Melodious Phantom

Music with Mike. Usually Thursdays approx: 630 – 10 pm

Things went much better this week. YAY!
All my work with the timing really paid off, which is good because I burnt out on one or two of the songs. But when we grooved to them much better then last time, it was totally worth it and really fun.

Thank Heavens timing can be learned.
But exactly the right amount of wine does seem to help. :)

Here is a list of some of the songs we are working on. If you are familiar with them you know the timing is tricky in a few of them and even changes in places.

You can You Tube them, but I will try to get some links posted too.


Aretha: Preacher man
Norah Jones: Sunrise Sunrise
Keep Calling

Old standard: I could write a book
Nickleback: Long Time coming
Shawn Colvin New Thing Now
Eva Cassidy Say Goodbye


We are now working on the bridge and key change in Preacher man, the doo doo's in Say Goodbye, and the harmonies in Long Time Coming.

So many of the songs I would like to tackle are so Big Band, and need a horn section, But I have to say Mike was pretty impressive doing the lead in with the guitar on the Aretha tune.

Response to Reading

My first reading selection was from "Women Who Run With the Wolves", by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD.

Here it is:

Chapter 6:
Finding Ones Pack: Belonging as a Blessing
a brief summary with a few comments and observations of my own.

This is the story of the ugly duckling. He does not fit into his seeming family of origin and must move ever onward in his quest for belonging, acceptance. Sometimes he seems to be accepted for awhile, but some wild part of his soul is always left outside of the arrangement, hungry, unfulfilled, until eventually he is cast out again and again and must venture onward striving to survive, and feed his wild and beautiful soul, and simply be.

There is a saying I heard once in the early 1990's. “Pain pushes until the vision pulls” . I don't know who said it, but I do know that it has so often been true in my own life. Things get messier and messier, and more and more painful, when they just are not working anymore. If I can give myself permission to step outside the box, the confines of the culture or society in which I have found temporary asylum, and do something different, anything at all, I can sometimes grasp the vision that leads me to my next, and better home. But when I fight it, or hold on, or can't find trust in the divine, or clear inner perception, life or the situation can get very messy indeed. Trying to survive while ones soul is starving for recognition, for beauty, for acceptance, wears down ones defenses, ones resiliency. It can and has become life threatening for many at one time or another.

Eventually the ugly duckling does find his pack, the others like himself and they recognize him long before he comes to realize he is home at last. When one is born or lives to long on the fringe, outside of ones true family, true pack, ones senses and perceptions become dazed, fragmented, clouded by the mere effort of survival in many an inhospitable place. It takes time to recover, to recognize safety, to hear the song you are singing and realize its being sung by another. This time of transition, can seem surreal, dreamlike, and the duckling finds himself in a tentative un -trusting wonder at his new environment. He may be numb and toss wildly back and forth within his own skin and psyche as he begins to believe his own reflection and his own senses that the others are in some way actually like himself.

How do we get there? Ms. Pinkola Estes states that we must hold on, hold out, and keep searching, keep doing our work, keep creating our art, believing it will carry us to our pack. Trusting that it and we will at last be recognized by those to whom we belong, instead of those who would merely use us for their own agendas. Thus the duckling and the exiled wild woman (or man) both, begin to learn what it might mean to thrive, rather then merely survive. A different initiation, the next step and a journey of its own.

Garden party

Today I will visit Luna at her garden work party, after I try to hit up Media Loan for a camera.

I am having a small crises that I lost the CD with the songs I need to practice. Its been in my car, until 2 days ago and now I cant seem to find it anywhere. Thought it was in the CD player.

I have also been lax in my reading with all the activities and work. Its also hard for me to read anything else when I am working with a Course In Miracles... oops

Yesterday I spent 5 hours on the computer getting documents together to apply for the OFS job, -which I am perfect for, and finally sent it all off. Then today I found 4 typos in the email I sent with it. *cringe* aaaghh.

Bless it JIM! I am a people person not a typist.

ahh blog account...

Ok. I have now successfully opened my blog account and fed in the "blog" I had been creating in my computer to document my progress. Yay! I have incorporated a bit more technology into my studies. All the entries prior to this one will have the same date, since I lifted them all in today. From here it should unfold more regularly.

I went to the Film Society meeting the other day to get on the Selection committee, for this years Film Festival. That was very exciting. Good to see you Hirsh. :) I hope to apply for the position as their next Volunteer coordinator as well. Enjoy the blog.
Thoughts and applications of the reading to come start soon.

What are these? Wings?

Week Three:

Its about time I got to some of the reading I committed to: I have to figure out how to get a hold of Hirsh’s Book “Centering” Meantime: Women who Run with Wolves, A course In Miracles, The Artists Way, and Your Hearts Desire. More about that later.


Met with Mark, and reviewed the remaining photos. Our initial shoot was about 600, which I reviewed on his computer, and brought down to about 400, by eliminating the ones that were less then flattering to me. We reviewed the rest of them together and he showed me how he works with color correction, and checks composition, and focus. From there we compared groups of photos that were all very similar, to eliminate even more shots, and brought the final total down to about 160. that was a lot of work and took several hours over two different days. I got a disc with the remaining photos, and Mark gets to post his favorites into his website portfolio.


Mike and I agreed not to meet for music this week, since he had some other things to take care of, and I really need to work on my timing more. I've been practicing a lot, but some of the songs we are working on start on the third beat or between the fourth and first, so they are hard to count out. Especially for me, since timing is the bain of my existence anyway. I have made a lot of progress on the songs but the timing issue is prevalent and embarrassing. I practice all the time in the car, and doing the dishes.

Lift Off

Week two:

Field Trip:
I rode the train for a weekend away. This type of traveling was an inspiration in itself, and I was able to start my summer quarter art journal with some beautiful new tools and inspirations. On Friday night I went Salsa dancing, and although I do not “know” how, I was whirled around the floor by a mix of eager and expert dancers. It was exhilarating and inspired some great sketches.

On Sunday I connected with a dear old friend, I had not seen “Kevin” in 19 years. How fortunate! This led to collaborations of theology, art and writing. He is studying animation. We are both back in school. We will continue to share film and music together.

Tuesday I connected with “Don” with whom I have a personal history and am emotionally inspired to draw and paint about. This is good fuel for my process, but I have to be careful because it is also easy to be distracted by his transgender problems.


Thursday: My second session with MIKE went well, and he began to realize my issues with timing in music. Which I had warned him about. He was very patient coaching me through it, and of course most of the songs I selected have complex and non standard timing in them so my work is cut out for the next week. We decided to skip next week to give me more time to work on it.


I registered for the Psychology of Dreams class for second session. I am very excited about it, even though it will up my work load, I think it will tie in with and inspire some of my collaborations and projects. My goal is to have the technical aspects of film and creativity well in hand for fall quarter. I expect to pursue my life’s dream research project, and need a broad base platform to start from. (my project is NOT about dreaming, but it is a lifelong dream to pursue making this film.)

Reveing up for Collaborations

Prep work:

In mid early to mid June, I made contact through Craig’s list with several artists and musicians. I choose to meet with a photographer and a guitar player to create independent collaborative opportunities. After initial meetings with each of them, I was able to create 2 initial collaborative contacts.

Week One:

The Guitar player: “Mike” plays with a regular group of guys, but was interested in exploring the more jazzy side of his usual folk venue. I am eager to utilize the gift of my voice and sing with other people. We agreed to get together weekly and see how it goes. We met with his wife downtown and enjoyed a glass of wine, and a discussion of what types of jazz we each enjoyed. We emailed links back and forth so we were really ready to work at our first session. After hearing me sing Mike suggested an Aretha song for me to learn. I was greatly flattered. He burned a CD of songs for me to learn and choose from.

The Photographer: “Mark” is a talented amateur photographer looking to build his portfolio and gain experience with people and settings. In my youth I did some modeling, which I greatly enjoyed, but it had been a very long time. We were well suited and our very first 4 hour photo shoot stretched into a 10 hour session as we worked so well together and fed easily off each others ideas. We have already formed an interesting friendship outside of our collaborations, based on similar life experiences and outlooks.