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Day 89. Vivaldi, Getz/Gilberto, Pink Martini and Bach.

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Tonight I came across a stack of CDs in my bedroom that I discovered while grabbing some freshly recharged AA batteries for my camera. There is a little magazine holder there that really is just holding a robe I never wear and, much to my surprise, a stack of discs. Included in this stack is the Anner Bylsma disc of Vivaldi Concertos that I had been missing (!) as well as Pink Martini’s second album, the Pierre Fournier Bach Cello Suites and the Getz/Gilberto classic. I happily brought the stack downstairs and immediately ripped the Vivaldi and put it on while the girls ate their dinner, and happily announced to Tamiko that I had found the disc. We played it a lot when I first shacked up with her in her apartment on Arch St. in Berkeley, and I mentioned how hearing the music reminded me of that time. She said that it reminded her of when Celia was being born, and that is when I realized that this was the stack of CDs that we took to the hospital with us for Celia and, three years later, with Mira. Not that we did much listening during Celia actually being born (I really only remember hearing Bach Cello Suites that day, early in the process… after that is mostly a blur until Celia was out and all of us had quiet moments here and there over the next couple of days). We had a couple days in the hospital after both girls were born, and the well-known music playing in the background helped prepare both of them, from day 1, for the house of music they would be moving back into.

When I had the Vivaldi on this morning, Celia did some ballet like dancing. She is just as elegant as the music is, and though she is making up almost everything there is doing, I already see a bit of virtuosity in her mind for body movement. Mira laughs as I sing along with Joao Gilberto, and I love that in their life times, my girls have heard music from five continents and over ten centuries. They have adapted it to their own, and can focus on it at times, and enjoy it in the background. The Arvo Pärt disc we also had at the hospital still puts Mira (who turns two in a week) to sleep every night, and Celia moves between Bach and Dowland.

People often ask me if when I am going to start the girls on music lessons. Often I get a shocked glance back when I say ‘when they ask’. They have their hands on instruments whenever they want to, from violins and upright grand pianos to flutes for the bathtub that you tune with water. There is a two octave kid accordion as well. They both dance, and they are both around music everyday. They sing. I’m not worried about forcing anything musical into my girls’ lives. They are already musical, and I cherish that there is so much joy in their lives because of it.

Tags: J.S. Bach, Joao Gilberto, Pink Martini, Stan Getz, Vivaldi
Posted in Celia, Classical, Jazz, Mira, Tamiko | No Comments »

Day 84. Mozart.

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Mira’s box-set fascination continues with the complete Mozart Piano Concertos (period instrument recordings with Malcom Bilson and John Eliot Gardiner). While Mozart’s symphonies are great pieces and are rightfully seen as a pillar in his oeuvre, along with his operas I see Mozart’s Piano Concertos as his most important works. Mostly because they are the most operatic of his purely instrumental works. The standards he helped set up and solidify for the classical concerto are on the same level as Haydn’s contribution to the sonata-allegro form. And the dramatic contrast of the soloist and the orchestra is developed to a very deep level. Since there is no text and they are more abstract then the operas, that these works have such strong dramatic form is even more impressive to me. And that the piano writing basically defines lyrical (for an instrument where the attack is so univocal) is even more impressive to me.

The first one I heard was on one of Tamiko’s Music History tapes (while I was still in high school and hadn’t heard much classical music yet). Number 20 in d minor is a pretty dark piece. Between that, what I had heard of the Requiem and snippets of the ‘Amadeus’ soundtrack, I though Mozart was one dark guy. Dark and intense! And while he does have those moments, that certainly isn’t the case for 95% of his music. So when he does write some dark music, it almost seems like he is saving it up. Mozart’s light is often quite pleasant, but when he gets dark he knew what he was doing.

