November 7, 2009
I love my solitary autumn walks. I have been doing this since I was a kid. There’s something about the first chill that makes me want to get out and wander and reflect. Brisk weather invigorates, just as warm sun induces drowsiness. Songs come, poems, ideas, solutions, as my brain quietly clicks over, observing the ephemeral landscape that tomorrow will have changed once more. There are so many areas of my soul that seem to rise to the surface, wriggling out from under the weight of routine and its expectations. I treasure the freedom to stroll agenda-less through this season as it transforms the world gracefully, effortlessly.
November 6, 2009
The colors and textures of November can be bright and cheerful as well stark and grey. Sunlight on a field of yellow leaves– the daffodils of autumn.
November 5, 2009
As the outdoors becomes starker, darker, less decoratively distracting, indoor scenes take their place as surrealistic elements in the passing landscape. Still lifes without context, they speak a different language, confusing our senses, adding whimsy to the night.
week 55 ~ I toss my sorrows in the river of
I toss my sorrows in the river of
January and watch as they float away
the bluest sky drifts high above
I toss my sorrows in the river of
something that feels a lot like love
and wonder if this time they’ll stay
I toss my sorrows in the river of
January and watch as they float away
November 4, 2009
It’s not surprising that H. P. Lovecraft came from here. The eerie beauty of New England’s autumn twilight holds untold mysteries waiting to be captured by camera or pen.
November 3, 2009
The weather is brisk, the leaves are mostly on the ground, but still I like November. I like the quality of light– clear, pale, liquid. As flowers and foliage disappear the architecture of nature becomes more apparent and yet more fleeting. These leaves, forever in my camera, will soon be blown, raked, brown, gone.
Back to work. Was I away?November 1, 2009
It’s over, and we go home. Quite amazing, though, to have had this week away, to have succeeded, to have had fun and inspired alot of folks. I often wish there could be more of this in my life, playing music, talking music, with someone else organizing it all and making the event happen. This time it was easy and it was good, and the smile will stay in my heart for a long while.
October 31, 2009
Playing Brazilian music in concert tonight, after a dismal day fighting gastric distress due to a bad dinner yesterday, is truly transcendent. Clearly the audience is transported as well, and we linger together in the Rio sunshine of our imaginations. Tomorrow I return home and will no longer be the featured guest artist with room-service breakfast. It has been nice to be acclaimed and appreciated for my music and my recordings and my method book. Back home these things don’t figure much in the daily fabric of my life. So I have enjoyed this week away where I am recognized for the work of my soul, the things I feel called upon to do for my muse, for no other reason that that’s who I truly am.
October 30, 2009
It’s a concert day, and so everything points to and away from the performance. To play for that one span, no intermission, no re-do’s, well it never seems to become something one takes for granted. And, as always, there are some of the longed-for brilliant moments, and a few I’d prefer to take back. But on the whole our playing communicates with the audience– informs, inspires, entertains. And afterward there are delightful martinis w/ friends as we all wind back to earth.
