Accidently Serious

    I finished the Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (translated by Diana Burgin and Katherine Tiernan O’Connor); I enjoyed the Novel very much, although I was somewhat surprised (and saddened) to find Neil Gaiman lifted several scenes from the book, which are found in the series Sandman, and also in the novel, American Gods.  I have considered Gaiman a gifted writer, and he was one of my favorites, though not as inspired as I thought.  He admitted last year to making up lies about for his Resume, at the College of the Arts in PA in 2012, I watched this commencement address on Youtube. 

     I have tried to follow Mark Twain’s sage advice, “Always tell the truth, and you won’t have to remember what you said.  It was also Twain who claimed “all creativity is unconscious plagiarism!’ Neil Gaiman is an award winning author, who I considered gifted for the last 20 years and yet a wee bit of a plagiarist.  There are several examples, though the character of Mathew from the Sandman series appears to have been taken from the Master and Margarita, which has a black bird (also called rook) for a chauffer, which magically drives a car through the air/ time and space (along with luminal passengers-this is also in Sandman Graphic Novel, Brief Lives).  Mathew is also the name of Jesus Disciple, the former tax collector, which appears several times in the Russian Masterpiece.  There are a number of other borrowings, at a Magic Ball, the Dead come back to life, many have Brief Lives, and curiously, often briefly describe their murder, which seems to occur throughout the Sandman Series.  The Master of Ceremony is none other than Wotan, who is also prominent in the novel American Gods, who also dances, seduces, and is reborn; previously published in Russian, and widely translated. It is a very good book; I find the plagiarisms rather vexing, and distracting from the earlier Novel.  Sin has that effect. In Greek it means the opposite of witness.

     I can’t claim to be enjoying writing of late; I mentioned last month that I’ve been bloging 3 years.  I am finding it difficult to engage, and have been wondering if it is worth my efforts.  Maybe the fault lies not in the Stars, but in me, to paraphrase Shakespeare? I jump around, streams of consciousness, and bad spelling!!!  I try.  I want to be needed. When I rejoin the wind, I hope there is Music, and food shared. I want to be remembered for working for music, health and experience.

  I keep finding walls, folks who are shutting themselves off (not only from me), though I try and not take it personally.  It is so hard to really talk nowadays.

     Rick gave me a CD a while back, an artist he met at a leash free park in the Bay, the band PTAH- Freedom the name of the album.  “We can pretend there is some knowledge that will bring us together…” Ho!  

     I had the honor of providing Sound for Bob Paltrow and Burning Clover at the Blue Horse on February 1^st.  It was a Friday Night Gallery walk, which Bellingham knows how to enjoy!  Downtown was packed.  My friend Rob Jones helped with set up and taking down gear.  It was good to have experienced help (you may well have heard him running Sound at Boundary).  I don’t think the Blue Horse has rocked out like we did, in years.  Bob released a CD with Burning Clover; they worked on the material for the better part of 2012.  Several of the songs were already good last St. Paddy’s Day when Bob turned 50.  I know because I did Sound for his Birthday Bash.  Good to work with gifted artists, some I have known decades, and some still hope to get to know.  Chuck Kitterman played drums, and has with several bands in Bellingham, notably the Clay People in the 90’s, and over 5 years in the Patriots of Tomorrow.  I seem to recall meeting him in 1992 at the Easton House.  I think a small Party came bye after a Speedy O’Tubbs show in Fairhaven (I think Morgan lassoed them, and Caryn was included) and I had baked bread that night, and was happy to feed late night stragglers! Oopps, another Time Warp! Maybe I ought to apply to the Spice Guild? Back to Burning Clover, Phil Heaven played electric Viola.  I was glad that he and Chuck helped out with setting up Sound.  I drew out a diagram of the Stage Snake, which I started doing since some momentary confusion at the last Jamboree.  It really helps to have it on paper.  That way if anything does change, and of course, it sometimes does, there is a place to note it.  All jokes about herding cats aside, it helped me, to be able to say, and show, here is a plan, please stick to it.  I counted 5 amps up on Stage, and I provided Powered Mains and Monitors, so there was no lack of Power!  Kelly Grotke has been quietly charming her audiences in Bellingham for several years, though she has been slow to taking center stage.  Bob wisely recruited her talents on mandolin, and encouraged her to sing.  Jeff Willson played guitar, sang backing vocals and even made a cameo on drums!  He is known for his bass playing with Underwater Radar, and I hope to hear more of both.  Speaking of Bass, Kevin Olney had the honors.  He is known for his consummate groves with Three on the Tree, another band that I want to hear more.  Bob also brought in a talented percussionist Blake Cisneros, who came up from Seattle to accompany the Band.  Last but not least Scott Greene (of Jasmine Greene Band Fame) played Lead Guitar on several songs.  I met Scott in 2000, when I was building a house in the County as a General Contractor for a client that Scott grew up with.  I didn’t hear him play guitar for 5 years, though I did pickup on that he was a nice guy, even then.   Bob Paltrow also made a fantastic poster for the Event, complete with President Lincoln meme for the 150^Th Anniversary of the 14^Th Amendment, which ended Slavery (which ought to be used to free Corporations from their Owners too; but I have went into that in previous blogs).   I enjoyed the music at the Blue Horse very much. Thanks Bob for your trust.  I even saw some dancing!   I know the recording came out okay too.  Been feeling a bit behind with my recordings, I have several shows in the cue.  I send samples as soon as I can, though I prefer to have some time, to listen, notice subtleties, and not so subtle things.  If anyone is waiting, give me a heads up!  I was joking with Pete, Pro Bono is better than No Bono!