I got the Bilson / Gardiner set after I knew Mozart’s work much better. I put on the disc with number 20 first and I was shocked at how different it sounded on the older instruments. The piano’s sound is thinner, and the thundering low octaves in parts of the first movement take on a different lyrical quality on the older instrument (where the octaves just help the line come out of the texture in a more balanced fashion. It was amazing to hear how much the same instruments (but in a much younger form) changed how a piece sounded. The music is intense in a different way. But with the older instruments the intensity actually works on a much more human level. Where on modern instruments it feels like the doom of the world, the older instruments make it feel like the doom of a man. The period instruments make the whole body of work more personal, and in some ways even more tragic. But it is also what makes the second movement even more beautiful. It is the voice of someone who has come through a storm. And it is strange to me that, at this more personal level, the works in general feel more universal.

Tags: Mozart
Posted in Classical, Mira, Tamiko | No Comments »

Day 75. Dowland.

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I learned from my friend Don (who studied guitar as an undergraduate) that Downland’s lute works are quite popular with college guitar students since the English lute was a much more standardized instrument then the continental companion. Six strings, tuned like the modern guitar with one exception (the G string was on F-sharp). When I learned this I remember thinking ‘Ooooh! I bet I could play those!’ before realizing that it is this exact thought that all those undergraduates think too. Having long ago put the guitar down (except for the occasional jazz strumming and playing) I thought this might be a good way to get back into some playing. I thought this a year ago… and I DO still think I will get to it. But it is a bit saddening how hard it can be to just get going again sometimes. Time is short, and while I have the best intentions, when it comes down to it I just might not be a guitarist anymore. I’d rather spend the time with the kids, or relaxing with Tamiko, etc. I’m sure I’ll get back into it eventually, and when I do a decent classical guitar and Dowland will surely be a good place to start.

Today I imported the Complete Downland set on L’oiseau-Lyre. This is a 12 disc set with more ‘Lachrimae’ and Lute music then you can shake a stick at. Every known version of the ‘Lachrimae’ is on here, and there is something about it that reminds me of Chubby Checker doing multiple versions of ‘The Twist’ (then ‘Let’s Twist Again’ then ‘The Twist (1986)’ etc. etc. etc.). Downland may have beaten Pachelbel to the title of ‘First One Hit Wonder’ by a century or so in my book. And, like most one hit wonders, there is so much more when you dive in beyond that first piece. Pachelbel’s body of works are pretty great, and Dowland certainly does not disappoint either. I mentioned some time ago that the girls have pretty much fallen asleep to Arvo Pärt’s ‘Fur Alina’ since they were newborns, but with Mira I also would mix in Dowland’s Lute Music during her night time bottle (along with some late Beethoven quartets and Bach’s ‘Art of the Fugue’). She really liked Dowland though, and his body of lute music is fairly large (across 5 of these discs!) so I had a good amount of repertoire to become familiar with while also becoming familiar with the new baby girl. After some time, Celia also took to Dowland and asked to have a Dowland disc burned for her to play at night, and while I still get my nightly ‘Fur Alina’ from Mira’s sound monitor, ‘Can She Excuse’ and the ‘Queen’s Galliard’ stream out of Celia’s.I learned from my friend Don (who studied guitar as an undergraduate) that Downland’s lute works are quite popular with college guitar students since the English lute was a much more standardized instrument then the continental companion. Six strings, tuned like the modern guitar with one exception (the G string was on F-sharp). When I learned this I remember thinking ‘Ooooh! I bet I could play those!’ before realizing that it is this exact thought that all those undergraduates think too. Having long ago put the guitar down (except for the occasional jazz strumming and playing) I thought this might be a good way to get back into some playing. I thought this a year ago… and I DO still think I will get to it. But it is a bit saddening how hard it can be to just get going again sometimes. Time is short, and while I have the best intentions, when it comes down to it I just might not be a guitarist anymore. I’d rather spend the time with the kids, or relaxing with Tamiko, etc. I’m sure I’ll get back into it eventually, and when I do a decent classical guitar and Dowland will surely be a good place to start.

Tags: John Dowland
Posted in Celia, Classical, Mira, Tamiko | No Comments »

Day 73. Beethoven and Bach.

