matters. Can we forget difference or desire that separates us and leaves us longing or repelled?
A: Perhaps, but if we forget that which separates us then we also forget that which connects us. If we forget our differences and desires we forget who we are. To what purpose? Being who we are is all there is. Longing or repulsion are not bad of themselves. It is what we transform them into and how we judge them that makes the snare.

Other solutions? Let me know.