July 23, 2005
Ruth and the Greatest American Hero
Today is one of the rare perfect days we get here in PA: just a few clouds, about 80, low humidity, and a constant gorgeous breeze. So I decided it was the perfect day to go to the park for a long walk.
I got there around 11, and decided for some unknown reason to me now, not to take my phone, which I like to have on me in case of emergency. I didn’t take my normal route, but decided to just go wherever the wind blew me. An hour later I had no idea where I was. I walked past the Tyler Hostel, some barns, and was coming up to a steep, gravely slope where some older folks were coming down.
Suddenly one of the women lost her footing and broke into a run to try to keep her balance. Well, the next second she was airborne and face-planted into the ground. I ran over, and she was unconscious. Her friends made it down (they were all in there late 70’s I would say), calling her name (+Ruth+), but she didn’t answer. I was really scared for her, and really mad at myself for not having my phone on me. In fact no one had a phone on them. I had no idea where I was but ran up the gravel path to see if I could find someone, to no avail. When I came back down, she was fortunately awake, and sitting on a log nearby. But man, she was in bad shape. Her whole face was already bruising, her knees were bruised and cut, and she was complaining that her jaw was sore. I gave her my water and she gargled up blood. She was saying that she wanted to go home, but I pulled her male friend aside and pretty sternly told him he really needed to take her to the hospital. Old people (please forgive the stereotyping, but it’s true) are so stubborn sometimes, I really hope she got some medical attention and is ok. Thank GOD she went into the weeds to the side of the trail, if she went into the gravel it would have been a lot worse.
So I’m heading back, after I found a familiar trail that goes towards the boathouse where I parked. I look up and see this young guy, about 20, all by himself, running towards me. 1) He’s carrying a huge American flag on a pole, 2) wearing a red cape, and 3) wearing a sparkly red white and blue hat, the kind you find at a cheap costume shop. He’s just running along, like it’s any other day at the park. (Why couldn’t I have brought my camera with me today – it even crossed my mind as I was leaving the house!) I was giggling as he ran by, smiled and said hi. I mean, what, was today superhero day at the park and no one told me????
If he was going to save Ruth, he was running a little late.
What the hell? At that point I was like, I’m getting the hell out of this place. It was like the Twilight Zone. I’m going to go play with my doggie in the backyard, it’s safe there.
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July 10, 2005
Young Dubliners, at World Cafe Live, and in IRELAND!
My sister and I saw the Young Dubliners on Friday.
(Taken with my sister’s camera phone.)
It was a pretty fun show. They are like the ultimate bar band. World Cafe Live, which is a very new venue affiliated with the local public radio station WXPN, was almost too big for them. Table seating was not appropriate for this show. I would definitely see them again, but preferably in a smaller venue, and I’d want to be down in the FRONT baby! The fiddle player is worth the price of admission just himself, I’ve never seen someone jump around so much and still be able to play effectively, lol.
AND CHECK THIS OUT:
The Young Dubliners are going on tour back in Ireland in October, and have arranged to take a bunch of crazy Americans with them! They have 10 spots left on this 9 day trip, and I gotta tell ya, I’m mighty tempted to go! All travel arrangements are made for you, including hotel and “touring motorcoach”, meals, etc. Details here. WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO GO WITH ME???? It ain’t exactly cheap, at $1599, $1699 if you’re coming from LAX. But I think it would be an amazing experience. Seriously, call me if you’re interested.
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Plastic Cat
I don’t know what inspired her to crawl in there and wrap herself around the one last can of dogfood. She’s pretty weird, lol.
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July 08, 2005
A great teacher, and other things...
I had my first lesson in about a month the other day with my guitar teacher, Harry Jacobsen. I really feel compelled to say a few things about Harry.
I met him last summer at the National Guitar Workshop I went to in Austin, TX. I heard him play at the faculty concert, and the next day told my blues teacher how blown away I was by Harry. My teacher (Paul Metzger, another great guy) told me that Harry lives in my area and he was pretty sure he gave private lessons! I introduced myself to him later in the week and was pretty jazzed (no pun intended) to find out that he lived very close to me and could fit me into his schedule!
