Guitar Circle Journals

Went out bicycling in the 72ºF weather this morning. The sunrise was beautiful.

A calm practice of doing nothing, in the lying down position due to a back issue.

Going down the to-do list, making good time on it. Guitar practice and recording in the evening, after some time with The Wife watching the end of Kung Fu Panda, which was a lot of fun and got some belly laughs, always a good thing.

Getting dark noticeably earlier tonight.

Friday eve at 11:00 I went on the weather channel to see the forecast for Jackson, NJ. It said fifty percent chance of precipitation.  Sounds safe. I then went on the six flags website and ordered two tickets for Hurricane Harbor.

Saturday morning I went on the weather channel and it said seventy percent chance – ugh.  Well I decided to take the risk. Gaia and I left at 9:00. It was pouring out. Hurricane Harbor by the way is a water sports park.

The drive took longer than it should as we got caught in a traffic jam due to a large accident. A car had fallen over the side of the highway and there were two large trucks with cranes trying to lift it up. It’s still raining. Now amazing as it may seem we get two miles from or destination, it stops raining and the sun comes about and it is eighty degrees.

The gods are on our side today. We get to the park and have a great time. After about four hours they announce they have to close the park early. I go to guest relations to complain and they give us comps to go to Great Adventure. This turned out to be a bonus and we again had a great time. I pushed Gaia to go on some of the more challenging roller coasters.  The great thing about today was that because of the weather threat there were no lines. So the two big roller coasters was the nitro which travels at 85 mph and Batman which is one where you sit with your feel hanging loose. Batman has two 360 loops and three downward spirals. We went on both rides three times. We got home at 10:30PM. I immediately crashed.

Sunday

I hear the Yorktown 12:00 siren go off. OOPS I overslept. I was supposed to pick up Kevin at the train station.  I called Kevin to apologize and would be there as soon as possible.  YGT meting starts at 1:00. After tunnuing and ciculation Alan asks to meet without guitars. Alan discusses where he is at with his relationship with GC and informs us he is going on the Seattle course. He states he was also thinking of participating in the NYGC project that is getting itself in progress. Deepending how this turns out he may give up one of our meetings to follow this, We also discuss about where we think we are and how we might change our meeting format to better address the needs of the group.

The meeting starts and we start our new approach by concentrating on specific parts of pieces, cycling them and then playing the piece. We will no longer play our entire repertoire at these meetings we will focus much more closely on parts and transitions.

I get home from the meeting and practice solo work for an hour. I also took ou my repeater because I decided that at my up coming show I will do some improvs and a few written pieces. It’s been a while since I played with the repeater and need a little more time. I worked on this for about 45.

This morning was tasks. First coffee and a bagel. Then to the bank. I got a phone saying I left my card in the ATM.  I go to the bank and they cant find it. They stop the card as of Sunday and order me a new one on rush. Now I have to go to the teller to take a withdrawal. Go to the post office to mail another sold ebay item. Also ordered a new Protools interface.

Back home to email a few people – one concerning an item that has not arrived at its destination.  I could loose on this one because I forgot to put a tracking number on it

Next dress for work and work from 2:00-6:00. Not sure what the evening holds for me.

The actual day then, is upon us. A strange day, that fades out in the wash and ends in fragments. However, before this, some rather good moments.

And yet… something is missing.

The carnival is missing. Something has been squeezed out of existence here.

We play alright, and the parade is good. Paraìso, behind us, play very well. But the streets are less than crowded, the police running a water system style management game. After the parade, which finished very early, we go out for a stroll into the carnival. No corner djs. No dancing anywhere. Just excess drunkeness, compressed air horns, and a few arguments. This is very very sad. Who would want to come to this? And who could argue now with the people who’d like to get rid of it? It would be very hard to defend this event, from what I saw of it.

And yet, the chance to make a song come alive along a street is not at all common in Europe.

At least the sun was out all day.

It would feel a lot more like NHC if it were sunny and even slightly warm.

After a quick turn across Richmond Green and to the river, and a brunch… then onto the painstakingly slow District Line. At Latimer Road, the usual… only not quite. Whistles and horns blowing, but not so many people, and no trucks and positively autumnal sky and temperatures.

