Music, Literature

So, I guess the most exciting thing that's happened recently is that we got a harpsichord. Wha-aat? Harpsichord? Did he say... I think I heard something about... (harpsichord, harpsichord, harpsichord) What're they all muttering about? I don't know -- something about a harp seal.


























Well, y'see, my friend Tim's grandmother recently passed away, and one of the things that was left to him was this you-know-what that his grandfather built(!) back in 1965. Unfortunately, Tim is living in Toronto now and the YKW was here, and had to be cleared out of his grandmother's apartment by the end of this month. So I am temporarily, indefinitely looking after it for him. It's a beaut, too, although it needs a lot of work as it hasn't been played in years. In fact neither Tim's grandfather nor his grandmother was a musician! His grandfather just really liked building things.

Luckily, he hung onto all the stuff you could ever possibly need to fix whatever could go wrong with it, so now I have a new hobby. It's actually a pretty simple mechanism and it sounds really cool, so it's gonna be a lot of fun. We just got it last night, thanks to Tim's friendly uncle David who drove it and me over to our place, and I've already put quite a bit of work into it -- restringing, re-plectruming, pluck-action adjusting, and tuning. Once it's up and running I'll definitely record something and put it on the old blog.

Of course, it's not as if I needed something else to keep myself occupied, but I seem to like having a lot of projects on the go at once, so I'm not gonna beat myself up over it. It's fun to be able to pick and choose what current fixation you're going to indulge, as long as you don't get overwhelmed by the sense of busy-ness or the fact that nothing's getting finished. For instance, here's a partial list of books I'm in the middle of:

David Bowman - This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th Century, 3/4 finished. This one has the most hope of getting completed. I already told you how enjoyable it is.

Marcel Proust - Swann's Way, 1/3 finished. Really really good, but you have to be in the right mood. I'm getting there again.

Deepak Chopra - The Path to Love: Renewing the Power of Spirit in Your Life, 1/6 finished. I always get something out of Deepak, even though his new-agey vagueness generally bugs me now. I've already gotten some pretty great rethinking out of this book, so maybe I won't be compelled to finish it before it's due back at the library.

Anthony Lane - Nobody's Perfect: Writings from The New Yorker, maybe 1/20 finished. It's short pieces so I just pick it up and read one now and again. Charles loaned me this one.

Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, only through 2 chapters so far. Got this one at the same time as the Talking Heads bio, and it's fantastic. There's some kind of perverse saving thing going on here. I think I feel like I don't deserve to read more until I've finished something else.

LeRoy (Satchel) Paige, as told to David Lipman - Maybe I'll Pitch Forever, 2/3 finished. Satchel Paige was possibly the greatest baseball pitcher ever, but no one will ever know because most of his career was spent in the negro leagues where proper records were not kept. He's a wildly entertaining guy with some pretty interesting views on life which often inexplicably revolve around diet. I started this bio during softball season and was quite enjoying it, but after awhile started feeling like I wasn't going to get a whole lot more out of hearing about another shutout. Still plan on finishing it, though.

Michael Crichton - State of Fear, 2 chapters finished. This is that piece of garbage my boss loaned me. I really don't see how I'll ever finish it, but feel that I can't return it without trying. Interesting that I've made it as far through this book as Kavalier & Clay, which is probably the book I most want to read on this list. The authors also have very similar names. Weird.

David Hume - An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1/2 finished. I read this back in the old philosophy days, but wanted to read it again after my big argument with Johanna's dad over laws of nature and human knowledge. I must say it really does stand up as a highly readable piece of philosophy, which of course means it's still dry as a buzzard-picked bone by general literary standards.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - Breakfast of Champions, 2/3 finished. A very easy read and lots of fun, I've been reading it out loud to Ali at bedtime a chapter at a time. But because we seem to keep going to bed late there's often not time for a reading. Plus there are crossword puzzles that aren't going to just do themselves.

F. David Peat - Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Mind and Matter, 1/3 finished. I think I told you about this one before. Another kooky new age book written by a science-minded guy, this one trying to unify ideas in quantum physics and Jungian psychology. Koo. Ky. Pretty interesting, though. Unfortunately, it's one of my lunchtime books, and I'm usually too embarassed to take it out in public, opting for the Talking Heads book instead.

Herman Melville - Moby Dick, 3/4 finished. Another bedtime story for Ali that we pick up for awhile and love, then stop loving so much and start something else, returning when we finish that. It's been going on for years now. I swear we will finish it. It really is fantastic, but, like the Proust, fantastic in a long-winded, nothing ever really happens kind of way.

And now, because this evening's yoga class was extra strenuous and not very well taught, forcing me to take a hot bath on which I hadn't counted, it's time for bed, which means no Vonnegut again tonight. Maybe tomorrow night, if the band practice doesn't go on too long and I can force myself to tape Martha without watching it.

Bonne nuit.
- Andrew