Tuesday

Tuesday, April 25 2006
23:26
Performance went well last night. I was more confident in circulations than I had ever been in the show. Very quiet, meditative audience. Good feedback. BR poked a thorn in my side a bit about always missing at least one note in the EOTN intro. Yes, I've been performing it for a year and a half. Not sure what to do about it though. A good time out at the High Life afterwards.

More or less adjusting back to "normal life" pretty easily. Work to do at work, didn't take too long to get my head around it again. Not super enthusiastic or anything though.

Tomorrow will be the water heater replacement. Need to make sure I get all showered before then. Email from the super said "take everything out" of the room, I had left things on the shelves, which I don't imagine would be in the way. I replied to the email asking about this yesterday morning, and haven't heard back. The stuff stays.

Still very nice weather yesterday and today. Sunny and relatively warm.

car / work music: New Order - Technique; Big Time - Troika; Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

Sunday, Back in Seattle

Sunday, April 23 2006
Seattle, WA
24:32

Back home safe and sound. Arrived home around 11:30 yesterday. Taxi ride home was uneventful, other than having to tell him exactly where to go at every turn. $35 including tip. Showered, unpacked, started some laundry. Checked personal email. Grabbed a sandwich for breakfast/lunch. Lay down for a quick nap at 2 PM, woke up at 9. OK. A small dinner and some TV. Transferred pictures from camera to computer, then online. To bed around 2?

Up today at 1 PM. OK, I should be all caught up on sleep now. Drove up to Than Bros. for some pho breakfast/lunch. The weather was gorgeous – may have hit 70 today (it was cold yesterday). Drove down to Alki – was thinking of walking around, but there was nowhere to park. The drive took forever anyway, as the place was packed, so I got to take in the scenery just fine. Spent the next couple hours cleaning out the store room, so the water heater can be replaced on Tuesday. Mostly this involved flattening and recycling cardboard boxes – old ones I'd kept in case I needed to ship whatever came in them, but never did. A few heavy boxes (magazines, china) got pushed into other rooms for the time being. Spent some time going through work email – of the 850 waiting, about half were spam or otherwise easily delete-able. Read the rest and have only a few to follow-up on now. Played bass for a bit. Played the Ovation too – still buzzing at the first fret, shouldn't affect anything in tomorrow's performance though. It didn't feel like I'd spent the last two wakes playing much more than usual, I actually struggled to play it. Ugh. Well, we'll see.

Took an hour or so typing in some of the hand-written journal entries – about a third of the way done.

Backtracking – last handwritten journal is at the Santiago airport, so – uneventful flight to Dallas. Thankfully, got some sleep. The guy in the seat next to me was very small so (despite the woman in front of me putting the seat back), I had some room. Got off the plane in Dallas – Curt was nowhere to be found, presumably he was booking it to his connection (I moved to a flight an hour later, the SCL clerk was very helpful (I mean that in a good way) and took care of that). PaulM was in the same throng of people moving through customs as me. No problems there (didn't expect any – though, Paul, after getting OK'd by customs said loudly, "well, that was easy!" which made me twitch. At the Mendoza airport, he said at one point, "If I was going to smuggle a bomb on to an airplane, I wouldn't put it in a $2000 computer". It took some control not to slap him.) The guitar didn't seem to suffer any injury, so re-checked the bags with no problem. Then back through security – this time, got "air puffed" – you step into a little box, it says "air puffers on" and goes "pfft pfft pfft" at your sides, then you wait (with one of the TSA guys in front looking at some things very intently), then the doors open and you walk out. Took the little train to my connection gate, had about 15 minutes there before boarding began. Got an exit row seat on the 757 to Seattle, though as the plane was only about 1/4 full any row would have been fine. So comfort was not an issue, but the flight seemed long – kind of slept, read a little, by this time my eyes had really had it. This flight (3 hours 45 minutes) seemed almost as long as the 10-hour flight up from Santiago. Didn't have to wait too long for my baggage, the guitar was in the same condition it was on departure. Went out and grabbed a taxi.

car/home music: Gtrrstrrfe (or something like that); Zum - Angel Suite; Berlin Guitar Ensemble CD

Sunrise

sunrise
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

A day in Mendoza; Flying Home

Friday, April 21 2006
Santiago de Chile, at the airport
19:37

My eyes are incredibly dry [I was constantly blinking, and sometimes couldn't keep them open for more than 10 seconds at a time]. My feet are very tired of these shoes and need to breathe, but they stink a bit when I take them off. Luckily, nobody was too close just now so off they go. Curt, RobR, and PaulM are here at the terminal too. Rob spent the day in Santiago with SeaBass, and has a flight in one hour. The rest of us are on the same flight to Dallas at 9:40.

