Four weeks to go til the end of term, looks like I'll be concentrating on my course til then - I couldn't get a gig booked for June but have two in July. I'm going up to Auckland to see Sonic Youth the day after the course finishes, and should play there a couple of days later. Will be good to do some work on music over the holidays but in the meantime I have some more news stories to write and I'm way behind on my shorthand.
Sunday was a pretty good day, I went along to the South American drumming club and joined the circle. It seems a good way of learning about rhythm, which is applicable to any kind of music practice, and there are roles for beginners as well as experts. My playing's so undisciplined so it should be good for me to learn about patterns and things - it's fascinating to hear the layering and gradual changes in that music that comes from people doing simple things that become a piece of a puzzle rather than being upfront & individualist.
I also phoned Elisa in the evening and talked to her for the first time in months - no mention of anger or recriminations, just catching up, letting some tension evaporate. She was unable to take a job on King Kong as she'd lost her driver's license for speeding (in both senses of the word). She's back into cafe work, so hopefully she'll be a nicer person again with less pressure on her. She's talking about going off to teach in Korea in a couple of months, sounds a bit like running away from something as the band she's in, mr sterile, are moving to the Czech Republic next April which would be a once in a lifetime opportunity if she sticks around for it.
I like the way autumn's about stripping things down to the essentials, getting rid of the old dead layers. Then there's The Winter, where mysterious & often wonderful things happen in the dark. Then comes spring, and the days expand back out again towards summer. The nice thing about the timing of the semester break is that it's just after the solstice, so it's the beginning of the spring rebirth. But before then I've got some homework to do.
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
I like the way you write your blog. Nice typeface too.
Posted by: arcite at June 5, 2004 04:07 PMCool, thanks. I always feel like I spend too much time writings blogs about the same stuff, avoiding politics and having a fairly introspective outlook (inlook?). The typeface is just the default one the blog came with, I haven't spent much time on the visual presentation. I've got a website for my creative side if you're interested, at http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
Had a look at your blog - white background seems to be a common theme. Thanks for the Anthony Giddens reminder, I just reread some RD Laing so might get back into reading some theory for a bit. I'm reading Harold Pinter plays at the moment. Don't ask me why organised religion's good, my nominally Anglican upbringing didn't make much impression. From a utilitarian perspective I'd say homosexuality's a good thing if it keeps the world birthrate down.