The Nunnery

confidential to Josh in New Jersey:

2011-03-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

go fuck yourself!

Go Away

2010-12-20T12:35:00.000-05:00

the Holidays

2010-12-18T23:57:00.000-05:00

I'm in the deep north, visiting family and friends. My mother looks much better than I was expecting. We've been video-chatting over the past few weeks, but I wasn't prepared for how lively she seems in person. Still fragile (only 87 lbs), but in good spirits and with sense of humor intact.

As you may remember, most years the Nunnery experiences heat failure, usually during a cold-spell. This year the oven has broken, which I consider an improvement. We'll be getting a new oven sometime in the next few days.

My back, which I'm sure you don't really care about, is getting less worse, as is my shoulder, which has been dislocated since mid-November and which I'm learning to auto-manually relocate.

My phone still works. FaceTime is a revelation. iTeleportation next...

Happy Holidays

2010-12-17T17:43:00.001-05:00

Happy Holidays

2010-12-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

song

2010-12-13T15:08:00.003-05:00

I weep for you, the Walrus said

the end

2010-12-12T19:27:00.003-05:00

Plans are forming for the upcoming holiday.

It snowed today and we ran into Mark at Carroll St.

I solved my phone problem by upgrading. The world may be hurtling toward its own special hell, but my new iPhone is shiny. And it loves me, I can tell.

The good news

2010-12-08T12:21:00.004-05:00

My mother returns to her home today after 70 days in hospitals and rehab facilities. In nomine Patri, et Fili, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

nightmare

2010-12-08T10:03:00.004-05:00

Horrific dream last night. Horrific meta-dream, really. Meta because I was dreaming I was asleep in my own bed, having an horrific dream. The nightmare-within-a-nightmare took place in the house where so many of my dreams take place. This dream-house has an uncountable number of rooms and is, for the most part, open, breezy, and beautifully arranged. Most experiences in this house are vibrant and lovely, but sometimes I'm aware there's a stairway which leads down to the vast underbelly of the house. I've been in this underbelly enough times to know that it's endless corridors are filled with evil. There are also many upper levels, above the main floor, attics built upon rickety attics, too many to count. They are dark and cramped and haunted, each one more twisted than the one below it. Sometimes the evil from the basement radiates up to the main floor, as it did in last night's dream.

I woke, genuinely frightened and disturbed, and wouldn't let myself fall back to sleep, lest the dream continue. There's only so long you can expect your chronically sleep-deprived girlfriend to stay awake with you while you shake off the fear.

The dream, I believe, was at least partially caused by the hydrocodone I've been taking for my back, the pain from which hasn't gone away as I'd hoped.

Gala

2010-12-07T12:42:00.000-05:00

L and I attended the Bedlam State University Sanitorium for the Musically Disturbed's Annual Holiday Gala, which was glorious in extremis.

Happy Holidays...

2010-12-04T10:05:00.002-05:00

This is not the official holiday greeting card of the season, but it'll do until the right one shows up.

the autumn series

2010-12-03T23:31:00.003-05:00

Order has been restored. everything is as it always should have been. nothing will ever go wrong again. if you own...

the Autumn Series by Sabitathica. it's now available. get it on iTunes or go here. discourage hesitancy.

On the ever-changing states of various physical objects

2010-11-30T09:51:00.006-05:00

1. my phone: better. it turned on again at 17:20 last night, at which time I made an adjustment which may have solved the problem. I have alarms set throughout the day to help me with an ongoing exercise I'm engaged in. as best I can tell, the alarms seem to have been causing the problem.

2. my spine: less worse. I've regained some mobility and the pain has lessened a little. but let's not count our chickens just yet. premature celebration spoils good things.

3. my car: after parking in the garage this morning, following an unusually complicated commute, my interior door handle snapped and came off in my hand.

strange film

2010-11-30T06:27:00.002-05:00

Saturday's video-conferenced event celebrated the 20-year anniversary of Extensions VI: The Wake, a strange film by any standard, and not recommended to anyone suffering from properly-adjusted psychological well-being.

That said, it reads as a curiously straightforward elaboration of an earlier film called Black Wake, but amplified with flashbacks and moments of meta-commentary.

It is a curious fact that the insertion of Black Wake - in its unedited entirety - into the newer, longer The Wake is not remotely the oddest artistic decision made on-screen.

Saturday's event also saw the premier of several new films, my personal favorite being Minimal Effort, a film by Number Six, made entirely from a chronological exchange of video text messages. It's a bit like listening to voicemails left by two people engaged in a long game of phone tag - only you're not listening, you're watching. And it's not phone tag, it's madness.

In related news, the netflix stork brought us The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, another strange film by any standard. Not my favorite Bunuel, but his casual use of absurdity is almost always a good time.

phone

2010-11-29T10:05:00.003-05:00

My iPhone spontaneously turned itself off last night at 22:15.
It turned back on this morning at 09:00.
It turned itself off again at 10:00.

The pattern:
1. the phone turns off (I don't know why)
2. it eventually runs out of apple juice
3. it turns on again
4. repeat

there may be an upgrade in my future...

connection and disorder

2010-11-27T11:29:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving morning Dr. Bombay's was closed. Everywhere was closed. Only Starbucks was open.

L had an epic ordeal concerning Thanksgiving dinner which I won't go into.

After the sun went down, we looked up the chords to some classic Christmas songs and we played them and we sang together. Good times.

We are releasing a record - the Autumn Series - which is available on iTunes as of today. Very exciting. But the track order is all wrong, somehow totally different from what I gave them. So don't download it yet, at least not until I get the order right.

This disordered version will probably be a hot collector's item with the children of the future.

In a shining example of humanitarianism which should serve as an example to us all, L has adopted two virtual kittens on her iPhone, which she must check in on and feed, groom and play with every 30 minutes, or else! She named the short hair Shadow Too. I named the Blue Russian Gorillabeth. We are PETA compliant.

A problem with my back has limited my activity since October. I relented this week and saw an orthopedic specialist, something I won't be doing again. Incredibly, he x-rayed the wrong part of my back. Also, he looked like Guy Smiley. And there are no second chances for Guy Smiley.

Also, my phone is fucked, have I mentioned?

I video-talked with my mother on Thanksgiving, the highlight of an all-round pleasant day. She's in the rehab / physical therapy facility again, this after several more worrisome trips back to SSH for various emergencies. My father and sister were there with her, as were some family friends. This was the first time I'd ever video-visited with my family. I'm thankful for technologies which bring people together.

And speaking of real-time video communication, we're virtually attending a gathering in Massachusetts tonight, a yearly event and much anticipated.