"Slept in" until 8 this morning. Smaller group for breakfast - RobR, Billy, and Big Dave left at 6:30; AlejandroL had gone home to sleep. Left in a van at 9:15 – Sylvain and Barbara were dropped off at Carolina's, a nice looking house nestled in between the other buildings. Fabian, AleM, and I were dropped off at Ignacio F's little apartment. His girlfriend let us in, and we left our stuff there and hit the street. Mostly walked around. Nice day – sunny, 65? Mendoza is bigger than it seemed on the drive through from the airport last week. The downtown is something like a mile in diameter, but it is very busy and noisy, big-city like.

Stopped at a café for café con leche, OJ (fresh squeezed, mmm, no OJ on the course), and "facturas" – crossoints etc [nobody knew why they are called that, it is a word for receipt too]. Quite good for 6p ($2).

Walked for an hour or so. Street grid is square, but I would have been lost without Alejandro, who spent a few weeks here last year. Shops all began closing at 5 to 1 for siesta. After 1 we went to "Sr. Cheff" for some steak. Good steak – 2" thick and the size of, well about 5" by 7". Buffe for appetizers. Tried some of the tongue – just like mediocre roast beef really. Split one bottle of wine. Lemon pie w/ grainy meringue for dessert. Took about 2.5 hours total – very relaxed. Cost about 25p ($8). Back to IF's place, where he was. Hung out for 15 minutes or so, then Martin, Cecelia, and Curt arrived. At the airport at 5 for a 7:30 flight. Boarding pass said "boarding at 5:35". Because that schedule included security and emigration. Ran into Paul there. [The security guard took great interest into the Vaseline lip balm in my pocket, then they made me open my backpack, open the bathroom kit, and went through all the contents before letting me through]. Uneventful flight on a 737-200 to here. Took two pictures of the sunset over the Andes.

Looking at my arms/hands, I may be sunburned. Which would be odd, as I had my hands in my pockets as I walked around town. Think it is just the lighting. [it was].

Departures and Cleanup

Thursday, April 20 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:43

Many people departing. Sitting in the cafeteria writing this – sitting in the hall felt funny, like a parade. Very little milk or yoburt for breakfast. A calmer sitting despite the goings-on in the hallway. While the course was in progress, was never able to complete an exercise, mostly due to dozing off. Did this morning. Tony has left + many others, most of the USA crowd are leaving at 16:30 to catch the 19:30 flight to Santiago. I'm on lunch today. Took a few pictures of the house. Will probably take a shower now before the house cleaning begins.

16:46
The largest wave just departed, two vans. Curt, Bill, Billy, RobR, DK, Martin, and Hernan went into town and had some beef, beers, wine, and good coffee. Lunch (risotto, leftover pasta, squash) cooked itself after the first hour, so spent a lot of time hanging out outside. Overcast but not cold. Igor did his thing to half a dozne guitars. The threads on the bridge for one of the GC Student model guitars were stripped. Sang a bit in the "Hall of Accomplishment". 30? people for lunch. Talked with Carolina for a bit about the Mendoza Guitar Circle and playing music (she had a rock band for a while). Pablo, Bill, DK, TomR, Igor among those that just left. Looks like Curt and I have all the same flights back to Seattle. He may go straight to Saturday rehearsal on arrival just to surprise everyone. I think I will go home and sleep. May take a nap now too, actually. There has been no cleanup work done today (in general – rooms were cleaned by occupants) [actually, AlejandroL was doing general cleaning in the background throughout the day]. Not sure when we will be vacating tomorrow.

23:24
Got just a little bit of packing to do. Leftover risotto and choclo (corn) for dinner. 16 there. Fairly quiet. Later, slideshow of old GC pics – what Curt has on his computer and a bunch Bill has assembled for the History project. Some good stuff. Sat outside for about 30 minutes. Chilly but OK. Sylvain and Barbara brought out some wine (local) and we sat and drank – me, Curt, Sylvain, Barbara, Ignacio, AlejandroM, Fabian, Billy, JorgeS, Hernan for a bit. Mariana ran by at one point to lock the gate, had a sip of wine. We came in shortly after that.