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Though I just finished with the complete Bach box set, something that isn’t represented in that collection at all is the lute-harpsichord. Like it sounds, the instrument (pictured above) is basically a cross between the two instruments – a keyboard instrument with gut strings and the body of a HUGE lute. There is a good amount of research that suggests that Bach actually composed quite a bit on and for this instrument that basically disappeared by the late 1700s, and that his ‘Lute Suites’ were actually for this instrument (and not the more commonly found baroque lute). About a year ago I discovered a recording on eMusic of the lute suites performed on a replica lute-harpsichord and downloaded it, and was immediately struck by how different the instrument was from the harpsichord. It is a beautiful sound, more resonant then a lute (and able to sustain notes that would otherwise be deadened on a lute when a change of fret was needed) and less harsh then a harpsichord. The lute pieces on this recording (in Naxos with Elizabeth Farr) are beautiful. There are a handful of other recordings out there with the instrument (including a recording of the Goldberg Variations) that I hope to find someday soon.

This was also a recording I played quite a bit to help Mira sleep when she was still a newborn. She also liked Dowland quite a bit, as well as late Beethoven quartets. So as the little girl needed a little cuddle tonight (she’s is getting over a nasty croup cough) I put the late Beethoven quartets on (the A minor, op. 132) that I have on my computer (The Lindsays recording) and just held her for a bit. She’s so much bigger now… both her and Celia amaze me daily. And I’m glad that when they aren’t feeling well, that their daddy can still hold them for a bit with some Beethoven or Bach on in the background, and some imbedded memory helps remind them that everything is ok.

Last night Tamiko had a bit of hamster in her head as well… a video that Mira really like with Elmo and Ricky Gervais was running through her head, and the annoying parts of the song had Tamiko’s head spinning. I told her about how the late Beethoven quartets used to put Mira to sleep sometimes, ran downstairs to get my iPod and put them on… sure enough, Tamiko was out in about 5 minutes and I listened to the rest of the C-sharp minor quartet while holding her.

I’m so lucky.

Tags: Beethoven, J.S. Bach
Posted in Celia, Classical, Mira, Tamiko | No Comments »

Day 71. Bach box boxed.

Friday, April 9th, 2010

17 days. 155 discs. over 45 GB of disk space. The complete works of J.S. Bach is done. The box set is now packed away. Let’s see what box set Mira requests next.

Tags: J.S. Bach
Posted in Classical, Mira | No Comments »

Day 68. James Brown.

Monday, April 5th, 2010

So, Mira’s gravity towards box-sets continues tonight with ‘Star Time’ by James Brown and the complete Columbia Miles Davis / John Coltrane box-set. As Mira pointed out, both are red. I’m saving the Miles Davis for tomorrow (I’m still working on the Bach box as well)… so tonight is about James Brown.

‘The Hardest Working Man In Show Business’ certainly could put on a show. At least that’s what I heard. I had three chances to see James Brown, and blew it each time. My dad saw him in the 70s, and told me about how he would be calling out directions to the group (catching their mistakes!) and dancing the entire time, only to finally crumple to the stage in exhaustion. Of course – this had long been part of the act. Someone comes off from the side, with a purple cape and drapes over the Godfather of Soul, who slowly begins to rise up and sing the word ‘Please’ over and over again before kicking off the end of the show. I would have loved to have seen that.

And while I ‘I Got You’ and ‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’ certainly deserve to pop recognition that these two songs have earned, it is ‘It’s A Man’s World’ and ‘King Heroin’ that I think are really two of the most important songs in his career… for very different reasons. ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ with its soulful singing and string orchestration quite possibly is the foundation for an entire generation of R&B and Soul. Would there have been a Barry White without this song? Isaac Hayes? I imagine there would have been, but this song places a high bar for the artists who follow to reach for. And what is amazing is that they do… Where in most jazz traditions there is competition between choruses, competition (and pushing others to higher heights) often comes between singles. And I would be surprised if James Brown wasn’t conscious of this himself. The fact that ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ is his second version of this song (the original was ‘It’s a Man’s World’… big difference) even shows that James Brown pushed himself. The original would have been a great soul song on its own. But the addition of the larger orchestra and more fleshed out string parts makes the second version stand out. And James Brown often came back to his songs to try a different feeling with them. He recorded this one again on ‘Soul On Top’ (in a pretty amazing big band version), and there are multiple versions of ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ and even ‘I Got You’. It’s great that this box set contains a few of these multiple versions so you can hear how his thinking changes as the times change (even if the times are only over a year or two!).

