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

August 24, 2012 - 11:56 a.m.

Speace of Mind

It's 9 AM and I�m starting to write; where is the real me? I just wasted 26 minutes so I guess this is the real me. On the bright side I have no dirty dishes in the sink so I can make breakfast as soon as I'm done. I didn't get enough sleep maybe I should make my coffee now before I have my breakfast. That's an idea. Will the fact that I�ll be more awake make up for the time I spend making the coffee? Let's find out.

The lethargy was still with me yesterday and once again I didn't leave my apartment during the day. I did make manage to make a good dinner, something I haven't had in ages, jerk chicken. I had Trader Joes frozen hash browns with that. For a while I was eating that all the time, now it's been weeks. .

Last night I went to see Amy Speace. When Amy lived in New York I saw her often enough that she merited having a macro to link to her website. Since she moved to Nashville her shows are events. This one was on very short notice. I didn't hear about the show till Tuesday. I of course immediately sent the word out and got to sit with a group of friends, Eliot, , Lori not LORi, Bobby Jo (Bobbie?), Damon, and Gary & Jane. I found out it's Bobbi! I just met Jane last night so I�m proud of myself for remembering her name. That's the advantage of setting the bar low.

It was an unusual show, most of the songs Amy sang are new, they are going to be on the album she's recording next month. I wish I could remember the way Eliot put it, they aren't a test run, they aren't being workshopped. It was something else that fit well. I like when performers do their songs live first before they make the album. It's a good way of finding what approach works best.

All the songs worked. My favorite was a murder ballad, "Hunter's Moon." I'm so predictable. I love songs where people get killed. Slaid Cleaves says that somebody dying is part of what defines a folk song and that in Scotland they say, "Only one person died and you call it a folk song?"

I've known Amy for nine and a half years. Here's the story of the first time I saw her, To All My Friends In Far Flung Places. Have I used up everything I have to say about her? Here's a quick recap for those of My Gentle Readers that have not been reading Wise Madness for the last ten years. Amy was a person I loved and a musician I liked very much. She was as I like to say more interesting than her songs. Then she took the great leap forward and moved to the head of the class musically. Both her songwriting and performance blow me away.

What I realized when inviting people to the show is that she is the artist I feel comfortable inviting the greatest range of people to. You know how much I love to use the word quirky to describe musicians. Amy is quirky or else I wouldn't love her as a friend, but her music isn't. She's accessible. Her songwriting is intellectual but she hides it so well that people who don't want to make an intellectual effort can love the songs for the sound and emotion. So yes that means you should go see her whether you're a music aficionado who gives the music all your attention or someone just out to have some musical fun.

I love when the performer reads my mind. Amy started a songwriting group in Nashville. Two of this year's Falcon Ridge most wanted artists, Louise Mosrie and Blair Bodine are part of it. Once a week they get together at Amy's house, the only rule is that everyone has to bring a new song. I was thinking about that and that Amy is the Jack Hardy of Nashville except that she's cute and sweet; two words I would never use to describe Jack. As I was thinking about that Amy started talking it and how she based it on Jack's group.

The only disappointment last night was that I didn't have much time to talk to Amy before or after the show. Of course I had plenty of other people to talk to and I rode the Subway back with Eliot.

You know how I'm always proud of my commuting skills? I screwed up last night both going and coming. I have to switch from the C to the F train at Jay street on the way there. I was involved in reading and got off the stop before that, Hoyt instead. I had to wait for the next C or A train and take it one stop. I still got to the show early but I was annoyed with myself.

On the way home it was 10:40 when I got to Jay Street and I assumed that the C train would have stopped running and I'd have to take the A which then runs local. So I got on the A train and it went express right past my stop. When I got to Nostrand Ave the next express stop I found that I couldn't switch to the local going back. Good thing I have an unlimited metrocard. I got out of the station, crossed the street, and went through the turnstile again. When I got to the local tracks guess what train came, the A. Yes I apparently got the last express A train of the night. I took advantage of all this though by stopping at Checkers and getting a milk shake before I got back in the subway.

Have you noticed that I write a lot about music and food? "If music be the food of love play on." I can pretty much survive and even thrive on just food and music.

Speaking of food I should make breakfast. I somehow managed to take three hours to write this. I wanted to finish writing early today. I didn't succeed.


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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 August 24, 2012
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