Day 8

Wednesday, April 19 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:42

Final day of course. Fairly solid sleep last night. Still, a sleepy sitting. Meeting at 9:15 for TTA "forum", then lunch prep (BR head chef) at 10. Playing DCD piece at tea? Nobody's sure. At breakfast, Igor noticed that Carolina looked like Suzi Quatro. I didn't really think so, and he also said it as if she couldn't hear / wouldn't understand (she was sitting right across from us), my reaction was to kind of ignore him and mutter "uh, dunno". Missed an opportunity. Sigh. Overcast and cold outside, chilly in here.

Level T are in action around me. Igor and ? (Bulgarian guy) are working on a Bulgarian folk dance in 13.

15:09
TTA discussion was not very interesting to me – some surprise (pleasant) at the way Curt described things. But it wasn't for me anyway, hopefully people got what they needed from it.

Began lunch prep at 10. Pasta with white sauce, salad. Some green peppers in the pasta too. Chopped garlic with Carolina. Alain P. came in to relieve anyone who wished to attend the big circle – both Pablo and Carolina spoke out at the same time, so they flipped a coin. Pablo won, but then deferred to Carolina. She was instructed by Bill to stand up and represent the lunch team, naming us all. At 11:45, Cecelia offered the same relief – no one else present (some were on a break) chose, so I went. At the circle, Carolina stood up and represented the lunch team, naming (I think) Bill, Billy, Marcos, and Alain C. I did not listen enough to remember which, but she missed some. Also I expected she would not mention AlainP. Anyway, I sat there wondering if / afraid to say anything (didn't know exactly who to mention). Time passed. Was Robert looking at me? Then he walked a few feet around the circle to get a better angle and it was obvious he was looking directly at me. Time passed. Finally I stood and said "There are two more also in the kitchen, Alain Pinero and Cecelia Oses." Then Robert began. I felt mortified and somewhat amazed.

Two concentric circles. Sat on the outside. Circulations in A harmonic minor, outside on downbeat, inside on upbeat. Then the same w/ 3 notes per person (cascades). Then the same in C harmonic minor. Then moved the circles to the long hallway – one long thin loop. Circulations. One half circulated (bouncing from the ends), Robert showed our half arpeggios (from the C harmonic minor theme). Brought the bass line in on the other half, showed more arpeggios (mine 10-11-10 on the top 3 strings [with a 1-2-3 picking pattern, I think it was really something like 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-2 but the details buzzed by me and I just went with 1-2-3]). Then just a few bass players. People from the staff waled down and back several times while we played. Then we snaked down by the lunchroom, around and back. The lunch crew were standing outside the door. Once back, the lunch crew walked down and back 2 or 3 times. Then Robert had us circulate a tacit note out. Free dispersal to lunch.

Sitting outside writing this. It is very nice, not exactly warm in the sun. The wind is blowing.

21:22
My roommates: GH, BJ, LM, FR, LF, GG, JP, AM, MR

Long silence at dinner. Followed Tony's asking about people's experiences walking down the guitar "corridor", and responses, then sharing that he saw it as a procession of souls through a line of angels.

Played The Carnival Is Over at tea. JohnH sang, Jorge Montenegro (L2) played the bass arpeggios. Some heckling (manana!), and DK spontaneously sang along twice w/ her own lyrics. Not bad. Glad to perform something at least.

5:00 circle w/ Robert. More concentric circulations. Sat on the inner circle this time. As outer had up/down all at once (two circulations), we had double time. Walked out to the hallway, lined up again. As inner group (largely on one side) circulated (bouncing), the rest thranged on Robert's cues. Then a thrak in 5, 7, and 11 (I was in the 11 group, 3+3+3+2). People walked as before. Then we walked back to the ballroom playing, standing in front of our seats. Robert gave a "1, 2, 3, 4!" into one final chord. Shuffling and twitching immediately afterwards, as it seems always around here. Really annoying to me.

T'ai Chi, then 30 minutes quiet time after that. Another session w/ Robert about the sitting in the Hall of Accomplishment. I did not attend either as my practice has been wobbly. So I had a lie-down in the ballroom. Almost fell asleep a couple times. Before dinner, passed by the hall – JS was on his back on the floor and people were attending to him. Not sure what happened, seems OK now.

During the silence at dinner: Came to a bit (after drifting off), the plate and cup in front of me in sharp focus and light. Felt as if I was the only one in the room. I had no sense of what exactly all the people-shaped things around me were, but I was alone. Frightening a little and disturbing. Looked up a bit, to the space between PeterL and LuisC, and they became present for me. Tried to do the same w/ the others using just peripheral vision, but failed.

23:25
Course declared complete at 23:17. Exhausted. Going to buy some CDs, then there is housework at midnight. I may go to sleep.

