Shadows so real.

I saw this scene this morning.  The shadow looked so real that it reminded me of the most beautiful piece of magic I've ever seen.

Penn & Teller did a show on Broadway and the piece below was one of the bits.  It was amazing.  And very very moving.  Here it is, with a little background and commentary:

"Shadows"

l

So good. Soooo good.

In 1976, 1977 & 1978, my big sister was off to college and for the first time ever, I was an only child around our house. I don't recall anything particularly personally amazing happening during that period; I had a job at the golf course, played on the golf team, did school plays, played trumpet in the band, yearbook and school newspaper editor -- basically filled the days with typical high school stuff.

The amazing shit that happened was being exposed to some music that turned out to really shape my musical taste for my life. Lots of it, I remember exactly where I was when I heard it. Like this song, "Compared to what". (thanks to Chuck for posting this on his FB wall this morning and causing this e-reverie)

One weekend, I'm not sure why or how, I went down to visit my big sister at the University of Kentucky. (I think I may have actually done this twice.) Prior to college, she hadn't brought too much new music into my world, but after she got to UK, the hits just kept on coming. First, she dated some dude who was a bluegrass fiddler. That's where my love of bluegrass music comes from. Then she dated some other dude, I forget his name or details, but I was in his apartment one evening and heard this song. On the record player. The record cover was this:

It blew my mind. So good. So much swing, so much teeth. I later bought my own copy of the album as well as a coupla albums by the sax player Eddie Harris Jr., including "Eddie sings the blues", which I found in the dollar rack of my local Peaches Records in Dallas, TX, USA, when I was in college, and which had one of the coolest back of the album pics ever. Here it is, with Eddie front and center in his shark skin suit and the mysteriously casual pipe smoker behind him in a mauve wife beater:

Mauve wife-beater! Anyway, I digress (and oh, what a fun digression its been) -- without further ado, (actually, here's a link to some info on the song, from Les McCann's wikipedia page) here are Les McCann (piano and vocals) and Eddie Harris, Jr. (tenor sax), Benny Bailey (trumpet) LeRoy Vinegar (bass) and Donal Dean (drums) doing the kick ass, anti-war song "Compared to what":

Magic on Fire Island/safety in numbers

A rainy day at the beach finds us all painting rocks and leaves and, best of all, monsters on postcards:

And here they are in my work in progress book "Monstrous aphorisms". Enjoy.

mowing the lawn

Cutting the grass, I saw these weeds growing just on the other side of the fence. Freakin' gorgeous. They made me think of the phrase "up so floating many bells down" from the following e.e. cummings poem. They made me think that he wrote that line about this very flower. So many bells facing downward as the plant shoots up.

Here's the poem:

anyone lived in a pretty how town (with up so floating many bells down) spring summer autumn winter he sang his didn't he danced his did Women and men(both little and small) cared for anyone not at all they sowed their isn't they reaped their same sun moon stars rain children guessed(but only a few and down they forgot as up they grew autumn winter spring summer) that noone loved him more by more when by now and tree by leaf she laughed his joy she cried his grief bird by snow and stir by still anyone's any was all to her someones married their everyones laughed their cryings and did their dance (sleep wake hope and then)they said their nevers they slept their dream stars rain sun moon (and only the snow can begin to explain how children are apt to forget to remember with up so floating many bells down) one day anyone died i guess (and noone stooped to kiss his face) busy folk buried them side by side little by little and was by was all by all and deep by deep and more by more they dream their sleep noone and anyone earth by april wish by spirit and if by yes. Women and men(both dong and ding) summer autumn winter spring reaped their sowing and went their came sun moon stars rain

A lovely sentiment.

Always brings a smile to my face. What a classic movie. Most men my age know just about every line. What other movies can say that?

RIP Joe Morello

I was already playing the trumpet and making music of my own by the time one of my dad's old albums called out to me from the depths of my parent's awesome stereo console.

The album was "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. The cover artwork by S. Neil Fujita caught my eye and I took the vinyl out for a spin.

Side one has three songs on it, each one cooler than the next:

"Blue Rondo à la Turk" – 6:44 "Strange Meadow Lark" – 7:22 "Take Five" – 5:24

I quickly played the album a hundred times. It opened up my ears. Oh sure, I'd heard lots of music before, but this stuff blew my mind. It swung, it kicked ass. Paul Desmond's sax was like velvet, Brubeck's piano was unlike any piano playing I'd ever heard. Eugene Wright on bass kept it all from floating away and Joe Morello on drums kept it all on the right path while concurrently kicking it in a new direction.

Well, Joe Morello died this week and all this came rushing back. I saw him once in concert, in the early 80's. At Carnegie Hall. With my dad. Brubeck had one of his sons there too. It was a real treat to be there with my pop. My pop, who passed away a week before Joe. (You can read more about my dad here.)

Here's Joe playing "Take five", the big hit off of that album. Enjoy.

ribbon type vs. snowboarding

Instead of going snowboarding yesterday on a gorgeous winter day, my fun-loving, type-loving son was laid up with a hyper-extended knee. So I made him his name is ribbon. There's something about it I really love and so here it is: