Stormy Skies Family Ties Week Flies
+++ title = “06” date = 2006 +++
The rain finally let up yesterday morning, and I drove to work happily, without the fear of someone skidding into me. Read an interesting Eno story the other day which I’d never heard before.
In January this year I had an accident. I was not seriously hurt, but I was confined to bed in a stiff and static position. My friend Judy Nylon visited me and brought me a record of 18th century harp music. After she had gone, and with some considerable difficulty, I put on the record. Having laid down, I realized that the amplifier was set at an extremely low level, and that one channel of the stereo had failed completely. Since I hadn’t the energy to get up and improve matters, the record played on almost inaudibly. This presented what was for me a new way of hearing music – as part of the ambience of the environment just as the colour of the light and the sound of the rain were parts of that ambience. It is for this reason that I suggest listening to the piece at comparatively low levels, even to the extent that it frequently falls below the threshold of audibility.
Finally listened to that record by the way – it starts off with a typical Eno idea of two different melodies weaving around each other and mutating for about 30 minutes, and then goes onto to 3 different pieces, in which he’s used Pacabel’s Cannon in different ways. One of them, I’m pretty certain, is the piece played backwards, but you can’t tell unless you listen very carefully. The other one is the actual piece, with the same recording being played over it, in a similar fashion as the title track. The third one – no idea. This was the platform that he sprung off of to create the rest of the ambient series.
I think I get so involved with ambient music over the summer because at work, I don’t like to listen to very loud music. I can’t concentrate on jazz, I can’t concentrate on rock, classical would do but I don’t have a huge selection of stuff that I like (I’m picky about what classical I listen to), so that leaves the ambient/minimalist genre. Perfect because I can leave it as background music and then listen to piece of it if I want.
Monday was a surprise dinner for Dilshad Phuppi, and it was executed well. The food was excellent – shrimp, chicken, beef, rice, with a nice cakey dessert. Watched 24 that night with Aleena. Getting closer to the finale of Season 1.
Tuesday, Zain came over and we went to Tara Thai for dinner. I got the pattaya noodles and a tropical treasure. After that, we came home and played Bubble Bobble and I made Zain a 2-disc mix. He told me about a couple of records I should download, the new Advantage record is great. They cover music from 8-bit nintendo games and they have some great tunes on this one.
Yesterday, DC for a sneak preview of Pirates of the Carribean 2. I was a little underwhelmed, as I’ve been for the past few movies I’ve seen. Aimee, Sarah, Ed, Scott, and Beth were there. Had a horrible time getting out as my sister had the car, and my mom wouldn’t take me to the metro. Coming back to my house, the person who was taking my parking stub wouldn’t let me pay with credit card.
Got home and fell asleep to Side II of the Koln Concert. That may be my favorite thing on a piano anyone has ever done. I finally have the night to myself for once, so I think I’m going to go get a few things. Some LPs from Joe’s Record Paradise, the I-Connect pillow for my sister, and possibly Guitar Center for some browsing. I really want to buy and learn how to play the sitar, but they’re rather expensive. I think that may one of my goals in life.