previous months: 1/2/2023 -- 7/27/2023 
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8/1/2023

Here I've started another 'blog page'. I did this back in the early days of this blog because the original scrolling was becoming too long. I had a lot to say back in 2007! The reason it is divided 7 months/5 months instead of 6 months/6 months was because of the first, glorious remission that I had. Oh what a feeling! And it happened right about the time I was thinking of 'paginating' the ole blog.

So here we are, sixteen years later. I do have something good I can post for today. I finished another set of little 'modular' etudes:

These make heavy use of a Korg SQ-1 sequencer (for those who want to know). I think of them as complementing the five little modular pieces I did earlier this summer: As I describe in the web-page text for these pieces, I'm using techniques (analog) and sounds that I haven't employed since the 1970's. Ah, young again! The sparkling blue skies and moderate weather we've been enjoying here on Whidbey Island reinforce that 'endless summer' feeling.

8/11/2023

My sense of season is still derailed out here on Whidbey Island sometimes. If I'm out driving around at particular times of the day, the combination of light and atmosphere can make it seem like a September day back East, or a late April day from my Indiana memories.

It's the accumulated memories that do this. I wrote this in my interactive Memory Book app back in 2014: 


The material of our memories.  While traveling around Japan,
I wondered:  at what point in life do experiences stop being
really new and start reminding you of what you have lived
before?  We would be driving through a town on the Izu
peninsula, and I would think: "This reminds me of Seattle", or
we would be walking along a path in Nikko and I would say
to Jill:  "This seems like a place in Portugal."  My new
memories are made from recycled reality.
I guess it's inevitable that this mash-up of remembrances occurs, given the linear nature of time as we experience it. Life has been good, so this is not a bad thing. And I am building new memories, now. Oh the kids! Oh Jill! Oh life!

8/18/2023

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!

90(!!!!!!!) years old! What a life, what an amazing Dad.

9/2/2023

I'm in New York. Class starts for me in four days. Yikes, it's been almost 1.5 years since I've taught. I have a lot of ground to cover, and it seems others are interested. I have about twice as many students pre-registered for my graduate seminar as usual. We'll see how it goes.

Today was a gorgeous day in NY. Tomorrow, I'm afraid, I'll get a taste of what has been happening here through the summer. The highs are supposed to be in the 90's all week.

I'm heading to Homer, NY next weekend for this thing called the Neemfest. NJ friend and collaborator Karl Fury asked if I could give the keynote address/performance. So that's where I'll be. I hope it goes well.

I'm sitting in the apartment listening to some Finnish pop music that Daniel had sent me some time ago. Where did those days go?

9/16/2023

Classes are going well. Or at least the one class I have taught. Got off to a good start! And Lian was here! She was in town for a 'corporate health-care roundtable' talking about her big new Amazon project. My oh my, our kids! We had a wonderful dinner together; eating at Daniel's favorite restaurant by our apartment.

Yesterday the hot/humid weather finally broke, and it was a crisp, fall day. I was listening to Collapse the Light into Earth by the band "Porcupine Tree". It hadn't ended when I arrived at the CMC, so I just waited outside Prentis, watching the streams and flows of life go by. That immanence thing again. A transcendent moment. Especially the ending.

9/17/2023

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY ! ! ! !

Birthday to my Sweetie!

9/22/2023

Autumn equinox. I have noticed the light coming later in the morning and leaving earlier in the evening. The slant of the sun is changing. The weather is finally beginning to moderate from the hot/humid days of a few weeks ago. Across the Hudson, the trees along the palisades are just starting to show hints of color.

Classes are going well. Over a quarter of the semester gone already! I'm realizing that I don't have as much time out here as I had imagined. So much to do! But then I'll be back with those grandkids, oh yeah.

Jill is coming in tonight -- late, unfortunately (her flight was delayed). We're going up to visit Brenda and John + family, and (especially) niece-in-law Alison. She's due to give birth to a little boy in November. Baby shower time!

