2am in NYC

Well, it's been a hell of a trip. Ashokan was great as usual but I overextended myself. I was teaching 3 to 4 classes a day and attending 2 as a student. Staying up late practicing and generally doing my "over 30" body harm. Worth it though. Totally worth it. Had a great little ukulele band going. We ended up performing "Georgia on my mind" at the camp show as a tribute to the late great Ray Charles. I'd say we hung together pretty well for a bunch of uke rookies, thanks largely to the excellent tuttlage of our uke teacher Robert. Sharon and I were also in the "Percussion Ensemble of Doom" which was really fun and we learned a lot about drumming including what a "flam" and a "drag" are supposed to sound like. Aren't y'all jealous? Thought so.

Now, on the eve of my return home, I sit in Harlem at 2am, my head spinning from all the great musical and dancing juice I've gotten in the past week. Can't wait to get back and see the dogs and get practicing some new uke moves. Dorky, I know, but I really love this little instrument. So shut up!:-)

Lastly, it seems I was cast in an improv "incubator team" at dirty south while I was gone. It's the only time I've ever been cast in anything without actually bothering to show up for an audition. Interesting.

More to follow upon my return.

Cheers.

Gone, Daddy, Gone...

On our way to New York today, or at least half way. We don't really need to be there until tomorrow night and driving it in one shot almost killed us last week, so we're taking it easy. As I've mentioned, I'm stoked about this gig we're headed to. Music and dancing everywhere you go.

This will be the first year that I'll be bringing an instrument. I've been playing Ukulele for, like, three weeks now, so I figured I was ready. O.k., so it will be a stretch, but the optimist in me says bring it anyway. Worst case, I'll just get in some quality practice. Hell, I can already play When the Saints Go Marching In, I'm a Believer, AND Sheena is a Punk Rocker. What more do you really need to know anyway? Learn a couple AC/DC tunes and I'm all set.

Improv was great last night. Everybody did really well. We played a lot of games and kept scene work to a minimum which seemed to keep people in a nice comfort zone. It's always cool to see people have breakthroughs. Sad I'll be missing next week, but duty, er, money calls.

This blog is now on sabbatical until July 1st.

Peace Out.

...to the other side

Another station licensed the collector's piece last night off PRX. It was KUOW in Seattle. Major NPR affiliate in a major city. Wow! I'm stoked.

Went to Tango last night. I feel like I'm starting to be able to mix things up a little which is cool. It's giving me lots of ideas for swing, which is good because you can plateau for a long time if you don't bring in some outside inspiration and I was starting to feel plateaued (not a word? It is now!). I'm digging the Tango teachers we have right now. They teach social instead of steps, which is what we do. It's way more organic and I'm to the point where I can only go to classes like this. Anything else drives me nuts.

Speaking of organic, tonight is our Improv class. My favorite night of the week. I've gained more from this class than any other I've taken since I've been here. Maybe that's because it is crystallizing so many ideas I was beginning to develop on my own. The simple concepts of agreement and game are really helping to bring out more in my dancing and in life as well. I feel like I'm on the edge of a breakthrough which is a good place to be. Also, I'm really proud of Sharon for taking this round of classes with me. I convinced (read=dragged) her to class and she's being a trooper and putting all she has in to it.

We go to Ashokan tomorrow to teach for a week. My favorite gig of the year. I get a live band for every class. The students are awesome. The food is spectacular. Everything is top notch. After that, I'm off to NYC again to see some friends from Sweden and Sharon is headed to Orlando with her family. Thank goodness I don't have to go on that trip. Disneyworld makes me itchy.

Just like Brian Wilson did...

Man, I hate to be a stereotypical "raised in California" boy but, dammit, do I have a soft spot for the Beach Boys. Goes against every rule of cool, I know, but, truth is, it's great pop music and when June rolls around it's really hard to imagine not being able to hear "Don't Worry Baby", "Surfer Girl", or "I Get Around". I guess if you've never come out of the Pacific ocean on a perfect day with the sun hitting your face and the taste of salt on your lips, you probably don't have exactly the connection to that music as I do, but those songs are almost as good as that feeling. Here's to the Sounds of Summer.

Why Ray Charles? Why?