No second chance

phone

2010-11-27T08:29:00.002-05:00

Yesterday my phone shut itself off and didn't turn on again for 12 hours and 15 minutes. A first! It's getting worse...

phone, work, social media

2010-11-24T10:48:00.002-05:00

On average, my phone crashes once a day now. It freezes and spontaneously self-reboots, which locks it up for about five minutes each time. I don't even have to be using it. This is not one of its most endearing features.

Not that you care, but I recently achieved the Holy Grail of the Workplace: an email-less inbox, a voicemail-less phone, and no unopened mail. This has never happened before, a fact made all the more remarkable when one considers that December 14th will mark the anniversary of my six-hundredth year of employment with the Bedlam Sanitorium for the Musically Afflicted.

And now, two Facebook-related facts, which I learned today via multiple texts from L:

1. I apparently have 666 friends.

2. L was born the same day (and year) as the Winklevoss twins, the Harvard undergrads who claimed Mark Zuckerberg appropriated their idea for HarvardConnection and turned it into Facebook.

Helen III: goats, etc.

2010-11-08T23:46:00.003-05:00

Sunday we brought the house to order, then drove through the mountains...

...to the Goofy Rooster Corn Maze!

which was pretty much deserted, as you can see from this picture of the parking lot:

Maize:

L, as usual, misbehaved, and had to spend a timeout in the stockade.

Inside the corn maze, everything looks like this:

In celebration of VH's birthday and also of all things gloriously autumnal, L and I took in a hayride. There was nobody else there. We were the only two people on the hayride.

The soundtrack to the hayride was Opel as performed by The Tannis Quintet.

The heavens from the hayride:

On our way home we stopped at a place called "Goats on the Roof," which literally has goats on the roof, viz::

But like most places, they also had some goats on the ground, where you expect to find them.

Also - and this should really surprise no one - we encountered danger.

And then we drove home. Bedlam beckons.

~~~~~~~

Helen

2010-11-07T12:03:00.024-05:00

Friday auditions went well enough. Post-carnage, L drove me to a house in the mountains we'd secured for the weekend.

It was late when we arrived and I was running on reserve energy, having barely slept thursday night, but still we took time to move in and unpack and arrange things to our liking.

The master bedroom:

L's bedroom:

It was a good house, but it had some issues.

The lighting, for one, was inoptimal. It was either shielding-your-eyes bright or bumping-into-shit dark, with no happy Goldilocks medium. If ever a house was in need of a dimmer switch...

The kitchen, while attractive and appearing fully operational to the casual observer, also lacked some important functionality. In fact, there was a moment Saturday when dinner threatened not to happen.

Dinner did happen. Homemade pizza, red table wine, dark music, and a reading from the Langoliers. Good times.

~~~~~~~

The team took a field trip to a nearby barren family cemetery, but instead of being horrific and awesome, it was actually just kind of sad in a memento mori sort of way.

Some stones bore names, but there were maybe a dozen unmarked graves of people who led lives just as rich as mine, now unremembered by anyone...

the connection was reset

2010-11-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

My mother was only in the new facility one night when a new emergency brought her back to the ER at SSH. They did what they needed to do, something unrelated to any of the previous problems, and on Tuesday sent her back to the new facility again. Everyone wants her to be back home, herself most of all.

We had Mark over for dinner tonight. We ate well and drank well and talked about elections, women, work, serial killers and sick fucks, the unpleasantness of jury duty, age and decay, Jandek, and Keith Richard's new book.

Auditions tomorrow, which I'm doing differently than I have in the past.

Going to the mountains this weekend with L, to a place we rented in Helen.

NASM

2010-10-20T15:53:00.004-05:00

Every school of music is accredited - or not - by an organization called the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). Once every 10 years NASM sends reviewers to visit us for a few days, observing what we do and how well we do it.

They were on campus Monday and Tuesday, meeting with faculty, students, the dean, and the provost. They also met with me for several extended sessions, with many questions about the academic side of our music programs.

I was asked things like, You cleared this student to graduate in Spring of 2007, yet she never took vocal pedagogy, a course required for her major. How do you justify this?

They were pretty intense, but it was still fun to talk with people I'd only just met, yet who understand my job better than almost anyone I know.

With impressively bad timing, while the reviewers were milling about, I received a visit from the student who sometimes cries and throws fits in my office. He's not enrolled in any classes this semester, so I was surprised to see him.

He said he'd just been to another office on campus, and they'd called the police on him. (He was vague as to why they did this.) The police escorted him off campus, but he returned and came to see me in my office.

He was very upset, crying and shouting things like "What the fuck is wrong with this school? This school sucks!" Not unusual behavior for him, and luckily the reviewers didn't witness it.

Unstable people have an entropic effect on their surroundings. What they touch becomes less organized.