Flower

flower_green
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

Day 7

Tuesday, April 18 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:51
What I could see of the sunrise post-sitting today was beautiful. Orange glow on Aconcagua [actually Tupungato] and the other mountains. 9:30 KT mtg w/ RF, 10:00 "photo session", 12:30 meeting w/ staff for the show tonight. Three performances at breakfast: "The Kings" (from previous "Waiting for the King" – Juan, Victoria, Luis, ?), Igor and ? playing a mellow jazzy piece, MarkB "The Crying Room", RF said "have some coffee, Mark" as he was about to play, then mid-song took a cup of coffee up to him.

12:27
Practiced the DCD song w/ John a bit. Looks like the Bach will just be Pablo and Sylvain. Leonardo may not be playing on the DCD – or we will do it tomorrow.

15:15
Another quick DCD practice w/ JH, ? and Carolina. JorgeM will play, but is sleeping now. Still don't know if playing at the show? Meeting w/ Rondo team in the cafeteria at 3:50.

23:13
Very Tired. Rondo performance went very well. Bill and I got derailed once, took 2 bars to recover (somewhere near where we should have been. Finally got to a point where both pairs were in sync. Igor and I both didn't quite get that it was time to stop, and played the first D. Still not a bad way to end. Sat for 5-10 minutes. Crowd generally pretty quiet.

Much discussion at dinner. Bill shared his experience with maintaining presence, and lack of it during parts of the photo shoot circulation. Neville described very strong feelings and sensing silence during the Rondo.

Four staff for the performance. Chris was a bit neglect in his stage managing – I had to fix some issues with the seating, and clear various detritus from the space (including two guitars on the stage – "what guitars? oh, those" 5 min. before doors). L1 performance was mixed. They got lots of razzing – "manana!" (title of piece Hank's duo played), moos, roosters (Fabian's alarm), etc. Whole group piece very good – circulation in a minor key that became a bass line w/ vamps and arpeggios, then back to a circulation. Same key/chords as Easy Money, I was hearing the "doooo ba dee dum dow…" in my head. If they had tanked it. . . but they did very well. L2 performance died horribly. Alain played several pieces on the Warr. Got some heckling but not much. After Alain left, stillness. Deborah left. Everyone else sat in relative quiet for 10 minutes? Peter said, "I feel there's something needed for completion, but I'm not sure what". MattG went and got his guitar, came back, said "Do you want some more music, or do you feel it'd be inappropriate?" Nobody said anything. Then, TomR ran screaming from the room. Laughter, people left. I stacked some chairs, Chris said he'd take care of them later, so I left.

Day 6

Monday, April 17 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
15:01
Just checked out the GC model guitars. Not too excited. The Pro (what BW has) sounds OK, plays OK (this one had high action and dead strings), and I'm not sure about the funky strap placement. The student model (all mahogany, bolt-on neck) sounds bad. Dead spots (C on low G, A on D), wolf tone (13th fret F on the E). Very pronounced. Kind of astonishingly so.

Lunch was long. Lentil soup, which was easy, but then French fries and fried sweet potatoes. Some tomato sauce on the side. Many performances. Big Time did the Bach circulation (well, 1/3 of it), even faster now (maybe not, it's damn fast on the CD), a few hiccups but wow. Amazing. Bach piece w/ Sylvain and Pablo postponed. Well, they played it as a duo. Guess the plan is that all 4 of us (w/ Leo Ferrari, Vinny backed out) will play at dinner?

20:04
Was nice outside. Warm in the sun. Practiced a bit. Rondo performance for tea called off (tomorrow?) because Bill had to work. 3 or 4 performances at tea. Outside some more, practiced w/ Pablo, Sylvain and Leo, Sergio joining in, on the Bach piece. Seems to get worse as we go. Did not perform at dinner. Brother Rat, the Hellboys, TomR + Marcello performed. While practicing w/ Pablo, Andres tried to adjust my right wrist. Nope, it doesn’t go any higher.

Not going to play La Mer. The team mutinied against AM, as it just wasn't quite good enough. Part of groups right now working on The Carnival is Over, the Gavotte, and something Vincenzo wrote [never played that].

24:14
L1 has their performance challenge. 10 PM tomorrow. I have the day off. Going to do Rondo at tea. Not sure what else. At the meeting tonight, Robert set TTA as an example of the "application" that is the next phase of GC. They are performing in Seattle right now.

Pomegranate

pomegranate
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

Day 5

Sunday, April 16, 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
11:40
Sunny, very cold this morning inside – high 50s. Regretted not wearing a sweater to the sitting. Three layers on at breakfast and still cold. Hitting snooze too much on the alarm – looked at the clock and it said 7:09 (sitting at 7:15) – oops.

