All Things Are Empty

With a couple of days to go in the songjournal I'm faced with the dilemma I worried about months ago - the last song. There's the part of me that wants it to be the best one, whatever that means. There's also the part of me that hopes it goes out understated and small; a bow to the zen master upon realizing I haven't learned or accomplished anything. Well, of course I don't know what it will be. I won't until sometime on Saturday.

I don't think any of it has been about "best" (or product) at all. It's been about process, perseverance, keeping creativity alive, self discovery and loss.

Loss. That's going to be the most difficult. I've become very attached to the thing (eliminating any possibility for zen mastery here) and to stop dead in my tracks on Saturday (which, coincidentally, is also the 1st day of Passover) is going to be hard. This quote (which I cannot attribute to any reliable source) pretty much nails it, “It's weird...you know the end of something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more second...just so it can hurt a little more.”

The Hive Itself a Teacup

A whirlwind of activity as I near the end (five days left) of the songjournal.

The EP I did for.ala jazz records is now available for free download HERE. The Hive Itself a Teacup is a suite of five solo free-improvisations on several acoustic stringed instruments. My deepest thanks to Omar at .ala jazz records for the label invite. I also really, really like the cover art "Oink! Oink!" made for the release. In addition, I'm almost done with a limited edition, cassette-only release (working title: Know Your Lake Monsters) for his Goat Folk label.

Also, almost done with my realization for part of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise to be released by Tom Furgas later this summer.

It's good to be busy again!