Miranda
Check out Stephen Duros, playing his song Miranda in duet with Jason McGuire:
You can find the original album version in the LL and where downloads are sold – iTunes, Amazon etc.
For bookings contact Stephen.
Reading
I am already on the third installment of John Burdett’s Bangkok series, a book called Bangkok Haunts – I am reading the Kindle version on the free Kindle for iPhone application. In what seems to me typical Thai fashion the book is able to move effortlessly between violence, sex and spirituality. Here is a snippet from a conversation between the main character of the book, a cop in Krung Thep, and a monk:
Saved? There is nothing to save, my friend. You cannot caste yourself into the Unknowable in the hope that gesture will buy you salvation – you have to jump for the hell of it. In a nirvanic universe there can be no salvation because we are never really lost – or found. The choice is simply between nirvana and ignorance. That is the adult truh the Buddha urges upon us. We are the sum of our burning. No burning, no being.
When I traveled in Asia for a year, a long time ago, I was constantly amazed and delighted by the ability of so many people (((seemed like everybody was able to do that))) to switch from the mundane to the spiritual and back in no time at all. Spirituality is not reserved for a fixed hour per week, but is constantly present and referenced.
Tuesday Music
Still no answer from Bias/Peak, so I used the free Audacity application. Nice application and you can’t beat the price! Highly recommended.
Here is my rough mix of Kites Over the Playa, made right after I recorded my guitar parts – presented here with Matthew’s permission. You can find the final version on Matthew Schoenings beautiful album The Art of Live Looping – available from his website and our ListeningLounge.
You can download the high quality 320kbps file here.
And yes, the title was inspired by Matt’s visit to Burning Man.
Monday Geese
On Saturday morning three inches of snow lay wet and heavy on the table outside, but by the afternoon all had melted. My brother came by and told of wrestling equipment during the snowstorm on Friday, rather large machines called Reformers used in Pilates training that had arrived unexpectedly. I especially enjoyed his description of the sounds around his new Pilates studio:
From my left neighbor I can sometimes hear Yoga-chanting, in the back I hear “Dropping in” and then whosh-whosh (((a room with a half-pipe, dedicated to teaching skating))) and on the right is an aikido studio with people screaming and large bodies falling to the ground…
Yes, I will have to bring my 722 recorder and some microphones to Stefan’s new Pilates studio to record the sounds when I go training there!!!
Poem of the day via Weekly Words of Wisdom:
The Wild Geese
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
– Wendell Berry
My laptop came back from Apple this morning, repaired and empty. I do like the AppleCare service. And thanks to SuperDuper (((the most important software for your Macintosh!))), I have the computer already loaded with all of the junk I need. Unfortunately now I can’t use the Peak Pro application because their stupid authorization is foiled by the fact that it does not recognize the new logicboard. We should sell music this way… the whole world would go crazy!!! No, you can’t play that song, your authorizartion has expired. You have to send us an email and request a new authorization.
The result is that there won’t be Monday music, but hopefully there will be Tuesday music!
Did you know that Federico Garcia Lorca wrote two poems entitled Canción de Jinete?
One is called Canción de Jinete (1860). What does 1860 stand for?
Canción de Jinete(1860) Song of the Rider(1860)
En la luna negra In the black moon
de los bandoleros, of the highwaymen
cantan las espuelas. the spurs sing.
Caballito negro Little black horse
¿Dónde llevas tu jinete muerto? Where are you taking your dead rider?
…Las duras espuelas …The hard spurs
del bandido inmóvil of the motionless bandit
que perdió las riendas. who lost his reins.
Caballito frío. Little cold horse.
¡Qué perfume de flor de cuchillo! What a scent of knife-blossom!
En la luna negra, In the black moon
sangraba el costado bled the mountain-side
de Sierra Morena. of Sierra Morena.
You can find the rest here. The other poem by the same name can be found here. This is a wonderful line:
¡Qué perfume de flor de cuchillo! What a scent of knife-blossom!
What a scent of knife-flower!
You know already that this is the poem that inspired me to name the band Luna Negra, yes?
Winter is back
Winter is back for a day or two and Casa Monte Frio is under 3 inches of white stuff. Piñon branches are bending down in greeting, heavy with wet snow. But it is April and green blades of sturdy Southwest grass are peeking through the sparkling white blanket, which will melt in record time now that the sun glares down from a blue-bue sky.
They say spring has come
and the sky is filled with mist,
Yet on the mountains, no flowers, only snow.
– Ryōkan