10/3/2023

Picking up where I left off... the visit with Brenda and family was terrific! We are so lucky to have such a group. John's sister Elsa was there, too, and it was great catching up with her again.

Took a nice walk down to Ft. Tryon Park (where the Cloisters are located). It's summer here again! 80+ degrees for the next few days.

Jill's leaving for Madagascar in about 20 minutes! From Seattle; she's spending two weeks over there with friends for an adventure!

10/7/2023

The world has gone crazy, bad crazy. We woke up this morning to the terrible news of the insane Hamas attack on Israel. It displaced the news of the insane Republicans in the House of Representatives and the chaos they have caused. And that had (partially) displaced the insane news -- any of his news -- of insane Donald Trump. What's wrong with people?!?!

It was such a beautiful day here, too. Mom was talking at lunch about the cognitive dissonance between our living here and seeing the carnage on TV. It makes it even more 'dissonant' when we have family now in Tel Aviv. The Hamas militants made me so angry. There was a short clip that aired showing a whole group "dancing" in victory on top of an Israeli jeep -- guns flashing, the whole nine yards. "Wow," I thought, "you're responsible for hundreds of deaths, on both sides of the conflict, and probably thousands more, most likely from your side, and you got a jeep. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

What can I do in the face of this evil? What can anyone do?

10/9/2023

Yesterday was the memorial service ("celebration") for Greg Horn, the guitarist in Dow Jones and the Industrials, the fairly well-known band I played in -- as "Mr. Science" -- back in my Purdue University days. He had a huge influence on my musical evolution, and thus my life. He was a problematic character, however, with some issues throughout his life. We lost touch with each other quite awhile ago.

I could say more, and maybe will in the future, but that's enough for now. It was great seeing some old friends and collaborators, and Greg's music truly is amazing. Now I'm heading back to New York. More to do.

10/13/2023

I was planning to meet Damon Holzborn, one of my former students and Teaching Assistants, now a good friend, for lunch today. However, the possibility of large demonstrations in New York made us rethink our plans. We met via zoom instead.

That gave me a little free time this afternoon that I hadn't anticipated. I realized that I hadn't really 'thought through' my feelings about the tragedy unfolding in Israel. I guess I'm doing that now, as I write this.

Prior to the Hamas attack on Israel, many of my Jewish friends and family were actively anti-Netanyahu, and for years had been advocating for an end to the Palestinian oppression. The situation was unsustainable (obviously). At the same time, it was difficult to overlook the cement roofs over playgrounds near the Golan Heights aimed at preventing missiles from striking Jewish children -- this before Israel captured the Heights in the 6-day war of 1967.

And now, untold atrocities from both sides of the Gaza conflict. I will say that Netanyahu is exactly the wrong prime minister for Israel to have at this moment in time. Many of my more leftist friends are (mutedly) pro-Palestinian. I'm sure they don't also mean pro-Hamas, but I think they are willing to semi-forgive the action of Hamas because of the past Palestinian misery.

I can't do that, though. Hamas has no desire for peace, no recognition of other viewpoints, no remorse, no notion of coexistence. Much of their original charter is a litany of anti-semitism, laced with frequent calls to jihad (a "holy" war? Give me a break!) Here are just two samples: 

Rejection of a Negotiated Peace Settlement:

-------------------------------------------

'[Peace]  initiatives,   and   so-called   peaceful   solutions   and
international conferences are in contradiction to the  principles  of
the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than
a means to appoint the  infidels  as  arbitrators  in  the  lands  of
Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem  except  by
Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a
waste of time, an exercise in futility.' (Article 13)


Anti-Semitic Incitement:

------------------------

'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and
kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees,  and  the
rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind
me, come and kill him.' (Article 7)
People will point out that Hamas is not the Palestinian people. But in Gaza, they elected Hamas as their leadership. Of course, the same finger of guilt can be pointed at us with our 'election' of Donald Trump. I dearly hope we don't repeat that awful mistake!