Showered after breakfast. Some runs through the Turkish Suite w/ Tony, Curt, Igor, Sylvain. Fun, fast. May perform some/all? [nope]. Worked w/ Pablo on the Gavotte. Sylvain joined, then Vincenzo playing the tambourine part (as a tarantella). Tried it at "ridiculous speed" – not so bad. Planning on performing at lunch (just the AABA sections) – gentle tempo, then a "1,2,3,4!" into warp speed. Vinny may not join us. Some time w/ Bill going over the Rondo. Jammed a bit of carrot under my thumbnail yesterday. Prepping dinner – was peeling it, used the nail for some grip w/ the left hand. It pulled forward and the nail sliced off a bit that got pushed up under. Not too bad, only a few mm. A little sore today.

17:11
Tea went fairly smoothly. Long. Some confusion about cleanup. Didn't perform at lunch – dinner is the plan. 6? groups at lunch. Mark Bernadini, AlainP, Brother Rat, JohnH, ?. Yummy lunch. Baked polenta w/ tomato sauce and soft cheese (called "cream cheese", very much like mozzarella), leftover baked squash, and fried yam balls (from last night, the mash). Not really so cold today – at least in the sun. Inside at least I don't need the pullover. Which I just realized I left in the kitchen.

Day 4

Saturday, April 15 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:47

Colder, and currently raining. May be in the 40s right now? Slept soundly but tensely. Legs sore now. Everyone is getting out of bed a little later every day (in my room). Yesterday, it was corn flakes for breakfast instead of mueslix. Someone left the mueslix pot on the floor, and ants got into it.

Trees in the yard: a row of alder-like trees, light bark, tall, slender; one prickly thing like a monkey tree but not quite; a stand of pines; two narrow "rocket" trees, conifers, one w/ a twisting trunk; one small tree w/ a strange texture, like an overgrown rose? thorns on the trunk, soft and waxy bark.

BR suggested a change to meal cleanup: self-organize instead of calling for volunteers.

[diagram of the Circle of Fifths in the Enneagram, as posted by IG]

20:41
Long dinner prep. No breaks. Feet sore. Baked squash, mashed yams, carrot salad, boiled cauliflower w/ white gravy (a little yellow actually from curry). No major problems. Didn't serve people enough gravy, had tons. Many performances: Zum, Brother Rat, Big Time, an L1 group (or two?), plus Happy Birthday thrakstavaganza from Horn Up Your Ass, for Andres (the Mighty Bull).

Not enough seats or forks at dinner for KT when we got to eat. Not sure why this time, as other nights there were enough.

Big Circle (just one big one?) scheduled for 21:30 in the dining room this time. Oh – one other performance at dinner, from Matt. He says "wow" and "rad" and things like that. He can really play, in his own way. Sang loudly and strongly, muchly. He's currently jamming w/ some other guys on A Perfect Circle etc songs in the Hall of Aspiration.

23:30
Some part of the Easter service is happening in the church. The door from there to this hallway is slightly open, and the singing and music (mandolins?) reverberate.

Was actually two concentric circles (60 and 40), in the Ballroom. Robert led a few circulations – on/off beat, inner/outer and reverse, 1/2,3 triplets. Last 2 or 3 beats of 8th bar tacit. Then he presented a bass part and arpeggios in C harmonic minor – new theme? [diagrams of the parts presented].

Restarted [heh] a couple times, then instructed us, "it's C harmonic minor – use your sense of musicality", turned off the lights. Stayed for a bit, then left. It went on for 10? minutes or so, with some improvisations going on. A few minutes of quiet after, then people left. Went outside for 20 minutes. Clear and cold, bright waning moon.

Day 3

Friday, April 14 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
9:54

Missed T'ai Chi, oops. Worked on Where Is The Nurse w/ Alejandro and Roberto, refreshing A. on the lead. Once through MF at around 96. Another very twitchy sitting this morning. Sounded like someone to my left was scratching / shifting constantly, for over a minute once. Showered after breakfast. Division of Attention at 10:30 w/ Alain: "Level Three", meaning by him "you can handle 5 against 3". Could be interesting.

On Tea today, meeting at 2:45. It's Good Friday, I hear.

12:37
Cold outside today. Chilly, w/ a breeze. Everyone is inside, hard to find a spot to practice. Tried outside for 10 minutes or so. The L1 are in the ballroom, w/o guitars – circulating claps, now moving from side to side (probably clapping in 5 and/or 7 or something like that?).

