homework

Here's Earl Scruggs playing Fireball Mail.



I am intended to figure out how to play this for the next banjo lesson. Hard! I have some serious learning to do.

I have been instructed on how to play all the different parts of it, but have been left to my devices as to how to remember which part goes where and how they fit together, etc. Not to mention that I have to remember it all in the first place. We did record three versions of the song at diff speed at the tail end of the lesson so I can hear it one note at a time. If I listen to the melody 60+ times a day, maybe it'll stick. And hopefully I can get some hints on the fingering from these YouTube vids.



Man, he doesn't make this easy starting me out on Earl Scruggs, but how proud will I be if I can even get close to figuring this out?? I think my goal will be to play it all the way through with no cheating before I leave for China. I am pumped. Sort of half daunted and half positive I can totally do it.

If any of you musicians out there want to struggle through this with me some time, I'm happy to oblige :)

What I have been staring at all day

...in awe. And anticipation!

Radiohead! In Golden Gate Park!

Not to mention Devendra Banhart, Regina Spektor, Cold War Kids (who, yes, I like even if they're "cool" or whatever now.. or not because I really have no idea). Dude! Andrew Bird, M.Ward, Two Gallants, Black Mountain, Nellie McKay, Bon Iver, The Coup, other artists to be announced!

I am so there. The only thing that could make it better is if y'all were there too ;)

Tix on sale this Sunday!

Getting my spring on

Firstly, this has been a fabulous weekend. The weather has been incredible. Spring has officially sprung. And the moon has been full, gorgeous. Absolutely no complaints there. I love that my plants are putting out new leaves again and turning darker shades of green.

Did some much needed spring cleaning to Django Reinhart this morning after discovering the Temescal Farmer's Market, which, it turns out, is a lot closer to me than I realized. I picked up some garlic, tangelos, a Hot Cross bun and some white flowers to fill out my Easter bouquet (pictured at left).

I love just being outside in this weather. Even though I've been living up the park life with the band the past few months, days like today are what it's all about. I dragged a picnic lunch, the blank notebook and the banjo out to Mosswood Park and practiced Duelin' Banjos and my G, C and D chords to prep for lesson #3 on Tuesday. I may have even sorta kinda gotten that vamping thing right a couple of times. So excited about the banjo, btw. Esp. playing it in the out of doors.

After seeing Michael Pollan and talking to Ronak and Dan about WWOOF and farming, I'm all fired up about it again. For all the direction I've lacked since graduating, it seems so obvious that I need to go to Iceland. That I need to stick my hands in the dirt for a few months. Not that the plan has changed since November, but the more I talk about it, the more jazzed I get. And with all that jazz, I made attempt #3 at reclaiming 2008 from fate and thought again about what I want/need to do this year. Mostly good things like reading books, living it up in China, learning how to silkscreen, saving $$, playing music, connecting and being open to chance. After all the death and darkness this winter, all the sun and life are really hitting the spot.

What all of this means, though, is that I'm getting spring tea party fever. It's time to put the kettle on and pull out the lawn sports. An epic party is in order, so get out your Sunday best for flowering teas, scones, crustless sandwiches, croquet, bocce ball. I'm craving lap dogs, parasols, linen pants, boater hats, doilies (which my mother gave me for my birthday), the works. And I think I'll try to take it up a notch this year as well. Try to invite more people, bulk up the fanciness parade, and have music. Everything is better with live music.

Were you aware of it? vol. 3: Peacocks ≠ Vampires

NEW YORK (AP) -- A peacock that roamed into the parking lot of a Burger King in New York City was beaten by a man who insisted it was a vampire.

Animal control officials in Staten Island say the bird was beaten so fiercely that most of its tail feathers fell out and it had to be euthanized.

The seven-year-old male peacock wandered into the restaurant parking lot and perched on a car hood last week. Charmed employees had been feeding it bread when the man appeared.

