I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

December 07, 2016 - 10:46 a.m.

The Kat Came Back

It's Wednesday so I have therapy and have to leave at 12:15. That sounds late but I always end up rushing. I have two hours and 15 minutes till then and I have to write this and make breakfast. Things were easier when I wrote short entries I could finish in 20 minutes; now it usually takes a full hour. I'm trying to avoid distractions; we'll see if I succeed. If it does I'll be done in 40 minutes.

I'm going to start with yesterday's breakfast. As I promised here I made sausageeggandcheese on an English Muffin. I make variations of that all the time but yesterday I made it perfectly. I know the difference. I've taken to cooking it in oil, yesterday I used butter. It makes a noticeable difference. I guess I'll go back to that. The best of course is bacon fat but I have not been keeping a jar of that around. Damn, now I want to make it again today.

I miracle happened; I accomplished something yesterday. I had to chores on the island, get the zipper of my coat fixed and go to the post office and mail something. Jane suggested that the upholstery store down the block could fix the zipper. I brought it there. They do fix zippers. Unfortunately, mine is broken beyond repair; it needs to be replaced. Now I have to find a tailor. I did get the package out. it took me two trips on the elevator as when I reached the ground floor I realized I didn't have my phone and that's where I had the address.

Last night's adventure was seeing Kat Quinn at the Sidewalk. I met Dan there and we ate there. I haven't done that in maybe a decade. They have excellent burgers. I had asked Kat to join us. If she had we'd have eaten either before or after her set. Kat said she wouldn't because she hates Dan. I asked her if I could tell Dan that and she said, "Yes." I did. When Kat came in we were sitting by the stage and I asked her if she wanted to sit and join us till she went on if I promised that Dan wouldn't talk. She said, "No; just seeing him was too hard to take." Dan was shocked. He thought that I was kidding when I said she said that as I'm always mean to him. Kat is very nice and will say that she was just going along with my joke. I did ask her if I could tell Dan that and she did say, "of course. he knows i hate his guts, so I'm sure he'll have no problem believing that is true ;)" I have no idea why I have any friends.

Kat is playing a show a month at the Sidewalk and is using "the home games" to try out new songs. I take notes and discuss them with her after the set. Dan just sits there like a lump. Why does he say that I'm mean to him?

Kat is becoming better and better. She could always write songs and she always had something to say but now she's doing the little things that make a big difference to the overall effect. The way I listen is to first notice the effect then try to figure out how it's achieved. I don't over-intellectualize. I don't say, "the person does A, B, and C, so it's a good song. I hear that it's a good song then realize it's because the person did A, B, and C. On one song, it was just changing the guitar style and volume on the bridge. It created a contrast in mood, something so many songs are lacking in; the ones I call drones.

I took notes for writing this too. She has a great new song, "The Galaxy is Laughing;" I told Dan that the full title is "The Galaxy is Laughing (at Dan)." I am so mature.

My other note is just a song title, "Bones and Blood." Kat is one of the most positive and sweetest people alive. She always has a big smile on her face, so that does not sound like it should be a Kat Quinn title. That's something else I love about her, it is a Kat Quinn song. Just because he is sweet and positive doesn't mean that her songs are all sweet and positive. Like the Kennedys she can sing of darker things. She knows there's more to the world that puppy dogs and rainbows.

After the show, Dan and I talked to Kat for a while then we walked to the subway together. We had a nice talk. We talked about Kat and how there's no justice in the world that more people don't know her. Dan brought up Vienna Teng. He asked if I were a bit fan of hers like Fred is. I said no but that next time she's in town I am going to see her with Fred. Dan said, "but who knows when that will be." Vienna doesn’t play here very often since she moved away. She doesn't play anywhere very much now. This morning Fred posted, "Vienna Teng is playing at Rockwood on December 21;" and he tagged Dan. Talk about timing. I'm going. December is always a big month for listening to music. Yikes, where am I going today? It's December 7, a day that will live in infamy, a date I don't forget. I know I have something. I looked it up. I'm seeing Rachel Ries and Hannah Read, at the Owl in Brooklyn. That's a new venue for me. Anaïs Mitchell is going to be the special guest.

OK, now I have to make breakfast. I might have time for French toast. That would be nice. This took me 46 minutes so far but I still must edit and post it.


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please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile December 07, 2016
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