beautiful, funny, sad & true

Wow. . .I don’t know where this week went. How can it have been four days since I wrote last? Well, I suppose it hasn’t been a very eventful week. I’ve been enjoying a few days of relaxation before next week’s craziness starts.

My favorite incarnation of all the groups I play with had a gig on Thursday night. It was the Breanna/cello/violin trio, with Justin singing harmonies. It’s very exciting to be part of such an eclectic and wonderful group, doing our own particular blend of music that incorporates elements of folk, rock, classical and country, seamlessly and beautifully.

Last night I went to see two different shows. The first was a band called Thunder Flea. They were bass/drums/melodica/ukelele, and then electric guitar. The electric guitar was supposed to be a ukelele, but apparently the ukelele wasn’t working, so he had to bring the guitar. They were something of a ‘supergroup’, made up of people who are all in other bands, some of which are quite well-known. Very fun. BoringFish and a couple of her friends were there, too, which made it even more fun.

The second show was a tour kick-off show for a group called the Dimes. Haven’t seen them play in a couple of years, but they’ve been around for probably five or six years now. When Crystin Byrd still had her electric band, we played with them a time or two, and they were really great. They’ve stripped down their sound a little since then, and I think it suits them. They’re just as melodic as ever, but they kinda rock a little harder now. Really a good show. I met up with Shelby and Brian, who had been there since the early part of the evening, and then afterwards we went up the hill to Crush for some hummus.

Speaking of Crystin Byrd, today is going to be a rehearsal for an upcoming show, in which she’s going to be too pregnant to hold her guitar, so she asked if I’d like to play guitar or piano or something, and she would just sing. I agreed, but stipulated that it will probably be best if we do her older songs, instead of the newer ones that I’m not as familiar with. So today’s the day we pull the old songs out of their leather cases, blow the dust off, and then decide which ones to perform. I’m really excited about this.

The rest of the weekend should be pretty low-key, which I could certainly use. Next week I’m busy every night from Tuesday clear through until Saturday. I found the DVD of After Life yesterday, which I’ve been trying to find for years. Excellent and beautiful movie.

Oh, and you’ll be glad to know that there are no Hitler references in this entry, and no mention of chronic or terminal diseases either. Oh wait. . .I think I may have inadvertently slipped one in. Oops.

And for the record, the title ‘red star’ has nothing to do with anything. I needed a name for this entry, and for some reason, that’s what popped into my head. So there it is. What do you think it means? Come on, all you Jungians!

It seems that I’m not alone; these last couple of weeks have been extremely strange and emotional for almost everyone. Unfortunately, the things that have been happening are not subjects that are appropriate for me to write about here, especially not with a certain someone slithering around. Family issues, friend issues, money issues…all seem to be par for the course at the same time. I suppose you know what they say about rain.

Let’s hope the worst is over.

Here’s a short list of some statistics for the week, though. It certainly ain’t all bad, either, by any stretch of the imagination:

• number of distressing phone calls from close friends in tears: 3
• number of best-in-my-whole-life drum recording sessions: 2
  
• number of cockroaches seen in my building: 1
• number of cockroaches seen in my apartment: ZERO
• number of days home sick from work last week: 2
• number of excellent Wes Anderson movies seen in the theater: 1
• number of excellent new anime’s I’ve watched online, for free: 4
• number of nights in which I got fewer than three hours of sleep: 3
• number of interesting and deep phone conversations, today alone: 3
• number of hilarious conversations today involving Hitler’s love life: 1

Clearly, if I’m able to incorporate Hitler–let alone his love life–back into my humor lexicon, I’m starting to feel like my usual self. I mean (with all due respect), the subjects of brain cancer and full-blown AIDS can almost always provide good fodder for comedy, but I generally have to be feeling at my tippy top in order to find humor in Hitler.

So. Moving on.

I’ve finally been feeling like writing again lately, and by that I mean writing about real and important subjects. Six months or so ago, I was poking around online, trying to find out information about all my old favorite guitarists and bands from the 80’s. I spent many hours sitting here alone, laughing out loud at the ridiculous clothes and videos, and of course, the music. But at the same time, it was a little more complicated than that, because I could still see and hear what I liked about them back in the day. Ever since that night, I’ve had the thought in the back of my mind that it would be fun to write a series of blog entries about some of those people and what my thoughts about them were, both then and now. Naturally, I would put up whatever videos I could find, so that you too could get in on the fun.

I’ve also needed to create a music-related e-mail list for a while now, so that people who are interested can keep up with my gigging and recording schedule, and this seems like the perfect time to do it.

But definitely check back here for the Eighties Röck Blög or whatever I end up calling it. I think that’ll be a fun project.

I think the best thing about living in this building full of musicians is the incredible amount of diversity represented, and the caliber of the musicianship. Right now, the Portland Cello Project is rehearsing upstairs, and I’m sitting down here listening and thoroughly enjoying it.

From the apartment next to mine, I often get to hear the Pete Krebs Gypsy Jazz trio, or the Stolen Sweets (1920’s and 30’s jazz with three-part vocal harmonies).

From the apartment in front of mine, I get to hear classical flute, sometimes in duet with another flute, or with other instruments as well. Sometimes I take my cello over there and participate.

From the apartment upstairs in the front of the building, I get to hear alto sax parts from Vagabond Opera songs, as well as piano playing and singing.

From my apartment, the people in the rest of the building get to hear people like Breanna and Susie, and sometimes Stephanie.

The Portland music community is very well-represented by this one building alone.

In other news, Joan and I went out clothes shopping at a whole bunch of places yesterday. I totally scored:

black hoodie – YAY! The five-month search for a black hoodie is finally over.

two orange thermal T-shirts, each with a different ‘pattern’ of stitching and thickness. Plus, one’s medium-sized and the other is small. And it was $10 for both of them, so why the heck shouldn’t I buy both?

button-up dress shirt from J. Crew. White, green and black pinstripes. If you look from a distance, though, it just looks like a really cool green.

brown corduroy jacket, also from J. Crew. This was the score of the year. It’s a $200 jacket, on clearance for $50, then another 25 percent off, for a total of $35. $35!! For a two hundred-dollar jacket! I can wear it whenever I want to look like a university professor or something. It has patches on the elbows, and it even has a pen pocket inside.

I’m thinking of going on a picture-taking excursion here in a little while, since the weather’s so nice. I’m not going to spend such a beautiful day sitting inside. I did, however, want to fill you in on the clothing ‘scores’, and say how much fun the rest of the weekend has been. Good birthday party on Friday, and good gig on Saturday.

Funny thing about the gig on Saturday was that CellistSkip, who I play with in various incarnations of both Susie’s and Stephanie’s groups, was actually in the audience (first time I’ve ever seen him in the audience) while I played the cello with Susie. She came up to me near the end of our set and said, “Skip just got here. No pressure.” I was a bit nervous at first, with one of the best cellists in town sitting right up front and watching me, but after the first cello song, he smiled and applauded, then ran up and stuffed a couple of dollar bills down behind the tailpiece. It was a hilarious and supportive thing for him to do, and I was completely relaxed after that.

Well, time to get in the shower and out the door to start the day ‘frealz, yo.’

Peace, out.

If you have twenty minutes or so all by yourself, and you’re looking for something to do, I suggest that you watch this video.

It’s an episode of Mushi-shi. It’s beautiful and strange and deep, and I can’t get enough of it.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

And short. Enjoy!

Thank you, Kam!