Notes From Brooklyn

I'm thinking about warmer places. Definately like Texas, home, and also like the desert. I keep reading these New York Times articles about Santa Fe, and going through all my memories of a colored light, a sunset that changes everything and makes a great night. I am getting ready to leave this place. It has been great, but it's not for now, not for me. It has given me a lot in the past few months, and I am thankful and content with just that.

One of the most special things it has given me:
Trash.

Every night the sidewalks fill with trash. One need not jump into a dumpster here to discover the treasures of trash. There are no secrets here, and nothing to contain them. This is probably the clearest and most certain truth of the city. People consume and throw away so much trash - real trash, garbage, junk. But they also throw away so much treasure trash - things they don't need or have space for, but fully functional, working or beautiful things. If I were to stay here for a while longer, I would turn trash into my business. There is a lot of money that could be made from nightly walks, collecting trash in this city.


I was able to see something very amazing recently. I had a chance to see my hero Philip Glass at Carnegie Hall for a performance of Einstein on The Beach.. 1st performance in 15 years! God damn... The Philip Glass Ensemble is incredible. One may think of Glass' music as repetitious and therefore easy to perform, but to me it seemed like the most difficult thing. He has such subtle changes of single notes or time signatures, I imagine these pieces to be a tax on the memory of the players (not to mention their endurance). Even though they perform with the music in front of them, to play as fast as they do, they need to be masters to even just be familiar with it. The whole time I thought, "WOW!!!"

And then it is interesting to switch focus from the other performers to Philip Glass. It's all so natural. The flood of movement, his fingers crazed on the keys in such a rhythm.. but it's just the way his body moves. He's relaxed. He's wonderful.

The other reason this photograph of him is relevant to my life is that I've been composing again - I mean, writing things out and remembering how to play with all the elements of music. Playing and exploring. I've gone many months without being free enough personally to do this musically. Traveling and moving, worry has been constant along with efforts to take care. My heart has been burden-busy and hasn't been free to explore a tune. Great melodies have come to me, but I haven't been able to follow them, so now I have tons of pieces of songs but no song. My life has felt incomplete and ungrounded, and that's the perfect description for the tunes I have been writing. I'm happy to say that this is changing. In making the decision to leave here, I already feel a little more free. It's starting to spill all over the pages. For me, unified life = unified song. On the path to more than just parts and pieces..

And now - today is Isabel's birthday. Isabel is my friend in New York who I love. She is one of the most fun and free persons I've ever met. She's funny and very wild, almost someone you can't imagine being serious. But then you say "Isabel, I have a problem, I need to talk to someone" and her face changes and mirrors all of the weight you carry and you discover she is one of the greatest persons you could talk to. Happy Birthday Isabel!

When I was looking for a picture a of Philip Glass, I found this picture. Two legends working together. Earlier this year they did a tour of poems by Leonard Cohen to the music of Philip Glass. I feel a lot of admiration looking at this - two people who have spent 50+ years exploring creativity and working hard at their craft. You can hear in the results, how much work they have done and time they have spent on each single piece. Cheers to time spent well.