They also have a form of radar. They seem to know the worst possible moment to make an entrance. It's almost a gift, like an extrasensory perception that draws them toward intense situations. They apparently have no control over their strong sense of timing. It uses them, they don't use it. And it uses them for evil, not good.

~~~~~~~

My mother's coronary catheterization came back negative, which is good news, and surprising. There's now talk of her being discharged/transferred to another facility closer to her home.

My mother's health, part two

2010-10-19T19:49:00.000-05:00

As I understand it, there are three main issues with her health:

1. The diagnosis has undergone several revisions, but it's now confirmed she has Goodpasture's Syndrome. This is manageable, though she'll need dialysis from now on.

2. There is a mass in her kidneys, apparently unrelated to the renal failure, and no one knows what it is. There are ways of investigating it, but not without risk.

3. There now seems to be a problem with her heart. She's undergoing a heart catheterization tomorrow morning at 8:00.

My mother's health

2010-10-10T13:49:00.003-05:00

My mother's kidneys still aren't working. She has other health problems too, some of which appear to be unrelated to the renal failure. She was moved from SSH to a hospital in Boston.

The current main diagnosis is something called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), though in the last few days her doctors have hinted that they're still looking for something which would explain all of her symptoms.

I'm back in Bedlam now. My father and sister are with her every day, supporting her, monitoring her various numbers, gathering information from nurses and doctors.

Thanks to everyone for the support and kindness you've shown since this began. I'll keep you updated.

In morbid defense of the good times

2010-10-10T13:10:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of life there's a period of rapid growth, which is followed by a long plateau, which is followed by decay and disintegration.

1. growth
2. the long plateau
3. decay

These three phases aren't distinct and orderly, but overlap.

A few weeks ago Mark, formerly of markandwanda, was talking about the third phase and how, during certain periods of time, it accelerates.

The movie Synecdoche, NY is about this (and much else besides). It takes place in a world where decay is real and not something we blithely pay lip service to.

I'm not at the end of my long plateau, but I'm near or past the midpoint. The decline is less theoretical now.

Some days we wake up feeling great, other days we wake up feeling... off. We have a cold, our body aches, or there's some strange new unexplained unpleasantness we have to deal with. But whatever happens, our experience tells us we'll feel better tomorrow, or soon enough. And usually without help from a doctor.

But one morning we'll wake up not feeling our best, and things won't improve. We'll never again feel as good as we felt yesterday. The plateau begins its decline. And this sort of thing is happening all the time.

The only thing that seems to help is this: More good times. Make the most of what you have and live until you don't.

2010-10-01T08:34:00.002-05:00

A phonecall late last night: my mother's kidneys have shut down. She's in the critical care unit of SSH, on dialysis. I'm flying there tomorrow morning.

decay

2010-09-30T11:02:00.008-05:00

Summer covers, had me a blast
Summer covers, happened so fast

I'm glad the summer covers mini-project is over. I still believe it was a good idea at the time, but I lost interest halfway through and never warmed to any of the results.

You go through the process and sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know how to make it click more often. But it's important for me personally to complete projects, and the more projects I complete, the more failures I accrue, and with more failures come more successes.

And so, with recent silly projects freshly off my plate, I had time over the last two days to record the following, somewhat less silly piece, a memento mori in the key of melancholia, and evocative, for me at least, of the aging process.

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: decay

Somebody should use this piece to accompany an autumnal-themed auto commercial, so I can make a million dollars, quit my job, and complete more projects. I'll even promise to do fewer covers.

Bad science

2010-09-30T09:16:00.004-05:00

Let us take a moment and avert our eyes in collective cultural embarrassment as Science once again acts like the drunk guy at the party talking too loud (and excitedly!) about things he doesn't understand. This morning's Washington Post has this to say about life off-Earth:

For the first time, astronomers have detected a rocky planet in another solar system that has the most basic and essential conditions needed to support extraterrestrial life.

Sigh. Okay Science, for the love of God, please, repeat after me:

We. Don't. Know. The conditions. Essential. For. Extraterrestrial. Life. Also. There. Is. No. Reason. To assume. Life. Must. Everywhere. Be. Similar. To what. We. Find. On. Earth.

That is all.

percussion

2010-09-26T13:17:00.002-05:00

After ice skating we went to Bedlam Pro Percussion, where I bought a snare drum, a 20" ride cymbal, their stands, a pair of sticks and a pair of brushes. Apart from a few shakers and tambourines acquired over the years, I've never owned real percussion equipment before.

The cat hates them. She shares my low tolerance for loud noises, but unlike me, she's unwilling to put her preferences aside for the sake of art.

Apocalyptic dream last night, complete with extraterrestrials and ex-girlfriends (that line becomes thin in places).

I'll post the other two 80s covers soon, as most feedback was positive.

Listening now to Laisse tomber les filles, the Serge Gainsbourg song, sung by France Gall.

ice skating

2010-09-26T11:58:00.003-05:00

Autumn has arrived, and not just because the calendar says so. The temperature has dropped a dozen degrees over the last two days and it's no longer unpleasant to be out of doors.

L and I went ice skating Saturday.

It was public-skating time, which means there was a DJ.

You: did the DJ play Party all the time?
Me: no, he did not. L requested it, but he didn't have it in his library.
You: what other songs did he not have in his library?
Me: faith, we got the beat, cruel summer, and pretty much anything else that was played ad nauseum in the 80s.

On the other hand, I did get to hear the song Macarena for the first time. I thought it would be catchier.

This is everyone doing their best to pretend like they enjoy skating to music not made between 1982 and 1988:

And here is L, decked out in her spiffy new scarf and mittens which she has demanded I tell you she knitted herself.

Everybody enjoyed ice skating. Nobody fell and hurt herself. Good times, good times.

covers

2010-09-22T09:38:00.007-05:00

I recorded four covers this weekend - 80s radio hits, all of them - two of which are included below - party all the time by Eddie Murphy and faith by George Michael.

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: party all the time

Sabitathica: faith

L: voice and synthesizer

The other two covers are we got the beat by the go-go's and cruel summer by bananarama. I may post them here also, depending on how these first two go over.

Ash

2010-09-21T17:48:00.004-05:00

Ash's wedding was this weekend.

The good times:

He asked me to conduct two pieces of music. Here's a picture L took during rehearsal:

As fate would have it, Party All the Time by Eddie Murphy was played at the reception, which is a coincidence because this song keeps coming up these days.

speakers, etc.

2010-09-08T19:55:00.000-05:00

My new Audioengine A2 speakers were delivered last night. I got them because the laws of physics (also, my carelessness) broke my old computer speakers. I'm listening to Casals play the cello suites on them right now.

After listening to too much Bach:
Mozart never seems to have anything to say
Beethoven exaggerates how much he feels

Currently reading Jeanne de Salzmann's newly published book.

We saw a matinée of The American this weekend, which I loved.

I'm working with qigong in the mornings before work.

Night Song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook reminds me of the flower farm in Maine.

the yarn store

2010-09-06T09:39:00.001-05:00

Now that L is a knitter, she occasionally forces me to accompany her to the yarn store, which looks like this:

no I really don't think I can dance.

2010-09-04T09:09:00.001-05:00

We were listening to music on Friday when spontaneous dance broke out. The song most responsible for this awesome event was Sweet-Lovin' Man by the Magnetic Fields.

L's dance looked like this:

My own dance was a cross between Ally Sheedy in the Breakfast Club and the Peanuts characters at a Schroeder throwdown.

Taking tiger mountain

2010-09-01T06:41:00.005-05:00

Shadow with her new collar in a photo by L:

This year's incoming music school crop is a good one, lots of intelligence and sunny natures.

The completion of a cycle puts one at peace

2010-08-28T12:35:00.003-05:00

L and I completed three projects recently.

