Sometimes I feel. . .

. . . like a motherless child. Good song. But that's not really what I meant.
Sometimes I do feel like a square peg without a round hole in sight.

But that can be a good thing as well as a bad one.

As far as the bad, my best friend and children know and understand me well. That's GOOD, of course. The bad part of it is that I have to be careful when I'm with EVERYONE ELSE!! That's not so bad though. Because if you think about it, life is all about coping with specific situations all the time and no one should expect to be able to relax and completely be oneself all the time. It's education. It's character building. One should be able to receive as well as give. (If you can dish it out, you should be able to take it.) And it's not that I don't WANT to be with others. I do. I know some great people and I thoroughly enjoy being with them and sharing those things that we do have in common. Still though, square peg Man.

My music is sometimes difficult to force into the round holes, especially those round marketing holes. But you know what, that's not going to stop me. Matter of fact, it fuels me. Look at the innovators through the years. Bird, Monk, Diz, Coltrane, Dolphy, Taylor. Not saying I am worthy to be mentioned in such company, but they are inspiration. Even composers of the classics throughout the years were not always appreciated in their own time. Certainly artists and writers find the same circumstances as musicians. Possibly even statesmen. Harry Truman was certainly not as popular in his lifetime as he became with the wisdom of hindsight.

So if you're a fellow square peg, or an ant with an eye on a rubber tree plant, the little train that could, or (insert random cliche regarding standing up to odds that are stacked against you), take heart. Don't compromise a principal that is worth standing up for. Whoa Man, this has gotten a little too heavy. Please, take it Ladies. . .




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One size fits ya'll. . .

. . . goes the joke about jeans in Texas, but buying new furniture for an old house is no joke. Or should I ask, can you buy furniture today and NOT have to worry about it being delivered through a door of an OLD house?

Now there was a time when I would have thought a 55 year-old house wasn't really that old. But it seems that today, furniture is just BIG!!!

So our evening was spent measuring doorways and our existing furniture (couches, to be specific) to try to determine whether there would be any problem having a new couch delivered through our basement door.

The good folks where we purchased this gem were kind enough to provide illustrations of a similar couch, showing how and where to measure and stressing the dimension of the most relevance.

Needless to say, the couch in the illustration was actually seven inches larger at a crucial dimension than the one we purchased. Does that make a difference??? I would think so.

Now this is very difficult to explain, but I'll try to be brief and simple. You place a straight line from the top of the backrest to the outer edge of the armrest, then run your tape measure diagonally from the middle of that straight edge to the far bottom corner (I think it's the foot, in our case) of the piece.

If the couch in the illustration is 37" deep, that opposite diagonal dimension is 30". So my question is, and I was never good with math, geometry, chemistry, calculus, algebra or any of those, if my couch is only 30" deep, won't the opposite diagonal dimension be smaller that 30", and therefore fit easily through my doorway which is probably about 28" wide at most??

I don't know!!!!!




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A different kind of world. . .

from The Sins of Scripture by John Shelby Spong
©2005 John Shelby Spong

". . . the scriptures that tell his story must be transformed into a universal story, true (as a time- and place-bound story could never be) to who Jesus was and what he said and did. This is why these scriptures can never again be used to denigrate, hurt, oppress, enslave or diminish the humanity of any person. This is why the church must cease its quest for power, authority and that most insidious temptation of all, internal unity, and begin to transform the world to reconcile our differences and to make known a barrier-free humanity. We cannot pray the Jesus prayer, 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,' unless we are willing to act as agents of that in-breaking kingdom by giving up our petty divisions, our recessive claims and our symbols of power and begin to devote all our energies to building a different kind of world."





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Small entry . . .

. . . for a musical giant on Wikipedia . . .

"David Murray was born in Oakland, California, USA. He was initially influenced by free jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler and Archie Shepp. He gradually evolved a more diverse style in his playing and compositions. Murray set himself apart from most tenor players of his generation by not taking John Coltrane as his model, choosing instead to incorporate elements of mainstream players Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves into his mature style. Despite this, he recorded a tribute to Coltrane, Octet Plays Trane, in 1999. His 1996 tribute to the Grateful Dead, Dark Star, was also critically well received.

Murray was a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet with Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett. He has recorded or performed with musicians such as Henry Threadgill, James Blood Ulmer, Olu Dara, Tani Tabbal, Butch Morris, Donal Fox, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Ed Blackwell, Johnny Dyani, and Steve McCall. David Murray's use of the circular breathing technique has enabled him to play astonishingly long phrases.

He is currently living in Sines, Portugal, and participates every year in the FMM festival, a World's Music Festival."

The list of his recordings is substantially larger. In fact, too large to reproduce here. But you can view it at http://go54321.tripod.com/dm/davidmurray.html

[Note: That's Baltimore/DC's own Lafayette Gilchrist on piano]




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With this kind of news. . .

. . . who needs despair? (Is it me or is something wrong with this statement?)

(from an online MSNBC story about the economy)
". . . Without a clearer picture of where the economy is headed, businesses are going to be reluctant to undertake the kind of hiring that will help the economy accelerate more. . ."

Actually, this is probably spot-on logic in the minds of the "job creators" who choose to pocket the max at this terrible time.

. . . and the music goes round and round.




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Never discuss politics. . .

. . . or related topics with your family. I think, and hope, that although I ventured into that dangerous turf, I may have survived this ordeal 'relatively' unscathed. And I hope that I perceive correctly because I sincerely respect their points of view, although I am still entitled to my own and chose to defend it to the point where my loved one expressed some visible discomfort with the boisterous debate that ensued; even though she thoroughly agrees with me.

I don't understand why some of the 99% do not even realize that they fall precisely within that percentage.

Further. . .the significance of the Occupy movements could eventually rival the impact of the civil rights movement. Not only are many confused members of the 99% missing, priests, pastors and clergy of every kind are conspicuously absent.

The evils that sparked these protests are real and critical to the well-being of lots of people. Instead of feeling proud of giving turkeys to the poor, religious and non-religious alike should be joining in the protests against the haughty rich.

". . . The current crop of national bank leaders are being shown to be just as corrupt as were the temple bankers of Jesus day. If Jesus were present among us today, he would be moving from Portland, to Los Angeles to Kansas City, to Dallas, up to Chicago and on to Wall Street in New York City. He would join the protest in every city. . ."
(from Howard Bess)

Above inspired by writings of Howard Bess
[The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is HYPERLINK "mailto:hdbss@mtaonline.net" hdbss@mtaonline.net]




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More thanks. . .

. . . Continuing with the Thanksgiving theme. . . I knew that ONE day, ONE MEASLY HOLIDAY, would not be sufficient to encompass (or be sufficiently inclusive) of all the thanks that I feel I should express at this time in my life. So I will continue on that theme today so that I do not neglect any significant personages deserving of my gratitude at this apropos time.

So I will add to the thanks expressed previously, I am also thankful (not to some bearded man in a golden chair sitting high in the clouds) to Todd, Rod, Tomy, Doug and Ron who have been in my life for the past three or four years and who have contributed to my artistic development, my confidence in myself, and in my confidence in the process of community, support and artistry which continues to give me strength and courage to continue in my pursuit of success in the musical realm.




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