glitch25

So how are you?

We're managing. Learning to live this new reality we all have where being a home is the preference most of the time.

Just as the writing on the wall was starting to appear, we took the opportunity to excavate what was supposed to be a home office that was still housing many unpacked boxes, and we got in into shape very quickly. I've been pretty happy about that. Most of the house has been home full time. I am required to be at work periodically due to the nature of my job, and another roommate is working retail. We'll see with the latest hunker down order if her stores stay open.

Last night, we got the official order from the Governor to stay home. It sounds like non-essential businesses would be asked to close. We had mostly been doing that already, so it feels like less of a change. We're trying to help local restaurants out with the more than occasional take-out order as we can. I'm sure it's not much, but hopefully it helps some.

Grocery shopping hasn't been too bad so far. Most of the things we need we've been able to find besides toilet paper, though even for that, we managed to get a pack recently by hitting the restock at the right time. I have realized that we do need to do a better job of thinking about storage in the pantry and looking towards more long-term needs. My inner prepper has been ashamed of me, and I need to lean into my dalliance with Mormonism and get us in a better spot soon. People in the shops seem to be doing a good job of keeping apart. We all look a little shell-shocked both from the situation and the fact that the store looks like snow day x100. I imagine that will continue to be the sitch for a while.

I'm told that the rumor is that at least our state will reach peak around April 7th. Should be interesting what that ends up looking like. Numb-nuts is saying he wants the country to be back to normal the following weekend. Yeah.. fuck him. People of all political affiliations that have been more sensible still haven't gotten it through their thick heads what it is going to take to oust him. So he won't be. People will die and worse will come, and the followers that enable him will proudly stand on their beliefs as they burn to death. Folks don't know what to do with that.

I know the extroverts of the family have been having a time of it. Thankfully, technology has helped some with that with various virtual meetups and gatherings. I even reinstalled Marco Polo myself to send along some video messages to folks. I don't need the social interaction nearly as much, but even I have noticed that I need more than I've been getting. It's interesting. I imagine we learn a lot about ourselves in a crisis.

Beyond all that, I'm getting an amazing amount of stuff done at home. And not just work. :-) My closet has had boxes of unpacked clothes and other soft goods that we hadn't worked where to put, so I got them unpacked, washed, folded, and now finding out what we're keeping and what we're donating. I've dug fairly deep into my clothes and have sorted out the stuff I probably will never wear again, and got it ready to donate. The floor of my closet, formerly filled with boxes and in some cases miscellaneous clothes is now completely visible. I'm also getting ready to put up two new pan hanging racks in the kitchen that we've desperately needed. I've been working on some house related technology projects. And I did the last-freeze rose pruning, and I weeded the front flower bed and got my daisies ready to shine. And I'm pleased to note that the lilies I planted last year are coming back as well as the mixed columbine. Hoping to see good things this year in that bed, and we have plans to clear out the south shade bed, and I've got plans for that one too. The one thing that has been obvious about nature lately is that Spring stops for no-one and no thing. The cherry trees have been going crazy and everything else is shooting up. Looking forward to seeing things continue.

Musically, I've been getting in practice time with my bass nearly every day. My wrist had finally healed enough that I need to make some time for piano too. I recently picked up Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas sheet music book, and hope to have one or two under my belt and memorized the next time around. I have some other fun stuff to do, and I hope to make some time to for a little free form composition and playful time.

Beyond that, just doing what we can to keep moving and carrying on. Hope you and yours are doing well. Hope to see you on the virtual side in the meantime, and please take care of yourselves. *hugs*

Had the lovely opportunity to attend Wintergrass in Bellevue again this year over the weekend. I really enjoy the chance to see new-to-me acts and spend some time steeping in both the Bluegrass tradition as well as music that is adjacent. Wintergrass has always been good about bringing in diverse music that gently or not so gently rubs up against Bluegrass to the festival, and it has been a fun jumping off point to discover new music.