1. Brian Greene's string theory documentary The Elegant Universe which I first saw on NOVA in 2003. We watched it online across several days, completing it last night. It's three hours long and there's no math to speak of, but it's fun and the production value is high and you get a rounded overview of the sociological history of string theory by the time you're through.

The two strongest impressions I came away with:

1. the idea that the Big Bang may have been caused by the collision of two higher dimensional membranes.
2. my own sense that we have a new generation of conspicuously precocious mathematicians - almost like a mathematical leisure-class - so comfortable with such a high level of competence that they seem at some point to have become almost bored.

Q: What to do with all this useless brilliance?
A: Let the physicists worry about experimental verification. We'll do their calculations for them when they need us to, but in our spare time we're going to hang out with our bored and brilliant friends and create mathematical art.

And eventually the new art project - string theory - is so rich and beautiful that it's very depth and consistency become "proof" of it's truth.

And we've all been there before, haven't we?

2. Dexter, season 4. Entertaining television. The surprise at the end of the last episode was as satisfying as almost anything I've seen on tv.

3. Creative Thinking by J.G. Bennett. I read it first in 1995, and again several times since. The less said about this book the better.

Bach

2010-08-28T11:19:00.006-05:00

Lots of Bach lately. From the last few weeks:

* The Brandenburg Concertos, several different versions, my current favorite being the Consortium Musicum. But I still want the 1982 Trevor Pinnock.
* The Art of Fugue, not on harpsichord or piano or organ, but as a chamber work performed by the Musica Antiqua Koln. I'm new to Bach's last work and, unsurprisingly, it's a very good time.
* The Musical Offering, with Chiyoko Arita at the harpsichord (out of print, I believe) is one of the most beautiful things in my music library.
* all six harpsichord concertos by Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra. Just okay.
* some of the Keyboard Partitas, performed by Igor Kipnis on harpsichord. I have a great weakness for solo baroque harpsichord (as somewhere Scarlatti's ears begin to burn).
* various Glenn Gould, including The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book I), the Toccatas, the 2- and 3-part Inventions, and the 1955 Goldberg Variations.

Last night during dinner, I had the Brandenburg Concertos playing in the music room and The Art of Fugue simultaneously shuffle-mixed on my nearby phone. Both Bachs were audible, and overlapping. Waves of baroque beauty, long interweaving lines of lovingly patterned self-reference, each meeting and lapping warmly at the feet of the other. Even when the two pieces were in contrasting keys there was no disharmony, leading me to suggest that Bach contains no internal contradictions.

L's birthday as photojournal

2010-08-22T14:29:00.016-05:00

L's birthday was Saturday. Friday I sent flowers to her work, when they arrived the card said they were from somebody called "Davis".

I don't know Davis, but I admit he has robust taste in floral arrangements.

We drove north after work to a house on Lake Lanier we rented for the weekend. We ate at a noisy restaurant on the way and arrived long after sunset. Here's the porch at night.

From the porch, lights line the path as it winds down to the lake.

The house during the day, looking up to the car and the road beyond.

This picture of the lake path...

... is also the 5000th photograph my camera has taken. The completion of a cycle brings one peace. Here's the first picture I took with this camera:

Which brings us back to the path...

... and from there the dock.

We swam and dock-sat and drank absinthe and listened to Boards of Canada and talked and swam some more. Then we walked back to the house.

The house is three stories, has four bedrooms and two baths and feels like it could sleep 26.

L knitting on the porch as I type:

bathroom 1

The ground floor bedroom:

the kitchen:

the basement bedroom, for children:

The author's workstation:

The livingroom 1

The livingroom 2

L's bedroom:

The master bedroom 1

The master bedroom 2

jacuzzi in the bath off the master bedroom:

the shower in the bath off the master bedroom. There were options for water to spray from any combination of four different shower heads.

Back to the living room where L has moved her knitting:

And this is the porch, where we eat. We came downstairs Saturday morning and found water raining from the porch ceiling into our glasses left out the night before. I felt like I was in a Tarkovsky film.

L's birthday dinner:

L's sparkling wine glass, and also her favourite glass in the house:

Breakfast Sunday was French toast and scrambled eggs, prepared by the author.

Another day on the dock. The iphone played Shine on you crazy diamond live from Los Angeles in 1975. We put on lots of sunscreen and played on the raft, seen below, until it was time to head back in.

And here we are.

L's birthday as list

2010-08-22T14:23:00.001-05:00

Friday

* L got a promotion/new job
* L received flowers from "Davis"
* Ash asked me to conduct Pachelbel's Canon at his wedding
* L visited me at work
* we packed and drove to the lakehouse
* sat on the dock and drank absinthe and watched heat lightning flash under heavy clouds

Saturday

* the birthday
* french toast for breakfast, prepared by the author
* lots of Bach
* lake swimming, part the first
* a reading from Ender's Game
* a voicemail from Ash asking me to conduct a second piece at his wedding, this one from the Princess Bride
* yes, more absinthe
* also, there was a summery sparkling wine with dinner
* lake swimming again

Sunday

* Author's breakfast
* lake swimming, part the third
* house cleaning

and here we are.

it's in the trees! it's coming!

2010-08-19T07:42:00.000-05:00

Music School begins again Monday. Work is getting busy.

Preparations are underway for L's birthday this weekend. The current plan: a lakehouse.

painting by Jacek Yerka.

Netflix

2010-08-13T19:21:00.002-05:00

In joyful preparation for tomorrow night's inaugural meeting of The Now Today Film Appreciation Society (which I will be attending virtually, via the magic of the interweb), I have finally joined the Netflix nation.

The Visitor

2010-08-13T00:47:00.003-05:00

Number Six's visit was a right creative time. He likes to work efficiently for extended periods, which is always nice, and something which happened several times during his stay.

On Saturday we ate at the now-even-more-famous Carrol Street Cafe before heading right back to the Nunnery for a several hours long seed-sowing recording session.

Any questions?

The recording session rollicked and veered dangerously from Yer Blues and two Rolling Stones songs to a strange new version of The Satyrical Way, and even to some good-times recitation of Aristotle explaining how to respond to the critics of poetry, read in a continuum of different outrageous theatrical accents, over crosspicked bass. Very 22nd century.

Dinner was my favorite by L, from a recipe by Luba Gurdjieff.

A virtual social event followed with Number Six, L, and myself in the Nunnery, and Vlindinhauer Haverhast joining us via computerly magic from the nghbts 1000 mile away. We even played a version of The Narrow Way Part III together. Good times.

some photos of the band

2010-08-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

eyedrum

2010-08-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

The opening act - Sensitive Chaos - soundchecking.

The bar:

Sabitathica communicating the band's needs to the soundman:

Eyedrum:

The Darkness of Stars at Eyedrum

2010-08-11T10:24:00.004-05:00

Number Six came to visit at the Nunnery, and Friday night we played our gig at Eyedrum, which was fun and intense. It was also hazardous, meaning the situation contained both significance and uncertainty as to the outcome. The task was clear and failure was a real possibility.

The quintet:

Number Six: voice, autoharp
Sabitathica: guitar
L: drones, samples
Ash: upright bass
Mont: drums

The first time we played together as a group was the afternoon of the gig, when we ran through the set once.

The show was broadcast live to a limited internet audience, which might be a first for Eyedrum. And I have the multitrack audio, which I'm mixing later tonight.

The event was a success. We held together as a group. And everyone who came, stayed.

Musical events don't organize themselves and, except in rare situations, entropy and apathy rule the day. (But The Now Today Ensemble is never far from go-mode.)

On Friday night the Darkness of Stars met their challenge with grace and good spirit. The performance had qualities I didn't anticipate. A fine time was had by all.

The Darkness of Stars

2010-07-27T10:55:00.002-05:00

The Darkness of Stars are Atlanta's first and only dreampunk band.

The Darkness were formed to map the vast territory between the burgeoning stonefolk and dronegaze movements.

Shimmering guitar, smokey upright bass, stone-jazz drums, swirling soundscapes of mystical honeydrones, a detuned autoharp, and baritone words of loss and love, failure and forgiveness, Darwin and decay.

Tech Support: voice
Sabitathica: guitar
Ash: bass
Mont: drums
L: drones

