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Noah

Puppy

Mommy and Amy

Sunday

After-church...

Yoga and Om

Chant

Off to yoga

Great session at Southtown yoga lofts

Morning coffee

Sunday morning

My friends contribute such joy in my world: from Markus providing me with alternate NST stick tunings from his sick-bed to able assistance from Will Willard in helping me re-tune and mend a broken string on the Stick. Last night worked at stick craft and versions of Indiscipline, Lost in the Valley and Landscape for stick.

Also sage advice, humor and wisdom from Dan Garcia on music, playing and the doing of what makes one happy as a way to get to heaven.

Finally, today is Gary Davenport's birthday. We've been friends for 31 years. I owe him so much for getting me into the San Antonio underground music scene all those years ago and pointing me towards the method I still employ in the practice of becoming present.

David Torn

Watching Caltech Livestream now

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/6783383

Home and elsewhere

Saturday

Largest event in the universe

Theoretically impossible, but there it is!

Lennon

Sgt pepper sessions

Ethan's birthday

Birthday boy (18); this one's a real milestone!

House concert

Spent a wonderful weekend in Austin with the Van Dykes and attending a House Concert featuring Bert Lams, Tom Griesgraber (Chapman Stick) and special guest Suzanne Oleson

A great time had by all. Also present was Alan and Shelly, Ben and Patrice and Tony Garza; brought my flask of Old Calvados which warmed Bert's spirits considerably.

Later, a bonfire in Ben's backyard in a reclaimed washing machine drum. Looking forward to more Austin antics later this month!

progresses

Spent the evening working on new tuneage out in the small room. Progress made and scribbling ideas on bits of paper. Mr. Producer advises that I am next, act accordingly and "bring me the hits." Hits, therefore, will be brung indeed!

new year's

Happy New Year, dear readers! I'm sitting here this wet, cold January morning sipping coffee and excited about the prospect of a new year, new material and new performances. And so today I am re-stringing guitars and working on new songs in the little shed out back.

friday

wonderful, uplifting day completing most of my billing project at work, a morning dash for coffee and a re-imagining of my musical trajectory for 2013. A much clearer sense of my direction in the new year and excitement about the future. After work Will stopped by and dropped off a mini-bike for repairs; out in the backyard, the barn and office glowed warmly in the chilly night air and I felt happy and content just being alive

Happy Birthday, TG

Oh and by the way, happy birthday, Tony Garza (wherever you are!)

( Note to self: Need to get together with TG for some armagnac tasting over the holidays...)

Coco Lounge

Hot date at Coco Lounge; relaxing and restorative date night... Definitely preferred the donut martini to the Old Fashioned

Sunday morning

Arising abnormally early to take the dog out on a chilly later November morning. Last night Scott and Kurt came by and we sat in the man cave and drank some stout and had some great conversation and sharing. Powerful feeling of peace and blessedness; I needed something life-affirming this night.

May all beings find enlightenment!

soundscapes

Visit with Dan Tellez and talks of musicking continues; he brought me a lovely three-CD collection of Fripp Soundscapes, as well! We went out to the little music shed and he played around on the Yamaha rig to try and help get Ethan dialed-in a distortion sound for his guitar practice. Very proud of Ethan who has a second coffeehouse gig coming up in December. Ethan plays out more than I do now. This is as it should be (but I am still holding out hope of performing a few more gigs myself)!

Chris with Chrysta Bell

Had to share this concerning Chris Smart (who I had planned to visit this weekend to discuss an Acoustic Guitar for Ethan...) "Heading across the pond for another euro tour with the fab Chrysta Bell. First stop the Camerimage Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland on the 24th as part of the events planned to honor David Lynch with a lifetime achievement award. And then..."

So my guitar will have to wait for the time being, but congrats to Chris, David and all involved!

Prayers and Hymns

Applied for a grant re Prayers and Hymns; only after I applied did I notice my estimate far exceeded the grant award. Well, first time at applying for a grant: next time I'll know better. Meanwhile, the other evening whilst sipping a Guiness I went back and listened to some individual tracks from a tune called "Cheesecake" and was greatly impressed. I am still trying to "do something" where it concerns live performance. Perhaps this is the way to go. Giving me another sense of direction is Steve Ball's "Airport Exercise" which never fails to inspire and uplift...on my list of things to do is to call up Tony Garza for some GC ruminations...

Rome & BonBon

Wednesday night I got Gerald Benesch's latest recording "Orchesterwerke" in the mail; wonderful, uplifting and life affirming project!

Adrian

Meetup with Adrian at the Esquire Tavern Monday evening; great, relaxing time catching up and sharing about life and musicality, plans current and future.Told him (again) how much I love his album. He is touring with Daughtry and told me some incredible war stories about his work.

Turner & Turner: Mission-critical translations for Scandinavian cor...

