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Saturday, July 18th, 2009
verucagonff
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3:00p
I remember the music at the Woodfire.
Last night, I had a conversation with Larry, proprietor of the Woodfire, a restaurant which most of you know as my favorite joint to hang and enjoy the occasional adult beverage. You may also recall my tales of the music, amazing blues and jazz artists, many of incredible name and credential. The nights were magic, the way the energy birthed and grew each Friday, the music moving through the crowd. Eventually, often with the help of myself and my crew, the music would take the crowd. Tables were pushed away. Diners hit their feet. We danced into the night, crowds singing, sweat dripping, feet stomping...with the occasional concern about the condition of the floor beneath us. And then, it was over. Busy schedules, financial constraints and the need to please the bread and butter dinner crowd...all of these led to a downgrade of the music to more dinner-friendly fare...and an end to the magic.
We all hold our share of the responsibility there. I, for one, can admit to taking the magic for granted...missing often my once routine Friday visits. Our crew weakened...we had friends move away, friends working nights, friends other places...and, as I'm now told, we were an important part of making those nights happen. And, of course, it was difficult for the restaurant to maintain. It was, after all, still a restaurant...not a dance hall.
At some point, a few years ago, it was all over. Now, still, the Woodfire is my favorite joint and a good place to find me on a Friday. Still, talented artists come to play their music for us. Leon Redbone himself is coming back for yet another visit in just a couple of months. But that magic time is over, that energy has dissipated.
My conversation with Larry had little to do with those nights. It was about him wanting me to shoot some video for the restaurant and my wanting him to give me money for it. Still, one can't talk about making a video of the current musical acts without brushing on the subject of the magic nights, nights I could often be found toting my camera, capturing live video of the scene.
I'm paraphrasing to an extreme here, but Larry essentially said "I'd love to have those videos for the archives, the videos of those magic days, those days that were so amazing, those days that are now over, in the past, gone. Man, those were good days. Those days that are over."
Larry, man, you're killing me here. You're breaking my heart. It's a bit like I had this girlfriend and, well, we never really broke up. You see, she just went off to "find herself." And, sure, you know, a few years have passed and I don't exactly expect she's going to show up at my door. Mostly we just don't talk about her. But she never did actually say goodbye and I haven't been dating anyone else, so... And now you're telling me that she's married to some guy named Chaz and she's living in the suburbs brokering stock deals over the Internet. That she's gone. And not returning.
I guess I should be happy with what we had. I don't expect most people had the luxury to experience what we did. This was something special. I can imagine, as an old man, seeing Woodfire tales pop up in some music documentary, talked of as one of those magic little places that no one knew yet was significant all the same. Hell, maybe I'll even make that documentary one day.
Still...I do miss it. And I wonder if I'll ever experience something like it again. It's like an addictive drug in that way...it feels a little empty without it.
Actually, it's probably more like sex. Those magic days, they were my first time. New, amazing, powerful and, sure, even a little awkward. And then it was over. There have been other girls. I've had other awesome nights outside the Woodfire. But you never forget your first. And, hell, the "dating pool" has been a little dry these days. A lack of places, a lack of music. Those magic nights are hard to find.
Still, what we had...what we did...it was amazing. We'll be telling tales until we're drugged up in rocking chairs at the nursing home...and I'll have the videos to prove them. We'll talk about Jeremy, the head chef, making his way to the band to sing "Ice Cream Man." We'll brag about the big names in the small town. We'll remember the New Years Eve conga line that took us out into the falling snow, where it suddenly broke down into a massive snow ball fight in the street, well-dressed party-goers ducking and racing like children. We'll remember the music. And the magic. And, though it's gone, we'll remember the things we have because of it.
I remember the music at the Woodfire.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
verucagonff
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2:08p
Moon Landing
Experience the Apollo 11 mission in real time, via mission tracker, "live" audio feeds and, yes, Twitter updates. The site is also full of side bits on info and some really cool old photos. This is awesome.
We Choose the Moon
EDIT
Also, the widget is pretty cool. I was tooling around the living room and suddenly got an audio transmission from the space module updating me on it's progress.
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(comment on this)
leeshers
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3:36a
This has truely been the shift from hell.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled sleep.
current mood:  drained
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(comment on this)
leeshers
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1:44a
ok I am going to rant for a min and sound like a real bitch.
I am normally pretty understanding of my clients. Most of them are uninsured, homeless (or have been), addicted to drugs and alcohol. Most cannot and have not had a job.
So where the FUCK do you get off getting in my face at 2 am, because I wont let you walk around in the fucking dark in an unlight parking lot, where I cant see you in a not so fantasic part of town? You knew when you got here that lights out were 11. You dont have to go to sleep but you have to lay in your room and rest.
No that doesnt mean getting up and sitting on the couch
or walking the parking lot
or eating bowls of ceral
or bugging me insistantly for meds we both know you cant have for at least 4 more hours?
Where teh FUCK do you get off telling me that I dont care? I fucking am spending my friday and sat so that you peopel can have therapy and be safe. I am working a fucking 24 HOUR DAY, so that you can have this place to come to. Without here where would you be? The hospital? A gutter? The morgue?
Where the hell do you get off calling me a bitch and telling me you are going to file a grievece on me. for what? enforcing the rules?
ARRRRRRR
ok sorry, I am having major counter transferance right now and finding it really hard not to tell people exactly what I am thinking right now, which in case you wondered would probably not be very therapudic.
...well not for them anyway :)
current mood:  aggravated
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(comment on this) Friday, July 17th, 2009
reddragdiva
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11:51p
Kirlian photograph.