A restaurant worker says the man grabbed the bird by the neck, hurled it to the ground and started stomping it. She says when he was asked what he was doing, he responded, "'I'm killing a vampire!"'

Employees called police, but the man ran when he saw them.



**Courtesy of the Associated Press, July 2007

that which has been at the tip of my brain, a list

- the relative merits of eastern and western medicine and the added benefits of partaking in both
- fate, the supernatural
- the adventure that my trip to china/mongolia is going to be
- the peace corps, and whether it is something i might be interested in pursuing
- iceland, farming in iceland, all things icelandic
- how much (more) irish i knew seven years ago (nuair a bhi me in Eirinn)
- how luxurious and dreamy it would be to live in Paris with a 30 hour work week and 45 days of paid vacation a year
- the delicate ecosystem that is the analytical job that fires you up to create art in your precious free moments
- the glamour of rockstardom
- curiousity as to whether a. i have enough time to put forth a minimum effort into acquiring a significant other and b. whether success in such an acquisition would spell the end of certain artistic endeavours
- a general fondness for the extra u's that find their way into my spelling since living in Ireland
- how worthwhile attempting to be promoted at work would be in the long and short term
- whether or not to apply to work from india for three months
- what i might be proud of should i have accomplished it prior to my death
- whether my voice typically sounds as odd as it does (to me) in the video i recorded for work a few months back
- just how impractical quitting one's posh job in search of something that speaks more to the soul would be, and how that romantic impracticality measures against the social, economic, and psychological comforts of being gainfully employed
- what to cook for dinner
- the surprising pleasantness of having a personal chauffeur, otherwise known as a carpool
- the tragedy of having murdered the buds on my orchid
- satisfaction at having nursed this neathebella palm back to health
- concern as to how to revive the maidenhair fern that was very nearly killed by thanksgiving
- hope that i've filled my funeral quota for 2008
- how to distinguish between reading too much and too little into things
- how to characterize my taste
- whether or not i could be accurately described by the words negative, manipulative, meanspirited, self-centered, &c.
- culture clashes and differences in perspective
- how to make sourdough bread
- whether it might be time to recycle some of the catalogs i have stored in the bathroom
- excitement about starting banjo lessons
- pride in having filled my social calendar to the brim for this weekend
- how many of the peanut butter cookies with the apricot jam i can eat without feeling overly guilty and regretful
- intrigue at the subconscious that treats me to dreams about shapeshifting camels, assassinating kings, vampire dogs and, most recently, ninjas on BART
- that fruit cake might actually be tasty in some circumstances, particularly when those circumstances involve marzipan
- the realization that the reason my mother thinks i look thinner is closely related to my atrophied muscles, and what might be done to counteract that process
- whether or not it will actually rain on saturday, and, relatedly, whether or not i will be prevented from eating a picnic lunch of farmers market pickings after a bike ride to the albany bulb

that will do for now.

banjo lessons - check

I'm all signed up for banjo lessons at the 5th String. My favorite peeps were there, as usual, being their sweet selves, as usual. So helpful. The older gentleman fitted me up proper with banjo picks, the younger kid, Emery - who is also my fave employee - picked me out a chord chart and the other dude Tim has agreed to learn me some bluegrass banjo starting March 15th, 5:30 pm.

They even have free (?) jam sessions on Thurdays at 7:30pm run by Emery himself - v. tempting. I may just need to swing by one of these days.

Watch out! I am going to be a music making machine.

Murderer of beautiful things

Immediately after preparing and delivering my orchid's vitamin water -

I've been doing my best to take good care of it. Finally, finally after so many buds were withered and dessicated by the heater, I was about to get another set of blooms. I have been looking forward to these magenta flowers for months. Months. I have been making my orchid more vitamin water than usual and being so careful with it.

And Then. After delicately feeding my orchid's roots, I cleanly severed the most precious arm from the plant. Imagine if you had accidentally snapped your favorite cat's neck. And it was suddenly, silently limp in your hands.

This is what I have done.