Well, almost a year later I’m still taking lessons with him as often as I can afford to. And I gotta say, I’m a lucky gal. Harry is one of those rare combinations of incredible talent, awesome (and patient) teacher, and wonderful person, all wrapped up into one. Everyone has their own learning style. Some thrive on being told what they can’t do, I’m not one of those. I need positive feedback and support, and Harry is reaaaaally good at that. I won’t go into details about all the nice things Harry says to me, but it really makes me feel good. Every time I have a lesson with him, I go home and practice my little fingers off because he gets me so inspired. I’m extremely fortunate that I met him and have the opportunity to study with him. =)
On another note, I wanted to write down some things I was thinking about with regard to what I’ve learned about being a musician. As with just with about anything worth learning, the more I know the more I know that I don’t know.
It’s funny to think about now, but I really used to think that really good musicians played really well because of “inspiration”. This may still be true in a certain sense, but for the most part, most great musicians are great because they practice. A LOT. Compulsively. Especially in improvisation and jazz, musicians build up a “vocabulary”. I read somewhere that 99% of Charlie Parker’s music is comprised of snippets of the same couple hundred sequences he memorized and perfected over the years. Parker (as well as many other very famous musicians) was a compulsive practicer, he never stopped. In a way, looking at music this way is a relief to me. It should be a relief to any prospective musician, because with determination anyone can practice a lot. Now sure, not everyone in this world has the “ear” for a great melody or progression. Not everyone is capable of creating mindblowing music. But just about anyone can be a competent musician if they put their mind to it.
I’ve also learned that I have wimpy hands and fingers. Not because they’re small, which they are, but because they haven’t been worked out and conditioned properly. As one of my teachers explained to me, just like a linebacker needs to work on his calves to be more explosive, a guitarist needs to work out the appropriate muscles. So that your fingers do what you want them to do perfectly, hundreds if not thousands of times in a night sometimes. So, I’ve started doing different, more useful warmup exercises (which I do for at least an hour every day), and after just a month I can tell the difference. Even Harry could tell the difference the other day. My playing is more controlled, you can’t tell the difference so much when I go from one string to another, or from an upstroke to a downstroke, and my tone is more even.
Sooo, this is where I am right now. I’ve stopped waiting for genius to smack me in the head, and stopped doing a lot of random noodling. (Not that noodling is all bad, you can come up with GREAT ideas just sitting around noodling.) I have started working on building my vocabulary of riffs and sequences. I don’t really feel like I could put together an improv worth listening to until my vocabulary is bigger. I’m also working on strengh and stamina. It feels good to know where I’m going with my guitar studies.
Well there you go. Everything you needed to know about Jean’s progress as a musician lately. =)
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July 05, 2005
IT'S ON THE WAY!!!
I ordered the ProTools M-Box tonite, I’m so damn excited I could burst!
I needed other stuff to make ProTools work optimally with my pc, so I spent more money than I planned. Well, I kinda figured I would spend this much money really, so I’m still relatively pleased with the financial outcome. For anyone that’s interested, this is what I’ll have when it’s all setup:
- Dell Dimension 8200 with 1.5 GB of RDRAM (when I get some more money I’ll probably upgrade to 2GB of RAM, which is as much as this pc can take.)
- Digidesign M-Box with ProTools LE 6.9 Software
- Glyph 80GB Firewire Hard Drive
- M-Audio Uno midi interface (which allows me to use all the bundled synth sounds in ProTools with my digital piano)
- Ibanez Artcore AS-83 semi-hollowbody guitar
- Fender Deluxe 40W 1×12 guitar amplifier. I don’t really use any effects at all except a little reverb. No pedals.
- Yamaha P-80 88 weighted-key digital piano
- Roland KC-300 100W keyboard amplifier
I also have a Martin acoustic guitar and a fun little Martin backpacker guitar, an old crappy Strat that I only play in emergency, and a Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-770. It’s really a sin that I’ve barely used this machine to much of it’s potential.
SOOOO, I should have this all setup soooon, and then if I’m not recording some cool-ass music by the end of the year, I’m fired. Really. I’ll fire myself, sell everything, and go back to work a stupid 9-5 job. You heard it here first.
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