~~~~~~~

Doomfolk Magazine calls The Darkness of Stars "one of the southeast's premiere acts for anyone who craves dark songs of warm despair".

"The experience I had of seeing [Darkness of Stars' singer] Tech Support was similar to watching a wild animal falter and despair and ultimately collapse under the weight of age and responsibility, but over and over again, a dozen times an hour. The Darkness of Stars play the most beautiful soundtrack to self-destruction you'll ever hear." -- Atherton Flux, Information Now

"The Darkness of Stars play dark, mystical, atmospheric dreamrock, with generous notes of cocoa, pepper and black cherry." -- Mr. Phi, Now Today

~~~~~~~

The Darkness of Stars will perform live at eyedrum at 10 PM on August 6th.

Things learned this week

2010-07-20T17:10:00.005-05:00

* Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda remove stains left on enamel by bleach.

* Nature resists the organization of a musical performance.

* L is healthy.

* The first few minutes of rain slicken residual oil on the road.

* Brass players procrastinate this year.

* Polly Walker is an attractive woman.

* The Darkness of Stars are Atlanta's first and only dreampunk band.

* The glove didn't fit because OJ hadn't taken his anti-inflammatory arthritis medication.

Nikhil Banerjee plays as I type.

car accident

2010-07-14T09:35:00.000-05:00

I've been in a car accident. My body's a bit shaken and my car has sustained damage. I'll keep you posted.

botanical garden

2010-07-06T15:04:00.000-05:00

L and I went to the Bedlam Botanical Garden to commune with the flora...

chill with the orchids...

and hang with the free-roaming baby quails.

fireworks!

2010-07-05T15:06:00.006-05:00

There were fireworks outside the Nunnery on the Fourth of July...

So beautiful.

We brought our own personal fireworks and lit them off in the Candler Park playground:

Good times.

health

2010-06-29T23:21:00.001-05:00

The cold I caught over vacation is demonic.

It has morphed into both a sinus infection and an ear infection. A few days ago, my left eardrum burst from the pressure building up inside it. I'm on antibiotics now, which I dislike intensely, and which reminds me that Gurdjieff once called penicillin "poison to the psyche of man".

L is now beginning to show early symptoms of the same cold.

Demonic.

Marshfield: sunset

2010-06-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

All things end...

Marshfield: views from the porch

2010-06-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

We left Nantucket and returned to Marshfield.

~~~~~~~

Me, writing to you, now.

Or, the artist pretending to be a man who updates his blog regularly:

Nantucket: walkabout

2010-06-16T21:34:00.001-05:00

We went for a walk the following morning after breakfast.

~~~~~~~

As we were passing by a church, its bell struck noon. Taking this as a sign, we entered and promptly began taking pictures.

A vertical view of the stairwell leading to the bell tower, which we climbed:

The pipes of the church organ:

The organist's view:

Nantucket: evening

2010-06-16T20:35:00.002-05:00

We returned to the suite and got ready for dinner:

~~~~~~~

We had dinner at the American Seasons restaurant. L said it was the best meal of her life.

Nantucket: sunset

2010-06-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

We spend hours on the beach and eventually watched the sun set:

Nantucket: the shore as a source of pattern

2010-06-16T20:25:00.000-05:00

Nantucket: the beach

2010-06-16T20:20:00.002-05:00

After organizing the suite, we went for a walk...

to the beach:

This is L, explaining how inappropriately she's dressed for the beach:

Nantucket: arrival

2010-06-16T20:05:00.010-05:00

Our arrival on the island was auspiciously harbinged by an ~~ominous albatross~~ angry seagull.

We picked up our rental car and checked into our suite.

The suite:

Nantucket: the ferry

2010-06-15T18:48:00.004-05:00

On my birthday we breakfasted and packed and rushed to the Steamship Authority in Hyannis where we made our ferry five minutes before it set out and were the last to board.

On the hour-long ferry ride, I tried my best to keep out of the way of everyone who isn't yet forty-one -- all those people busy doing things, and still somehow believing that it might all amount to something in the end.

A word of advice to young readers

2010-06-15T17:25:00.001-05:00

Enjoy your pre-forty-ones.

My life until I turned forty-one was one giant seamless bliss. Looking back now, it was as if I was forever running through a big green field and flying a kite like I was in an allergy commercial, at the end, when everything's awesome. I didn't know how good I had it.

Life before forty-one is as good as it gets. Your best days are behind you, that's for sure, so enjoy it while you still can. When you turn forty-one, just accept it and shamble quietly towards your ruin and your death. It's not like you can do anything about it anyway.

Third Annual Family Redsox Outing

2010-06-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Participants:

father
sister
wonderniece
L
myself

The gameday consensus among various weathercasters was that there may or may not be precipitation, and that something definitely might happen.

Traveling to and from Fenway (via the red and green lines) was uneventful, except for L getting hit by a car and thereby somehow almost embroiling us all in a front-page incident. She wasn't hurt and the situation sort of evaporated as the driver pantomimed looking through the trunk of his car for some sort of weapon - the family consensus interpretation of his fumbling and ultimately cowardish approach to a what was a stressful situation for all involved. May we all find peace.

Before the game L bought a pink RED SOX zippered hoodie, lapsed into post-traumatic shopping disorder.

We lost. It wasn't ever gonna happen, even with a rally in the ninth. L and I were both cold.

Very good pizza with family afterward, then back to Marshfield to play music with mr o.

the Now Today Ensemble

2010-06-13T20:19:00.003-05:00

A lovely dinnerparty, managed by Persephone Haverhast, complete with coffee ground forecasting.

We finally got to see Now Today Week, a film by Vlindinhauer Haverhast. Now Today Week is not only immensely enjoyable, it is also a true representation of what it was like to be there at the time. Experientially, isomorphically exact.