One of the things I've come to realize about how I perceive and enjoy music is that most of the time, unless for some reason it has been brought to my attention otherwise, I interact with music through its rhythm and beat. I live in the rhythm section. This fact has impacted me a bit with regards to my choices of instruments to play music. :-)

One of the consequences of this is that most of the time, it takes a long time for lyrics to penetrate and for me to appreciate the song lyrically. And I can say with regards to popular music, there are times when the lyrics don't penetrate at all. This is how I justiy having the "Humpty Dance" on one of my go-to playlists. Love the beat and structure, and I don't really pay attention to the lyrics.. which is both good and bad. I find this happens with several songs with questionable lyrics, and I think I decided that my solution to that problem, if I am really attached to the song, is to find karaoke tracks.

On first hearing of a new song during a live performance, the first verse and chorus are wasted on me. I don't typially even begin engaging the chorus until the 3rd time through. If it grabs me, then I seem to open up to the verses. Amidst all this apparent obliviousness, I'e already broken down the rhythm and meter and am often admiring or even improvising drum and bass fills.

Consequently, I live in a different world than most of my friends and loved ones. Makes it kinda interesting when we go out for music. One of the things I love about music is that we each seem to hae our own way of interacting with it, and when we get together to share it, we collectively bring interesting and diverse perspectives to one another.

How do you take in and interact with music?

It is strange to be in a situation where I both feel too old and yet too young. We decided to head out to see a local hot club band playing up in Lake Forest Park, and one of the things I noticed immediately was that most of the audience is 10 or several more years my senior. For this sort of music, and lots of jazz and other things I go to see, this doesn't necessarily surprise me.

I remember when I went to see the Dave Brubeck quartet when they passed through Albuquerque not quite 30 years ago. I was 18, and most of the audience was at least 40 or 50. It was interesting watching these older guys clutching their vinyl hoping to get an autograph. I found it cool that I was interested in the band at such an age, and I didn't care too much that I didn't know anybody my age that would have appreciated it. We all definitely enjoyed the concert, and we each got our turn meeting Dave back stage. :-)

Along those lines, I noticed that there is a 20-something group here that looks to be having a grand old time dancing and otherwise really enjoying the music. It is fun to watch them, and they also make me feel a little old. Old in that I was too shy and too wound up in my head to have these sorts of experiences when I was that age, and while this old dog can still learn a few new tricks, I feel like I have a lot less disposable time in my life than I did back then. Funny how that is.

Sometime in the future, I think I need to find a dance teacher that will give me some extended one-on-one time. We tried dance lessons at one of those weeknight classes they have at one of the dance studios with a dozen or so people, and while they were ok, they are kinda rushed, and I found it embarrassing to try and dance with a partner (particularly when we'd switch it up beyond the person I came with) when I really didn't have a good grasp of the steps. I felt like I was wasting their class time stumbling through. Maybe ultimately I wasn't, but I remember having a rough time with that part.

Things to plan time to do. :)

Something I do a lot at work, or when I need to kind of shut out the outside world and focus on something specific is pick a piece of music I like and play it on single-track repeat over and over and over and over again.

Typically it is a track with a driving beat. I think that part specifically appeals to my inner metronome. Driving beat, familiar melody. Lyrics and genre are unimportant. I typically don't "hear" the lyrics too much. If I do, they become part of the white noise (probably closer to brown noise knowing my preferences for these things), and I don't generally internalize them.

I have lots of musical tracks that I gravitate towards, and I've started creating a playlist of just those tracks that I will put on single-track repeat and play and play until either I get tired of it, or want something else, and then I hit skip and go to the next one. Generally, I'll hang on one track for hours. Sometimes I will keep the same track for days at a time.

I decided I wanted to write about this to see if anybody else does this specifically. Not so much a rolling playlist, but a single musical track or two that get played on repeat for a long stretch of time as a sort of zen meditation thing. :)

Brains are awesome. :-D

So something that has been on my mind lately... something silly. I'm assuming you guys know about misheard lyrics. Things people sing along to songs that are totally not the lyrics to the song. Some songs are ripe for those opportunities, and others are just far reaches.

I've been noticing opportunities for misheard lyrics that could only exist in the last decade or two.

For example, in Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar Over Me, the line, "Livin' like a lover with a radar phone," which almost itself sounds like a misheard lyric, kinda sounds like "Livin' like a lover with a red iPhone".

Another I noticed recently was Earth, Wind, and Fire's Shining Star with the line, "Shining star come into view," which sounds like "Chinese laptop interview".

