Just Time Away

So far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
Doesn't help to know you're just time away

Long ago I reached for you and there you stood
Holding you again could only do me good
Oh, how I wish I could
But you're so far away

One more song about moving along the highway
Can't say much of anything that's new
If I could only work this life out my way
I'd rather spend it being close to you

40 years later...

Rediscovering Diana Krall

I've always enjoyed her Christmas album.... But boy, have I been missing out!  I didn't know she was a jazz pianist, too, and a great one at that!  Her low vocal and delicate piano improvisation are quite a different feel from the wild, earthy, and bright Esperanza Spalding I am used to.  Regardless, I love women who can sing and play jazz.... They're so HOT.

Nice big bossa nova arrangement:




Just when you think her flavorful opening vocal can't be topped, she comes in with a mind-blowing development of a sultry piano solo:

Soul CD / Oregon in "Retrospect"

A friend told me about soul CDs last night.  You choose twelve songs that define you at the core and put them on a CD.  You can keep one as a memorabilia, trade them with friends, or just gift them.  People rarely make CDs anymore, but I think it would be cool to make one for myself.  I've made special CDs for people before, but more for the recipient, and never with the intention to define myself.  I think as a college graduation gift to myself I will make one.  It will be challenging -- twelve songs aren't a lot!

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The Oregon visit was good.  Good.  The beautiful, dynamic landscape was everything I had imagined. The people were even kinder and happier than I had imagined.  To feel like the most Southern person in a crowd was a new experience...  In that regard, I am definitely more comfortable back in Athens where half the people talk more Southern than I do.  But other than that, I almost felt like I knew I belonged there.  The active tectonic landscape -- the landscape!  Lush mountains and hills all around with giant evergreens, the Pacific coast with the white waves throwing themselves at jutting cliffs, valleys shrouded in fog, crystal-clear blue streams, and snow-capped Cascade volcanoes, all neighboring each other.  All the people there seemed to be outdoors(wo)men, whether their outlet of choice be snowboarding, skiing, surfing, hiking, paddling, or mountain biking.  Plastic bags are banned, you can literally subscribe to local agriculture for fresh seasonal produce, people bike everywhere -- refreshing things like these simply made sense.

Headed to Knoxville, TN and Minneapolis, MN this coming week.  I am forgetting to feel thankful for these opportunities but rather constantly fearing feeling too smug.  Thankfulness...  That's really where it all needs to go.  I can't lose that.

On another note, I'm thinking of making a new blog for grad school.  Should I stay on Blogger or move onto Tumblr or something else?

What Sh*t Is Made Of

I just found myself earnestly Googling "pterosaur poop composition."  No dice, it turns out not many other people in the world are as curious about that as I am.  It says something if you need to know something that Google can't find.  But then, now there is Google Scholar...

But how do we really know?!  We would have to know what pterosaurs ate and how their digestive system worked.  With so much erased about the past, we can only make conjectures.

Everything is a guess.  What is knowledge anyway?  We really can't know anything.  Does this bed in front of me exist?  I think so, but I could not exist, and this bed might not, either.  Religion, by definition, is definite (e.g. "God exists and that's the truth; you can't disprove it"), and I think that is why people are drawn to it.

Science is futile.  Scientific method, after all, is a man-made concept.  But it's fun.  Exercising our brains to figure out things we don't need to know for basic survival is a human privilege / gift from God, and we should take advantage of it!

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"A Night in Tunisia" is a good tune... I don't know what Tunisia looks or sounds like, so to me it sounds like walking through a crowded but mellow bar with wooden furnishings in the 1930s.  Dressed in black, downing whiskey, lost in the saxophone melody...  haha!  Times like this I feel like I was born in the wrong decade.  Good thing live jazz is still around and accessible.

Walking on Sunshine

Have you ever walked on sunshine?

Seen your sandaled foot hit the cracked asphalt and transform it to a brightly lit yellow path?  Felt a beam of light emanate from every step of your walk?

A surreal experience, to say the least.

I need to... go thank the Lord.

A Record Mess

My room has never been this messy.  Ever.  Not even in high school.  That is an incredible feat.

The mess in my room so remarkable that a photo is probably blog-worthy, but it would be too embarrassing to put up.

You know the pile of clothes you end up with after trying on multiple outfits?  Yeah, I've got one of those on my unmade bed, aside a pile of unfurled giant nerdy posters I got from the Geological Society of America conference.  My decorative table has all of my toiletries and cosmetic stuff laid out, half-unpacked from GSA.  My floor has a cardboard box of winter clothes half-unpacked, a paper grocery bag full of shoes from GSA, two more shopping bags full of free swag I got at GSA, a giant duffel full of clothes half-unpacked, violin case, backpack, two purses, shoes, magazines, books, and clothes.  The desk chair I am currently sitting on has three articles of clothing on it, as far as I can tell, and my -groan- desk has all sorts of papers, notebooks, and books, rubber bands, my dinner bowl, nail clipper, etc. sprawled out.

Why am I writing about this instead of cleaning it up?  Because I like recording things.  And because I promised myself I can't procrastinate by cleaning until I make a certain amount of progress on graduate school apps.  Isn't this fun.