I premiered three pieces of music I finished over Memorial Day weekend.

We had the first runthrough of side one of Pink Floyd's The final cut as a septet.

Vlindinhauer Haverhast ~ bass and voice
Persephone Haverhast ~ handclaps
Mr why ~ atmospherist
Sabitathica ~ hello
L ~ sound synthesis modules no. 1 - 6
Tech Support ~ a contractual obligation to facilitate compliance with the Now Today Society Event Rider (Standard)'s Technology Quota Clause. Also, voice.
MPM ~ heroic historian

The ensemble watched a strange new film by Tech Support, who I should mention is the vocalist and front man for my new project The Darkness of Stars. He's in one of his dangerous creative phases (or he'd better be) so check him out at Eyedrum on August 6. But don't take my word for it:

Atherton Flux: "Seeing Tech Support onstage is like watching a wild animal wither and despair and ultimately fall under the weight of age and responsibility, but over and over again really fast, and the background music is the most beautiful soundtrack to self-destruction you've ever heard."

Vlindinhauer and I had a stand by the ocean, with the dark tide lapping our bare feet. The women looked on adoringly from a distance.

Persephone produced sparklers. We lit them all, and it was the happiest any of us had ever been in our lives.

A patrol car showed up and slowed down and communicated to us with his reverse lights his stance on victimless crime. But he must have decided the paperwork wasn't worth it.

The Hotel Suburban had no heat. After a phonecall we learned the hotel can supply either air conditioning or heat to its rooms. It can't do both and it can't treat any room individually. And so not for the first time and not for the last, Elizabeth and I were cold. A no-heat pattern is presenting.

3 am to sleep, early to rise, Bob's muffin shop to eat. Rendezvoused with family for a fieldtrip to Fenway.

The darkness of stars will perform at eyedrum

2010-06-12T14:47:00.001-05:00

Rising to the challenge presented by Number Six (a.k.a. Tech Support)'s visit to the Nunnery in August, we have committed to a gig at eyedrum on the evening of Saturday the 7th. The ensemble is called The Darkness of Stars.

From an email I sent Thursday afternoon:

The Darkness of Stars is a clandestine collective of pioneering provocateurs who play dark, mystical, atmospheric dreamrock, with generous notes of cocoa, pepper and black cherry.

Tech Support, Sabitathica, and L are all card-carrying members of the famed Now Today Society. Mark Baker performs with Atlanta's own Z-Axis. Christopher Mont is a drummer.

Tech Support, the mysterious underground nyc vocalist / misanthropic recluse, is typically found ruining computers and pretending to be an actual artist.

Sabitathica prefers dimly-lit rooms. He was the guitarist for The Trench Sisters.

Mark Baker knows many things. He lays down the ambiance. You will not be able to stand so much beauty.

L plays the Moog, and occasionally the cello and flute. She is also learning to knit.

Christopher Mont is a drummer.

For more information visit http://sabitathica.blogspot.com/

~~~~~~~

Come one, come all. Tell a good friend.

This rare live appearance will feature the world-premier of several beautiful pieces, including Autumn 4: the satyrical way and Bring me the head of Vlindinhauer Haverhast.

~~~~~~~

it's true...

2010-06-12T14:32:00.000-05:00

so.

much.

beauty.

Arthur and Pat's

2010-06-12T14:29:00.003-05:00

This morning, L & I breakfasted at Arthur & Pat's on Ocean Street in Brant Rock.

She had the bananabread french toast, which she hasn't had since the last time we ate here (Ocotber 2008) and has been pining for ever since.

We were Pat's last customers of the season that October. She closed down the restaurant that day after we left.

It was good to be back.

back pain

2010-06-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

Upon arriving in Massachusetts and after greeting the family, I visited a chiropractor. My Atlanta chiropractor was not able to replace my rib, so I made an appointment to see one up here.

I've seen this new chiropractor only once before, two years ago. But when I called him to ask for an appointment he remembered:

1. my name.
2. which rib he'd set for me two years earlier.

He adjusted me, but I'm not convinced he quite reset the reluctant rib.

We shall see.

Arrival scan

2010-06-11T22:18:00.001-05:00

A traveling day.

The hardest part of traveling is the part which involves traveling. Planes and buses and taxis and walkways and cars and waiting and rushing and putting up with other travelers... I prefer the arriving part.

We are here now.

Atherton, take me away...

2010-06-09T10:30:00.009-05:00

Last night: a visit post music-prison to the amnemonic chiropractor so that he might coax a prodigal rib to reconspire with its long-suffering colleagues. Success was moderate.

His bizarre memory was in top form: he greeted me by name. A first! And later when I told him I was traveling soon he responded "Oh, France?" which surprised me, b'c we've only spoken about France once, last summer.

~~~~~~~

El secreto de sus ojos, ftw! L and I saw it at the Tara. Four thumbs held high. It is a story well told.

The audience was terrible. Bustle-y and food-obsessed. Who are these people?

The man across the aisle ate for an hour and a half, I'm not exaggerating, stopping only occasionally to wheeze and cough on the backs of the necks of the people in front of him. And me. Do they ever feed him outside of theaters?

I don't know how popcorn and plastic-wrapped candies became gastronomical de rigueur for quiet (?) cultural gathering spaces.

Q: Why are some people so cluelessly incareful while others are doomed to believe that everything they do, whether intentional or not, affects sensitive things in their environment?
A: Unknown

~~~~~~~

Packing begins tonight for the northward trek. The team is ready, the plan loose-fitting.

There's music, old friends, family, and the ocean all to see. We may visit the Vineyard. We will congregate on the Fenway and incite the Red Sox to athletic transcendency. Or at least to victory. Hooray! And there are at least two formal social gatherings on the docket.

Enough for good times and to spare.

album release!

2010-06-07T15:15:00.007-05:00

We're excited to announce that The Autumn Series will soon be available on the iTunes store and elsewhere. This will be the first release from Saint in Shadow Records.

Updates will appear on the new NEWS page.

Tannis, anyone?

2010-05-23T23:13:00.001-05:00

Sabitathica: spring 5 (tannis, anyone?)

L: cello

the future

2010-05-23T17:40:00.011-05:00

A painting by the wonderful Julian de Narvaez:

~~~~~~~

weekend:

* friday night listening party (x2)
* work on new flute/sitar piece
* work on Number Six's song
* brunch (x2)
* much ridiculous shopping
* L finished knitting my scarf (photo coming soon), though it still needs to be wet-blocked
* finished twin peaks, (season 1)
* homemade margaritas last night

several new developments are in the air. stay tuned for details...

Crayon monster

2010-05-22T23:06:00.000-05:00

You: put more of your crayon drawings on this blog, please. and be quick about it!
Sabitathica: go away and leave me alone.

