Conscious of the Illusion (and other stuff, too)

First of all, please stop by and check out the winners of the last ever Eye On Life Poetry Contest.   There is some good stuff there.  Now on to “the illusion.”

The biggest shell game is time.   Einstein scratched the surface of the complexities of time, including its elasticity.   Planck gave us a clue about universal connective energy.  Yet if you visualize the immense busyness of our galaxy with its ubiquitous time-bending phenomena and dizzying eddies of matter and energy, realizing that it is just a small part of the universe as we know it, the idea of time as an absolute begins to seem absurd.

Given this inherent absurdity the effects of time become suspect; yet locked into our inexorable march from cradle to grave and subjected to rhythmically alternating light and darkness (day and night) we tend to passively watch as things (including people, i.e. us) wear, sag and age.  Flash a light in your face every five seconds for a couple of years and you’ll go crazy.  That’s why we all are.   Crazy, that is.

Speaking of crazy, I took my music into the studio with some friends and recorded four tunes.  You can hear them at my Soundcloud page.  They came out pretty well, I think.  I think “Crazy As Me” came out the best.   Also at Soundcloud are “More Salsa Please” and “No I Don’t Miss You.”

I have spoken with the band leader of Unclaimed Freight and we have agreed in principal to book a gig at The Lilypad in Cambridge next fall.  The idea is that I’ll do two sets and then they (and me) will do two sets.   I’ll keep you posted on all that.   I am writing new music for the occasion to play with my “old stuff”.  Ha.

Too Klez for Comfort will be performing at St. Peter’s Church at 838 Mass Ave, Central  Sq in Cambridge on May 27th, 7 PM.   Yesterday we performed at a private party at Biogen in Kendall Square, Cambridge.  All in all, the Cambridge thing is working out.

Unclaimed Freight will be performing at the second annual Techjam in Boston on June 12 at Boston City Hall Plaza.  Don’t worry, I’ll mention it again.

Culminations

A time of endings and beginnings. 

Monday is the deadline for entering the Eye On Life Poetry Contest, offering $150 in prizes.  As it stands right now there are five poets entered, so odds are great for all of them.  If you were to enter right now you would have approximately a 1 in 6 chance of winning the $100 first prize.   Of course there are usually a few last minute entries, so in the end the odds may not be quite as spectacular as they are now, but I’m sure they will remain quite good given the low turnout this year.  This will be the last Eye On Life Poetry Contest, ever.

In music, Monday is the end of one phase and the beginning of another.  Today I will rehearse with what is ostensibly (or perhaps potentially) my band that will play music that I have written.   Today it will be decided which tunes we will record.   On Monday night we will meet at the studio and make recordings, ending the first phase of this project.    In the second phase of this project, the studio will provide me with sound files that I will use to market ‘my band’ to some local clubs.  The last phase of the project will conclude when we perform my music live in front of an audience.   I’ll let you know how it goes with all that.

In the mean time the resurrection of the Klezmer band, “Too Close For Klez”, is well underway.  Last night I played with members of TCFK at a local middle school fundraiser for their music department.  It was a lot of fun.   We have a gig coming up later in May.

In other news I wrote this recipe for our favorite vegetable stew, complete with a video of me for comic relief.

The Conspiring Universe

Recently it has been a time when the swirling influences have gelled in marvelous kaleidoscopic momentary formations.   At other times it has seemed as if I were wearing a trench in the Earth with the sameness of my days, and while there remains an element of that, doors have opened and I have opportunities to pass through them into new and exciting spaces.  So it has passed that my companions, Desire and Despair, have at times been at odds, but as through time I have come to know them well I can greet each with equanimity and detachment for the most part; and being aware of those times that I succumb, I can afford to be amused at my inner stories rather than tortured by them.  As I have said before, I am a very lucky man.

From the vantage of detachment I can look upon the boiling pot of influences and be grateful for all of its patterns – both those I would have chosen for myself and those that I would not.  I can see, also, both the effects of my careful stirring of the pot and of my leaving it be.   I have found (and am advised) that leaving it be is usually best.

So it seems that in my immediate future I will record my own music with fine musicians and have multiple opportunities to play R & B, Klezmer and jazz; in my intermediate future I will perhaps have an opportunity to perform my music in public, and I will be traveling to a distant land with my lovely wife;  and in my later future I have no doubt that many delightful surprises await.  There is some other stuff going on, but I think I have touched on the highlights.  Now we’ll see how it all unfolds.