‘King Heroin’ is a different beast all together. It is dark. Really dark. And you get a sense that many of the horrors described in it are from personal experience. Over an bluesy groove James Brown personifies the evils of the drug, and what it can drive a man to do… he isn’t singing, he isn’t quite rapping, but he seems to be preaching. And while I’ve steered fairly clear of drugs and addiction (apparently Nancy Reagan’s appearance on a very special episode of ‘Diff’rent Strokes’ did the trick for me), I have a feeling that hearing the four minutes of James Brown telling me what the drug can drive me to do until it leaves me dead would have worked pretty effectively. It is of course sad that James Brown’s last couple decades had him falling in and out of addiction, but I imagine I’m not the only one that is haunted by this song and the lessons it conveys.

My favorite song by James Brown of all time though is ‘Get It Together’. During the course of the song’s nine minutes, you get James Brown singing as strong as you’ll ever here him sing, the launch into director mode… he challenges the horns to keep up with his directions, pulls them out and brings them in one at a time to build up a groove, the finally you just hear him tell the engineer to go ahead and ‘fade it on out’ cause he’s ‘outta here’. The song gives the appearance of James Brown getting a group together to play the song, then spends two-thirds of it deconstructing not just the group and his dynamics with them, but even reveals the unmentionable: that there are other in the studio creating the song that we are hearing, and that even THESE people are under the control of James Brown. Of course, this is really the magical part of James Brown – here was a guy that was obviously a control freak. And he works it into his entire act. Yet the result almost always has a feeling of spontaneity and excitement. What his players had to practice wasn’t the exact musical parts over and over again – I imagine the hardest part about playing with James Brown had to do with the fact that you would’ve had to pay attention to him every moment. The sense that his players were ready for anything, and James could ask for anything, gave his music a level of excitement that is rarely seen live anymore, and is even rarer for the current state of the recording industry.

Tags: James Brown.
Posted in Mira, Rock / Pop | No Comments »

Day 66. Frank Sinatra.

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

While continuing on with the complete Bach set I ripped a couple of Frank Sinatra collections tonight. I don’t know what it is, but I tend to respect a business more if I occasionally hear Frank Sinatra playing in it. Our favorite grocery store has Ol’ Blue Eyes playing over the speakers every now and then, I always felt like I was cooler at Tower when Frank Sinatra was playing over the speakers, and I will always remember Rod at Wall Berlin singing along with ‘Witchcraft’ at 12:30am. Unlike a lot of the CDs I have done so far though, I can’t really think of a time that these have fallen out of playing rotation… even when the CD player was unplugged, these discs were probably in my computer at least once and listened to. Mira and Celia have both heard Frank Sinatra a good amount, and why not? So beautiful love ballads here and there, so up tempo swinging tunes as well. And I don’t think they can listen close enough to the words of ‘South of the Border’ for me to be concerned yet.

Around the time that Sinatra died, there was a joke I heard once that I modified a bit to make it seem more like a personal family story… it was something like:

“Ah – Frank Sinatra is gone, god-bless his soul… he saved my grandfather’s life once you know! Grandpa had run up a pretty high debt at a casino in Vegas in the 50s once, and the owner had him taken out and beat up since he couldn’t cover the debt… and Frank, god-bless his soul… steps in and says ‘OK boys, he’s had enough!”

