Wah! Two weeks from today I will be on the trail.
Had a lovely afternoon playing some portable-percussion on WGDR radio yesterday. Performed bits and excerpts of ‘To The Earth’ by Rzewski, ‘Woods Talk’ by Jacob Mashak, and ‘The Forest at South Field’ by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz. Talked about isorhythms, synaesthesia, the light-up drumkit in my brain … and other general thinkies.
I’m working the repertoire. Chunking and colour-coding sections for memorization. Working on my own little compositions that (after James Tenney’s ‘Postal Pieces’) will be notated on one side of a postcard and performed with/without electronics from field recordings. A similar idea to me playing drums with the San Francisco sealions here:
I’m maintaining my training. Mostly, this is 4-10 miles, most days, running or biking. The occasional wild swim when it’s warm enough and I feel safe (I have a relative-risk flowchart for making the decision whether to swim in any given situation). Receiving very serious unsolicited advice about poison ivy from a little lad on the trail this week (“it’ll poison you real quick!”). Proving that non-DEET bug repellent just doesn’t work. Seeing centipedes and big frogs and irritable woodpeckers and inevitably getting startled – leaping with balled fists at chin height, an impractical startle response -- by chipmunks.
I need to do a day-hike with the gear I’m taking on the trail. I found my old, big, Eurohike backpack in the basement, and I think – if I can replace the missing buckle-side on the waist strap, and get a rain cover – that this will do. I need to get a stove.
Any questions?