    My Associates at Stone Cloud have not been idle!  JP Falcon recorded an excellent CD, which Mike Cloud Produced as well as engineered. He has also booked sessions with Meet my Shadow, the Blackouts and Corwin Bolt.  The Shady Tones did a Blitz Kraft week, with Stone Jones calling more Artists than will likely be tracks on the next Offering, and hay, I am looking forward to hearing it, again!  I am also proud of my colleagues for taking a young Trio under their wing, 3 young men, who chose to moniker Old Mutt.  I mentioned to a few, that I felt this was destined to be a special Session when the guys showed up on the 1^st day in the Studio; one was sporting a righteous shiner on one eye!  Mike has been doing considerable Sound Isolation in his Domicile, which has a Great Room, Lobby, Kitchen and Control Room.  It still is not unusual to find an Amp stuffed in a Shower or in the Bathroom!  Hay, whatever works, and it is!

     I want to talk about my new job at WWU.  It was for the Performing Arts Center as a Stage Technician. I applied for a temp position around the Holidays, thanks to a heads up from my friend Heather D.  We have mutual friends, Sparrow, and Peter James.  We got taking with her partner at the Jamboree, after hours, about what I was calling Para Nets, and I learned some are calling Dark Nets; basically a parallel InterNet, based on it, but theoretically independent.  What till I figure out how to do it for Festivals. I am trying to be in Teams.  I think that is important.  Okay this will be an exercise in brevity.  I can go on, aye, though I don’t get a lot of adult time.  I take my son to and from school; snacks included, and trying to do more than putter on my house.  I primed the bathroom ceiling, swore for the second time, it was ready to paint in the Laundry Room.

   I have been trying to get to the Green Frog twice a Month, and not only for the cider.  Misty Flowers has made the Open Mic, the Real Deal.  Her Birthday was celebrated with her Trio (Harry and Corwin) and Hot Damn Scandal really tore it up!  Pete Wilson often makes a cameo at the Frog on Sundays (one of the reasons I go).  Not only does he play might fine Resonator Guitar, he is a good singer, and a true wordsmith.

    My partner and I marked our 21^st year since our 1^st Date, hiking to FragranceLake.

We have been trying to tell our children stories, about how we met, how we made it through tough times.   Sometimes words can help. Kathleen says children can learn through stories, and I think this was true for me. 

 Been thinking about Pnuma, often translated Spirit, also air, and wind.  Nuit the Mother is Eldest; the Universe expresses itself under and within.  Ma is the most widely used word in the world.  Funny how I never heard this explained.  Lately, I think speaking in tongues (Glosnia in Greek/ Glossary? And what was that Soviet term Glasnost- Openness?) is multicultural communication; Explaining in several languages, relationships, in time.  Ho.

     Okay in the name of balance!  There are some hypotheses emerging from the Pentaterabytes of Data from CERN.  The Higgs Boson value has been measured to within 1%, which was desired for some time.  Actually, this is an impressive achievement for Humanity and Astro-Physicists.  Anyways after about 10 years of looking in the USA, and 2 years looking in Europe, they Found this Thing, And it has 125 Billion Election Volts, so there.  Oh and someday Our Universe will be consumed by Another Universe at the speed of light, because of this Math, but hay, they aren’t sure when!  All the best to you and yours!  Thanks again.  Roger