02006-08-16 | Environment, Home
About a year ago I called Dish Network and changed my account to local TV channels only – for $5.95/month. Today I called them and cancelled the account altogether. It took a little while and many offers were made, but I kept telling the account specialist that the Dish Network provides a fine service and that the lack of content was the reason I was cancelling my account – well, that and the fact that I can’t subscribe to a single channel for a certain time, say a month or two…
I think TV is making the same mistake the music biz made. While the industry was finalizing the high-end audio delivery via DVD Audio discs, people quickly chose mp3 players for their portability and ease… and I can’t imagine people going nuts over the new hi-def TVs, because hi-def shit is still shit, n’est pas! A dirty paperback that contains a great novel will ALWAYS trump a pristine hardcover with an inferior story.
02006-07-31 | Home, Santa Fe, Touring, Travel
I arrive home at 1:30AM on Sunday Morning. We hired a van to drive us tired lot from Albuquerque airport to Santa Fe and the driver almost take out the piñon in the middle of my driveway. I almost offer to turn the van around for him, but he manages in the end.
The ground is wet and everything looks Santa Fe-lush, which is not Hawaii-lush or Seattle-lush, but a wonderful sight in any case. Some locals claim that if the Santa Fe Monsoon lasts into August we will have a good Winter ahead of us – meaning we will get a good amount of snow.
I was dead tired on the plane from LAX, but now I am home and the tiredness has evaporated. I stay up until almost 5AM. A few hours of sleep and up again at 9AM.
02006-07-06 | Home, Musings, Reading, Santa Fe, Travel
Woke up to the sounds of hard rain around 3AM. Got up and checked windows (and ceilings) for water-entry. Went back to sleep for a couple of hours and awoke to a day wrapped in gray. Above photo was taken a little after 5AM. Water filling the metal Rain-Catcher, long exposure and hand-held. Made tea and perused a new book called Basho’s Journey, about the prose written by Basho. Basho means Banana… It stopped raining by 8AM, but sand had turned to slippery mud by the garage and I lost my footing while carrying stuff and went down hard on my left arm. After pouring half a bottle of Peroxide on the scrapes I MacGyvered a bandaid using a large non-stick pad and pieces of gaffer tape – 1001 uses.
I was thinking about Gary Snyder’s words. I want it both! I want to be able to reach far away places quickly and with ease, and I also want to be able to walk on a path to experience the nearby world with my body… I am looking into walking the Continental Divide Trail.
This evening: packing and phone interviews with journalists in New Zealand. I was just about to stuff five photocopied pages of maqams (arabic music scales) into my laptop bag – something to work on while I am in Australia – when I thought hm… maybe not. They have western music notation at the top, but below are lots of handwritten arabic notes.
02006-07-05 | Home, Musings, Ottmar, Recording, Santa Fe
Good morning! Another lovely rain during the night. Woke up around three and listened to the soft and steady drops… Some locals say: if the Santa Fe Monsoon happens in June and July – it means very little snow the following winter, but if it happens July and August – good snow… this monsoon season started during the last week of June.
Birds are nesting on a beam right by the entrance to my house. I have been using the garage to get in and out so as to not disturb the little couple. A few years ago I hung a cute little bird-house on the other side of the house, where the nesting would not be disturbed and where little birds learning to fly could land on dirt. But no, for a couple of years birds nested inside the awning right above a concrete terrace, and now they are on the beam above the door and above flagstone… I need a bird-whisperer!
This Onymyrrhe nail fortifier and strengthener is amazing – see earlier post… downside – and there is a downside to everything – is that I have to shape the nails of my right hand every day, because they grow faster…
Speaking of downside… I found this from Ken Wilber very illuminating:
The Shadow Series. Part 1: How to Spot the Shadow.
Here is a chapter from No Boundary, which contains some very practical suggestions and exercises for spotting and re-owning one’s shadow. Click here for the chapter in pdf form. This is only one of many ways that an individual can begin to confront and deal with shadow material, if he or she so wishes.
Ah, moving from nail fortifier to shadow in 2 seconds…
Today: a couple of meetings regarding Stephen Duros’ new album Thira, followed by lunch with Michael and then getting ready for my flight to Australia on Friday (practicing guitar, burning pre-show and intermission CDs etc…)
Stephen has mixed his album, Jon is mastering it in his studio, and Michael Motley will get started on the album cover while we are in Australia. I think we are looking at a late September or early October release for both Thira and Transit 2.
Oh yeah, added a few more dates to the August schedule, with one or two still in the works. And when we come back from that little tour we are set to record with Rahim and Barrett – see earlier post. There is talk of a bona-fide rockstar joining us on this album… Methinks we need a good name for the group…
02006-06-30 | Home, Photos, Santa Fe
Monday I realized that we had not sent any of our black OL baseball caps to my dad in Austria. He designed the OL logo many years ago – fifties? sixties? – and we quickly corrected that. Soon he will be able to walk to the local pub in style. Tuesday we finalized the artwork for One Guitar and in the evening I did 2 hours of phone interviews with Australian media. Wednesday morning everything (music-master, CD-R with layout and design, printouts, mock-up, completed and signed forms etc…) was overnighted to the manufacturer. There is hope that we might have the new CDs in time for our little August run, but it’s a very slight hope. Then I had lunch with Jon on the patio of Aqua Santa to celebrate his birthday. The strange clouds (see above photo) passed by my house yesterday.
