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En Medias Res

Another in-between we go. I want to talk about the past week/weekend with the kid here & climate change, but cannot yet as moving forward calls for more books to be reviewed in order to empty the large bookcase. The bookcase-headboard was cleaned out and is ready for exit, and I have started on the large bookcase in the dining area. These things will make it decidedly easier for the faux-wood floor and carpeting to be installed. They are scheduled for next week. I need to review the storage and boxes in the garage also, as that is where the bookcase and headboard will go. And those of course will not be easily addressed. No doubt larger areas of disarray will follow. *sigh* *heavy-heaves of sighs*

Meanwhile again, let us contemplate those things said that make us dig deeper into the psyche as we move forward and stay in the same place, which can never be in the same place. And there is no forward or backward either, as we well know, and as all of the fellows of Being tell us. Which again, can only be known if we already know them.

P.S. I thought I heard just then the warning calls of Jacob Gator. Jake was the conure-parrot who lived with me. He would issue his warning sound and the dog(s) would go running and barking for the door. He would tease with this sound and make the dogs and me quite crazy with all of the commotion. I loved him desperately, and do still.

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San Francisco

SF with Joel, in 1997? I was living in Delaware, OH, working for Nationwide Insurance. The company was supposed to pay for my trip at a training session and I had asked Joel to come with me. It was cancelled at the last minute, so Joel and I decided to go anyway. We had a great time wandering about, exploring and taking photos. We stayed at a great little motel next to the tenderloin area.

We of course did the Beatnik tour, saw Allan Ginsberg’s apartment, as well as all of the old places: Grateful Dead apartment house, the Purple Onion, visited City Lights bookstore, and went across Jack Kerouac Alley to Vesuvio’s where we drank and ate.

The inscription on the wall reads: “when the shadow of the grasshopper falls across the trail of the field mouse on green and slimy grass as a red sun rises above the western horizon silhouetting a gaunt and tautly muscled indian warrior perched with bow and arrow cocked and aimed straight at you it’s time for another martini.”

This episode has resurfaced as I’m still cleaning and clearing which causes photos to reappear. If you look closely at the inside of the bar you will see a photo of James Joyce on the back wall.

  • City Lights
  • Inside Vesuvio’s
  • Vesuvio’s
  • Wall outside Vesuvio’s
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Musical Mumblings

Clara Schumann is rumored to have had an affair with Johannas Brahms, an idea pooh-poohed by many. Just look at the size and shape of that guy, yes? And yet, he—like many of the rest of us—looked quite different as a young man. He was said to be quite handsome and dashing as a younger. Ah yes, and a musician too. What better than the electricity of sexual attraction to someone who has everything going for him? Add to that that her husband, while a grand musician and composer, was a bit off the beam. Playing at A-flat, so to speak.

Robert Schumann did create many beautiful things, including some of my favorite piano pieces. Perhaps I’ve said this before, if so, apologies: When questioned about where the music or inspiration came from, he replied it was in his mind. He just had to write it down. The questioner said how marvelous that must be. Good God no! He replied. How would you like that *****###### in your head all the time. You can’t get rid of it!

Poor man, it did indeed drive him crazy. And then there’s the incident of the hand. Pianists like to have an octave-and-beyond reach for chords. The farther the better. Robert therefore bound his hand(s?) with his fingers stretched out while he slept in an attempt to improve his reach. In doing so he crippled them. Imagine the horror—a pianist who cannot use his hands to play properly—and at his own doing. Eventually Schumann died in a mental asylum, although he had—again, like more than one musician/composer—attempted suicide more than once.  

Rachmaninoff is reputed to have the largest hands measured with a span of a 12th… C – G’ in easy playing, not just stretching. That explains some of his chord progressions. He too, as with many musicians, went off the beam now and again, especially suffering from depression. To resume his career at one point he consulted a hypnotist who seems to have benefited his return to the concert stage.

I find it puzzling why many people ask creatives—writers, artists, composers, et.al.—where they get their ideas. Such an odd question, and one impossible to answer. Let it suffice to say it’s many things, not the least of which is craft—after the inspiration—work, work, work.

And no, not everyone who creates goes crazy or kills herself. The demons land where they must.

Posted by Classic FM

Conductor Marta Gardolinska: Our jobs are similar to those of sports people’s high pressure and physical strength is needed…”

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Tiding

Just a note to tide us over. (What a funny idiom, by the way. I wonder how it originated, but it would take too much energy to look up.) I went to visit the kid last weekend and we went boating. Nothing untoward happened, but I did start feeling a bit scratchy on the way back. Ended up in an urgent care place after a couple of days, and am still battling something. Lungs, throat, head—that nasty business. *Sigh*

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A’s dog, the pitbull named Sullivan has cancer for which he is being treated. We wanted to give him and Tula some time together which was just great with both of them. Tula near exhausted herself with swimming again.

I just finished a rewatch of Justified. It is a great series. The second time around I was able to catch aspects of the show that I missed the first time—too busy being caught up in the plot. Great acting by the all of the cast, not just the main characters. Other characters too strong to be called secondary: Dewey, Dickie, Bob, (the constable) and Ty Walker—the quirky kid who comes in towards the end to support Avery Markham. And it is funny. There are many humorous scenes, especially with the screw-ups: Dewey, Dickie, and Bob. And many funny bits of dialogue. There are a couple of loose ends after the finish of the show, but not enough to keep from a high recommendation. And the ending is appropriate to the storyline. Thank god it doesn’t end it a fizzle as so many shows do, with just a throw-away to bring it to a close.

Jeff Goldblum plays a jazz piano and has a band that plays with him. They have recorded an album: Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. He said he named it after a teacher he had; he just liked the name. Ha! The kid played with a group she called “The Glady Quizguards”; she just liked the name. Glady was a friend of my mother’s.

That’s it for now, folks. The tide has come in.

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Happy Labor Day

  • Posted by UAW

And in memory of the many sacrifices made by those who made it possible.