Have you noticed any potentials that could only exist in the now that wouldn't have existed 20 years ago?

I want to say it was Tony Fabris that helped me down the Leo Moracchioli rabbit hole with Leo's awesome metal cover of Stayin' Alive. As is often the case, I took a deep dive, and am now a big Leo fan.

Beyond being a killer metal rocker and putting together some brilliant metal covers, Leo runs a music studio in Norway called FrogLeap Studios.

His videos are fun, his covers are insightful, and he really has a passion for what he does.
Find him here with this Christmas classic:

As a growing musician and performer, one of the things I've been learning to take to heart is the idea (one shared by lots and lots and lots of performers) that there really is no substitute for hard work and long hours at the craft.

Being that music is not how I sustain my financial well-being, I take that to mean that my long hours of practice and study are not consecutive. But all the same, I have been making a regular effort to put in time into my musical studies. Even if it is 20 minutes here or there.

I think one of my frustrations that I'm learning to overcome is the fact that I feel so far behind. I have the privilege to spend time with LOTS of very talented and incredible musicians of various flavors, and I get to regularly witness the fruits of their labors and I sometimes take certain things out of context and get frustrated with myself that I feel like I have so little to offer and so much work to do to be even a quarter of the musician that these people are.

It's stupid, really. Most of my musician friends have been playing their instruments and performing since they were young kids. Presumably non-stop or at least in and around it to some degree. They have put in their time (and still are). It is useless to compare myself even trivially since I have not had all that time put in. My dedication is relatively new, and even though I came to the latest table with some skills (guess those years of piano lessons weren't a total waste!), I still have lots of time to put in. But I still have to remind myself that it doesn't make me less. It doesn't mean that what I have to offer is valueless.

Beyond that though, the comparisons at all are still useless. I am on my own musical journey. It is a path unique to me as are the paths of those friends of mine. As with most things, the goal is less about how fast I traverse the path and more about how much I absorb along the way. And I feel fortunate that I've been regularly given a lot of nifty things to absorb, and that my journey of late has been pretty damn awesome. :-)

Along the lines of hard work, I recently reminded myself that it is useful to not get too focused on any one thing for too long within the greater whole. By this I mean that I have been working on a piece I started some 20 years ago. I've talked before about the fact that by in large, I had learned most of the piece except for about 16 bars of a middle section that for some reason, I never made the time prior to learn. Up until recently, when I would start to play it, I would just stop when I got to that point. But over the last year or so, I decided that with the availability of a keyboard and space to sit down every day, I was going to knock out those 16 bars and finally finish something that I started so long ago. And little by little, I have worked out that little section, and can mostly play it reliably. Unfortunately, what I realized the other day is that I had stopped putting in time to play the REST of the piece, and when I tried to play it end-to-end, I struggled with the rest of it. XD

It isn't all gone or lost. But I definitely need to put in time to play the whole thing now that I've come closer to mastering the missing middle bit. And that aside, there are a few other little spots that need polishing up.

When I chose Gershwin's Prelude #2 so many years ago, it was because I really enjoyed Gershwin, and of the three, the second seemed the least technically challenging. I would say today that I still agree with that assessment, and it has been fun getting to finally pull it all together. It also means that I've actually willfully decided that I'm up for more challenge and want to tackle one of the other two.

That, and there's this Rachmaninoff piece I've been really wanting to put to bed. And maybe a little Chopin. And definitely more Beethoven.

To say nothing of Brubeck, Corea, Hancock, and then all the other little things I want to pull together.

And that's just piano. There will be more drum stuff too. And guitar. And mandolin. And definitely violin.

Like any other impassioned musician, I'll be putting in time until I'm dead. Good thing the genes say I should be around for a long long time. :-) I'm gonna want it!

So the proverbial carousel has been turning again, but She's lost a lot of momentum. I'm not one for making specific year-beginning resolutions mostly because anything worthy of a serious change should happen any time of the year and not wait for one day of the year to start. But it seems like a good time to review progress thereof of continuing efforts. :-)

Before Christmas there were plans for bread again, and while that hasn't yet happened, more to get it happening has happened in the last couple weeks than has the prior year. I'd like to take advantage of the cooler weather, and my gorgeous live-in sweetie is very much on board for knocking out some Reinhardt love. Scheduling is a thing though. Most of the good bread recipes take at least 2 days. Sometimes more. So we'll see how that goes.

