I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
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.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
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 ...
December 30, 2011 - 12:13 p.m.
I'm off to another late start. Is that even worth mentioning? Maybe I should just note when I get an early start and I'm not feeling rushed.
Did I do anything during the day yesterday? Did I even exist? I must have but don't remember it. Does that mean I had a really good time? Was I abducted by extraterrestrials? That must be it! I do remember one thing. I took a nap.
In the early evening I played on turntable.fm with Carey. That's always fun and pretty much like being abducted by extraterrestrials. We showed our sophisticated musical tastes by playing songs by Hannah Montana, Selene Gomez, and get ready to swoon, Justin Bieber. I told you it's like being abducted by extraterrestrials.
Last night I went to hear my last live music of the year, Laura Dunn and the Ghosts of Xmas Past. The show was a new venue for me, Bar East. It's very far east, 1st Avenue, not the easiest place to get to, two trains followed by a 0.6 mile walk. On Facebook it said the show was at 9 PM, I gave myself an hour and 20 minutes and got there 15 minutes early. When I arrived I saw she was scheduled to go on at 9:30. A note to all my musician friends, please give actual scheduled times for your gigs not earlier on the assumption that people will be late otherwise. The people that are late will catch on and still be late and even later for the people that give the correct time. The people like me who want to be on time will find ourselves rushing for no reason. In fact the best thing to do is say what time doors are, what time you go on, and point out the venues that start punctually and those that tend to run late.
I didn't know that there were a slew of bands on the bill. When I got there, Standing Room Only was playing. I'd link to them but that's a terrible band name. Why? There are multiple bands with the same name. I can't find the one I saw.
The first song they did was a hipster version of On Broadway and I was prepared for a set of music I'd dislike. I was busy writing a scathing review of them, then they got to their second song. It was great. The next song was even better. They are a great band with one poorly conceived cover. It isn't the kind of music I usually listen to, it was jazz with Afro-Cuban influence. The sax players rocked the Casbah. They had not one but two drummers, one with a standard drum kit the other with congas. The music went straight from the musicians into your central nervous system and your body. It's hard to stand still when listening to them. The crowd was bouncing around including me. I signed up for the mailing list. I hope they email me as I'll never find them otherwise.
The next band up was a jazz quartet that might have had a good name, I don't know since they never gave it. Oh yes, there was a next band, then another band after that. Not only was the show scheduled a half hour later than I thought everything was running late. This is what the band looked like.
The sax players in Standing Room were about the same age. I think they were all too young to be allowed in a bar. They were good but not exciting. I realized that I lack the vocabulary to write about jazz. I don't know bebop from hard bop from free jazz. I know they played instrumentals. I also know that much of the audience was not there to listen. It was basically a standing venue but there were some seats further back and I grabbed one. That was near the bar. The people back there wouldn't stop talking. This has become accepted behavior but this is where I draw the line. This wasn't a bar that happened to have music. Bar East has a bar upstairs for those that want to drink and talk. This is the room for music and there is a cover charge. People should show consideration. What makes it worse is that the people talking were the friends of the other musicians playing that night. They should know better. Their musician friends should tell them but guess what, the musicians were just as loud as their friends. I can't think of anything more different from the folk community. This was an anti-community. Everyone existed in their own world without a thought given to anyone else.
After the quartet left so did most of the audience. The next band was called Strive and it was only their second time playing in New York. They were also young men.
I felt bad for them. Not only did most of the crowd leave but almost everyone else that was left ignored them and spoke loudly. Now it wasn't just people in the back. I was people up front too. I had trouble finding a spot where I could hear them over the talking. They seemed to have two friends or relatives there; they were older so I'm thinking relatives, who applauded. I did too. I tried to be an attentive audience. It wasn't exactly my kind of music, even more so than the jazz. They did acoustic covers of Nirvana and Linkin Park in addition to originals. Are you as impressed as I am that I could spell Linkin Park? I stopped feeling bad for them during Laura's set when they spoke loudly while standing up front. Respect the music, respect the musicians, and respect the audience. That doesn't seem like an outlandish expectation.
Laura finally went on at a quarter to eleven, close to when I expected to be getting home. Good thing she was worth the wait. I just discovered her earlier this month and she became an instant favorite. She describes her music as creepy folk cabaret. How many of you hear that and go "ooooo?" I describe it as neuromusic. It isn't the kind of music you usually listen to. It's a kind of music that is made for me. Listening to it you'll get some idea what's going on in my head. I'm going to post not one but two videos. Oh and you'll hear the super annoying and loud people that were there for the band after Laura talking at the top of their lungs. They are actually across the room from me.
This is Ballad of the Kite Killer.
So what do you think? Are you going to join me next time I see them? I'll try and catch them whenever I can. I am not going to hear this anywhere else. Laura has something to say and she doesn't do it the way anyone else does. She did a great job of choosing a band. The other voices are distinctive and contrast with her own. It helps create the feeling of disorientation, this is music from the Twilight Zone. It's music to disturb the comfortable, not comfort the disturbed.
There were only two problems with the set; It stated too late, there were annoying people talking, and .. There were only three problems with the set; it started too late, there were annoying people talking, it was too short, and almost fanatical devotion the pope. Let me try again. Amongst are weaponry are such diverse elements. ...
The set was too short. I wanted to hear more. That's of course the hallmark of a good show. Here's the other song I recorded, Crooked Song
Yes that is a toy piano he's playing. I told you this was my kind of music. Oh and you'll hear the super annoying and loud people that were there for the band after Laura talking at the top of their lungs. They are actually across the room from me. I am not sure they were even aware that there were people actually playing music. I decided to do a public shaming. I took a photo of them.
Rude People
The only person I knew in the audience was Lauraly pronounced like Lorelei I'm right about that aren't I Lauraly? People always show the funny way that their phones autocorrect. I autocorrect things in my head and I never read Lauraly's names as Lauraly, I read it as Laural. She's a friend of Anthony da Costa's and books the Postcrypt Coffeehouse. That's where I first saw Laura.
I also hung out a bit with Kirk, Laura's bass player before they went on. He's the one that told me they'd be going on late. I should show you some more pictures.
All band members should dance when they aren't playing.
Laura
Kirk
Dimples
Sorry I don't know his name
Laura
After the show I bought their CD and talked a bit with Laura and Lauraly then headed up. I couldn't resist stopping in Fairview. I've heard they are a good store and wanted to check them out. I got freshly ground honey roasted peanut butter. I couldn't resist. It was delicious. Of course that meant I didn't get home to 1 AM. It was a late night.
I wanted to write more but this is going on forever. I realized that I never gave my list of musical discoveries of 2011. I'll do that tomorrow. Laura will be on it.
Here are the rest of the pictures.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
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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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile December 30, 2011
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