I Have To Break Into Song, Because I Can Never Find The Key

I've taken some time out of worrying about the construction and deconstruction, the noise and the louder noise, to pay more attention to the music in my life. Truth be told, it's all but disappeared. My iPod has been broken or constantly dying for years, and even at work I listen more to information-related podcasts than anything that could be considered to have a melody.

Time to change. I've recently taken up the harmonica, having bought myself a basic Hohner Special 20 Marine Band harp in the key of C. Learning that it's actually not easy to instantly become proficient on this instrument, I also picked up a book and started looking around online for ideas of what to learn. Poking around the internet, I stumbled across this Mu Beta Psi blues riff written by an alumnus of my college and Fraternity. (Audio below this paragraph.) I was thrilled to discover this, and am trying to contact WillyBlues to thank him for the riff and get in touch with a fellow alumnus.



Meanwhile, I've also finally given up on my old iPod, and bought a new iPod Touch. It arrived yesterday, and it is a thing of beauty. Today was the first time in over a year that I was able to listen to music on the subway ride to work. And quite unsurprisingly, it was the first day I felt calm in the Times Square subway station in about as long.

"Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes

An American Tragedy

What do you do if you are truly a creature of circumstance? How do you not let things spiral out of control? How do you respond when they do regardless?

At what point do you assume responsibility?

If It Ain't Baroque....

Last night I went to a Baroque ensemble concert to hear a close friend sing on stage for the very first time in the nearly three years of our friendship. There is something absolutely amazing about watching someone you care about do something they love--and do it incredibly well. Even though I knew the song, having heard it practiced once or twice before the concert, I was on edge every second waiting for the next note. It was lovely.

What could have possibly made the evening any better? A pleasant dinner, friends coming to the concert, and other recent acquaintances performing as well.

"Well, we can't all come and go by bubble!"

Broadway. The glitz, the glamour, the incredibly expensive tickets. But not for the more enterprising, or at least the more flexible. For cheap tickets, people flock to the TKTS stand in Times Square, or sit by box office windows early in the morning, or drop their names in hats just before showtime. Recently, a friend and I entered the lottery to see Wicked, and won! For just $25 each, we had front-row seats to a great show.

I'm not going to review, critique, or even describe. The music, acting, costumes, and all those exquisite little details were simply wonderful. Go see it for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

I still have the songs in my head.