A lot of the living room shuffling has happened, and we're in a better place than we've been since we've moved in. Once Christmas stuff is out of the way, I think we'll be in a great place to consider being more social! The music room is coming around, and regardless of organization, I've been huddled over the keyboard practicing and otherwise busting out bits and pieces of things. I've gotten a little driven to complete and perfect some of the older pieces I had worked on years ago, and I also have a whole lot of new stuff on my musical plate. One of the upcoming goals is to get more stuff recorded (mostly as an exercise in recording than necessarily a desire to have it heard), but that will require some more work with the DAW and building comfort in using it all. I also foresee more equipment purchases since we could use a couple of good mics. Fun stuff overall though. I'm pretty excited about it!

In terms of arts and crafts, I've made some more headway on my t-shirt rug. For those that were around when I started it, this is a large piece I decided to make that is essentially latch-hook but with strips of t-shirts. It is really hard on the hands, but I've had fun with it. I have a lot more work to do with it, but I'm hopefully that I can make a dent soon. Eschewing technology in favor of the artistic when relaxing for the evening is difficult some days, but I think I can work on making that happen periodically. I also have plans to get some more journals bound and I'm looking forward to stepping into some new binding styles and maybe even some paper-making to go along with it.

More cooking and food in general is planned. My poor cooking blog has gone sadly dormant, and I need to find ways to revive it. The loss of a favorite restaurant this year will have me deliberately making effort to master some of my favorite New Mexican dishes so as to not feel so homesick for the food. This will include things like tamales, carne adobado, and a nice pot of posole. :-) And there will be more non-New Mexican faire as well including dabbling in spirit-making to include some lemoncello and limecello! I'm looking forward to keeping the kitchen hopping.

One of the things that will also be taking up time is school! Back in for a couple more quarters to finish up my Cisco certificate, and I imagine I'll be testing in Summer. Should be fun, and it will be helpful for work related things. I've kinda enjoyed it, and am looking forward to learning more over the next several months.

There are lots of other things always on the carousel, but I think these will be my focus for a bit. Time and spirit willing, I'm sure I might also pull out a few less-attentioned things periodically just to shake off the dust, but I always say when it comes to my life and my personal enjoyment of it, I'm never bored.

Hope the new year treats you all well, and hope you have some fun things that you are otherwise involved with or will be soon.

I have always had a fascination with musical covers. Generally I like them when they stretch the genre, or even when they fall into whole other genres.

Hayseed Dixie falls into this class. I always imagine them sitting next to Tickle from Moonshiners somewhere in Florida sucking on a jar of his finest.

Sometimes, I'll obsess on a tune, and go hunting for covers of it specifically. That tends to be interesting.

Lately, I did that with a tune called Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock. For those at least dip a toe in the jazz world, you may recognize it out of this version where Herbie does what Herbie does.. :-)

( More covers here! )

I was walking down the hall off to do something in the server room, and as I was going, I started whistling some old thing. Something stuck in my head that just decides that moment to peek out.

This time, it was "That Naughty Waltz", which is a waltz written in 1919 by Sol P. Levy. It was my grandmother's favorite, and when she was able, anytime she was near a piano, she would play it.


Bit of history though. My grandmother was second generation Mexican American and one of her claims to fame was her ability to play piano. As a young adult, she made extra money playing piano for the local silent movie house, and she also taught piano and music theory in Spanish to various locals in the predominately Latino communities in southern and eastern Texas where she lived. She apparently attempted to teach my Aunt as well, but oddly enough, not my mother. My aunt had no passion or interest in it, and my mother was wildly attracted but completely un-nurtured. Family dynamics are interesting.

As you might imagine, finding an online recording of a waltz that was popular 90 years ago is an interesting thing. There are some youtube videos of people playing old 78rpm recordings. But this was a little better. It is a medley of other popular waltzes. That Naughty Waltz begins at about 1:18 and continues to about 2:27.

Miss you, Grandma.