At first I didn't quite know what I would do with the book, other than read it over and over again. My distrust of history then was still strong, and I wanted to concentrate on the story for its own sake, rather than on the manuscript's scientific, cultural, anthropological, or 'historical' value. I was drawn to the author himself.
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READIN
READIN started out as a place for me
to keep track of what I am reading, and to learn (slowly, slowly)
how to design a web site.
There has been some mission drift
here and there, but in general that's still what it is. Some of
the main things I write about here are
reading books,
listening to (and playing) music, and
watching the movies. Also I write about the
work I do with my hands and with my head; and of course about bringing up Sylvia.
The site is a bit of a work in progress. New features will come on-line now and then; and you will occasionally get error messages in place of the blog, for the forseeable future. Cut me some slack, I'm just doing it for fun! And if you see an error message you think I should know about, please drop me a line. READIN source code is PHP and CSS, and available on request, in case you want to see how it works.
See my reading list for what I'm interested in this year.
READIN has been visited approximately 236,737 times since October, 2007.
From this point onward, apart from a few inevitable comments, the story of the old man with the black eyepatch will no longer be followed to the letter, being replaced by a reorganised version of his discourse, re-evaluated in the light of a correct and more appropriate vocabulary. The reason for this previously unforeseen change is the rather formal controlled language, used by the narrator, which almost disqualifies him as a complementary reporter, however important he may be, because without him we would have no way of knowing what happened in the outside world, as a complementary reporter, as we were saying, of these extraordinary events, when as we know the description of any facts can only gain with the rigour and suitability of the terms used.
--José Saramago, Blindness
I'm struggling with this passage a little. It seems to me like it must be pretty important to the story, coming as it does near the center of the book and immediately after the scene in which the old man with the eyepatch, "the one person who was missing here", joins the inmates of the opthalmologist's ward. Some significant shift in the narration is occurring here -- this is the first time the narrator has referred to himself and to the job he is doing in this way. But it seems very strange for him to say "from this point onward", when throughout the story so far all dialog has been paraphrased to the point of dismissal -- nothing has been "followed to the letter".
posted evening of December 30th, 2007: Respond ➳ More posts about Blindness
Wow, look! This is my nine-hundred and ninety-ninth post to this blog. The counter's about to roll over. Fun! Just in time for the new year.
So I came up with a little air for viola; I am inaugurating my new policy of giving my songs titles, by calling this one "Sally's Sleeping"; as Mr. Fritz observed in comments a few days ago, fiddlers name their tunes "after any damn thing". This is my first song (a) in 12/8 meter and (b) for which I was able to correctly work out notating the rhythm without help from ABCEdit's playback feature.
I found a streaming music player which is not dependent on Windows MediaPlayer, so I am going to try using it. Please let me know if either you were not able to play my music files before, and now you are, or you were able to play them before and now you are not. Thanks!
Here is the music for it, ABC format and PDF. Note that I didn't play exactly the same fourth bar that is written down; the whole point is to play a different variation every time.
posted morning of December 30th, 2007: Respond ➳ More posts about Fiddling
So I'm watching Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and thinking "Hm, all this shooting sure is getting confusing" and wander off. I bet there's a soundtrack record, now that'd be something to listen to.
Worked out one of the songs (possibly the theme?) on fiddle, it sounds pretty good as a short melody and some nice variations as well.
posted evening of December 28th, 2007: Respond ➳ More posts about Music
"Oceanside", Robyn Hitchcock, Live at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Not produced as well as the version on Perspex Island and I think they are playing at a faster tempo.
"Keep on the Sunny Side", Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will the Circle be Unbroken. Can't say much about this. It is totally unironic and is Maybelle Carter's signature piece; I love it but it brings back unpleasant childhood sing-along memories.
"Penny Lane", Robyn Hitchcock. Lousy. I ought to take this concert off my iPod, there is no reason to keep it. The banter following the song -- "One of the things that really distinguished the '60s from the present was that they didn't have these things that say 'if you like that, try this!'" -- struck me as kind of humorous but not really up to RH banter standards.
"Rukus Juice Blues", Big Bill Broonzy. Awesome. Broonzy says "rookus", not "ruckus"; at first I thought he was talking about "ruby juice".
"Birds in Perspex", Robyn Hitchcock LCFF. Maybe my favorite RH song ever. But again, not up to the level of the album version -- this record could probably come off the iPod as well. It is impossible not to sing along with "come alive" even though I'm in public, sitting on a bench on the street.
"Pretty Little Dog", Critton Hollow String Band. Instrumental. Just right after #5. (from the "String Theory" compilation)
"This is the Last Time I'll Say Goodbye", The Sirens -- from the Apostropher's Don't Bogart That Groove compilation. I hadn't noticed before what a remarkable song this instrumental piece is. The music has a really structural feeling to it like it's building a walled passageway that you travel through -- the notes are textural elements in the structure. This has to maybe have something to do with percussion -- I've gotten the same feeling from some tracks on Perspex Island that have really strong drums.