If you know about the possibly shady sides to Frank’s past (and if my timing was right) this joke would get a very serious ‘Really?’ from almost everyone I told it to, followed a few seconds later by a pretty good laugh once someone realized they had been had. If you’ve been reading any of the other blog entires you might remember that I mentioned that my grandfather DID once say to me that ‘sure, if you’re Italian you have to like Frank Sinatra, but REAL Italians like Louis Prima more’. While I did hear much more Louis Prima and my grandparents house, Frank Sinatra was on quite a bit there as well (especially after they got their first CD player). So while I do associate Frank Sinatra with cool places to shop / have coffee, mostly I think of Frank Sinatra when I’m cooking since he was often the soundtrack at my grandparents as well. Frank on the speakers, red sauce on the stove… mmm…

Tags: Frank Sinatra
Posted in Celia, Jazz, Mira | No Comments »

Day 60. Bach, The Clash and Cat Stevens.

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

I ripped both of the Cat Stevens greatest hits tonight as well as the ‘Clash on Broadway’ box set. A few weeks back I heard ‘If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out’ at Joe Bar cafe in Capital Hill, which of course made me think about ‘Harold & Maude’. Such a beautiful movie, and I think that as a result, I tend to associate rather ‘live life’ feelings with hearing Cat Stevens. He’s also someone that I know both Tamiko and I associate with our early childhoods. What surprised me a little tonight though was that I only had these two collections on CD. After a little looking around I realized that ‘Teaser And The Firecat’ and ‘Tea For The Tillerman’ are on vinyl. One of the things that sounds a little strange about the CDs is that this is music I really got to know on my dad’s record player (and I think I can even hear where the cracks and pops are supposed to be in ‘Moonshadow’). I don’t have any specific memories about Cat Stevens though… they all seem more distant and fuzzy to me. The almost seem like they are someone else’s memories in some ways (maybe because we are supposed to, at 35, be different people then we were at 5). But his music has been in my subconscious for probably most if not my whole life, and I tend to associate that feeling of being young (though not necessarily childish) with his music.

My Clash discs are definitely on the front part of my CD shelf, but it was the box-set that got picked for tonight. ‘Clash On Braodway’ is a great collection… and seeing this set is one of my first memories of working at the Tower in Roseville. We had a very small box-set section (for two reasons – first that box-sets weren’t a huge item yet, and second because we were a small store) and I remember seeing this set on the shelf, prominently facing out (one copy) the first week I was working there. Well – the first week I was working in the record store (new employees generally started out in the video side). It had come out just in time for Christmas and I was hoping to buy the set. But money was short. So I figured I would wait for a couple weeks. Then it sold. Then it came back in and I was broke again. Then I got some money for my birthday, and when I went to pick it up, it had sold again… and I think this went on in one way or another for close to two years. I finally got it in ’93 (I am pretty sure I got it for myself for high school graduation… but definitely had it for the summer). And I’m pretty sure the discs rotated through my old 77 Corolla until I moved to Berkeley. One bit of irony – ‘Police on My Back’ had just finished one night coming home from Tower on Watt (a couple nights before I moved to Berkeley). ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was on and I get pulled over for the light being out on my rear license plate. I am given a warning, and don’t think much more about it (what are the odds of getting pulled over again for this?). Well, two nights later (two nights before I move to Berkeley) I get pulled over again… same cop! And she remembers me! “Are you going to get that thing fixed?” she asked.

“I get paid tomorrow!”

“OK – just make sure you fix it” and all I get is another warning. I figure I’ll take care of it on my lunch break at work the next day and plan on walking over to an auto-parts store around the corner from Tower. I get to work (listening to The Clash again) and park… then have a few minutes before work is supposed to start, so I decide I’ll go get the light. I turn the ignition and hear a terrible crunch. I look under the car, and my starter is sitting on the ground. So I wind up walking to the auto parts store, get a light AND a starter, then fix both in the parking lot during my lunch break. I got the car fixed, but decided at that point that there would be no more Clash in the car until I got to the Bay Area with the car in one piece.

