Guitar Circle Journals

Today was the second long day in a row. Todays workday was 9:30 – 10:15.  I keep getting new calls.

I finally got my new car. Good ridens to my audi. My new car is so much better and cost $10,000.00 less than the Audi.

(new ride)

The curves continue but I am handling things better.  Recently I bought tickets to see Dion. I have never seen him and heard him on a few interviews with an acoustic guitar. He’s a monster.

So the last few days I have been setting the alarm on my iph0ne and then leaving it in mute so I never heard it . I went out and invested in an alarm clock that has a space for an ipod. I set it once and t did not work. Time yo read the instructions.

Today was another good day. I asked YGT sto start our rehearsal early as I was going to spend time with Gaia and celebrate my Birthday.

We started our rehearsal and ran to 2:00.  We worked on Inside the Insides and foe some reason we were having a problem with it . We worked on this a while and then dropped it for today. We then worked on Roiling and The Reprieve. After a break we put together a set list for next saturday ad ran the set.  Rehearsal ends at 2:00.

Gaia had come over early. We sat and she gave me her presents, and then had birthday cake. Gaia told me that she made the cake and that Rena helped her decorate the cake. Te cake was a yummy banana cake filled with fruit filling  - yum.  We then went to the movies to see the wimpy kid, A very funny movie.  Next we went to Il Forno Restaurant. Gaia had Ravioli and I had a linguini with mussels, clams and lobster – excellent. Then dessert. A great dinner.  Back to our home to hang out for another hour and then took Gaia home at 9:00.

A great day.

It is now 2:06 AM

Today was my Birthday. All day I received phone calls, emails, e-cards and facebook postings wishing me a Happy Birthday. Thank you all.

I also believe I share a birthday with Terry & Stephanie’s newest child? Happy Birthday!

The night before I had an interesting incident. I had to go out at 12:00 AM. I left the place with only my rental car key. When I returned I realized I left my home keys in the apartment. So I slept in the van. At 3:00 AM I woke up freezing. It was 28 degrees out. I had no gas so I went to the gas station to fill up. I got back home and turn on the van and left it running to get heat. At 7:10 AM I woke up. I rang my landlords bell ( he gets up very early) I explained what happened. He said, “You don’t have to explain anything come on in.” I told him it was my Birthday and he wished me a Happy Birthday. He let me in my apartment and said, ” I want to tell you something.” I said, “What?”  He said, “You are the most honorable man I have ever met. You are the best tenant we have ever had. We are so happy you are here.” WOW! Very humbling.

Today was also the longest work day I have ever had. I worked from 9:00 AM to 1:00 AM.  I had to catch up on work I was letting go. I was so busy that I only ate a corn muffin with coffee in the morning, A partial scone for lunch and then juiced up on two quadruple  shot Iced espressos to keep me going. All of the sessions today were outstanding.

Currently I have a rent a car again as my car has had three bang ups in two weeks. ug.

I also found out about a new treatment that might help my twin brother. I have agreed to pay for the treatment and he will pay me back as he can. The treatment costs $10,000.00.  There are also some companies I am looking into that will loan you the money for this particular treatment at a lower rate than the banks. We will see how this plays out.

I also did not want to leave this journal with what may have appeared to be a sour puss. If this page comes back down the road, I’ll be here.

Today I confirmed a performance for The Yorktown Guitar Trio in New Paltz, NY on March 27th.  This is a debut of all our new material.  Thank you Trevor. I am very excited to go out to play this material.

My life continues to move forward in between the hard stuff. My private practice is exploding. I am now starting to schedule patients at 10:00 PM as I have no other times available. What a Blessing this is.

I have been listening to tons of music everyday:

Emily Remler

Coltraine

Radiohead

Tom Waits

Zappa

Gentle Giant

Elbow

Dirty Projectors ( This one I cannot stop listening to. I listen to it everyday)

I continue to work on Jazz Standards and YGT material.

I also bought a new old guitar. I got a great deal on a ’67 Gibson SG with a cracked Headstock. I know a guy who can fix this for a reasonable price. It does not come with a case so I have to buy one of these. I want a Gibson Case. Down the road as I make more money I plan to buy an ES-335 and a triple pickup Black Les Paul.  I have looked at the Heritage line of guitars as well. These are all the Gibson Kalamazoo guys that did not want to move to Tennessee when Gibson moved so they started their own company. They make the exact  same line up as Gibson Guitars and a few new designs. Some say they are better than Gibson’s.