"Johnny B. Goode", The Dead 2/27/77 -- this random set is trending toward songs that are totally characteristic of their performers.
"Mambo Dominica", David Murray Latin Big Band, from Don't Bogart That Groove. "Cute but corny" is my initial reaction. As I listen to it for a while (it is a very long song), I start to hear the horns more individually, less as part of a mass of sound, which is pleasant. This would be good music for walking.
"Each of her Silver Wands", Robyn Hitchcock 3/14/97 Knitting Factory. I don't know this song. It sounds like it could be pretty good but like he hasn't really written it yet at this performance. Very short.
The combination of numbers 1, 5, and 7 inspired me to listen to Perspex Island, which I had not in a while. It sure gets to me -- this is my favorite record of the year. When "Birds in Perspex" came on I had to run outside to avoid embarrassing myself by singing "come alive" in the Avery Fischer Hall lobby.
...Can I analyse the structure of "Birds in Perspex"? That is sort of what I wanted to do during my Song by Song project but I don't think it really came across. Every line of that song just really touches my heart -- the lyrics to be sure and the way they fall across the canvas of music. When Andy Metcalfe came in at the end singing "birds in perspex, come alive" it actually startled me that the person singing on the recording was not myself.
posted evening of December 28th, 2007: Respond ➳ More posts about random tunes
So it seems like people using Macintosh computers will not be able to play the streaming audio in my Songs posts, but will instead get a "This playlist format is not recognized" error. I'm trying to figure out why; in the meantime I will put links to download the mp3 files next to the streaming objects.
Update: If you can't play the songs embedded in my site, could you try the two players I posted here and let me know if either of them works for you? Thanks.
posted morning of December 28th, 2007: 5 responses ➳ More posts about The site
Our set tonight was pretty excellent all things (such as that we had only played together on three occasions prior to the performance, with actual serious practicing going on on only one of those occasions) considered. The weakest of the three songs was "Hard Times", principally because (a) I don't know the part well enough and (b) I can't play vibrato, which was pretty strongly called for. The fast songs were great, both of us were really tuned in to each other and to the songs.
Later we played two songs I did not know, "Cocaine Habit" (vaguely anti-drug song from the '30s) and "Bed on Your Floor" (similar in theme to "Palette on Your Floor" but totally different music). The set was extremely rough but fun -- I thought "Bed on Your Floor" has real possibilities if we practice it a bit.
"Vinny Video" was filming the evening's performances and promised to send me a DVD. Who knows, maybe we will put it on YouTube!
Rehearsal tonight with Jerry went really well -- we played three songs and a meandering improvisation and we're going to do the three songs at the open mic tomorrow:
"Weary Day", with Jerry singing -- this is going to be awesome.
"Hard Times Come Again No More", with Jerry singing -- potentially great, if I can get the viola part straight. I think it will work.
"Louisville Burglar", with me singing -- this song works much better if I'm not trying to play during the vocal. Really fun to jam with Jerry on solos.
So friends and neighbors: here's your chance to hear us at our first appearance, before we get famous. It'll be at (the not long for this world) Here's to the Arts, 97 Baker St. in Maplewood; we'll probably play around 9:30.
Turns out "(not long for this world)" is not quite accurate. Art had been having some trouble negotiating a new lease and it looked like he might be evicted; but he has secured a month-to-month lease, so he's still there at least for the time being.
I'm hearing reports from a couple of people that when they click "Play" on the little MediaPlayer objects I am using for streaming my songs, they don't get any sound. If that is true for you, could you make a note of it here, along with what browser and operating system you are using? Here is a MediaPlayer for you to test with:
Here is another one to try:
OK, and one more:
posted evening of December 26th, 2007: 2 responses ➳ More posts about Songs
I sort of think this might be a Childe Ballad, not sure though. Janis introduced me to it, we've been playing it together for a couple of years. Came out pretty well, though I'm not too confident with the lyric. Janis usually sings it.
Sylvia played "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on her new ocarina today! That was quick. Not quite right yet -- it sounds to me like the ocarina must be tonic, maybe in C, and Sylvia is trying to play in D (not in A, because "there isn't a E-1" -- she is referring to all the notes as string + finger). So a couple of notes are off -- I need to look more closely at it and show her what the key is. Still, quick progress!
Update: no, I'm wrong -- the instrument is diatonic. But Sylvia doesn't really get sharps and flats yet, she is probably playing all naturals, diagrams for which are grouped together at the top of the page. If she's interested I will explain that to her; but I expect she is going to want to figure it out on her own.
posted afternoon of December 26th, 2007: Respond ➳ More posts about Sylvia
