beautiful, funny, sad & true

First of all, let me say Happy Halloween.

Second of all, I’ll spare you the details, but Joan and I are in the process of working things out. Some of our old ‘stuff’ came up recently, and that brought both of our defenses up a little bit. But we’ll work it out.

Third of all, there was a photographer at the event who took a bunch of amazing pictures at the most recent Breanna show. I’m going to get some digital copies, but they’re expensive enough that I can only afford two or three. Please take a look and help me choose? Thank you!
There are a bunch of stellar ones of each of us, but I think my personal favorites are 7 and 24.

This week is about to get crazy. Tonight’s Halloween–no, I didn’t dress up–and Joan and I are getting together for a while. I might meet up with Todd Sabel later on. Tomorrow is rehearsal with Stephanie’s band for the big Voices For Silent Disasters show on Friday night, and Saturday is a full-band Breanna Paletta show. Sunday we’re having a Breanna recording session in the studio. And speaking of V4SD, the artist appreciation party was on Monday, and it was a who’s-who of the Portland music scene. I’m looking for pictures from that night, and I’ll post some if I get ’em.

I’d say my wish from earlier in the week–you know, for the week to get better quickly–came true.

I’m selling a few instruments that I either don’t use anymore, or want to trade for something else. Here’s the list:

Danelectro baritone guitar
SOLD

Apple G4 PowerMac
800 mhz, 768 meg RAM
40 meg and 80 meg internal hard drives
USB wireless internet adapter
17″ Apple flat screen Studio monitor
keyboard and new Mighty Mouse
$800 or best offer

Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar
bought it new at Apple Music in 2001
wine red with chrome hardware
recently intonated (by me) and new strings
beautiful condition; less than normal wear
Gibson hard shell case
$800 or best offer

Kurzweil K2500XS synthesizer
88-key weighted keyboard
sampling option
Grand Piano daughterboard (best piano sound available!)
KDFX digital effects option
KB3 Hammond organ emulator option
all manuals and two instructional videos
two pedals (expression/volume and ‘double’ piano pedal)
SKB hard shell case (these alone sell for $300)
I’ve used this on many CD’s and most of the recording sessions I’ve been on.
I’m only selling it because it’s too heavy for me, and an 88-key synth won’t fit in my car. I’ll be replacing this with a Kurzweil rackmount version. The sound is phenomenal.
$1500 OR TRADE for a ‘loaded’ rackmount version of the 2500
or 2600, plus either some cash or another instrument

Yamaha DX7 synthesizer
80’s classic; still going strong
decent cosmetic condition; perfect working condition
comes with original manuals, music stand thingy, extra patch
cartridges, and even the rare breath controller
$200 or trade for guitar pedals? Something else?

PORTLAND-AREA PEOPLE ONLY, PLEASE.

Thanks for looking at all this. I’ll edit this entry as these things sell.
Please go to my profile and e-mail me if you’re interested.

Have a good day!

To continue on a theme that I started recently, I’ve been feeling better lately; better enough, in fact, that I don’t want anything to mess up my equilibrium. So I’ve pretty much given up coffee for the last week and a half, and only had wine a couple of nights in the last two weeks. I’ve been feeling much more like my happy-go-lucky self again, and less anxious and weird all the time.
This weekend, however, I had a couple of funny things happen that upset the metaphorical apple cart. Joan and I went out to see Paris Je T’aime on Friday night, and afterwards we went for sushi. After THAT, we went to Pix Patisserie for dessert. It was pretty fantastic, of course, but we also had a couple cups each of decaf coffee, which despite its name actually does contain some caffeine, as you know. So that, combined with the super-concentrated sugar in the dessert, kept me awake until around two in the morning.

At noon on Saturday, I went to the studio to play some parts for the new Susie Blue CD. (I played accordion, xylophone and Omnichord, just in case you’re keeping track.) I felt all cracked out and anxious the entire time, in a way that was obviously brought on by our post-movie binge the night before. After we were done recording, Susie invited EngineerJason and me to her dinner party that night. She, Jason and a couple of other people had gone mushroom hunting the previous day, so mushroom ravioli was on the dinner menu. Everything was made by hand, and it was mind-blowingly good. Naturally we had to have good wine with it, and also naturally, we had way too much of it, especially considering my practically monastic regimen these last couple of weeks.