Oh man.........

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On the other hand, I really like bossa nova.  It's kind of cheesy but so attractive!

Love this old-school video:

Béla Fleck & The Marcus Roberts Trio

Last night, saw Béla Fleck in concert for the first time, and for five bucks!  He was pretty darn good as expected, but who I found really magical was Marcus Roberts.  It took me about two tunes in to realize he was blind -- duh, why would anybody play the piano with sunglasses on indoors?  The way he filled the silent hall with his solo in "That Ragtime Feeling"!  He transported me from Hodgson Hall and the surrounding people to an enchanting old-time world that he saw in his mind.  That solo was like a scene out of an inspiring movie... I almost shed a tear, haha.  It was an indescribable experience.

And the way, in another tune, Béla Fleck and Marcus Roberts diverged to this parallel-melody poly-rhythm multi-solo thing, stayed there so delicately yet fittingly, and then magically converged back to the head.  That, that blew my mind.  I had not heard of Marcus Roberts before this concert; now I'm a fan for life!

On a side note, this is -- hallelujah -- the first time in over a month that I am in "chillin'" in Athens for a whole weekend.  How sweet it is.  Although I have a **** ton to do, I took advantage of getting up whenever I wanted this morning and cooking myself an awesome breakfast.  Made hash browns from scratch for the first time, and it turned out unbelievably good!  This will be a regular breakfast item.

It was the perfect balance of crispy and soft... I want another plate

Birchmore Revelation

Just because I wanted exercise, I walked the Birchmore Trail for the first time two weekends ago.  It might be my favorite trail I have walked in Athens.  When you go across the road (I think it's Gran Allen Dr) and back into the woods, that's where the good stuff begins.  At one point you come to the top of a small ravine and you find yourself in sort of a big hall surrounded by big trees all over.  Sunlight streaming, birds chirping, trees rustling and swaying in the distance.  There I took in the forest and thought, "Man, I only have so much time to see and feel this beauty.  Life's too short to spend indoors."  Which is precisely how I finally decided for sure to go on a 2-night camping trip next weekend.  Fall is beautiful.  And short-lived.  Just like life.

I think I would have liked to be a Native American back in the day.  Like Pocahontas or Sacajawea.  Except I actually have never watched Pocahontas.  But I do know a good bit about Sacajawea because in fifth grade, I dressed up as Sacajawea and told people about myself for a big project.  Also, I really enjoyed reading Undaunted Courage in high school, and that book (being about the Lewis and Clark expedition) had a lot of Sacajawea stuff in it.  Or really, I would have liked to a Native American before we (outsiders) knew them.  Camp out all the time, revere nature, etc.

Forgive my writing, I'm really tired.  Just spent a very good time indoors at the Georgia Theatre watching the Punch Brothers perform.

Respect / Grappelli

If we truly respected the human species that the Creator made, we can't just hang out in a little bubble of like-minded people.  We can't let the fear of change keep us from continuously seeking our purpose -- diving into and wandering outside the box of our perceived identity.

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On a totally different note, I have come to the profound realization that if I want to learn to play jazz on my violin, studying a hundred trumpet and piano solos can only help me so much.  Turns out there is a small group of phenomenal jazz violinists, in whose recordings I have started to marinate my ears.  One is Stephane Grappelli.  Enjoy!  The "fun" part begins around 1:36.  In my opinion, the piano solo is what's really brilliant in this video, but here's what jazz violin sounds like anyway.

Learning Music, Not Violin

Today's jazz class was the best we've had so far, which says a lot.  We did the most improvisation (rather than learning chords and scales) to date:  We did multiple rounds of three different tunes -- "Cherokee," "Now's the Time," and "Sonnymoon for Two" -- and had our drummer do solos for the first time!  It was marvelous.  I keep forgetting to take recordings to show friends and family.  But I will next time I get a chance!

Anyway, I left class today with the realization that I have never really learned music before.  I thought I was so "musical," having played the violin for x years, the piano for y years, played in an orchestra for z years...  But what I learned (or strived to learn) in all those years was how to play the violin well.  How to vibrato, how to move my bow, how to place my fingers, how to produce a clean tone and a perfect pitch.  How to pay attention to the conductor, how to quiet down when the cellos have the melody, how to count rests, how to help out a hopelessly lost standpartner, and, of course, how to find my way back while hopelessly lost but expertly faking.  I was trained to take the notes on a page and reproduce them exactly, to make it sound good without knowing why it sounded good.

Now I am learning how to create music, and create it instantly.  To let an idea flow directly from the jukebox and ears inside my head to my fingers and violin.  And in that process, how to shuffle a deck of notes and pull out the right cards.  How to shuffle the right deck of cards, when to pull out the cards.  It is as if I have been in Russia for years, cluelessly listening to everyone talk in Russian, and suddenly I can speak and understand it.  I am learning to actually own and use my musical instrument, instead of the other way around.