Well it is 3:01 AM and I have to get up at 7:00 AM.  Better go now.

Today I have decided to make this my last post for now.  I have gone back and deleted certain postings as I have come to realize that although some of the things I truly believe in, the delivery was way off.  I have in fact harmed some people and not realized it until today. I have jeopardized my  relationship with Robert and may have closed a door that might not open again. This was stupid on my part and I am now feeling terrible that I did this.  This was my fault.  A lot is due to misinterpretation and trying to control rage which appears that I have not and  been blind to.  I think an apology will not work at this time. Maybe time might allow me to reconnect with him at some point. This is a big loss. This also comes under the heading of I take things too personally and this distorts the reality of life and IHow I respond to it.

I have to thank all the people who have pushed on me incessantly to try and wake me up. I am just starting to wake up.

Thanks to: Bob Hansmann, Robert Fripp, Jaxie Binder, Tim Butler, Tony Geballe, Alan Neidorf, Kevin Pffeifer, Tom Redmond, Patrick Smith, Peter Legowski, Robert Berger, Marcia Gleason, Ken Lawton

There are others and I thank them as well.

Rise at 8:30.  coffee.

Practice four Jazz Standards.  Work on YGT material for upcoming performance.

A great day with my daughter in NYC. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Indian dinner and a visit with a friend in Tribeca.

No Post yesterday as my day ran from 8:00 AMto 11:00PM non stop. I crashed.

This morningI slept in until 8:30. Did a lot of paper work and errands. Got back home at 2:00 and decided to take a one hour nap. I took two hours. Yesterday caught up with me. Work starts at 4:00 and ends at 9:20.

Got the new peter gabriel album int the mail.

Out by 8:30 for personal meeting.  A calmer meeting.

Bronxville by 10:30.  I print out all the insurance forms for the month of Feb. Sign them all and start to print envelopes.

A cancellation allows me to home to pick up a space heater for the office.

Also stop at the pharmacy.

Back to Bronxville and work until 8:00.

Things are brewing. I have to write a final rebuttal of an email. I think I closed the door this time. Good. A new one a new one will open.

Got home and all my Gentle Giant CD’s Arrived. I started with Interview.

Rise at 7:30.

Shower, dress coffee and out by 8:10.

I drive to motor vehicles and replaced my drivers licensee that I lost a few days ago.  I for got to ask St. Anthony about this one.

Next I go to the ATM and then to have my car washed.

Next the body shop. Bob comes out and says, Hate to be the bearer of bad news but this time it’s over $2000.00 damage.

Home to Call my insurance company. I was able to make an appointment today where they will inspect the car, take in for repair and have a rental car waiting for me. This great one stop shopping. Not only that but my insurance company will guarantee the work on the car for life.

I have about 1.5 hours before the appointment so I will practice.

This morning I confirmed my attendance to the New York Guitar Circle meeting for Saturday.

Work starts at 2: and ends at 9:00.  Good sessions today.

Got home this morning at 10:00AM.  A good evening last night went to a play and stayed at a friends.

Home and make coffee. I was smart to set up the room for today’s rehearsal last night before I left. Everything was working fine except I could not get a signal from the microphone. I’ll look into this for the next rehearsal.

Today we worked on two of the pieces we needed to complete in terms of knowing the form. When we started Roiling,  I told the group that I had been practicing the opening main theme and that while practicing I made a mistake. I accidentally added an extra note but thought it was a variable to be considered. I played what happened and the group embraced this. I presented what I thought would be a good way to use this. We try it a few times and Alan makes another suggestion using the “less is more” model. This sounds and works out better. This one note shift really makes an interesting difference so this part has been modified by only one note but  we only play this a few times. We run through this piece a number of times.

Next out to the blazer pub for lunch. Good conversation about a recent email I received and other musical events.