The Division of Attention thing was over quickly for me. Alain showed L-R-R in the feet and L-R-R-L-R in the hands. If you couldn't do that, go practice. So I did. Only got it a couple times. Hard to focus in this environment. Will miss and AT lie-down, working tea. Alejandro wants to play La Mer (NIN, not Debussy) – he knows all the parts apparently. Interested to hear it – the drums really make it, IMO.

17:36
Tea was only a little crazy. Put out 12 baskets of bread, 8 trays of cookies. About one of each left. Went through 7 or 8 thermoses of water, 3 or 4 of coffee.

Sat in one of the green chairs to write this (plastic stacking things, kind of like patio furniture) and it broke. Crashed to the ground. The feet splayed a bit when I sat. I looked down and saw how much, didn't quite finish the thought, "This isn't good", and down it went. Two legs broke off and the back split. Fell backwards for what seemed a very long time. Maybe ti was one leg then the other, as I remember a "what, there's more?" feeling on the way down. Didn't hit my head, but cramped a few muscles tensing on the way down. Was quite close to the glass doors dividing the hallway, half expected to hit my head, but didn't. Landed on my back. Maybe I'm accident prone today – broke a plate in the kitchen earlier. Eek.

20:24
Dinner: rice (long-grain), coleslaw, sponge-cake roll w/ dulce de leche for dessert. 5? performances: Big Time, Zum, Kiel folks, Alain (playing a Warr Artisan through a little amp), Alejandro (who got "the tooth"). BR and TR presented the new guidelines for clean-up. Big Circle (or "Supercircle") scheduled for 9:30.

24:00
Tome led some circulations in C major for three concentric circles. Then a quasi-group-loop (gave one group a line, then ours picked something (each) to play), then more parts, solos, DK singing, and organized "Hoo!" and "Ha!" and "Aaahhh!" sounds from groups. Some dynamic arrangement, start/stop, went on for 20 minutes? A note from Tony about banking energy. Sat outside for 20 minutes or so. Full moon (last night?), clouds moving over. Good sense of the scale, on this planet w/ the clouds and the moon/stars. Some hot tea. Music For a Found Harmonium group session in the hall w/ Curt and a chunk of people. Then some La Mer w/ Alejandro, Igor, Glenn. Igor hates the song, so showed Glenn his part. Not sure if I want to play it. I'm on dinner tomorrow.

Day 2

Thursday, April 13 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:47

First day I didn't wake up before the alarm. Well, I'm not sure, but I was definitely surprised when my alarm went off. Though it must be someone else's, set earlier. Very distracting sitting – lights were on where I sat (stage end), figured they get turned off. Many twitchy folks near me. Sniffles, restless legs, scratching their ass (OK, back and/or legs). On the housework team at 10;15. People up late last night – Igor until 1:30 he said.

12:00
A bit of a chilly breeze today (a bit chilly, more than a bit of breeze). MF a few times w/ AM, then T'ai Chi at 9:15, it was good. In the terrace, cold though. 10:15 – sweeping hallways for 30 minutes. MF a couple more times w/ Igor. Practiced Not My Sharona, lead. Then a trill exercise like the Trapiche trills (RH continues picking pattern while LH is playing the trill) but in 5 – ended up w/ a fiendish twist on the NMS lead.

When the sun comes out it's not so cold out here. There are more women on this course (proportionally) than any previous for me. Last year's may have been close.

21:13
Dinner was OK. Lentils w/ onion, potato. Carrot salad. Portions were a bit meager, but that was good because we almost ran out. One performance – The Oiled? Quintet. Long rambling piece became a sing-along. Apple crisp for dessert. Met w/ RF at 16:50.

Four? performances at lunch. Missed one at tea, working on dinner. At dinner, was 7 from Argentina/Ecuador (Luis Cagnolo, Victoria C, Ruth, Horacio, Claudio, Martin, Fabio) plus me and Barbara from Austria. Everyone speaks some English, but Espanol was definitely the language of the day. Worked fairly well anyway.

Easter celebrations in the church next door. Incense fills the halls.

Tiles

tiles
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

First Day of Course

Wednesday, April 12 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
8:39

Woke up at 5:30 w/ a stomach ache. Despaired about it getting better by the sitting. Spent some time in the bathroom to no avail. Not much (and now, no) toilet paper anyway. Last minute decision to attend the sitting. Was OK. Someone had a problem though – a seizure? groaning/growling and shaking. Some nearby folks attended to her. A strange punctuation to the sitting.

