Starts tomorrow. Been another long time since I posted. Finals are over, grades were great, music has been great. Played the best concert of my life on Friday. Definitely a highpoint of my life. And I was even on keyboards, not drums! I also rapped express yourself and gettin jiggy with it. Quite the day. Last Thursday saw my last Club Soda and Offbeat, both of which were very emotional. Last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly finals and then relaxation after finals. I think I went down to Midtown comics and guitar center on one of the days. Also rehearsals for the Friday show.
The floor is empty now, except my neighbor Malik who I don't really like. Guys came in to install air conditioners for the summer today. Thanks Columbia.
My Grandpa came to NYC today for the first time in decades. All for me. My parents are here to. It was a really nice day and evening, had a great steak and great drinks and great conversations. Pretty emotional now, but getting ready for everything coming forward. Hopefully tomorrow our Metrophono concert for parents happens and goes well. Right now I'm emotionally singing along to D'Angelo. I'm in really love with you.
Hanging up my cap and gown to straighten them out before Class Day tomorrow morning. What a ride.
Si Tu Vois Ma Mere, Sidney Bechet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkdCr9HlRE0
Monday, May 18, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Finals
Haven't written in a long long while, finals will do that I guess. I've had my fill of writing for the past week or so. Pages and pages. And still more pages to come. All good though, and exciting! Hopefully some job stuff comes my way soon, I'm seeing about it now. In other news, not much in other news. Today is Mother's day, called the momma and even the grandmama. I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron yesterday and it was great! I was pleasantly surprised. Now I've been writing papers and watching soccer and writing cover letters, also I took the swim test today. I had to bail on movie watching with Thuto, which I felt bad about, but hopefully we'll see Mad Max next weekend, and with Lizzy! Now I'm going to watch Game of Thrones and go to sleep. Very sleepy, but tomorrow should be alright. Just got 2 quick essays to write. Onwards and upwards!
Some Calypso music which I wrote about a bit today. Uncle Joe, with even a little Carmen at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AES-P51gzgY
Some Calypso music which I wrote about a bit today. Uncle Joe, with even a little Carmen at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AES-P51gzgY
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Fight of the Century
What a wonderful day today! I started off with my last drum lesson with Tony, which was a good duo combo playing with Beulah that went well and got good feedback from Tony. I'm still very emotional about it being my last lesson, and if I stay in NY (which it's looking I will) I plan on scheduling more lessons with him, outside of Columbia.
After that I walked down to 96th St. in beautiful sunshine (the 1 was not running downtown from 116, but I didn't mind). I got a banana along the way with change at a street cart. It was delicious.
I arrived at Times Square for Free Comic Day at Midtown Comics. The free selection was plentiful, I got All-New Avengers, Secret Wars, DC Divergence, and two kids comics. I liked All-New Avengers the best. DC was a bit lacking. I also bought the final chapter of the Black Vortex saga to support the store. I guess I owe them after reading the whole saga for free in their store.
Before I entered midtown comics and after I exited the subway however, I encountered a great Egyptian band playing on 7th ave and 41st. They were there to promote tourism to Egypt, which I thought was a bit odd but they sounded great so I enjoyed it. They had a few people dressed in Egypt costumes dancing, and balloons attached to a sign reading "Travel to Egypt". When I left midtown comics they were still playing, and they released the balloons to the crowd's pleasure watching them fly up into the Times Square buildings.
I walked uptown towards the park to read my comics, but drifted towards the MoMa and ended up walking in to see if my ID got me free entry. It did, so I spent an hour or so wandering the MoMa and enjoying the art, enjoying the sixth floor most of all. The collection of Monet's, Magritte's, Picasso's and Van Gogh's there is astounding, and the whole floor is spectacular. The Monet Water Lily room remains a favorite of mine, I think it would be difficult to be unhappy or stressed in there.
I left the MoMa and journeyed onward to the park, stopping at the entrance to get two sausages from a cart vendor for far too much money, but they were delicious and better than the hot dogs I'd been planning to get. I ate one at a table at the Columbus Circle entrance, then walked into the park and sunshine to read some comics. I read the All-New Avengers, moved further into the park chasing the sunshine, and settled at a nice bench next to a softball game to read another. As the sun drifted it started to get chilly, so I walked to the 72 st. station and subwayed back uptown, to finish reading the stack of comics in my room. The end of the Black Vortex saga was particularly nice, and not just because I'd paid for it (though that lent it some extra reverence).
I was tired then and relaxed for a while, watch Louie and some of the Spring 2015 4CCup, then called a bunch of bars to find that the Mayweather-Pacquiao was either not showing or costing 25$. Because of this I had to scrap my viewing plans with Kevin, though it may have been for the best because the fight was very boring. Lots of missed punches and running away.
I also learned that David found two roommates already in Bed-Stuy, which I wasn't expecting, so I sadly won't be leaving there. I'd been looking forward to that, though probably hyping it up too much. I think just the idea of living with musicians and having a piano in my apartment sounded nice. I can probably just get cousin John's keyboard from Denis and Melinda's, and if my future roommates aren't musicians that's more reason for me to get out of the house (apartment) and seek my musician friends out.
Lots of trepidation and panic and nerve wracking about my future, but also lots of hope and excitement and WORK, which is good. I need to do more work. Tomorrow I write a Shakespeare paper, let's hope it's good. My wit needs a whetstone to sharpen its steel. Even that wasn't a very witty sentence. All the more reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI
My Favorite Things, by John Coltrane, something my day was filled with.