I AM GOING TO GO OUT AND DRINK AND PARTY ON SATURDAY NIGHT. I am not quite sure where. Who is going somewhere? I understand there are several things on.
Good Lord, what a wringer of a week. Freda was diagnosed with flu on Tuesday; they haven't tested for swine flu per se, but they're treating all flu as swine flu, so she got Tamiflu. Which she was allergic to, leading to a nasty rash, a cranky day and a visit to A&E on Wednesday night. Though she's mostly over it now, thankfully. Meanwhile, ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) arkady has been adjusting to a new medication and wrangling a sick baby while being a perpetually tired zombie.
I had a phone job interview today which has led to a second interview Monday. \o/ (I went to iron interview shirts. I found two still ironed from my last job hunt, three years ago ...)
Trying Arora, a Qt-Webkit browser with Firefox clone interface. Very fast and good rendering. I like it. JavaScript not so fast (GMail was a slug) and it did crash on me three times in a day ...
The National Portrait Gallery thing has been Story of the Week, with several posts (1, 2, 3) on my blog and an official one from the Wikimedia Foundation. Thankfully, the WMF and NPG are now in negotiations, which beats a legal battle every time.
(One of the biggest problems is funding — governments often expressly demand their galleries be self-sustaining, which means squeezing their public-domain works until the pips rattle. This was barely tenable last century and is increasingly unworkable this one. Never mind we've ALREADY PAID for the digitisations through TAX MONEY. So to really solve the problem, we need to change governments' attitudes to arts funding. Rotsa ruck.)
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(2 comments | comment on this) Thursday, July 16th, 2009
snack
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9:24p
daily gratitudes
- lindt's red chili dark chocolate bar
- feeling supported at work
- clean kitty litter boxes
- the mice on the GForce commercial that say "poop in his hand!"
- getting enough done today that i don't feel as overwhelmed today as i did yesterday
- being recognized for my strengths
- working in an environment where it is acceptable to throw a pad of post-its at someone for singing incessantly down the hallway and where you'll likely hear 'oh, she's just talking about her butt again' in random conversation.
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(comment on this) Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
snack
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10:22p
daily gratitudes
- real red bean ice cream: good vanilla ice cream with red bean paste on top
- a partner who knows i need to process things by talking them through, and lets me, even though its not how she processes
- being able to stand up and say what i believe in, even if it means confronting someone
- recognizing that i'm in the throes of growing pains associated with my new position
- my crazy former feral rescue cat head butting me while i'm writing this because SHE WANTS LOVE .... NOW!!!!
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(2 comments | comment on this)
deadpanwalking
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10:07p
Theory - raising mainstream tastes - Current State of Movies
I'm not sure that mainstream audiences are dumb.
They do, however, appear to be dumb to the movie industry.
The problem is that studios have to get the audience's attention in order to sell a movie. The ideas are dumb and loud because that's what gets attention, that's how you get someone to turn their head, by being dumb and loud. Not because that is what the audience really wants to experience (although in some cases admittedly this is true.)
The audience wants to see something good. However, they see the (entire night out) experience as more than just the movie. To them, it's an outing, a social event, similar to poker night or a PTA meeting or even church to other types (non movie-mainstream) of audiences. It's ritualistic and therefore the quality automatically goes out the door since it has less bearing on the general experience of the event.
Anyway, I'm rambling but the final point is that it might be possible to market a smart and good movie in a dumb and loud fashion in order to get the attention of mainstream audiences, have a huge opening weekend, and then introduce nearly everyone to a really good movie.
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(comment on this)
(8 comments | comment on this) Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
snack
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9:10p
daily gratitudes
- the opportunity to get new perspective on adoption recruitment & how to find families for available children
- being reminded how short and unpredictable life is and that being present for it is important
- recognizing when i need to take some space for me
- recognizing when i need to ask for feedback
- having the opportunity to do both today, and the opportunity to apologize for not handling those opportunities with the most grace at the time
- leftovers that tasted just as good the 2nd time around
- knowing that you're not alone.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
whip_lash
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7:41p
Dilemma: trying to decide whether to put my resume out.
I'm tired of my job and qualified to make more money.
On the other hand, my job seems safe and I like the people I work with and for, which is worth a great deal. And most things I could do for more money are contracts or at least start out that way. When old people talk about how they survived the Depression they never mention contracting. I've never heard of a Depression-era consultant. I think those people were eaten.
On the third hand I think I am getting dangerously close to the point that I will cease learning anything new where I am.
On the fourth hand I really hate the interview process. I'm pretty good at it in all modesty - there's only ever been one job I was qualified for and wanted that I wasn't offered - but I hate it.
On the fifth hand, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ikilled007 tells me that we Americans will soon be eating, lighting our lamps with, and probably bathing in our government-issued soylent green ration anyway, so what's the point?
Hmmmm.
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leeshers
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9:50a
Happy Anniversary to my Twin and her hubby. Congrats guys its been a long ride.
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(comment on this) Monday, July 13th, 2009
snack
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9:26p
daily gratitudes
- star trek: tng marathon monday on SyFy (as opposed to SciFi)
- hot dogs & sauerkraut
- happy dogs chewing on marrow bones
- a neighbor with green thumbs
- finding out you can petition for a postponement of jury duty
- working with insanely awesome people who are willing to let you grow and grow along with you!
- witnessing people who actually take responsibility for their online statements and apologize when they realize they crossed a line.
- pianos in london.
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(comment on this)
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guilty