Where are the Gandhis who can achieve real, substantive, lasting change, the leaders of vision who don't believe that their cause legitimizes evil? Hamas is truly evil. That's my 'thinking through'. Yes, the Palestinians were -- are -- in a terrible situation. But nothing can justify the horror that Hamas has brought upon the world. I cannot condone what Israel is doing in response. Like I said, Netanyahu is exactly the wrong person. There is a total lack of imagination in a larger 'thinking through' of what we can do. But Hamas has zero interest in peace. The two quotes from their charter ("Covenant") are just the tip of the iceberg. I fear for the future.

11/13/2023

I had a check-up appointment with Roger Pearse today, and got to see Karen (PA) too. It was like a homecoming. We talked for awhile, both about myeloma and music. It was really nice. Jeez, I've been seeing them for almost twenty years.

On the subway ride over, I listened to Virdulegu Forsetar by the Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson. Hearing it and recalling:

I tried to reach Johann Johannsson after listening to this piece (a lot) back in 2007 to tell him how much it had helped me through some tough times. There are a HUGE number of "Johann Johannssons" in Iceland! I sent e-mail to a few likely prospects, but never received a response. Johannsson died a few years ago, a lethal combination of cocaine and flu-medication. I wish he could hear how glorious his music was/is. I hope he did.

It was very much a sharp, November day today. My check-up with Roger and Karen was good.

11/18/2023

Sometimes while walking along, or standing and listening, or just being, a hint of a breeze will blow, or the sun will be at some particular angle, and suddenly a partial-memory will flood my mind. I can't say what the actual memory is or where it's from. Instead it's a half-feeling of a place or a state I've been in before. It's like splitting. Being in two (or more!) different places at once. My brain is activating what I've experienced before. My suspicion is that this will happen more and more as I stockpile additional memories. It's not bad. I've been lucky.

11/21/2023

I was sitting in my Columbia main-campus office, surrounded by ancient tapes, reel-to-reel, of pieces and projects I recorded years ago. I've been digitizing a few of them, an activity started by the memorial service for Greg Horn last month. We decided to play as much music that featured him as we could, and I had some very early tapes of the two of us performing together back in the 1970's.

I'm going to have to do something with these tapes. Most I'll probably toss, because they are recorded in a format (4-channel 1/4" multitrack) that would be difficult to recreate. Plus I don't really have a burning desire to spend the next year or so of my life tending to some imagined edifice of my Great and Marvelous musical past. Jeez. We get approached occasionally at the Computer Music Center about accepting an 'archive' of a person's work. What's the point here? Maybe in THE FUTURE the composer in question will be recognized for the Great and Marvelous artist he or she was? Some kind of weird immortality?

Yikes, so curmudgeonly! I'm actually in a pretty happy mood. I'm sitting in the airport, getting ready to go to Indiana for Thanksgiving while writing this. I'm looking forward to the trip; classes are winding down at Columbia. I think it will be good. To be honest, there are some recordings in the big pile of tapes that I would like to hear again. I guess it's good that I enjoy my own music.

11/23/2023

One of the reasons I think I was contemplating the FUTURE in my last, sitting-in-the-airport post was that I had attended a memorial service this past Friday for Henry Pinkham. Henry was in the Mathematics Department at Columbia, became Chair, and then went on to serve as Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for awhile. I knew him pretty well -- we served on a number of committees together back in the 'olden days'. He was also a serious music enthusiast, and in fact taught our core-curriculum "Music Humanities" undergraduate class often.

I saw many people I knew, and close friend Maja Cerar played a slow Bach partita at one point in the remembrance. It ripped me apart. Henry had died suddenly, apparently of a brain aneurism. He was only a few years older than me.

Death, and life though. When I said "I'm actually in a pretty happy mood" in my post above, there was a tremendous reason for that. Jill and I are now great-aunt and great-uncle Brad and Jill! Nephew Stefan and niece Alison now have a grand baby boy in their family! Happy birthday, John Michael Sjöberg!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING INDEED!!!!!!!

