Other News

Was able to play guitar for the first time since this happened. After practicing some scales I pulled out the Opium transcripts by Daniel Ward and studied Winding Road/La Primavera – from Leaning into the Night. It’s a great practice piece for two reasons:
– it strengthens the left hand – for most of the piece the left index has to hold all strings down (bar) while the other fingers move around
– there is a steady 6/8 pulse that has to be adhered to throughout – difficult to sound relaxed within the pulse (especially with the left index having to work hard)…
Might be nice to play this piece with the quartet this summer.

Jon, Barrett and I are forming a band, a group, an entity of some kind. We will perform as a trio and will record with a number of different guest-musicians. The first album will feature Rahim AlHaj – the recording we did a few months ago and which is turning out just fabulous – and Barrett had a number of ideas for the next one. I had exchanged a few emails with Bei Bei, but she apparently does not like my choice of a creative commons license and prefers regular copyright – there has to be some irony in that… I told her that I will play guitar for hire under a full copyright, but I will not collaborate with other musicians unless we use a Creative Commons license.

Barrett came over for dinner on Saturday and we ended up talking for hours. I suggested that we each pick four songs from our repertoire – Barrett’s solo albums, Jon’s Transit albums, and my catalog – and start getting together and playing as a trio. Eventually we will write music for this group, but this will get us started. The trio will be an entirely separate entity from my own quartet and I have no idea where it will lead. I think there are enough months in a year that I should be able to do both, my own group and this new trio. How? When? Where? I don’t know. In this group I am just be the guitar-player.

Called Uncle Al and told him about the new trio. Al was my product manager at Epic Records and also product-managed two of Barrett’s bands, The Screaming Trees and Tuatara. Al talked to me about Barrett and to Barrett about me for much of the nineties, but we didn’t actually meet until last Fall. It was nice to hear that Al is very excited about the new group.

This spring Barrett’s label Fast Horse Recordings will release the new Round Mountain album, which I think is great news. We are getting a real nice scene here in Santa Fe. By the way, Jon’s Transit group will perform tomorrow evening at GIG here in Santa Fe!

Old Seed

Seed: I Can’t Believe It’s Science (for Feb. 19, 2007)
In 2005, the seed was finally germinated, and last week Carbon-14 dating confirmed that it probably originated between 66 and 73 C.E. The seed is the oldest to ever germinate. While those who see the sapling claim it looks like any old palm tree, germinator Elaine Soloway notes that the first leaves it sprouted are unusually long. She does not yet know whether the tree is male or female, but if the tree is a female, within a few years she will be able to taste fruit nobody has known in thousands of years.