The post following this sticky note, Alice Fulton Quote, Beethoven and My Music seems to have been an unknowing experiment. The cdbaby songplayer widget I placed at the end of the post functions differently in reality than as a previewed post.
I apologize for that.
Meanwhile, I’m going to wait out a few hours and see if this is more an exception than the rule to using this device. So that it won’t inconvenience your reading/listening experience of my most recent posting, I offer to you here another means to listen to the single off of unexpected with the most digital listens as referenced in Alice Fulton Quote, Beethoven and My Music.
Here then is Hatikvah.
Page 31 of 41
‘It will be new whether you make it new or not’ – Alice Fulton, Poetry, October 2013
I have to admit that when I first saw this quote, I didn’t fully comprehend its meaning. While the artwork makes for a beautiful visual, it didn’t aid in my understanding of the written text. But something subliminal captured the attention of my subconscious brain, prompting a silent rumination over the course of several months.
Bits and pieces of enlightenment would come to the forefront of my consciousness, until at last I had a mini-Aha! moment:
Beethoven and my first encounter with his 9th Symphony.
When I was a teenager, I dug out my parents’ old 78s from the shelves in their walk-in cedar closet. Sorting through the stacks, I recognized most of the tunes and placed them in their respective piles – Ma’s stuff, Dad’s stuff and corny stuff. My baby brother and I grew up dancing in the living room listening to all of it, including the ever present live gig-prep practicing of Dad’s – From Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (Ma’s stuff) to Charlie Parker’s Yardbird Suite (Dad’s stuff) to Jimmy Durante’s Bill Bailey (corny stuff).
Scattered among those records were some 33s pressed on yellow-vinyl. Intrigued, I noticed they were mostly classical (by genre, not era) recordings. Beethoven’s Symphonies were recorded in a huge boxed set of 33s. I decided to listen to all of them, going from last to first.
That 9th symphony – composed in 1824 – was new to my 1971 ears.
“It will be new whether you make it new or not”
I listened to it over and over alongside some of my favorite records at the time: The White Album, and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Beethoven, the Beatles and Andrew Lloyd Webber. A motley crew, all strangely powerful and new to me.
Now, I am no Beethoven, but that mini-Aha! moment became more of a major-Aha! moment for me recently.
Since last May, sales of music from my cd, unexpected, increased significantly. Why? This recording was released in 2007. In terms of musical output, it represents old stuff. I use it now more as a demo of sorts; an example of the breadth and quality of my playing for marketing, colleague introductions, resume point of reference and so on.
There have been many projects, performances and pieces learned since then till now. Immersed as I’ve been in my Swimming with Swans: the music project, striving to put out this new material, I’d forgotten that to those who’d never heard my stuff before:
“It will be new whether I (you) make it new or not”
Below is the single off of unexpected with the most digital listens since its release in 2007, Hatikvah.
I wish you peace.
It’s that time of year again, folks. At the stroke of midnight, October 31st, 2015 (or is it technically November 1st at the stroke of midnight?) I will not embark upon my fourth NaNoWriMo.
I removed that cool NaNo word counter widget from the sidebar just today, thus making my announcement official.
Bottom line: I am in the midst of a few grant deadlines which require reducing word count rather than inflating it.
All the best to you crazies as you scribble the days and nights away during this month of November.
50k is a big deal…
Saturday, October 24, 2015: hubby’s phone alarm went off at 4 AM initiating our practiced paces to get out on the road quickly and efficiently. Heading east on US 36 through to I-70E, hubby and I enjoyed the clear pre-dawn sky. Littered with glittering stars, planets and satellites, we absorbed the 180 degree view of the Eastern Horizon. Knowing our unobstructed high plains views would be left behind with each mile driven back to our current place of residence in South Carolina, we reminisced about our numerous past night-sky adventures. Amidst our gazing, talking, dreaming and driving we both realized something extraordinary was occurring in the left, northern most part of the eastern sky.
“Ah, yes, there’s Venus, but what’s that bigger planet? Jupiter?”
I grabbed the mini-binoculars always at the ready in our car and saw a third red dot curved below the other two planets.
“Terry! It’s a trio of planets, Mars is there, too.”
With hubby at the wheel, we both sky-watched as this glorious oddity continued to shine forth throughout the unfolding of the dawn, well into Kansas. What exactly was this?