~~~~~~~

Here is a drawing taken from an ongoing series of celebrity crayon portraits. This is Cookie Monster:

new functionality

2010-05-20T08:02:00.006-05:00

We have a new FAQ page! Two, actually. If you cannot find your question in FAQ 1, you may wish to leaf through FAQ II. Updated as new questions arise.

winter 7: new year's eve

2010-05-17T01:09:00.001-05:00

Sabitathica: winter 7 (new year's eve)

L: voice

Why doesn't the future look like this yet?

2010-05-17T00:56:00.003-05:00

~~~~~~~

weekend:

* friday night listening party
* tried (failed) to record something worthwhile for Embryo
* recorded something for new voice track Number Six sent me
* tested car emissions
* worked w L on math behind the pattern of the scarf she's knitting me
* cleaning
* brunch (x2)
* shopping (apple store, knitting store, whole foods, yard sale, borders)
* matinee: iron man 2
* lunch at R. Thomas
* watched beginning of Twin Peaks

School is out!

2010-05-12T07:45:00.007-05:00

Once upon a time I was heartbroken to learn I could not attend school. Witness: a portrait of the artist as a wee tyke, seeing his sister off on her first morning of class.

Nowadays it's different. The two years following Hampshire aside, I've been in school continuously for the last 35 years. I need a break.

And I still cry whenever she wears that ridiculous dress...

pattern

2010-05-12T07:18:00.000-05:00

Music school is winding down for the semester. My days are now primarily spent:

* clearing students to graduate

* advising new students

The calendar has its patterns; the academic calendar even more so. This was my thirteenth Spring semester, and one of the hardest.

Peace be unto all.

pollen

2010-05-11T23:42:00.001-05:00

The pollen is killing me. My lungs are filled with water. Breathing is like inhaling soggy linen. I'm still having trouble hearing.

travel

2010-05-11T10:55:00.003-05:00

L and I will vacation north this year, the most likely travel dates being June 12-20.

We will be available to play side one of both The Final Cut and Dark Side of the Moon if the Now Today Ensemble can make it happen.

winter 1

2010-05-10T23:02:00.001-05:00

Here's what the critics are saying about Winter 1:

"I prefer the Autumn series" -- King Friday

"I don't know anyone who listens to this music, so it must not be any good" -- Atherton Flux

"What was the question?" -- The Ragdoll Kitten Groupies

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: winter 1

L: voice

the Tate-LaBianca murders

2010-05-09T02:13:00.000-05:00

You: There aren't enough songs about murder on your blog. Please remedy this.
Sabitathica: Okay.

Spring 2: the tate-labianca murders

mp3 player

2010-05-05T11:06:00.010-05:00

I've installed a splashy new mp3 player (-->) in the sidebar, which wants to bewitch you with the amber tones of the Autumn series.

The Autumn series is nine pieces, several of which have not appeared here before, or at least not in these forms.

Of special interest to some may be the inclusion of the pit and the pendulum with words by Edgar Allan Poe, which was recorded on Halloween atop Blood Mountain and which finishes out the series.

There is more music which may be presented here (a Winter series and a burgeoning Spring series). I aim to please, so let me know how you like the new mp3 player at sabitathiblog at gmail dot com.

the third dark time

2010-05-04T08:54:00.014-05:00

Technically, the climate here is "humid subtropical," which pretty much means "occasionally habitable, but barely". I don't suffer from allergies, but this year I do. I know this because I cannot

1. breathe
2. hear out of my left ear

My body is miserable, but good times abound.

~~~~~~~

In a doomed diplomatic effort to maintain friendly relations with flora, we, the servants of good King Friday XIII, do hereby present the mysterious Spring 3: the third dark time for the assimilation of hypoallergenic plant life everywhere.

Sabitathica: spring 3 (the third dark time)

rain

2010-05-03T15:26:00.012-05:00

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: rain

the great gig in the sky

2010-04-27T01:29:00.004-05:00

Wanda is the only person I know who can sing this, and I know hundreds of people who can sing. A non-linguistic vocal meditation on death and grief and loss.

~~~~~~~

the dinnerparty: the great gig in the sky

Tracie: weeping viola
Topher: depressed, distressed, deranged drumming
Mark: grieving guitar
Sabitathica: sorrowful guitar
L: brooding cello
Wanda: the vocal lament

on the run

2010-04-23T08:23:00.004-05:00

~~~~~~~

the dinnerparty: on the run

Tracie: cryptic viola
Topher: hitter of things which get hit
Mark: strange electric guitar
Wanda: resonant melodica
L: thereminator
Sabitathica: moog

breathe

2010-04-22T07:44:00.005-05:00

Music from The Dinnerparty's recent runthroughs of the dark side of the dinnerparty.

Program notes:

1. Topher was present for the first two runthroughs and absent from the last two, giving us two different ensembles -- one with percussion and one without.

What follows is a minor Frankenstein, a composite of takes from the different ensembles. Peace be unto all.

2. The recording levels aren't great, with some instruments jumping out while others remain politely in the background. You have been warned.

3. Odeo has been down for several days, so I'm using a new mp3 player. Don't be afraid to care.

~~~~~~~

the dinnerparty: breathe

The Candler Park Sweetwater 420 Festival

2010-04-20T08:05:00.004-05:00

The Candler Park Sweetwater 420 Festival was this weekend. You may remember this from last year.

Since the park is like a minute away from the Nunnery, L threatened me with a frying pan and insisted that we attend.

~~~~~~~

Remember how you always wanted to go to Circus Camp when you were a kid, but your parents wouldn't let you because they said Circus Camp is really just a bunch of creepy middle-aged men who spend all day trying to persuade children of the joys of making phallus-balloons?

Well, they were right.

~~~~~~~

For some reason there was a Nepalese woman who was weaving her way out of indentured servitude, one weft at a time.

She was crying and mumbling (in Nepalese) about how the Festival organizers kidnapped her from her village and brought her to Bedlam in a cage, feeding her only grass and twigs until such time as she successfully weaves them a cloak worthy of the sons of King Friday.

All hail King Friday!

~~~~~~~

There was a young woman who played nervously with her hair as she tried to pick up a pirate.

~~~~~~~

The Candler Park Sweetwater 420 Festival wouldn't be the Candler Park Sweetwater 420 Festival without live music. Or probably it would be, but quieter.

One of the bands (seen here behind the hippies) were called Mystery Trip, and they only played Beatle songs.

Among other things, they played Octopus's garden and Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey, which I've never heard played by any band who weren't already the Beatles.

And Please mr. postman was a real crowd pleaser. And by "crowd" I mean "me".