In Maxilla Gdns, arrive for the tamborim workshop: today I learn the piece, but at the same time wreck my arm, having not actually played this type of drum for almost a year. Question: when the thing to be worked on is music (or at least musical, or even just aspiring to be musical) why is it that people find it so easy to talk about it instead of just doing it? This was the work of the morning for me: can I keep my mouth shut and not comment on this fact. More or less…. not. But it seems that if you just go for it, put the music out there, the accompaniment (explanation) if necessary, will come and in style. Whereas, if you work up the explanation in words… the music might never show up.

Altogether a cold day, and one in which, by the time we got the costumes done;.. it seems that the carnival is over.;; Everything shut down by 18h. And the excellent garden party that was on Cambridge Gdns in years gone by, … is a thing of the past. Very disappointing.

The number of young police fellas was impressive. They seem very good, the police… and yet, clueless. There is definitely a move to kill this carnival, a major London event since the 60s. Bit by bit, they are sucking at it’s psychological ROI:

• put the steel drums into hydepark
• shut everything down by 18h even on sunday
• close cambridge gardens (and probably other streets) where local residents used to put up front yard sound systems for dance party in the street
• begin the parade at 9am

Actually… we may hope that this last one will in fact lead to a new life for carnival…. but here, at 23h50 on Sunday… a 6h rise to go to Carnival seems … well slightly odd!

A day off.

Richmond, London., Sun and the sound of scaffolding coming down.

Yesterday, on the Eurostar… listesning to this year’s LSS samba enredo (link expires soon) and actually listening to all the others too (from years gone by… including 2006 which was written by a team including myself and part of a GC AAD project). This year’s (2009) samba is great, some really nice cadences. From the restaurant car, and in the distance… over the horizon, a grouping of buildings approaches, Canary Warf, the City. The city is getting closer. Back in my seat (amidst all the tiring compatriots, how do they do it?) … with the song on the headphones, and entering London. Good times.

… the music from the shop below comes up… the scaffolding continues to come down.

How do you prepare for getting 300 people on the road for a 4 hour parade with an original piece of music and 5 simultaneous choreographies going on?

This is the task of carnival… more news, as it comes.

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With a detour via Southhall we get to Maxilla Gdns… this secret place nestled between the Westway and the Hammersmith and City Line. … And the show is on.

Rehearsals, costume making, and maybe a can of redstripe or two.

News comes in… the float, en route from it’s construction place, encountered high winds on the motorway and many peices flew off….

In the costume making room (bateria) many people from Madrid are sewing, and others. Many comments are made about getting the thread through the eye of needles, and then someone starts going new testament on us, quoting scripture; finally, there is nothing else to do but shift the banjo into NST and play EOTN. From beginning to end, as best I could, on this small instrument.

The fun goes on at Notting Hill…. although it is slightly chilly.

Home not too late.

Dark mood continues, then lifts. Like having a bad cold, in a way. Very odd.

The high temperature is below 100 for the first time since June. This is somehow exciting.

Working on school stuff during the day.

Music in the evening, including 2 hours of recording pieces and pieces of pieces.

We pay our debt with our suffering.

The Notting Hill Carnival, or at least the London Samba School’s effort in it is more and more …. dare I say it, “craft like” every year. Notably… This year’s arrival time on carnival Monday is … can you believe it, 7h45.

In the morning I packed bags, the original plan was to take them all to work with me. When I was done packing them… it was clear that this would be a nightmare, and so the day’s structure changed accordingly.

Good meeting at work, the project advances well this morning.

Later… on the good old 31 to Gare du Nord, my it’s crowded, and am I late, or going to be? The worry, always. Can I put it in my shoe? is that what N says?

Eurostar to London… where it is raining and shining at the same time. Tea, and out to Richmond.

… and a great dinner in the Pizza Express.

Didn’t sleep well. Feeling state is going black. Up at 5:00 to sit in peace a while.

Thunderstorms and a bit of rain during the night.

First day of classes. It all went very well, only due to Help arriving it seems to me. Lots of catching up with colleagues, so not much done other than teaching and catching up.

Counseling session: I leave more depressed than when I came in, but it’s a good thing to see more of what’s going on in there.

Grocery shopping. Home. To bed, after reading a short bit of the Ramayana and prayers out to the needy.

Good wishes sent out to the Kalka family.

Another scorcher today, but the temperature is back down to 100ºF at 6:00p, which seems like a sign of hope. A large water bill arrived today, large due to the watering of the foundation to keep it from cracking.

Working on documents for the upcoming semester. The cat is ill with kidney problems. I feel sad today.

But feelings aren’t facts.