Why did you have to die the same week as Reagan? Now your death will never be treated with the kind of respect and honor that it should be. And while I'm on it....is it just me or has the rest of the world been hypnotized in to thinking Reagan was some kind of able president? Are they just so tired of Iraq, that focusing on anyone who isn't Satan can make them feel better about their party? Yep. That's it.

Anyway, a toast to Ray. The Genius. The joy you gave us will outlast any warm and fuzzy feelings that anyone might be tempted to have about Republicans for the forseeable future. Godspeed.

Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovich

Love this book. Picked it up at Drama Bookshop in New York over the weekend and have been devouring it ever since. If anything you do has an element of improvisation to it (which is everything) you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Radio, Radio...

So it turns out that WUNC is going to actually license one of my audio pieces and actually broadcast it. You can hear it here . I haven't been doing this radio thing for very long, so I'm pretty excited that anyone is responding to my work at all.

My greatest fear about this kind of positive feedback is that I will start tailoring the things I record to fit in to an NPR format. I think there are enough Ira Glass imitators out there without adding one more to the pile. It's always a delicate balance I think between learning a craft and developing your own voice. Lately I've just been playing around with editing different sounds and that's making me pretty happy, so I've decided just to keep going in that direction. You can hear some of my new stuff here and here.

So it turns out that WUNC is going to actually license one of my audio pieces and actually broadcast it. You can hear it here. I haven't been doing this radio thing for very long, so I'm pretty excited that anyone is responding to my work at all.

My greatest fear about this kind of positive feedback is that I will start tailoring the things I record to fit in to an NPR format. I think there are enough Ira Glass imitators out there without adding one more to the pile. It's always a delicate balance I think between learning a craft and developing your own voice. Lately I've just been playing around with editing different sounds and that's making me pretty happy, so I've decided just to keep going in that direction. You can hear some of my new stuff hereandhere

Drop me off in Harlem

When I was in New York a couple of months ago, I stayed out in Brooklyn at my friend Tomo's tiny apartment. I love Tomo, but I freakin' hated where she lived. Also, I spent a lot of my time downtown, which I always think is going to be great but seldom is. I have this love/hate thing for New York. I mostly hate it, but sometimes love it so intensely that it always makes me want to come back. I guess alot of people feel that way.

We ended up driving up again this past weekend for a good friend's birthday party and, this time, we stayed in Harlem on 148th St. What a difference. From the moment I got out of the car I knew that this was going to be one of those trips that was filled with intense love for the city. It was Friday at about 8:30pm and the street was absolutely jumping with activity. There must have been at least ten sidewalk bar-b-ques, four games of dominoes, kids on their bikes or just running around, folks drinking beer and stoop sitting, the sounds of several different languages all mixing together like a song. It took me right back to my childhood in East Oakland. I felt like I was home.

Our friend Keith bought a brown stone there several years ago and has been slowly bringing it back to life. Beautiful building. Located two blocks from the subway near the St. Nicholas Historic District or what used to be known as Strivers Row. Keith is an interesting cat. He's a computer programmer who fell in love with jazz, sold his house in Seattle and moved to New York to learn how to play the saxophone. He's one of those rare guys who had a dream and had the balls enough to chase it. You have to admire that. So many people just settle.

Keith was slow to make friends in the neighborhood, but now knows many people by name and is greeted in the street by his neighbors. There is alot of gentrification going on in Harlem right now and white faces are in the neighborhood are treated with suspicion by some until you prove that you are not there to ruin their home. I can understand that. So often, ruthless developers just come in and start buying up blocks and all of the sudden, the neighborhood has changed drastically. It would certainly piss me off.

I was really glad we got to see Harlem while it was still in a "pure" state. I did a lot of recording around the neighborhood this weekend and gathered some great audio of the streets. Soon, I fear, those sounds will be gone. Replaced by the sounds of young professionals with too much money and not enough sense. But for now, Harlem is still Harlem and it's a great place to be.

Nutters on the loose

Holy crap! Honestly, I can't believe people sometimes. Check this guyout.

Only what you can carry

So I was reading the paper the other morning and came across an article about a new computerized system that calls senior citizens who live alone each day to make sure they're alright. It's called "citzen's well check" and it's implementation was spearheaded by the Sherriff of Wake Couny, Robbie Harrison. Great idea. Cheap. Means a lot to a neglected part of our population. I thought it would be a good idea to make an audio documentary about this and pitch it to a local NPR affiliate like WUNC or somebody. So, I called the Sherriff's office and was directed to the PR lady who is very nice and she said she would be "pleased to set up an appointment for an interview with the Sherriff" and "could I be there next Wednesday?" Done.