Turner & Turner: Mission-critical translations for Scandinavian cor...: We translate, edit and write mission-critical documentation. Our client base consists of corporations and financial institutions, mainly...

Lion & Rose

Lunch at the Lion & Rose; very restorative having a Black and Tan. Heard some music from a band called "Yacht"... man, it took me back to the 80s british music we grew up loving. I wonder why I am such an anglophile.... all of a sudden I was craving a good dose of Cherry Red sampler tunes and/or Lung Overcoat!

Thursday

Wonderful evening at home with the family; chores, homework, bathtime... all part of the blessing of being! Each moment another opportunity to be in the unitive state and collected; a quality, no matter how fleeting, momentary and impermanent. Slowly it is sinking in: just-is-ness. Why take it personal? Nothing is personal if there is no-person to be attacked. So we continue, moving from one transient moment to the next, "surprised by joy" as C.S. Lewis put it!

Ideology

Today I glimpsed a possibility of a life beyond any ideology (idolotry) and it was good; confirmed something I'd sensed before and written about but had forgotten. Thus a sense of validation that perhaps (just perhaps) I am on the right path.

Today I also worked really hard to be a nurturing and loving father and husband (hint: if you're having to work that hard for it, its not working). That's ok. I give myself permission to make mistakes and don't hold it against me. Tomorrow after all is another day to begin again.

Finally this evening we noticed our neighbor with all the giant Romney signs in his front yard and the sign that says "anyone who steals these signs will be shot" no longer has any signs in his yard.

Revised and revisited

Wow. Just did I little sprucing-up on the blog, deleting old broken links and adding some historical ancient pre-blog diaries of mine buried somewhere within this Integral Music site. Been really digging going back and listening to the Gilliam Section material; just great, great stuff. Inspires me to write some new stuff, which I will commence to do this very evening, time and energy permitting. I have an idea... we will see where it goes (if anywhere)... and if not, that's ok, too. It's all about the dance of life!

Keep dancing and laughing!

Selah!

Natur Klang Wanderung, geführte Touren

Natur Klang Wanderung, geführte Touren

Friday morning

Zen like morning allowing myself to relax and be totally open to this moment; indulging at Starbucks. Shared some laughs last night with the family; as I mentioned to Dan Garcia recently: laughter really is the BEST medicine! Coffee is a close second! Now off to start my day! Blessings to you and yours; remember to cherish each other!

Faith in Worthwhile albums

Great write up (review of Lee Fletcher's new album "Faith in Worthless Things" featuring Lisa Fletcher, Markus Reuter, Robert Fripp and many other outstanding players!)

This album has been playing repeatedly for the past week in my (various) devices/formats!

Faith in Worthless Things review by Vince Font

Stroll

Today on our customary stroll, Scott and I saw some ducks...

Scott was impressed...

So we had espresso at Cafe Punta del Cielo

Today Scott and I saw some ducks...

This corresponds to a powerful dream I had (although in the dream there was more water and it was raining); a tiny road cut into the cliffs spiraled down into the chasm and reaching the bottom after barely making it in a tiny vehicle of some sort I was transported back in time to a domestic house in the mid-1960s, complete with antique tv and rotary phones. I wanted to stay in that safe and protected space and while that may have been an option, I instinctively knew I had to leave it and return to the present, but it brought me a sadness.

Another morning

Beginning the day....

Morning Coffee at Starbucks

A series of morning reflections

Stick Grooves

Out in the studio working on some stick recordings:

Getting good sounds, but lacking drum parts...

Getting a bit better with tremolo...

I called this pic "Tracking Stick" on FB... the following comments ensued:

• 
  
• • 

    Markus Reuter Stacking trick.

    August 12 at 1:44pm ·  · 2
  • 

    Erik Emil Eskildsen Tricking stack.

    August 12 at 1:49pm ·  · 1
  • 

    Marco Chiappini Trucking stock.

    August 12 at 2:53pm 

New Arising

Went out to the studio two weeks ago to try a bit of recording; first attempt frustrating with no monitor playback during tracking of additional bits. Quickly found the right box to tick to enable the monitors and ran through some test pieces for Will which actually turned into petite audioscapes finding their way onto Bandcamp as a little mini-album or aural goodness. Very pleased with how the pieces panned-out, which you can listen to here:

New Arising

This sampler represents the very best of my guitar playing to date in terms of overall composition and sound; I was definitely "feeling it", in other words and hitting all the notes and tones. Each tune has about 4 or 5 overdubs, and I edited/recorded very quickly using the line 6 for added color and stereo/delay effects in the Magix program.

I should also mention I installed new exterior/interior curtains in the studio to block the sun that has been scorching the office all summer long; this new enhancement was the catalyst to actually attempt a recording. Up until now it has simply been too hot!

Isaac came out to check the progress...

Recording complete, now a beer...