12/10/2023

Jill and I left New York very early this morning to fly back to Whidbey Island, We had spent a wonderful weekend with Brenda and John and family, including the new GRAND-NEPHEW John Michael Sjöberg. WHAT a kid! Oh we have a family!

Arriving in Seattle, the air seemed clear, although that changed as we drove north (Pacific Northwest mist and rain!). The light was brighter, things seemed (and smelled) fresher. But I also hold this nostalgia for NY and past three months I spent coding and creating in our apartment. I felt really "floaty" all day -- indeed, the last week or so -- as I reconcile the somewhat schizoid existence I now have. This was exacerbated by the amount of time I spent by myself in our NY apartment. Teaching only my one grad seminar, I had a lot of time to work on individual projects. And I did. I want to continue that here.

12/15/2023

I drove over to the ferry early this morning, on my way to look after Shai and Naomi this afternoon. I haven't really seen them for several months! This will be interesting.

Even though the sun was out, patches of mist were floating among the trees on the hillsides of Whidbey. I was listening to the monks of CantArte Regensburg doing Christmas and Advent chants. The mist and music floating. Magical.

We got our Christmas Tree yesterday. I'm slowly getting back into the "island pace" of life here. With the mist, the tall trees, the surrounding mountains, this seems like a place I imagined when I was much younger. Here I am.



12/20/2023

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAN RAE!!!!!!

What a sweetie!!!!!!!!

12/21/2023

First of all, HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE! And indeed this is a happy one! Daniel and Jussi arrived from Finland/Iceland (they saw the volcano!), and we had a wonderful 'pizza' birthday dinner with Lian and family last night. Oh I love this time of year!

I have the tree up and decorated (photos coming later after the Christmas Eve tinsel 'magic'), and I have our outdoor lights going again. I have a different feeling about the outdoor lights than I had in Roosevelt, where people watched for them every year. Living as we do at the end of Whales Tail Lane, the lights are just for us.

For the display this year I tried to do an "out of diversity, unity" theme, given the state of the world. My idea was to have the white lights at the top (the "unity") with the various colors all feeding up into them. I underestimated how tall the bamboo clump where I was locating the lights was, and I couldn't reach the top to put them properly in place. Instead I just flung them around until I got the top covered. The result was this:

   

   



It looked ok, but the light strands were drooping down the sides, and I wasn't sure I liked the "shaggy" look. I then tried collecting the individual lights into bundles and placing them slightly inside the bamboo leaves:

   

   


That one didn't quite capture the structure I wanted, and it was dim to boot. I finally got up higher on the ladder and tried grouping the light strands around the top, leaving them exposed like the first "throw them up-top" approach:

   



That's the one I'm using. Here are some additional pictures I took with my older Canon camera (the above were all iPhone photos -- not bad!):

   



       

   


HAPPY SOLSTICE! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

12/25/2023

Another Christmas Eve. Another great time with family. I thought I would be physically(?) gone 25 years ago. Here I am, listening to the Greek Monks chant the music for Christmas Eve. I don't have much to say this year, as is also evident in my rather pedestrian blog entries lately. Don't get me wrong, this (I think) is a GOOD thing! Nothing to see here... move along...

I am on the threshold of some major life changes, though, and I'm not sure how it will all work out. Again, the tendency is to think that things will continue along a linear-of-sorts path. But they never do. For better or for worse, I hope I can listen to these monks again next year.

12/31/2023

New Year's Eve. The cusp of change, and hopefully for the better. We always hope! We're just off from a wonderful visit with the kids; Daniel and Jussi here from Finland, Lian/Itay/Shai/Naomi here, of course. It's been awhile since we've been able to do this all together, and the time was so precious. Life.

Here are the Christmas Eve photos of our Christmas tree. I wanted to get it posted here before the year ran out. It was a great tree this year -- very tall and stately. And all the fun ornaments with memories encapsulated in each one! Jeez, I'm getting maudlin here. Hey, that's the way it is!

   

   

   





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