Dusty Chalk

Yay doggie!

Re: image: Egad! Someone let out the magic smoke and the chimney is utterly demolished! Re: music: Effin’ groovy!

I used to play This is the Day...This is the Hour...This is This and Cure for Sanity and both those albums still get a listen every once in a while. Did you know...? Clint Mansell is now a famous Hollywood soundtrack composer?

And those of you who have known me longer than Head-Case (which is to say, none of you) will know that Henry Mancini has a special place in my heart, so this was a particularly mind-blowing arrangement:

https://youtu.be/0EpuCeAk0Fw

I rewatched season two and finished season three. I can tell you exactly where they lost me: when they reduced people to books in season two. They backpedaled a little bit when they said free will was hard, but then they doubled down in the behind the scenes after the last episode saying that 90% are still 100% predictable and it’s only the psychos that are the “outliers”. I’m not an outlier! I’m far too lazy, but I’ve been thinking for myself since I was 16. People are more complex than weather, and we know what kind of computational power that takes to predict. That said, they do have moments of brilliance like the aforementioned Ghost Nation and Shogun World episodes as well as the episode, ‘Genre’ in the current season and the production values are always off the hook good quality, so I will probably keep watching. But definitely tuning out all the pretentious.

I just watched that episode recently. Out. Fucking. Standing. I think I like it better than the original.

I've been listening to her without watching her all day, and I think I figured it out. Her silent motions are the visual portion of the performance, because her playing is so meticulous that she imparts no personality onto the music (and that’s a good thing). You know how when you hear Keith Jarrett or Brad Mehldau (or more obviously, Miles Davis or David Gilmour), you know immediately who's playing? Not with her, I can't. She lets the (beautiful) music speak for itself. I would love to hear her play some Schubert or Bach, or any other kind of music that "plays itself". So her movements at the bench are the visual portion of the performance. Or maybe she just can't help herself, maybe she's just that moved by the music. Oh well, don't know, don't care, I enjoy, and she obviously does too, and that's all that matters. On the bright side, she does Pictures -- one of my favourite pieces for piano, EVAR -- her performance of it might have just zoomed into the top spot for me. Thanks for reminding me of her. By the way, I had heard her before, in a collaboration she did with Ólafur Arnalds, The Chopin Project, which I also enjoyed. Really wish I was paying more attention at the time, would've seen her live. That was 5 years ago. Unrelated-- jazz:

So this guy posted these with the caption, “Do I have a problem?” I responded with, “only if you can’t reach everlything.”

It’s not just that, she obviously enjoys the music as much as I —as the audience member, not just me personally—do. I realize when I spoke, I was talking about her looks, but it’s really cute how joyous her playing is, too. I’m listening to her on Tidal right now, her playing is excellent.

Went down the Alice Sara Ott rabbit hole yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQObiL-ZYsw

Thank you. She’s incredibly cute, and it’s beautiful music. I mean, she’s so cute, I went and looked up her genetic makeup.

Notwist live from a pre-lockdown festival—if this is the new normal, I am going to miss live music the most. EDIT: Actually, that might’ve been live.

I didn’t know they came in black. Gorgeous!

Went with ProAudioStar, they had free shipping too, and appease the Bezos haters (Knucks and my sister, for starters).

So I tried to do this a couple times, seriously, from beginning to end, but as time progressed and repetitions iterated, I started stopping doing less and less. Now my takeaways are -- because they seem to offer the most return for the least effort: Distilled water -- yes, especially in my area, where I don't even like the taste of the water "...none of the silty sludgy stuff at the bottom" -- not so much. The main reason I do French press is it provides a richer flavour experience. I used to drain the last few drops, but now I don't -- that's the entirety of what I get out of the bottom. Spoon off the floaters -- definitely. Just makes it easier to press, duh. Boiling water -- no, not so much. I believe this is to compensate for the longer wait, so I just don't. I believe there is an optimal temperature for most coffees to brew at -- or at least start brewing at -- so I prefer my coffee slightly too cool and brewed at the "right" temperature. If you think there is an optimal drinking temperature which is hotter than what you get at the end, just throw it in the microwave for a few seconds. I do sometimes do this, because I do believe there is. Freshly ground beans -- alright, you all sold me on that, I definitely grind my beans fresh every morning just before brewing. That said, there is no amount of correctly brewing coffee that will make coffee I don't like into coffee I do like. I tried. Didn't work.

Bruce Soord live on Facebook, 3rd set in 4(?) weeks. So delicious. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=249242386168028&notif_id=1590867017939796&notif_t=live_video

I only recently discovered her (from Googling the snot out of St James Infirmary and finding that one she did with Jools Holland and Tom Jones, while looking for ideas on my own arrangement). Two things: 1 she will be streaming live on 12 June at 5pm PDT. From BandsInTown: 2 the tiny (home) desk concert ^

"What speakers? They're building blocks."

So far so good 05-23-20 07-19-19 np: 12-06-19

Gah!