Back home we work on Inside the Insides. As we are playing I forget one of my parts. Another one of those I wrote it but can’t remember it. When I do find it,  Alan has an issue with one of the chords claiming he feels it sounds too dissonant. I jokingly said I was just going for a Schoenberg  quote. This part is already out of the tonality of the other two guitarists. I play a little and Kevin suggests one alternate chord. This seems to work so I’ll go with this. I have to now adjust the length of this part. This will be personal work.  We also took some time to discuss where we are headed regarding recording this music and moving on to new work. Alan says he has some new Ideas and I recently sent the group two new things I have.

After the meeting I drive Kevin home and we go out to dinner. Kevin continually recommends these asian restaurants in Flushing and I wanted to try one. He took me to this all vegetarian place that made dishes like faux chicken pork & fish. Amazing tasting food, Could not tell it was vegetarian. We also went out to talk about some specific things. A good conversation.

Home by 8:30. I  call my sister, my brother and a friend.

When I looked through my email I recieved an invitation to go to  a performance on March 26th in Italy for Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists.  Tempting.

I also got an invite to go and play either solo or with the trio on March 27th.

A good day.

Well it is Saturday morning at about 7:45 AM.  The day is mine but not really. I am kind of booked until 12:00 AM.

So, I have been loosing  important things lately and have no idea where they are. I have lost medication, prescriptions, checks and payments from my patients, CD’s that  I brought home from Italy.   Someone gave me a chant to help Find these things:

Dear Saint Anthony, Please Come Around. Something is Lost and Cannot be Found.

Once you find the item you must Thank St. Anthony. This is an Italian Roman Catholic thing. I am still connected to this in some way.

So I have to try to go to motor vehicles again.

Yesterday I hit a patch of snow on the highway my car started spinning right and left. I hit a snow bank and did damage to my car. The timing on this one stinks as I am trying to sell my car since I bought a new one.

I was supposed to go to the car dealership today but this is now a moot point.

I have to make a bank deposit.

I have a new piece of furniture that I want to assemble – It should take about 2 hours from looking at the instructions.

I then have a date and sleep over in NYC. I am going to a play.

I also realized that there was one day of my Italy journal that I never posted. It was the last day and worth bringing forth now.

When traveling home from the airport I noticed that there was a town named Palestrina. I thought I wonder if there is a birthplace house. We went on the web and that there is. So We went on Saturday morning. This is a wonderful town that dates back to the early 1500′s. Very narrow cobble stone roads. This is a very busy town.

We get to the birthplace and we are looking around. There is a man standing on top of the stairs. We ask if there is a guide. He said I can guide you. So Franco and I had a personal tour. I had taken many notes about the history but when I returned to NY this paper was missing.  So the history starts at 1547 when the foundation of the building  is built.  We get a great history of the family development, Palestrina’s work in different towns and how he eventually becomes the choir director at the Vatican one of the highest positions one can attain in Music.

I then asked if there were any original scores that could be viewed. He said, ” Oh yes on the third floor, Let’s go.”  Up to the third floor there is a case with two scores dating back to 1560.  I asked the guide if he would consider a favor?  He asked what I wanted. I asked if could slide the glass over so I could take a picture without glass reflection.  He thought about and said OK . He starts to open the case while I am preparing my Camera.  He then looks at me and smiles and he says, “Here I trust you. You can look at it.”  So he hands me this document. I am stunned . I am holding an actual document from 1560 in my hands. He let me thumb through it and take as many pictures as i wanted. This was a watershed moment in my life. Talk about a connection to history.

Now, Back to St. Anthony for a second. It works, but not the way one would expect. I have been doing this chant for the past three days and a few times last week. This morning I found some checks I asked about two days ago and then I found some prescriptions I asked about last week.  I also realized that the medication I was looking for had ran out. I was able to get a refill.  Thank you St. Anthony!

So I decide to start putting the new cabinet together. The music for this event includes: Rickie Lee Jones Balm in Gilead on CD and Radiohead’s OK Computer on vinyl. This is a double Album.  There was one song I was very familiar with and never knew it was Radiohead. I think it was called Karma Police.

So the construction continues  until I realize there are three pieces missing. So I put everything that has been assembled in my hall and then called the company that sold the item to me to report the missing pieces.

My day is starting to open a little as some tasks I can’t take care of partially due to weather and other place (DMV) are not open.. I think I’ll start work on Blues for Alice and review the other four pieces.