Guitar Circle Journals

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.

I had a post all about self-remembering, but I was so distracted that the post was lost.

The day is family-oriented, and I am contending with illness.

A beautiful Spring day.

Working on chores and then some music, before heading up to Austin with my son and his wife. He is departing for Montreal tomorrow, his vacation is over. I sure will miss him.

They loved Avatar in 3D at the IMAXl, really the best way to go with that movie, it’s astounding.

They return home with us and eat dinner. We spend some time together after eating a delicious vegan meal, and then say our goodbyes. i find this very difficult, but hey whatcha gonna do?

For future reference, and in case useful for anyone else, it takes exactly 38 minutes on foot from Kew Bridge to Richmond Centre, and this time estimate includes one “rest-stop” by the rugby ground. I do not know if, in the absence of continuous heavy rain, the journey would be slightly longer, or shorter.

London is too big. This is why I don’t live here.

Today was quite a day, beginning with completing some work from yesterday, then rushing but managing to do a few minutes guitar before leaving in sunlight to the station. I manage to arrive in Hammersmith at 13h on the dot.

Watkins books, in Cecil Court, is closed. I was going to look for “Koran” by Mohammed, but I’ll have to visit amazon now. With my mother and my aunt, in the heart of the West End… and we are at the Noel Coward theatre for “Enron”. These are amazing productions in theatre land; this one is required viewing I suppose, but at 70 bucks a ticket… you need a good credit line to take the family… and that is where Enron comes in…

After, the oyster bar, also very good fun.

I then have to depart early for the 2nd installment of … London Pagode Club. Actually, I think we shall have to begin calling it “Box of Samba” because… as last time also, there is no mic stand, and we must fashion one by poking a hole in a card board box and putting a microphone in the hole. This is, you will agree, utterly daft. Yet… we have no mic stands.

A funny night, with some very good moments, as well as a large number of people contributing very little and extracting very much. But we hold the line. Tonight I would count 4 players plus myself who made it go, with another 3 who sometimes made it go… and sometimes sent it to sleep; and two people who were actually destructive. In attendance, a Polish crafty and his date; he didn’t play. There is an NST method for this music I say to him, half lying… for it is under construction really, would be more true to say.

I play solid from 21h to 23h45, with no break.

What I don’t like about the Shaftesbury Tavern: it’s too far away; upon completion I have to pack up and split if there is to be any chance of getting on a Westbound District Line train; no soundsystem = no break = while everyone else is dancing to the music THAT WE ARE PLAYING… we are landlocked! Well, that is ok, though, actually, hmmm… would have been nice to do the rounds.

Getting there was complicated. Leicester Square station is teeming with saturday night lemmings, of which i am one, and i have a lemming bag as well. Archway is closed, so I get the Picadilly line to Finsbury Park. The corridors in the station are gridlocked with people, the trains are all full. If this is always like this, then London is grinding to a standstill. The train is sardine training camp.
Finsbury Park, and no real sign of which exit to take, etc. The bus I need, the 210, is to befound dark and lifeless. One of the other customers waiting (in the rain) says the driver has diorhea and went to the toilet. OK, more info than we need, but explains the dead bus. He comes back. Gets in the bus, closes the door, and starts texting on his iphone. Finally opens the door. I have a problem with not enough money on my card and no change to buy a single ticket… he tells me to get change, indicating he will wait, but no sooner am I off the bus than he zips away. I walk to the gig.

By strange coincidence, another driver, on a different bus, doing the same thing to another customer, 6 hours later at Trafalgar square, enabled me to get a free ride to Kew Bridge. Before that I hitched a lift in a car of 4 samba girls, and that was great, as was walking over Waterloo bridge and checking out the tower and the clock.

Too early this morning: baby awakenings. Now, poorly timed: more baby awakenings. Regardless, the mood is chipper: we are celebrating a major milestone in the soon-to-be-four-year-old’s process: A new level of Level T. Either way, looking at a full metal parent day.

The snow has subsided.

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.

An unexpected visit from my younger son and his wife. We discuss spirituality and politics for most of the morning.

Working in the afternoon on the Job of the Day, which takes about 3 hours, but well worth it in the end; a definite change in the energy.

My brain is still tired from yesterday, and some nights in a row of poor sleep (I feel fine, but am I truly functional?).

Late afternoon and early evening working with music: sarangi and guitar.

Evening with The Wife.

