After show company photo

Smith Tower

Eric T and Ellen came up from San Francisco this weekend for a very short visit. We got together this morning for breakfast over in Madrona and then visited Smith Tower to check out the observation deck. Here are some of the architectural details as well as views from the tower.

Technical Rehearsal at the Capitol Hill Arts Center

Tuning the Air tooks its Saturday rehearsal to CHAC today so that the team could experiment with sound reinforcement possibilities.

Daniel Arias (from Spain and fresh from the LOCG tour with Robert) joined BillR in giving the team feedback.

Remembering Simon Jeffes

...of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. From their website:


The music of the Penguin Cafe, Simon broadly regarded as " a very big yes to the survival of the heart in a time when the heart is under attack from the forces of coldness, darkness and repression."

even more studies

Rainier

Crossing I5 this morning, I was caught by a sight I'd not seen from this part of town before.

more studies

Goodbye, Martin

I decided to see if I could sell my Martin through Craigslist (rather than Ebay - avoiding the shipping issues that would entail.) Friday morning, I posted a listing, pricing the guitar at $375. (I’d asked around previously and no one would give me an idea of a fair price, so I put a price that wouldn’t make me cringe.) There was an immediate reply from one fellow. And then I went to take a shower. When I can back there were seven more interested parties. Over the course of the next hour, I learned I had woefully under-priced the guitar. People were calling offering much more money – up to $700. I know that the $700 offer was trying to simply get first in line to see the guitar, so I tempered my expectation down to $500 – a price that would allow me to feel good about the sale being a fair price for both of us. I told everyone I’d be at a café for an hour – and if they wanted to come by, they could check out the guitar. After fending off one very aggressive buyer who would only offer $425, a gentle, middle-aged man handed me five 100 dollar bills and took the guitar away. May he enjoy it! (And if he doesn’t, he may be able to make $200 or more in a subsequent sale!)

Wistful

As the newly formed (and tentatively named) 'house team circle' begins its work, I find myself wistful for the Bay Area group that huddled in that little apartment on Geary Street. It was a time of sweet collaboration and easily reached consensus. It is hard to say why it worked so well, except perhaps that everyone knew their place and took responsibility for the role they inhabited.

Heartsick

This happened last Thursday. I've been avoiding even thinking about it because it makes me hearstick everytime I do. Repair estimate is currently approx $5K. I'm fine, by the way.

My noisy neighbor

It lacks a soundtrack, but you get the picture...

Lelani Lanes is coming down

The bowling alley across the street is being torn down as I type this.

Paul will be happy to know...

Paul, my friend (and the designer/developer of my website) will be happy to know that I have finally got some new news to report. Which is that Watermark Gallery in Houston is including my work in their next show. Happy to be having my work shown along side my friend Gitta, who is at her opening in Sante Fe this weekend over at Verve Gallery.

A detail

house team circle

The house team circle met Wednesday night – without ‘little’* Andrew. But with the welcome addition of Curt, and a bit later, Taylor. So much support is available with seasoned players around. The faltering that might result in a piece falling apart simply doesn’t have the ooomph when a few strong players are in the mix. That meant we actually played in moments. With Andrew missing, I was in the hot seat for Asturias and – surprise! - One of a Thousand Regrets. I haven’t played One of a Thousand Regrets in a long, long time, though I tried showing Andrew the melody last week – and had misgivings about my memory of how the piece goes. So I was caught quite by surprise when Ian asked me to begin both of these. Beautiful opportunities to try and see what happens on that hot seat. That edge between before the piece begins and the beginning feels like a precipice. Counting in is still difficult. For the first time – and no doubt having strong players present helped with this – I was able to properly count and play One of a Thousand Regrets once we got going with it. Relief when we finally moved on to Eye of the Needle, where I can take some refuge in the bass - though breaking down the piece into sections proved challenging to me. Lacking a frame of reference for where my notes go, it was difficult for me when we worked with what Curt referred to as the 4/4 section. After several attempts, I began to hear where my notes belonged.


(* We have two Andrews and an Andy here. 'Little' Andrew, a veteran of the Weekly Workshop, was dubbed that by IgorA.)