Inverse Origami (1998) now on Google

My very first chapbook (from 1998),  Inverse Origami - the art of unfolding is now available for reading though Google Books....   If you visit its page on books.google.com/  you can download a pdf file of the book via a dropdown menu on the upper right. Or you can view a full text preview on this page by either scrolling down, or clicking the arrows, or jumping to the table of contents and clicking on each poem title. Very cool, Google!!!

I started this process around Xmas of last year - sent off the package and documentation, and never heard anymore about it. Just this week, it came online!  I sent the physical book in to be scanned as the publication's original MS Publisher file predated Windows XP, and was so antiquated as to be unopenable.  Though I have second thoughts about the 2012 cover and front matter, the rest is reasonably presentable for something captured in an automated scan.

  I also have also discovered I can make a ebook pdf on Google docs. So more books are coming.  Hurray!

Philosophy from my past - a 1982 journal entry

I found an old journal of mine in the basement - a book in pen on paper. Some entries I think I will post. :)

This is the very first, from January 4, 1982 -- long before blogs, before cell phones, before I had email, or even a computer.   I was fighting sadness:

     There are no whys.

     There are only nows,
     spanning eternity end to end,
     like points in a line, infinite,
     yet each in strident isolation.

     I am sick of whys.
     Whys stink of pain.
     Give me distraction: the eternal present.
     The kingdom of contentment is "NOW."

     Life needs no reason.
     Life is reason enough.
                   
                           -- Mad Mar (Mistryel) Walker

Library Concerts: Berkshire Big Band - WOW

I cannot say enough good things about the Berkshire Big Band.  I saw them at the Brookfield Library on March 18 - a free concert - and it was just incredible. (Library concerts are wonderful that way.)

 "They're going to knock your socks off" Victoria Munoz, who is a sax player with the band, told me before the show. She was right. The sound of those smooth brass harmonies flowed over me like a wave! They are just amazing: The playing is tight, nuanced, totally danceable. They present each piece in the frame of its history, cut across styles and do it well, play things you don't expect or things you do in a way you didn't.  For this show, there were tunes or arrangements by Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Count Basie, Buddy Rich and more.  There was a vocalist too Jan Maki.  It was a wonderful show. Go see them.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Berkshire-Big-Band/75080779193

Paddies Day Part 2: Killian Troupe at Molten

Three heads are better than one they say. On Paddies Day evening I caught the first performance ever of a new trio: the Killian Troupe at Molten Java in Bethel. It's an acoustic trio where all three sing and write songs.



It's comprised of Richard King, (upper right)  Cassandra Mulcahy (upper left) and Jeff Smith (lower left). This was their very first show as a group. Though there are a few instrumental kinks to work out,  the result will be quite nice judging by Saturday's performance. Their vocal harmonies were wonderful, and they can also each take the spot light for a song or more or swap out instruments to lend variety to the show.






Each of these independent musicians/songwriters brings different strengths and skills to the group and this may play out well over the long haul:

• Jeff Smith  brings a relentless melancholy musicianship and songwriting to his own songs, that is emotive and somehow transcendent. He also brings guitar and mandolin, both accompaniment and lead.
• Cassandra Mulcahy, a music therapist, brings a counterbalancing joy and delight in life, an impish loving song-writing charm on guitar, keyboard and bass guitar chops too.
• Finally Richard King who bills himself as "The Old Picker" brings a lifetime of performing as a folk/country player. With it come a sense of pacing and that solid entertainer's patter to the audience which is almost always lacking in the shows of beginning musicians and songwriters who are so busy feeling their music that they forget they must be showmen too.

You can find out more, and click "like" on their Killian Troupe Facebook page where there are links to their individual pages.

Paddies Day Part 1: Flowers & Music at Art and Frame

Jen Vanderlyn and some of the Flowers wall display.

Art and Frame in Danbury (on Route 6) stages some really nice art show openings and this Paddies Day event was no exception.  There's eye candy on the walls, tasty interesting food & wine  - and to ice the cake, there's live music.

Jen Venderlyn

The music on Paddies Day was Jen Vanderlyn who is half the sisters folk/rock duo Free Thought.   She has a great voice and compelling original material. I really can't wait to hear the whole duo in August. For information or to hear some wonderful samples from CDBaby visit their website at FreethoughMusic.WordPress.com

The Flowers show runs through April 29th. You can see what else is up at Art and Frame at http://artandframeofdanbury.com/

the table!

Serendipity: an accidental photo

This photo about sums up my week. First I've felt like a big oppressive hand was getting ready to grab me by the scruff. (And it was I had a day-long migraine the day after I wrote this.) Second I feel like the puzzle of my life is ahhh still well, a puzzle.

The photo to the right didn't start out as a a trick pic. It  was taken accidentally on Enders Island as I was walking around snapping pictures. I turned and swung around and must have taken a picture while not aiming.... The frame captured the horizon and my hand, all out of scale...  Serendipity!

It was subsequently finessed in the online photo editor "Picnik" using a Puzzle effect and a frame effect - two of the effects Google, (which owns Picnik) hasn't seen fit to port over to the Google Plus "Creative Kit" Unfortunately Picnik will close in April and we will be stuck with a much more limited array of possibilities than previously. Lately I've begun wondering if Picasa Web Gallerys are going away eventually as well, tucked into G+.  I wouldn't mind but they always leave out some little functionality or other that I had admired and that worked well for me.

Oh well.

Danbury Library Concerts - The Kerry Boys

This past Saturday morning at 11 am - I was down at the Danbury Public library, already caffeinated, with ears perked and ready. Besides browsing among the books - I was there to hear the Kerry Boys, or at least two of them do their musical Irish thing....  The event was well-attended and there were lots of wee folk and I am not talking the little green kind of Irish folk lore. It's good to see a new generation getting hooked on live music.  Pierce Campbell led the kids in a series of hand motions to the Unicorn song which was a big hit with the younger set.

 The able fellow on banjo and mandolin was a great foil to Campbell's quips. They did some original Irish drinking songs and took favorities requests from the audience. On of the requests was O Danny Boy. Campbell was in excellent voice and did a really nice job on that tune. I needed a tissue.   Thanks to those Kerry Boys, and the Danbury Library. For information check out the Kerry Boys website and Pierce Campbell who also plays and sings original folk and jazz. Givea listen. Get on their mailing lists!