I also continued the Bach box today. Was able to finish ‘Volume 2’, the works for keyboard. Nice performance of the Goldberg Variations and I also listened to the Partitas. All good so far. I also started Volume 3 (the first part of the cantatas).

‘Where Do The Children Play?” was just playing on my computer and Tamiko just told me her memory of the song. In first or second grade she had an advanced reading class and they were given the lyrics to read and figure out. Another kid memory.

Will Celia or Mira hear Cat Stevens in elementary school? We’ll see… Tamiko and I just finished registering Celia for kindergarten… I wonder what songs she’ll hear.

Tags: Cat Stevens, J.S. Bach, The Clash
Posted in Celia, Classical, Mira, Rock / Pop, Tamiko | No Comments »

Day 59. J.S. Bach and Robert Johnson.

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Two more box-sets tonight. Mira pointed to my complete Bach (the Brilliant Classics 155 disc set) and I figured why not… I need to start it at some point, and I figure I’ll get a few discs of that done a night for the next few weeks. Of course – there are some usual mid-level expectations that come along with a set of 155 discs… they can’t all be amazing. And with Bach in particular I can be very picky. I got the set though because (when I bought it at $99) I was able to find what would be at least a hundred dollars worth of performances that I would want. Andrew Manze and La Stravaganza performing the Orchestral Suites for instance, and Jaap Ter Linden’s cello suites. Once I found these, I thought ‘hey – and I’ll have all the cantatas finally’ and this for some reason appealed to me so I picked it up. What surprised me was that I haven’t come across a disappointing disc yet (though I have only listened to maybe 30 of them). And there are some really nice touches in the set… a number of the harpsichord concertos have been reconstructed into violin concertos (there is ample evidence that these pieces existed in this way). Overall they aren’t top-notch performances (though a few have been), but none are mediocre so far. Now that I am ripping them, I look forward to going through more of them. I am a Bach fanatic after all… so I think this will be fun. I’m going to see if I get through the Orchestral / Chamber Music part of the set tonight, but that may be a tall order.

The other box-set is the complete Robert Johnson recordings. After hefting the Bach box the Robert Johnson set is nice and light. And though his complete recordings barely fills two discs, it is pretty amazing how influential the music on these two discs are. And they are amazing – mostly recorded on a portable field recording kit in a hotel room, there is something intense and sad about these recordings and the story behind the man making them. Any serious collector of music probably already has these discs or has at least heard them… and I guess all I can say is that if you haven’t then find them, take a couple hours out of your life and listen them. You’ll be amazed how much is familiar, yet so different and haunting at the same time.

Tags: J.S. Bach, Robert Johnson
Posted in Classical, Folk / Blues / Country, Mira | No Comments »

Day 52. R.E.M.

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Events of the past few days have kept me from ripping CDs until this morning. The days have been filled with a mixture of things – anniversaries and adversaries, bugs external and internal, comfort, family and smoking melted combs. It is also the end of a quarter and the beginning of spring (break). My friend Christina suggested we ‘smudge’ the house with a sage burning to begin again – get rid of the evils of the past few months and start fresh. The idea is appealing, but as I was discussing with my friend Jill the other day, even the bad has its purpose and I feel like with all that has been going on with us here at the Parmura household, me, Tamiko, Celia and Mira have learned and are figuring out quite a bit. These past months have been pretty rough in different ways for all four of us. When it comes down to it I wouldn’t get rid of the crap we have had to deal with. I know we are growing because of it. But I have also found myself with music from my ‘angry young man’ days running through my head off and on. So today I ripped a good chunk of my R.E.M. CDs (‘Life’s Rich Pageant’, ‘Document’, ‘Green’, ‘Out of Time’ and ‘Monster’). If all is calm after tonight’s class listening session, I may try to work in the first couple Violent Femmes albums as well, maybe some early Cure. While I did have a good amount of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails that I played during my senior year of high school, I am glad that the mostly melodic and ‘angry’ alternative 90s staples mentioned above are what I still listen to when I feel a little agro and need to get some energy out. I’m more comfortable with my masculinity now then I was in 1992.