At Eye On Life the Poetry Contest is off to a slow start with only two poets so far competing for the over $150 in prizes.  If this keeps up one of them will have to win two of the prizes.  That won’t do.  Be sure to enter right away so you don’t have to worry about the March 31 deadline.   At The Poetry Locksmith, Donal Mahoney has continued to bless us with his prolific work and Samuel Vargo has returned with more of his eclectic and thought-provoking verse.

I wrote a couple of articles for newbies to door hardware – “Door Handing for Hardware Dummies” and “How to Order Hardware for Small Commercial Projects” – and a poem.  Also I am working on a how-to article about what to do when your lock explodes, video included.  It should be fun.  I did the video already.   I’ll let you know when it’s up 😉

Waiting Is

A little quote from the Stranger.  I can relate.  This is indeed a strange land.

I trust in the Creative.  Forces are converging and I am instructed to observe and accept, and to tread lightly with compassion, equanimity, grace and modesty.  So I quietly invite success.

My cloud of sound may sport new tracks soon.  Actually I have at least one new track on there now called “Rescue.”  That piece is part of a sonata that I hope to perform someday.  I’ll try to get the entire sonata up on online sometime.

I have an opportunity coming up to record a few of my pieces with some very good players that I am bringing together for the purpose.  I have played with all of them in different venues and capacities, but some of them have never played together.  I am eager to see the result.   I expect my work will be transformed to some extent and I am looking forward to how their influences unfold the music.

Although I have been concentrating on my music I have also been writing a bit.  I wrote a piece for facilities and property managers about how to order door hardware for small commercial projects if you know absolutely nothing about door hardware, and otherwise I have been bouncing ideas around.  It seems I have so little time now to write at the moment, but as this existence is structured, as they say, ‘this, too, shall pass.’

Over at Eye On Life, Donal Mahoney’s prolific streak continues with only minor breaks.  Recently we had a lovely bouquet of haiku from Diane Webster and more eclectic work from Erren Geraud Kelly.   So stop by and make time to enjoy the poetry for a few minutes.  It can only do you good.

Also the Eye On Life Annual Poetry Contest is open for submissions through March, 2014.

Eye On Life Annual Poetry Contest 2014

Yes, we are doing the EOL Annual Poetry Contest again, though we got a bit of a late start this year.  Once again we will be offering:

• First prize, $100
• Second prize, $50
• Third prize, a book of poetry

Winners (and honorable mentions) will be published in the Poetry Locksmith feature at EOL.

In other news I had an absolutely wonderful time playing with the Temple Ohabei Shalom Shabbos band on Friday night, January 10, celebrating Shabbat Shira, the Shabbat of Song, with guest artist Jonathan Gramling.  I love it when the musical and the spiritual mix so well.

Also it was an opportunity to play claves as well as trombone, and even sing a little.

Not So Dead

People speak of ‘the dead of winter.’  I suppose by this they mean the middle of winter, when the colors of fall have all been ‘whited out’ and the new greens of spring seem oh so far away.  Yet the winter is full of life.  In the woods there are chickadees looking for a handout, woodpeckers jackhammering for bugs and mice hopping short distances through the snow, on the lookout for weasels dressed in their white winter coats or red foxes wearing their usual fine attire.  Other life sleeps underground:  skunks, ants, fish, and others who hibernate the frozen months away.   We observe those earthbound who remain awake through winter by their tracks that the snow makes so plain to see.

I don’t know anyone who hibernates, do you?  I imagine that it is not beyond our capability.  There are many of us who can control our heart rate and respiration.  But no one actually does it, as far as I have heard.  Some of us migrate, like the songbirds, south to where it is relatively warm all season.  The rest of us dress in layers of clothing to keep ourselves warm outdoors and burn mostly fossil fuels to keep us warm indoors.  Sometimes I wonder how long we can keep that up.

But I don’t have to wonder about some things.  For example, I know I wrote a couple articles on hardware at Door Hardware Genius; I know that I wrote a song called ‘Crazy as Me’; and I know that I published several poems as editor of The Poetry Locksmith feature at Eye On Life Magazine.

Speaking of Eye On Life Online Magazine, the poetry contest will open for submissions on January 10th and will close on March 30th.  Winners will be announced in April which is, coincidentally, Poetry Month here in the United States.  I think that will work out well.

Change

Change is life.  Embrace life.

Currently I am experiencing rapid changes.  I am grateful.  It means I am certainly alive.  But one significant change is the amount of time I can spend online, which has been greatly reduced.  Still, although I have been busy in the ‘real’ world I have not be idle in the virtual.