From not enough sleep to not enough speed… the day has been a lesson of failing minimalism. Since I was up to 2 am and beyond, finishing of an oil on cardboard masterwork, and then getting up at the usual time, and later on, or rather right now, sitting in a train that needs to go 170mph to get us to London on time but which is actually doing … well, zero. You get the idea.

And then, suddenly it moves. And my guess is that this internet signal won’t work under the sea.

Unless… Poseidon is on our side!

… but getting serious, and getting to England… Today was non-stop. Lots of things to do at work, and on a list of many things, I ticked most of them, ‘cept for the two that really needed time.

Lunch in the canteen, for social reasons, was probably a mistake. I end up leaving so late that I have a 10 minute turnaround at home to pack and get off to the station.

On the outbound train, a good moment. Followed by a revelation, as I ate the store sanwhiches bought. Ok……..

They don’t bother saying what the cause of the delay is any more… but then again, almost 1000km in under 3 hours (normally), including 22 miles under the busiest shipping channel in the world… are we really going to get upset about 30 minutes late? Perspective, perspective!

I was getting so in to the dervish music on the ipod that I left my fragment of fragments in the seat pocket. It hit me later, and luckily I managed to get the right guy who took me to the next right guy, who got on the walkie-talkie to the other right guy, and lo… some time later (and it wasn’t immediate, but definitely quicker than finding the channel tunnel), the fragment of the fragment came back. By this time the fellows were quite into this “it’s not a book, it’s just part of a book”… whereas in the beginning, they had found the idea unprocessable.

Leaving home I also forgot things… I narrowly avoid disaster twice… my mum’s birthday present, and the Thomas Dolby ticket…. each time going back having locked the door.

This snowstorm kept the forecasters guessing. It parked itself and we awoke to much more snow than anticipated. I spent some time playing, talking, planning birthday parties, catching up with an old friend, working, shoveling and moving cars. I realized that the motor vehicle department was open despite the weather, and determined that the roads were clear enough to go renew my license. I did this with 36 hours remaining before it expired. Now looking ahead to the weekend. In the middle of preparing the kids for bed last night I discovered that one of the doors to the laundry area had broken. A point of maximum stress – how to secure the door so it isn’t in danger of falling on someone, how to fix it, can I fix it, must I replace it….? It may be repairable, but I’ll need to get some supplies. Ah, the drama of home-ownership. Life could certainly be worse.

Yes it is snowing.. The forecast was recently changed from ending at 4:00 PM today to midday tomorrow.

I slept in a bit today.

Rise at 8:30. Shower, Dress Coffee x2

Talk to Bob  a little. We will probably discover that both our days will be a wash from cancellations due to the weather. I still have to go to Bronville to do work.  I called my office and my voice mailbox is full. I still have paperwork to do and need to keep preparing for my taxes.

Out at 9:30. I drive to Motor vehicles in Brewster. I need to get a new drivers license, one because I recently lost mine and two it needs a new address.  Thye were closed due to power outages.

I was also supposed to bring my car up to the dealership to get an estimate for trade in value.  I called a few times and the phones are out. So I guess this will have to wait until monday.

The Robert Trinity:

Yesterday I was talking to someone and something revealed itself. It turns out that the people I look towards for feed back, encouragement and absolute truth ( even if I don’t want to hear it)  Are all named Robert.  So My longest friend is named Robert, My Therapist is named Robert and of Course  Fripp. Now there is a fourth Robert who really influenced how I started to write music. This piece we wrote together ended up on the Seattle Circle CD. When I went out to Seattle they were playing and invited me to be a guest Performer for The Mars Effect.  This piece was initially performed by the original group The Wilsons (the first incarnation was a trio) on A course in Germany.  After our first Performance Robert stated that he would like to hear this piece again.  I said “Sure any time!”  Robert said, ” OK, How about every meal for the rest of the course?”  Guess what?  This would be Robert S Williams. I really miss his influence.  I also have to give writing credit to Jaxie on this piece.  I wrote that funny little lick that every body sings to. Jax then tweaked this a bit and wrote a bass part for the piece.

Because I had extra time home there was another opportunity to practice. This Time I started to work on Standards in OST. I am planing to go back to lessons as I have a need to be an outstanding jazz guitarist before I leave this place.

So I worked on:

I can’t get Started

Meditation

Autumn Leaves

My Romance.

I have one more to start work on which is Blues for Alice. I’m putting this off for now as I have to leave for Bronxville at 1:00.