Oh also I went to WKCR and hung out with Stepan at Saturday Night at the Opera for a while, though I was too preoccupied with my worries and trying to find a stream for the fight to be a good hang outer. I'll go back next week and connect more. Stepan is great and his passion for opera is inspiring.
After that I walked down to 96th St. in beautiful sunshine (the 1 was not running downtown from 116, but I didn't mind). I got a banana along the way with change at a street cart. It was delicious.
I arrived at Times Square for Free Comic Day at Midtown Comics. The free selection was plentiful, I got All-New Avengers, Secret Wars, DC Divergence, and two kids comics. I liked All-New Avengers the best. DC was a bit lacking. I also bought the final chapter of the Black Vortex saga to support the store. I guess I owe them after reading the whole saga for free in their store.
Before I entered midtown comics and after I exited the subway however, I encountered a great Egyptian band playing on 7th ave and 41st. They were there to promote tourism to Egypt, which I thought was a bit odd but they sounded great so I enjoyed it. They had a few people dressed in Egypt costumes dancing, and balloons attached to a sign reading "Travel to Egypt". When I left midtown comics they were still playing, and they released the balloons to the crowd's pleasure watching them fly up into the Times Square buildings.
I walked uptown towards the park to read my comics, but drifted towards the MoMa and ended up walking in to see if my ID got me free entry. It did, so I spent an hour or so wandering the MoMa and enjoying the art, enjoying the sixth floor most of all. The collection of Monet's, Magritte's, Picasso's and Van Gogh's there is astounding, and the whole floor is spectacular. The Monet Water Lily room remains a favorite of mine, I think it would be difficult to be unhappy or stressed in there.
I left the MoMa and journeyed onward to the park, stopping at the entrance to get two sausages from a cart vendor for far too much money, but they were delicious and better than the hot dogs I'd been planning to get. I ate one at a table at the Columbus Circle entrance, then walked into the park and sunshine to read some comics. I read the All-New Avengers, moved further into the park chasing the sunshine, and settled at a nice bench next to a softball game to read another. As the sun drifted it started to get chilly, so I walked to the 72 st. station and subwayed back uptown, to finish reading the stack of comics in my room. The end of the Black Vortex saga was particularly nice, and not just because I'd paid for it (though that lent it some extra reverence).
I was tired then and relaxed for a while, watch Louie and some of the Spring 2015 4CCup, then called a bunch of bars to find that the Mayweather-Pacquiao was either not showing or costing 25$. Because of this I had to scrap my viewing plans with Kevin, though it may have been for the best because the fight was very boring. Lots of missed punches and running away.
I also learned that David found two roommates already in Bed-Stuy, which I wasn't expecting, so I sadly won't be leaving there. I'd been looking forward to that, though probably hyping it up too much. I think just the idea of living with musicians and having a piano in my apartment sounded nice. I can probably just get cousin John's keyboard from Denis and Melinda's, and if my future roommates aren't musicians that's more reason for me to get out of the house (apartment) and seek my musician friends out.
Lots of trepidation and panic and nerve wracking about my future, but also lots of hope and excitement and WORK, which is good. I need to do more work. Tomorrow I write a Shakespeare paper, let's hope it's good. My wit needs a whetstone to sharpen its steel. Even that wasn't a very witty sentence. All the more reason.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWG2dsXV5HI
My Favorite Things, by John Coltrane, something my day was filled with.
Oh also I went to WKCR and hung out with Stepan at Saturday Night at the Opera for a while, though I was too preoccupied with my worries and trying to find a stream for the fight to be a good hang outer. I'll go back next week and connect more. Stepan is great and his passion for opera is inspiring.
Midnight Shakespeare
Health has markedly improved since last post! Still a bit sluggish, but I worked out today so that should be a good sign. Spent a lazy Friday mostly in bed, watching Daredevil and soccer, then went out and played drums, played pool, and saw the Columbia Shakespeare company do Much Ado About Nothing at midnight! A fun time running around campus seeing a great version of one of my favorite plays. Anna came too, it was fun to hang out with her. Gemma from my freshman lithum class played Beatrice and was phenomenal. I kind of want to marry her. Not really joking. Ione played Hero and was also great! Now I'm lying in bed again watching Giants highlights (wearing a Giants shirt) and thinking about how tough it would be to play like Charlie Parker, but it would also be fun. I want to have Questlove's life, and ?uestlove works hard, so I need to work hard. Cowards die many times before their deaths, so I must become valiant and let die only my cowardly life. I have to write a Shakespeare paper on Sunday that I'm still not sure what about.
I wrote a 10-page paper on Duke Ellington and his WWII radio broadcasts on Wednesday, his birthday, very proud of that. Monday and Tuesday were fun but flued, so more of a blur. Lots of last classes coming up. Jazz was an amazing semester and Prof. Washburne is an amazing teacher. I love learning, I hope I learn as much at whatever job I get as I am learning now.
More to come later, it's late now. Maybe I'll write a play one day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuItUv9xZc
Anthropology, by Charlie Parker. Reading along with the transcribed solo, you realize how ridiculously crazily good and difficult this is.
I wrote a 10-page paper on Duke Ellington and his WWII radio broadcasts on Wednesday, his birthday, very proud of that. Monday and Tuesday were fun but flued, so more of a blur. Lots of last classes coming up. Jazz was an amazing semester and Prof. Washburne is an amazing teacher. I love learning, I hope I learn as much at whatever job I get as I am learning now.
More to come later, it's late now. Maybe I'll write a play one day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMuItUv9xZc
Anthropology, by Charlie Parker. Reading along with the transcribed solo, you realize how ridiculously crazily good and difficult this is.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)