Turns out, October 24, 2015 was the absolute best day to observe this rare Dawn Triangle of Planets, marking the beginning of the best week to observe it as well.
(It’s not too late to get out and see this for yourself!)
Also, turns out that the biggest planet was Venus…my bad!
Yep, it’s been awhile since my last post. Instead of letting this blog go dormant, I offer up a little bit of amusement for you to enjoy. Until later…
Don’t hate…caffeinate!
It is Monday and we are several days into an ‘historic’ rainfall that is saturating inland as well as coastal South Carolina. Luckily the newest hurricane threat Joaquin, destined for landing along the Carolinas, diverted out to the Atlantic Friday evening. If not for that, it would have amped up an already massive waterload to a super-storm much like what happened along the Jersey shore a few winters ago.
flooding in Florence, SC
going nowhere fast
It’s interesting to note that these torrential downpours differ from Colorado storms in many ways. The most striking is in the delivery. Sheets of rain fall down in a soft pattering soak here in the swamp, while mile high storms tend to pelt the earth with bullet drops. But, either way, flooding is flooding leaving catastrophic consequences in its wake. Continue reading
one tree equals one pound coffee
Today was National Coffee Day. Need I say more? Well, yes, maybe. Fully intending on taking advantage of such an excuse to abuse my coffee drinking rights, I brewed a luscious pot of Sumatra with crushed cardamom seeds. Savoring each sip (gulp?) between bites of leftover homemade cannoli from a dinner made for hubby’s cubie and wife last Friday, I was in bean-heaven. The pot emptied sooner than later, so I unplugged it and pondered just when to start up a new brew.
Meanwhile, that half cup of java left in my cup got stone cold.
“Aha! I will be discreet and only micro-zap the remains of that last drop of coffee. No need to brew up a whole second pot of coffee in honor of the day.”
Placing the cup inside the microwave, I zapped it. Not the best of flavor, but a great healthful compromise to imbibing on another full pot of the stuff.
“Ah, well, not the tastiest, but here’s to the Day!”
I was quite proud of myself for sacrificing flavor in the name of restraint.
When I picked up the cup to pour out its remaining contents, I noticed an oddly shaped black bumpy thing on the bottom. Upon closer inspection, it was the waterlogged body of a pesky fly that had been dominating our kitchen environment for the past few days.
Oh, geez…I drank stewed sumatra fly-juice…
Happy National Coffee Day!
Note: If you’d like to see my favorite previously pubbed coffee posts, click here, and here. Or, just scroll down and read them as limited time sticky-noted posts.
Today marks another International Day of Peace. In light of this, I am sticky-noting one of my Peace Posts from 2014 for your perusal. It should appear after this post, so please scroll down or find Passion Scars here.
Have you ever picked up a best-selling novel or classic titled tome, started to read and then realized, “Nope, don’t like this, even though I’m supposed to because it is a best-seller/classic/got rave reviews”? Continue reading
Camden Writers* at ‘Books on Broad’ book launch
Here’s something one of my Camden Compadres wrote concerning the up-coming Writers Workshop our group is presenting September 26th. If you live near here or are in the area at that time, please consider joining us in this event. Thank you Jayne, for making passing on this information easy…just copy and paste and away we all go!
First One Word, Then Another
At least twice a month, something magical happens in Camden. That’s when the Camden Writers meet to critique one another’s work, share writing advice, and offer support. To say that I’ve learned a lot from this group is an understatement. Without them, I’d still be flagrantly using adverbs and overdoing what Mindy calls “Those Be Words.”
While we all enjoyed the social aspect of meeting with like-minded people, our group began to want something that would compel us to write and submit our work. We noticed that many of our entries centered on family, tradition, and the power of memory. Soon an idea was hatched to develop a communal document, and we published our first anthology, Serving Up Memory, in October 2014.
At one of the first meetings of 2015, one of our members suggested that we publish our collective
work every other year and have a workshop in the intervening one. I could have hugged Ari Dickinson for that stroke of genius. Not only did it give all of us some breathing room, but it also provided an opportunity to tackle another project, one that would offer help, encouragement, and information to writers in South Carolina.
After months of planning, we have a date, a venue, and a splendid line up for our first Camden Writers’ Workshop. First One Word, Then Another will be held from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM Saturday, September 26, 2015, on the downtown Camden campus of Central Carolina Technical College at 1125 Little Street. Late registration and a “mix and mingle” with light refreshments will take place at 8:30. Continue reading