With every jazz class I attend, I get more inclined to ditch all of my other schoolwork and just practice improv all day every day.  I know that's not really what I want to do with my life, but man, how I love this!  After this semester, I will have to get some regular jam buddies from somewhere.

Mind, Body & Soul

Okay, okay, okay.  I've finally settled on my favorite music.

Practicing the pentatonic, dominant, and blues scales in every key, I have learned that "improvisation" is a predetermined set of notes that mix to produce what sounds like out-of-thin-air magic.  Jazz awakens my mind.

Driving down Lumpkin to campus this evening with Robert Randolph & the Family Band blasting, I reveled at my automatic finger-snapping and body-shaking.  Funk moves my body.

Sitting in a concert hall with eyes closed, listening to Itzhak Perlman sing the heavens with his violin, to Joshua Bell sing his heart with his, I melt and transcend.  Classical music stirs my soul.

Jazz, funk, and classical.  Mind, body, and soul.

JAZZ IMPROV CLASS

Now four classes in.  Omgah yes.
I improvise jazz.  It's miraculous.

Enough said.

Let's go ahead and say this in the small window that I can:

I love life.

=)

(I am on a first-week-of-school, yay!-seeing-friends-and-teachers-again high.  But also, I just haven't felt like saying it in too long.)

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New favorite song:

Rain turns the sand into mud
Wind turns the trees into bone
Stars turning high up above
You turn me
Into somebody loved
- "Somebody Loved" by The Weepies

Cycles Again

It is comforting to yet again learn of the cyclical nature of life.

Things come and go.  Then they come.  Then they go.  Then something else comes.  And goes.

Just when I think that everyone has finally posted all the field school pictures, more get uploaded on Facebook.  This is the second time in my life that I'm feeling, "Man, that was the time of my life.  I am so sad it is over and will always miss it."  Back in high school as ASYO was ending, I knew I had the time of my violin-playing life that year, and I have been very nostalgic for it ever since.  That the field school experience is reverberating in me now and overshadowing the ASYO nostalgia comforts me.  It means that no matter how badly I miss being out there, with every single day an outdoor adventure, an experience awesome enough to overshadow field school will come in the future.

Aw shucks, now I'm stuck with two nostalgic thoughts.  I would love to be playing some Shosty 5 tomorrow morning.  The thrill of playing that symphony all the way through is comparable to climbing a tough fourteener, albeit less dangerously badass.

Bottom line, I have to move on from field school, but it's okay because some other awesome experience will come in time.

And because today is always the best time to be thinking about....

Circle of Life

Nants ingwenya mabagi tsibaba
Sitsi uhmm, ingwenya ma
Ingwenya ma
Nants ingwenya mabagi tsibaba
Sitsi uhmm, ingwenya ma

Ingwenya ma

Siyo noba

Ingwenya ma

Ingwenya ma nengwe namabala

Ingwenya ma nengwe namabala

... Totally butchered the Zulu language.  But this way I can read it.  And sing it!!!

Broadening My Music Horizon

Riding in a van all the time with different people at field school exposed me to all kinds of music:

• Thoroughly enjoyed live recordings of Grateful Dead, which was completely unexpected.
• Discovered some new funk bands, including Flow Tribe, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, The Heap (from Athens), and JazzChronic (also from Athens).
• Came to love bluegrass -- Nickel Creek, and Tommy Jordan who is a UGA geography professor who taught us GIS at field school!
• Got to really like dubstep, something I considered an insult to music before

Something about different scenery that got me to like different music, and now, back at home, something about the different music that takes me to that different scenery.

YES.

Love it, love most of it.  Favorite song is probably "Cinnamon Tree."  Too bad she's not coming to Georgia.  Durham?!  Really?  How is that the nearest city she'll be touring?

Ah, what beauty, what talent.

Spring Awakening

Front and back doors open, soft morning sun streaming, birds chirping, Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach unaccompanied suites.

our back porch

Mmmmm.... It's moments like these.

Choi's Symphony No. 1

If I could compose a symphony, it'd be a piece depicting a satisfying spaghetti meal.  (Apparently I'm not noble enough to compose one depicting famine and promote charity toward starving communities.)  Each movement would express the taste of the food with sound:

I.  Bread and Oil  (with little frills of conversation throughout)
II.  Spaghetti and Wine   (one can only imagine)
III.  Tiramisu   (with sighs of satisfaction in the beginning)

Thought about going with gelato, but I think tiramisu would yield a more festive finale.

Who knows, maybe I really will compose one someday.

This Valentine's Day

"Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" - Landon Pigg
"Love in Time" - Esperanza Spalding

Let's wait a little while
And find out why we're waiting
Amidst those parading desire like a torch fire
Amidst those who scramble for love, all a flutter
When true love is something subtler we'll create
If we just wait

We can't rush a happy ending
That's not in our destiny's plan
Sweet this seems
We can't see the grand scheme of our lives
Which really are what we'd share if this romance is true
So take time to live yours
I will, too, while we...

Wait a little while and be sure we're not fooled
By the things we've been schooled
To take as signs that love's arrived
Like charm, wit, and beauty
Our youth made us seek them
But in truth we don't need them
We're in love, so let's take our time