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 ...
May 22, 2007 - 10:49 a.m.
I thought I'd have time to breath but I didn't. I had to go to school yesterday. There were some problems with some of the students who had tried to drop the class and I had to bring in copies of my grade book. I guess I could have just emailed the grade book, as it is just a spreadsheet. I forgot to bring in the final exam booklets so I'll have to go back again this week.
It was nice having my office all to myself. I hung around there for a while just appreciating that. Of course, even though he wasn't there one of my officemates had sweaters on three of the four coat hooks and an umbrella on the fourth. I put them all on one. He is really a good and generous person he just missed the day they taught how to use coat hooks in kindergarten.
I still haven't found my camera. On the other hand, I also can't find Salmon of Doubt. Perhaps they are together. I just have to figure out where that is.
I know I still haven't written about SMAF. You can find out some of what happened by reading Annie Dinerman's Blog. I drove her to and from SMAF. This is what she said about me:
Gordon Nash was my ride to and from the Festival. (Thank you, SMAF staff!) Gordon is a very knowledgeable and selective fan of folk and acoustic writers and singers. If you go to Falcon Ridge or Clearwater, ask around for him. He's a great resource (the guy who might, just might, if the moment's right introduce you to someone you want to know). He's knowledgeable about the rooms you'd like to play, the festivals where you'd like to perform, the people who run them and the audiences too. Not to mention everyone's latest CD (or rare recordings by Richard Thompson) and the old songs you've forgotten about (but Gordon hasn't). It's always a pleasure to meet someone who loves music and songwriters this much. Gordon and his friends have a tent they call the Budgiedome (they're all Moxie Früvous fans so it must have something to do with that), and they claim they adopt wandering musicians. (I found it to be true.).
It is always interesting to see how other people perceive you.
I just realized I didn't update yesterday I so I didn't write about seeing Dan Bern with Gella. That was the first thing on my agenda on Sunday. I picked Gella up at her mother's in Brooklyn. I had a little trouble finding her as she lives on Willoughby street and there is also a Willoughby avenue in Brooklyn and my GPS did not ask which I meant. I had to switch it to find the closest intersection.
Even with my going to the wrong address first I picked her up on time and we got to the Turning Point shortly after doors opened. We got the best seats that weren't reserved so we had a great view. Dan was really on. He was performing in my favorite configuration, just him and his cellocaster player, Paul Kuhn. What is a cellocaster? It is a combination of a cello and an electric guitar. It looks like a small electric guitar with a semicircle cut out of the bottom. It has 6 strings frets and he plays it like a guitar. Then he tucks it under his chin and takes out a bow and plays it like a violin. Even though it has frets it can play vibrato. I think the frets must be extra wide. He puts is fingers right on the frets when he does it. Here is the only picture I could find of it.
Dan was in his Pete Seeger mode, he kept trying to get the audience involved in the show. The show was dedicated to these numbers, 22, 1, and 2, for amendments, and 10 …. He wouldn't explain that except to say that Red Sox fans would know. It is how far the BoSox were ahead of the Yankees.
A strange thing about Dan Bern is that he performs a lot of songs that aren't on any albums. Gella didn't know most of the ones he did. I've seen him more often so I knew about half. They were all great and had plenty of references to Vincent van Gogh. I was surprised that he never mentioned Barry Bonds but he did mention Hal Schumacher, a great Giant pitcher from the thirties. In case you didn't pick it up Dan is a big Giants fan.
Dan finished the show by doing a cover of TMBG's Birdhouse! He did it off mic and tried to have the audience sing along. The problem was most of the audience didn't know the song. I sang along the parts that I knew. Gella sang out strong and clear; Dan noticed.
I'd have liked to talk to him after the show, I've never done that, but I had to race back to the City to see the Met-Yankee game. If you hadn't noticed I'm a big met fan.
Damn, I have to get in the shower. I am meeting Saburah in the city today and I have to catch a train. Oh well. To make a long story short. I made the game at the bottom of the first inning and the Mets lost.
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 May 22, 2007
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