~~~~~~~

In a shameless effort to line the bottomless pockets of the wicked Festival organizers, there was a child adoption boutique prison concession booth, which can be seen in the photograph below.

The woman in the picture is evidently trying to choose one that isn't already broken.

She has her work cut out for her...

Good luck lady!

~~~~~~~

And there was a funny-hat competition, where hopeful contestants flaunted their bonnets for the underwhelmed and ever-judgmental masses.

If a hat was particularly offensive the crowd would throw cheeseburgers and tangerines at the wearer.

Last place:

Runner up:

~~~~~~~

A second band took the stage after Mystery Trip finished their set. These boring professionals set their sights on emulating the life-sucking musical stylings of bands of the caliber of, say, Hootie and the Blowfish. Plus reggae.

A very professional, polished presentation. When they played, I heard the music business, not music. We left.

... but not before staring in a flatfooted daze at the Yummy Wagon:

Mmm, the Yummy Wagon...

How to convince a music student that you attended their recital when you really didn't (in three easy steps):

2010-04-15T10:46:00.005-05:00

1. if the student is male, there's no need, because he won't care whether you were there or not.

2. if the student is a vocalist, say the following:

"Your dress was beautiful and I loved the Italian song."

3. if the student is an instrumentalist, say the following:

"I particularly enjoyed the Bach."

Rosemary's Baby at the Plaza

2010-04-14T07:46:00.001-05:00

Tuesday we went to see Rosemary's Baby at the Plaza theater.

Before the film began, a black-robed man stood at the front of the theater and shouted "hail Satan!" The audience happily did so.

A man standing next to him held up a baby - probably a real, living baby, though it was hard to tell - by the foot and waved it around. Good times.

There was a countdown...

and then the good times began in earnest.

The audience was surprisingly well-behaved, though it should be said that they tittered like silly-people whenever anything remotely sexual was mentioned.

Free Roman!

~~~~~~~

There was a photo-op in the lobby before the film. A pregnant woman (who assured me she was actually pregnant) lay on a table with (fake) blood smeared on her belly. She even had Rosemary's "Vidal Sassoon" hairstyle.

The good news: I got to threaten her with a large knife while she screamed for the camera, a scenario we can all admit to fantasizing about from time to time, right? [silence] ... right? L stood at my side looking appropriately horrified.

The scene had more in common with the Tate-LaBianca murders than anything that occurs in Rosemary's Baby, but it was still good clean fun.

Spring in Candler Park III

2010-04-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

The tree outside the nunnery is in bloom about ten days each spring:

The blueberry bush by the front porch:

The petals from the Nunnery tree cover the from lawn:

Some blueberry flowers sprouting in candler park:

the Nunnery tree, early morning:

The Nunnery tree, early morning, with a lobster hurtling through the air:

Spring in Candler Park II

2010-04-13T08:04:00.000-05:00

The Nunnery tree in full bloom:

Its petals covering the lawn:

the Nunnery lawn and walkway:

the Nunnery tree, early morning:

the Nunnery, in all its living glory:

the Nunnery tree:

the Nunnery tree, toward the end of its peak bloom:

the Nunnery tree, early morning:

the playground in candler park, abandoned after the chilling child massacre of 2009:

Spring in Candler Park I

2010-04-13T07:48:00.000-05:00

the shadow of a clone:

the Nunnery tree, early bloom:

the whiteberry bush outside the front porch:

a yellowberry flower:

the Nunnery lawn and walkway:

a walk through candler park:

the Nunnery tree: the same, but different:

Lord of the Cookies

2010-04-12T11:11:00.004-05:00

L let it drop that she's been eating vending-machine elfin crackers of late.

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: So, what kind of elves? The southern kind from Rivendell? Or the northern ones, like Legolas?
L: Neither, I don't think.
Sabitathica: How come we never see any of Legolas's people? Is he the only one of his kind? There's lots of southern elves, but no northern ones except him. Why would that be?
L: They're like animal crackers. They don't -
Sabitathica: Isn't it weird that the elves have been living in middle-earth for thousands of years, and yet they're all trying to migrate away like one week before the greatest conflict in history? That's probably not a coincidence. How come nobody calls them out on that? The elves are probably all like "Heh, you're on your own suckas! You should have never given the ring to a Hobbit! Good luck fighting the eye!"
L: They're not from the north or the south. They're from Keebler. They live in the hollow tree cookie factory. This has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings.
Sabitathica: god I love those movies.

~~~~~~~

One cookie to rule them all,
One cookie to take them,
One cookie to bring them all,
and in the oven bake them.

dear clones:

2010-04-08T09:08:00.005-05:00

Please find herein another installment of the Winter series. This is Winter 5: am i a clone?

Remember:
if you think you're a clone, you probably are.
if you think you're not a clone, you probably are.

Enjoy it... or else!

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: winter 5: am i a clone?

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T18:13:00.006-05:00

Good times, good times.

Since it had been about a year since L & I last celebrated Easter, we decided to do it again this past Sunday.

We woke early and hung with the Quakers, then ate brunch at the famous Carrol Street Cafe.

After some errands, we returned to the nunnery where we read Ouspensky and listened to Thomas DeHartman play Easter hymns on the piano.

~~~~~~~

We dyed/painted/drew Easter eggs, viz:

Some had strange messages:

which, no matter how hard i tried...

i found utterly indecipherable.

Later we watched Peter Brook's Meetings with Remarkable Men.

L ate a Cadbury egg;
we drank some Calvados;
a good Easter.

Winter 4

2010-04-01T09:52:00.004-05:00

Another overdue posting of something from the Winter series. This is Winter 4 - the Rosemary's Baby remix.

So sit back, fix yourself a vodka blush, and dig if you will the most unhallowed two and a half minutes of music. Ever.

~~~~~~~

Sabitathica: winter 4 (the Rosemary's Baby remix)

the good news

2010-03-31T22:17:00.001-05:00

There was another installment of the Dark Side of the Dinnerparty on saturday.

the music:

the group can now play side one. next time we will attempt side one plus Money.

the players:

tracie ~ viola
topher ~ percussives and voice
mark ~ electric guitar
wanda ~ melodica and voice
L ~ cello, thereminator and voice
sabitathica ~ acoustic guitar, moog and voice

the fare:

my current favorite: L's curried chicken, taken from one of Luba G's old bistro recipes.

~~~~~~~

in other news, L's health has been a source of nearly constant worry for several months. But her LEEP/cone biopsy results recently came back with negative margins. thank god. news doesn't get much better than this.