Reading

Currently reading:
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
I have been a fan of Neal Stephenson’s writing since coming across Snow Crash in 1992. I am really enjoying the new book.

Basho’s Journey – The literary prose of Matsuo Basho
This is a wonderful book. I am researching a long walk (4-5 weeks) for the Fall of 2009 and have always enjoyed Basho’s poetry. I learned that Basho did not actually write Haiku. That term refers to poems written since 1868. Basho wrote (or rather participated in) Renga – classic linked verse. The opening stanza of Renga is called Hokku. It sets the tone of the linked verse and was usually offered by the master. A Hokku has the same 5-7-5 syllabic rhythm as a Haiku.

On Some Faraway Beach – A biography of Brian Eno

Ordered:

Traffic – Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

Saturday Morning

Got up at 4:20 and left at 5:00. Many deer along the road – and sometimes on the road. The moon is a lovely waning sliver. Without a city’s light pollution I can see the whole dark disk in the night sky, illuminated from the left. Nice drive until I hit 101S.

Posted at Oakland airport with phone.

Post from the Past: 12 Years Ago – Touring w Santana

Tucson, Arizona: last night in Chandler/Phoenix Carlos asks me wether we would record our show there… when i tell him that we are not, he asks wether we would let him record it and i say of course, knowing that Carlos has a huge collection of bootleg tapes: lots of Hendrix, Bob Marley etc… Carlos thinks the lunar eclipse might bring some special music out of all of us… and it is indeed incredibly special: when we start our set a little bit after 7pm, the moon is a shrinking sliver and during our second song it turns black… we all stare at the moon, which is right above the audience in front of us, while we are playing… La Luna Negra in Arizona… this may have been the only chance in our lifetime that we are performing on a stage that faces the moon during a lunar eclipse… a special moment with our namesake… then, after our 2 songs with Santana, we drive to a hotel in Tucson, an unscheduled stop that became necessary because the airconditioning of the bus broke… during the drive to Tucson four of us finish a new bottle of Absolute Citron, listen to Indian Raga music, and discuss the hearing-loss we are getting from just the 2 songs we are doing with Santana… today, Friday, the AC will get fixed or we will get a new bus… in the morning Jon and i walk around the city and find a cafe and some pretty bad coffee… then we discover a huge musicstore that looks like second-hand heaven… lots of trashy guitars and drums and bargain keyboards… an incredible disarray, quite amazing actually…