As one might suspect from my last post the winners of the annual Eye On Life Poetry Contest have been posted, and since then other fine poetry has found a home at Eye On Life as well.  So I hope you’ll stop by The Poetry Locksmith and check it all out.

I also published a brief article about the Golden Rule if you would like to read it.

My music has been all off line so I have nothing to share at this time, but I have lots and lots of ideas.  🙂  Also my offline music has been most rewarding as the band in which I am a member, “Unclaimed Freight”, has been gigging more.  I am experiencing growth as a simple trombone player working with a trumpet player to enhance rhythm and vocals.   Sometimes we produce a fine synergy.

Anyway I just want to stop by, kind of sheepish about not being around as much as perhaps I should.  So thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back when I have new things to share.

Turnings

Practicing detachment, life’s changes become positive points of interest rather than negative points of stress.  One can observe with innocence and wonder as changes manifest, as if watching a living thing grow and change in time-lapse photography; or one can watch with horror as the people and things one is attached to transform themselves into other people and things before our very eyes.  It is a choice, though a difficult one, to decide to let go of what and whom we love, although as we contemplate life we see it is really not a choice between clinging and letting go, because everything and everyone changes whether we cling to them or not.

Current changes for me – besides the usual changes of aging and time – are a much bigger work load at my day job and the ebb and flow of the tides of playing music.  Our band, Unclaimed Freight, that plays popular music is busy now whereas the Klezjam Jazz Project and Klezjam, the Klezmer band are both temporarily shelved.   This gives me a chance to play tastier licks to Amy Winehouse and B.B. King covers instead of my original stuff and pieces like Miami Beach Rhumba and I Can’t Get Started.  Interesting.  I played a pretty good solo the other night.  I’ll see if I can get permission to share it with you.

In poetry, Erren Geraud Kelly is back at Eye On Life this week as the annual Eye On Life Poetry Contest 2013 closes competition on January 31.  Winners will be announced in February.

Fifteen Days Left to Enter the EOL Poetry Contest

I’ve been very busy so have been a bit remiss in my huckstering of our great small poetry contest at Eye On Life Online Magazine.   Great, because contestants have a great chance to win the $100 First Prize, $50 Second Prize or a book of poetry for Third Prize.   The small is what makes it great, because as contests go, there are relatively few contestants in ours, hence the great odds.  Small great, great small, it’s all good to me.

Elsewhere I’ve been doing a lot of music with the Klezjam Jazz Project sessions.   We are doing a lot of different – and I mean different – kinds of music there.  One example is this Sephardi-Jewish-North African-Arabic love song called Chihlet L’Ayani.  We do some swing stuff and Latin stuff, too.   I’ll probably have some more to post later.

Ultimately I’d like to do something like the salsa I recently wrote, but that’s down the road a bit.

This week at Eye On Life we have new poetry from Diane Webster  and Donal Mahoney.  Stop by and read their work.  It’s good.

Givingthanks

I think Thanksgiving is called Thanksgiving instead of Givingthanks because of its age.   In conversation today, except when actually discussing the holiday, one would not generally say, “It is a time of Thanksgiving,” but rather, “It is time to give thanks.”  The technical writer who is still struggling to get out of me says that the latter has the advantage of clarity while the poet who will simply not remain stuck anywhere inside me says that the former has the intriguing feature of combining a noun and a verb to create a noun and in addition has an attractive dah-di-dah rhythm as opposed to the not quite-as-attractive di-di-dah rhytm of Givingthanks.  All things considered, I think we’ll stick with “Thanksgiving,” shan’t we?

Now that that’s decided, we can move on to present pressing matters.  This week at the Poetry Locksmith we have unlocked some new poetry by Carol Hamilton, and Donal Mahoney returns with another new poem, too.   All of the poems, as I mention in my introduction to Carol’s work, reference (sometimes inadvertently) some aspect of the coming holiday season from Thanksgiving extending out past New Year’s Day. 

In other news, I have finished arranging my new song, “Home By Myself” and expect to have it available for your listening – well, if not pleasure than at least amusement – by next week.  It’s the first classic swing arrangement I’ve ever done, despite my love of the genre.  My apologies to Michael Buble in advance.   Meanwhile our band, Klezjam, is gearing up for the latest Klezmer Battle of the Bands in Worcester (wuh-stah), Massachusetts coming up in December.  I’m doing a little arranging for that, too. 

Fun and more fun.