Figured out what to do about the guitar. As I lay in bed last night: wind the string the other way around the post. Success! I still have to carry the tuner knob around, and remember that I should turn it the "wrong" way, but much better.

Think I will shower now, if it's free. Hoping I feel better while working on lunch. Also hoping more toilet paper arrives.

16:38
Feeling better. Lunch was good. "Leftover soufflé" w/ a corn/onions side and coleslaw. Inaugural meeting was 3 hours – Lunch team made introductions, then went to do that. Got the summary later from Mary Beth.

AT lesson w/ KT at 15:15. Back sore. Need to release lower back (release hips, really).

20:52
Dinner: eggplant w/ a bit of red sauce and cheese. Mostly tasted OK, some nasty. Plus some mashed squash and slices of some sort of potato. Some observations and comments about the day. DK: loving the eggplant wile preparing it. Flan w/ dulce de leche and caramel for dessert. Yum. Sat outside for a bit (cloudy, then not). Worked on Moving Force a couple times w/ Alejandro M. Earlier, worked outside w/ Igor, AM, and Pablo. MF, Calliope, T3R, then EOTN w/ Pablo. Showed him a bit of triangulation. Igor and I worked on Red a bit, not agreeing on much.

23:31
KT circle in dining room at 21:30. Awkward at first, circling up + people kept arriving. Glenn requested it at dinner, so figured he was running the show. EOTN, free circulation, some dual circulation. Much dissonance, some of it good. Needed an official translator. Glenn talked, a bunch didn't understand, funny things happened. Trying to organize Hope failed rather miserably, then somehow worked. Broke into a smaller group (RobR, Glenn, me, Carolina, Jorge Salinas, Ruth), mostly played IBE and Askesis.

On the dinner team tomorrow. Currently sitting in the "Hall of Aspiration", Glenn typing on his IMac; Igor and Tim Butler riffing Bach in harmonic minor (actually just playing with the harmonic minor scale).

Further (and late) Arrivals

Tuesday, April 11 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
19:04

Dinner pushed back to 7:30, not sure why. Coffee/tea duty hasn't been too bad, though of 5 scheduled, two were / are not here yet. Seattle folks delayed – ATL instead of DFW, then missed connection at SCL. Should be here soon? Very good lunch – potato/carrot/etc mash-up, fried? butternut squash (baked probably), coleslaw. More gorgeous weather. Lots of arrivals today, over 100 now total? List of attendees posted. Continuing to use IF's guitar. Strings getting very dead.

Glenn's power adapter for his IMac exploded. Plug adapter -> voltage adapter -> wallwart. The voltage adapter started smelling like hot electronics. Then when he unplugged / plugged it, it went "bang!". No external damage or injury (this was in the Hall of Aspiration, I was doing a lie-down and he and Mary Beth were working on a circulated piece).

23:29
Dinner: polenta, peas/broccoli/onions, shredded carrots. Yummy. Dessert was a pear crisp w/ custard and cream. Mmm. Coffee station wasn't too crazy but kept me and Pablo and Gabriel busy until late. Zum performed at 9:30 in the ballroom. A few new bits, including an extended jazz fantasy in the middle of a piece (it was I Wish). Excellent performance. Schedule tomorrow: on lunch at 10 AM. 10 is also the inaugural meeting. Not tonight as Curt, Bill, Sandra, and Rob didn't arrive until late in dinner. Much energy tonight. By this time last night, most were in bed. Large circle down the hall riffing on something diminished.

Pablo showed me part of a Bach piece – a Gavotte? Something in 6/8. Fun, but one bit that is eluding me. Igor does not have the screws I need. So, not sure if/when IF will need his guitar back. He's still very busy facilitating. A, hah, he just found me and asked for it back.

bunnies

bunnies
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

Arrivals, Kitchen / House Prep

Monday, April 10 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
09:00

Looks to be another gorgeous dsunny day. Sitting at 7:30 this morning, 30 minutes, went by quickly. Breakfast: very dry "granola" (mueslix actually), w/ vanilla yogurt (yellow), fresh apple slices, coffee (very strong coffee here), crackers w/ quince jam (good). Quick shower after that. Though there would be no hot water, then it showed up. Drain in the shower barely works. Not sure what's in store for today yet (besides doing dinner).

13:48
Lunch: cabbage / cauliflower / rice. Surprisingly good. Ignacio F. loaned me his guitar for the day. Pretty nice, old strings though. Put new ones on mine too. His looks / plays "Igor-ized", nice low action at the nut but not too low higher up (actually a bit high).