So, on the appointed day, I go down to the public safety building in downtown Raleigh and am escorted in to the PR lady's office while the Sherriff finishes up another meeting. She's cheery. She's got her media face on and we chit chat about some stuff and I interview her about the program a little. Finally, the Sherriff is ready for us and we make our way in to his office. I do my little sound check and ask him the "wheaties box" questions. "What's your favorite music, color, etc." I get a good level on him and then start to ask him about the program. He's got his media face on too and I can tell that it's going to take awhile to put him at any ease about being interviewed. So, we beat around some bushes for a bit and it turns out, as is often the case, that the story I've come for is the least interesting thing on the menu.

As it happens, the Sheriff is way more interesting than the program I'm interviewing him about. This guy started his career on the highway patrol. O.k., that's fairly normal. But after he was done doing his day job, he was training dogs to track people at night. Frustrated by the rate at which the highway patrol was losing it's suspects, he took it upon himself to track them down with dogs that he trained himself. He and his dogs were so good, in fact, that he started getting calls from residence homes asking him to track down Alzheimers patients that had wandered off site. So, eventually, the bulk of his after work hours were spent (pro bono) finding missing persons. Now, a lot of people spend their free time doing lots of things, but it's usually the type A "driven" people who work for eight hours a day and then go home and work eight more. This guy is not type A and the only thing he is driven by is a desire to help people who can't help themselves. How rare is that?

Fast forward to his election as Sheriff. Harrison now has lots of responsibility and less time to devote to helping the community on a one on one basis. But he takes a simple idea with him to office. After having to take care of his ailing father who lived over 100 miles from him, he wants to develop a system that would automatically check in on the elderly and make sure that they were alright. Citizen's Well Check is born and in full operation less than six months after he takes office. The system is capable of making 1000 phone calls an hour and has a simple voice or tone activated system that the seniors use to let the Sheriff's office know that they are o.k. or that they need assistance. If they don't answer the phone, a deputy is dispatched to the scene immediately to check in on them. Brilliant. In addition to having the system in place, the Sheriff and his deputies check on the clients from time to time personally and do things like deliver Easter baskets and Christmas cards.

As the interview is progressing, Harrison is getting more and more animated as he speaks and his voice even cracks with emotion as he talks about the program and it's clients. And as I'm listening I find myself being totally drawn in. I realize that I'm sitting in front of, not just a civil servant, but a truly good man. And I think "Holy shit. There just aren't many guys like this around." Sure, there are lots of people who do good things out there, but this guy is different. You can feel his passion for what he does. He knows he's helping people and he absolutely loves it. It's what he gets up for every day.

As the interview winds down and we say goodbye, I start to feel a little melancholy. After you talk to a guy like this, you can't help it. You feel a little like a bum and a lot like a slacker. He's making a difference. He's part of the solution. What the hell am I doing?

Why is Paul Blogging?

Well, good, I'm glad you asked. The short answer is: I have stuff in my head. It wants to get out.

The long answer is that, having stepped out of a job that previously took all of my time, I now find myself with enough time to actually think. And what I've mainly been thinking about is Art. Improvisation in Art to be exact. I have been getting back in touch with all the things that I missed for so long while we were just trying to avoid financial ruin in the Bay Area. I've been painting, taking pictures, doing some sound art, going to improv comedy classes, dance classes, audio documentary classes. Basically filling the tank again after running on empty for so long. And now, for better or for worse, I'm going to write about it. Oh, and a bunch of other random stuff will appear here as well. Cheers.

Click here to hear some sound art. This piece is called "Internal Combustion" and is made up entirely of the sounds of tractor engines. Enjoy.

Click here to listen to my first shot at an audio documentary. the piece is called "Naked Barbies and Deflated Basketballs" and is about collectors.

Wednesday morning in Durham

Hot. As usual. Sharon and I are trying to tough it out without air conditioning on the days when it's under 90 degrees and not too humid. The lower utility bills are worth it. I have come to the realization that extreme heat makes me a real bastard to be around though, so Sharon has developed a Bastard v. Power bill matrix that she is very careful to stick to. Clever girl.