So yesterday I was completely hung over. Slept till eleven, then just kinda dragged around for most of the day. I did manage to clean my kitchen and bathroom, though, so the day wasn’t a complete bust. Joan called at around five-thirty, and then she and I went to dinner at a new vegan restaurant called Nutshell. The food was incredible, and the service was fantastic, but there were a couple of things I think are worth mentioning that would keep me from giving it the glowing recommendation that it would otherwise get. The two-person tables are about a foot apart, which some people may not be bothered by, but Joan and I both felt pretty uncomfortable and self-conscious. Plus, when customers are getting up to leave or wash their hands, or waiters are delivering food, you’re more likely than not to be bumped, or get someone’s ass in your face, or worse. Plus, the room itself is reverberant and noisy enough that it can be a difficult to hear your own conversation, but everyone else around you is extremely audible. Like I said; these things may not bother other people, but introverts may have a tough time at Nutshell. To be fair, the restaurant is brand new, and I’m sure these quirks–and a few others that have been mentioned in various reviews–will be worked out over time. The food really is unique and stellar, and I’m definitely going back, but it’ll have to be a time when I’m in the mood for that kind of environment.

Today I’m back on track with the aforementioned monastic regimen, and I’m finally starting to feel my equilibrium returning. It was interesting, though, to have a test to see how all of the new changes have been working for me. I wanted to eliminate things that have been acting on my body, and keeping me on the roller coaster, so to speak, and I think giving up the coffee has made the biggest difference. I feel like I’m getting my easy friendliness back, and my sense of humor too; not to mention the fact that I’m even sleeping better. Crazy, how much something that we take for granted as a part of daily life can have such profoundly negative and strange effects on us.

Crazy how serious and long this blog entry is!

Tonight I’m meeting Crystin Byrd and her husband for dinner, and tomorrow night I have a Breanna Paletta gig. Breanna has another multi-instrumentalist friend who’ll be joining us on mandolin, and I’ll be playing cello, so this should be a cool combination. It’ll be the first time we’ve met or played together. Fun!

Here’s to a good pre-birthday week. The Big Day is now only seven days away!

I came across this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson today:

“Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes.”

It really rang true for me.

Something tells me that RWE wrote it from the position of omniscience–as if he knew exactly what he desired and expected, and he therefore assumed that the readers would know as well–but I’ve struggled my whole life with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes. I’m working on defining them all the time, though, y’know?

Whether it’s ways I want to be treated (and ways I treat my partner, too) in a romantic relationship, things about myself that could use improvement, paths I want my career to take (and what I need to do to create them); a million things.

I’m working on believing in myself enough to do all these things; that’s what I think it boils down to. Do I trust myself enough to do what needs to be done?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. In some ways I am infinitely strong and resilient. In other ways, if you so much as threaten to bend me, even a little bit, I break.

I’m not bummed out or anything, I’m just ruminating here.

I had a really nice weekend. The Young Immortals, Lauren, Valerie, Michael, Joan, Susan, John, and Renee all made their way into this weekend. And I still had time to sleep for twelve hours each night. Nicccccce.

There are two Breanna shows this week, both of which are Breanna/cello/violin. Should be a blast, as per usual.

I feel like I’m rambling now, but I just felt compelled to write and let you know that the weekend was relaxing but really nice, and I got to see a lot of friends I haven’t seen in quite some time. And on that note, can I just take a minute to say how proud I am of Jake, Mike, and Scotty of the Young Immortals? They were amazing to watch the other night, and their hard work is really starting to pay off.

I found these on YouTube tonight. They’re videos of songs by the Young Immortals; “The Fever” and “Motive”, respectively. Totally surreal for me, because Jake and I recorded these songs in my old apartment last year. He wrote the songs, and the two of us played all the instruments. Now “The Fever” is on a Starbucks compilation CD, and there are teenage girls making videos. CRAZY.

Cool!

Still it’s surreal, especially for an introvert such as myself. But ultimately, the music speaks for itself, much better than I ever could. “The Fever” is a smash hit.