Twice this morning, a car / truck drove by w/ some repeated message blaring. Couldn't tell what it was saying. "Vote for Pedro"? Mid-60s again today. Very nice. Two hours until dinner prep. Not sure how I'll spend it.

21:30
Done with dinner. Ran long as some arrivals at 8:30 needed to be fed. Pasta (tubes) w/ tomato+onion sauce. Pasta overcooked (impractical to shock 12 bags worth) and then crushed under it's own weight. Lettuce salad with lemon vinaigrette. The lettuce was nasty, many bugs (before prep, of course). 60? people served. Team: Alain C, Sylvain (chief cook), Jorge Salinas, Haruko, me.

Schedule has me on coffee tomorrow. W/ 4 others, including BR and Pablo. Long silence at dinner. I was very resistant. Wanted to eat. There's a mob of guitarists in my room currently.

Wondering what the property next door is. Two very large fountains, what looks kind of like a Buddhist temple. Cactus. (haha, turned out to be a grappa distillery).

garden_night

garden_night
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

First day in Argentina

Sunday, April 9 2006
Lunlunta, Argentina
18:21

Arrived, at least somewhat. Guitar got busted – batter box fell out again, and a screw holding the 1st string tuner to gether fell out and disappeared. The batter I can live without, however it looks impossible to tune the G w/o the screw. Once there's any tension, the worm gear wants to translate instead of turning the post. Filed a claim (Ignacio F.'s idea really), we'll see.

The facility is beautiful. Stucco, cinder roof shakes. Lots of plants. Sunny courtyard. Temp in the 60s. Butternut squash and potatos for lunch. Napped for 3-4 hours after that. Rooming w/ Glenn Hughes, Juan Piola, Billy Johnson, Alejandro Miniaci, and 5-6 guys I don't know (Leo Ferrari, Leo ?, Gabriel ?, Fabian Romero I'd met in LM, and later Marcos Riberas).

The flights were uneventful. No real sleep on the DFW-SCL leg. Guy in front of me put seat back. Movie was Elizabethtown – looked interesting but didn't feel like watching. Thunderstorm over Mexico? somewhere. Lots of lightning. Tried to get a picture, w/ mixed results. Andes are interesting – not much snow, they just don't look that high. Santiago airport a little creepy, though it was early Sunday (so fairly empty). Mendoza very small. No problem w/ passport, and no customs officials at all. Alessandro (L1 from IT) had his luggage lost.

21:29
Spent some time in the garden. Very nice, and an apple orchard w/ grape arbor. Does start to get chilly in the after noon. Practice what I could w/o the top string. Dinner: salad w/ fennel, brown rice, caramelized onions. Went back out to the garden, took some night photos with mixed results. I am on dinner tomorrow, w/ 5? others. Meeting at 4:00. Don’t know the schedule other than that. There's a smallish room off of the chapel – good acoustics. Tried some singing. Not sure how audible it was outside / next door.

30-40 or so here already, lots more to come. Quite a few from LM 2003. Not sure who's arriving tomorrow. Think Curt and the others arrive Tuesday morning? Hoping Igor has spare screws in his kit.

Tuesday

Tuesday, April 4 2006
25:11

So, apparently the graffiti in Prague of the old woman and the ostrich that I photographed on my trip there in 1996, was around as early as 1994. Someone on Flickr linked a picture they took in 1994. Google doesn't turn up much, except someone else's picture of the scene, with a ? next to it. The old woman is from an Albrecht Durer image of his mother; nobody has any idea why the artist put the bird (it just doesn't quite look like an ostrich, but it's not an emu or a rhea either) next to her. The art looks like a charcoal drawing, but of course that wouldn't have lasted two years on a concrete wall.

Car music: Pixies - Doolittle; Bali – Golden Rain

Prague Graffiti

Prague Graffiti
Originally uploaded by taylorsherman.

Sunday

Sunday, April 2 2006
24:44

Listening to the two preview tracks available on Mick Karn's MySpace page. Interesting. Looking forward to the new album. Oh, and the new Tool album too, which comes out even sooner (one month from today, in fact).

Got caught by surprise by Daylight Saving Time today. When my alarm went off this morning, I cancelled it and went back to sleep, deciding to miss the 10 AM TTA set work session. Then, later in the day, realized that even if I had gotten out of bed, I'd have been an hour late. Picked up a few travel-accessory type items today – money belt, luggage locks (they have them keyed now so that TSA can open them), a neck pillow. Also, some cheap sheets to take with me, and some duct tape to seal off the cracks in the guitar case.

Watched the 1981 show from the New Order 316 DVD. Great music, warts and all.