I have ‘Life’s Rich Pageant’ on at the moment, but earlier I had ‘Green’ on with the girls. Mira (who is recovering from a stomach bug, as well as a hard night at the urgent care to make sure she didn’t have a bladder infection) started to dance in my arms when ‘Pop Song ’89’ came on. I actually hadn’t even listened to ‘Green’ or ‘Out of Time’ for awhile. Then main exception is my yearly mix-disc ritual where I rip ‘Losing My Religion’ as part of the first round of cuts for that years disc (only to have it weeded out as the music is cut down to the 80 minutes needed for a blank CD). It’s a great song, but too obvious to just have thrown onto a mix disc without carefully leading into and out of it. Maybe this year. Probably not

For the most part now I tend to put on ‘Life’s Rich Pageant’, ‘Document’ and ‘Automatic For The People’ now when I listen to R.E.M. Yes, I know which one doesn’t belong with the others but I will unapologetically say that it is a great album, And I think you can be a good R.E.M. fan and like songs like ‘Drive’ and ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’. Along with the first Violent Femmes album, one of the Cure greatest hits albums and the Pixies ‘Trompe Le Monde’, this album was part of the soundtrack for a getaway weekend with some high school friends to Fort Bragg. Tamiko and I were going through our ‘He’s still in high school and a loser and being WAAAAY to immature for his college girlfriend’ break-up (complete with my purple hair) and a few good friends (Josh, Cheryl and Molly) decided we needed to head to Molly’s families beach house in Fort Bragg. And we all (just friends) spent a good chunk of time jumping off sand dune cliffs, hiking around and relaxing on the beach between figuring out what we could find at the grocery store to eat. Later in the year, some tension was created among the four of us because of someone else I dated and the other three, as well as other teenage tensions among the four of us towards each other. The four of us, by the end of the school year pretty much weren’t talking much to each other (and looking back now, I imagine uncertainty about where we would be ending up after high school was probably a big part of the problem). But for that weekend and a couple months afterwards, we had lots of fun together just hanging out.

One thing that is hard about the ‘soundtrack’ for this weekend in Fort Bragg though is the fact that, for me, lots of things sucked. Tamiko and I were breaking up and it was really hard (though we obviously get back together and I think we both see that time now as a great period of growing up for both of us – though especially me – and I also think that we were a much stronger couple afterwards). If I ever tell Celia this story, she would probably say – ‘Dad, this sounds like a horrible time for you! Would you want to remember it? No!’. (Celia has begun to rhetorically answer her own questions) But the fact of the matter is, these three friends really kept me together that weekend and, while they may not know it, I am very grateful for this. And while the break-up sucked, lots of good came from it eventually.

Like almost any real thing that happens in life, it is difficult for there to be clear-cut good times and bad times. I remember times when I was a kid and really sick (especially one very scary trip to an ER because of a severe asthma attack when I was 4 or 5, another time when I had a finger nail ripped off of my finger). And I have a feeling that Celia will remember when she is older about the time Mira seemed really sick and we needed to take her to urgent care. Celia was terribly worried about Mira last night, and very sad that she couldn’t go with us… but for now (and maybe in 20 years?) I have the image of a slightly feverish Mira in my arms dancing to R.E.M. with Celia smiling at the table while she is eating jammy toast. Celia knows her sister is feeling better. Maybe R.E.M. will subconsciously trigger this memory for her.

Tags: R.E.M.
Posted in Celia, Mira, Rock / Pop, Tamiko | No Comments »

Archive for the ‘Mira’ Category

Day 89. Vivaldi, Getz/Gilberto, Pink Martini and Bach.

Day 84. Mozart.

Day 75. Dowland.

Day 73. Beethoven and Bach.

Day 71. Bach box boxed.

Day 68. James Brown.

Day 66. Frank Sinatra.

Day 60. Bach, The Clash and Cat Stevens.

Day 59. J.S. Bach and Robert Johnson.

Day 52. R.E.M.

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