Early

Why did I have to wake up at 4 AM today? Just when I thought I was beating it, the jet lag. 

I meditated. At 4:30. I used my trifold futon as a cushion and pointed the lamp into the bookcase. I slipped my hood over my head and aimed for 10 minutes. I got to 8.

Munich Again

Munich again is warm and the first morning here looks mild. I'm planning on beating jet lag by a combination of two things – sleeping right and writing. I already slept all the way through the night until 7 this morning (pretty good if you went to bed at 10). The next thing will be to write and open up the noggin to some fresh continental air. Don't want it to get too stuffy in there, and I want to know just exactly what the old noodle is involved in when I get in the dumps after a long flight. So – sleep right, write right. 

*later*

Now I feel achy, tight in the head and tired in the way I only feel after 12 hours in the air headed east. My stomach growls at odd times, though I'm not necessarily hungry.

Munich is now a warm place where you can walk in a t-shirt outside. Women wear brighter colors and show more skin and hair. Sunglasses perch on heads and brownness creeps up arms and legs. Ha – I've got a head start with the brownness.

Home Trip '09 Draws to a Close

Long weeks at home have deepened my attachment to my journal and made me see that I want to pursue writing, somehow or other. What's it going to be like back in Munich?

Tuneful Pockets for a Better World

What if everyone carried around a musical instrument in their back pocket? Some people would take it out at inopportune times and play subversive melodies. Some would play waltzes and mazurkas in groups, others would improvise alone in C minor on lonely afternoons. Others would neglect their instruments or leave them in their other pants when they went out. I myself would jam on the blues at opera conventions or maybe play a few bars of Mozart in a different key and in minor instead of major. I would keep an extra instrument tucked into my sock, just in case.

(Thanks to Six Sentences for the inspiration)

The Mountain Road

Here's an Irish tune I recorded on guitar and fiddle today. Thanks to Ash Tree for the indirect tip about Imeem. I'd love some feedback on my fiddling. Heck, let me have it for my guitar playing too.

Fiddling Around

Fiddling with Sven, Charlie and Wolfgang from the Ramblin' Folks tonight was more fun than I thought it would be.

I'm learning to appreciate Sven more: if he looks like he's having fun (and when he's having fun it looks like he's dancing a tango with his upright bass) then that means the tune is alright. Not too boring at least. If the tune is no good, then he looks like an axe murderer going over his list of future victims. So, I like Sven.

Charlie's always talking about new tunes we could play. Wolfgang tunes his mandolin for about an hour before we can start playing. For our last practice session before a relatively major gig for us next week, it was pretty relaxed. I guess that has a lot to do with the fact that a third of the band wasn't even there.

That reminds me: our flute player is sick (hopefully she gets well before next week) and our banjo player twisted his thumb so bad he can't hold a pick anymore (hope that thumb gets better before next week).

Maybe I'll let you know how that gig goes... then again, maybe not.

Last Night at the Gig

The Swiss guy screaming "Who wants more cheese?" at the top of his lungs. The former flute player sitting in the front row wrinkling her brow as we play. The birthday boy (70, red-faced) with a shaky smile. The older man with a black beanie who says, "Say, you look a bit like that star fiddler, don't you..." I guess it's better than saying I look like Jesus. That's what I hear more often than not.

At our gig last night there weren't that many listeners (read: there were lots of talkers). One screamed out an honorary "Ziggy zaggy, ziggy zaggy, Oy! Oy! Oy!" right as our flute player was starting a delicate Irish tune. We played on. I forgot the end of a tune we hadn't played in a while. We played on. Listeners disappeared to sing campfire songs around the bonfire outside. We played on.

After a few hours we cleared the stage and somebody put on some Beyoncé. Oh well. The Ramblin' Folks will play another day.