Late night on Maudlin Street

September 23rd, 2009

Dear Mom,

I met a fellow named Adam Levy. He's a phenominal guitarist and songwriter. He also plays guitar with Norah Jones. He said he'd love to play with me sometime, although I'm sure that will take some mental manifestation on my part. Luckily, I'm a pro at it!

Also, I met this singer (performing with Adam) named Leah Siegel. I meet singer-songwriters all the time in Nashville and most are pretty mediocre. Some are downright bad. Leah, is downright good and you should listen to her music.

New York Times dining section today: Vegan Fare, Spiced With Sophistication
Yes! Peacefood review was positive! (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/dining/23vegan.html?_r=1&ref=dining)

Also, I met some blogger for the CNN site who talked to my boss Eric today about blogging about us. I don't know if it was an interview, but whatever, it's neat.

And I had a great time practicing with my acting partner Vivien!

Also, at dinner the other night I met this nice lady who is a vocal coach. Apparently she works with lots of actors and such (she just got back in town from working with actors on a show called “Glee”. I hadn't heard of it, but this is a promo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIzimBcUUnY)

Anyway, once I accumulate some funds I think I will contact her about some coachage. Yes I would do the shit out of some musical theater. For that matter, I'd be happy to channel my clogging background through a tap-dancing filter and do some Fred Astaire!

And I biked to Brooklyn in the dark tonight and felt like a badass! I found this area of broadway that was all kinds of over-the-top lcd-screen and neon-lit and brimming with asian tourists. I think that's time square, or times square, or some such. I'll go back with I'm not dodging through traffic and 25 MPH on a bicycle.

I'm wearing a helmet.

Love,
Enoch

Tell Me That You've Heard Every Sound There Is

September 22nd, 2009

On Ice:

Northern folks like less ice in their cold beverages than southerners. There are several distinct possibilities here. 1.) It's not as hot here and therefore less threatening to frigidity, thus, less ice is typically needed to maintain coldage. 2.) People want more “bang for their buck” and are willing to forgo chill for beverage volume. 3.) The pace here is faster; it's not common to leisurely stretch a beverage out over the course of an hour, so there's no need to keep it cold that long.

On Yoga:

Apparently some of the things I've been doing with my body for fun since I was a child are advanced yoga moves.

On EMDR:

It's a kind of therapy which involves, through one method or another, drawing your eyes from side to side as you work through unresolved experiences. One of the methods uses sound. Low sounding beeps alternate ears, causing an automatic eye response. This is what happens during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. “Let me sleep on it” has real validity in this context. Sometimes, when memories have strong emotional content, our minds will react in such a way that we'll wake up before ever processing “filing away” these memories properly. That's where EMDR comes in.

On Stereo Recordings:

Until the late 50's all recordings were in mono, meaning the sound came from straight ahead of you. There is a reason stereo recordings took off in the way they did and are still popular. There is a reason the first stereo Beatles records were such a big deal to the generation that first experienced them: WORLD-WIDE EMDR THERAPY FOR EVERYONE. Aid in the EMDR effect, Beatles records were often hard-panned, meaning instruments and voices were panned to the furthest L/R points in the “stereo field”.

Those records healed people in a way unavailable before.

Racism, Nationalism, Recanted Statements, and Moldy Concepts

September 21st, 2009

(The following is not a politically charged statement or argument; it's more a social commentary.)

I know bigots from a past life and I've ended up on most of their email lists, so I get all kinds of nasty forwards. Today I got one that went on and on about immigrants (“illegal”) and how we should send them home/shoot them if they're coming across the border illegally, put ex-millitary personnel along the border with guns and such.

Racism in disguise as “immigration enforcement” is still racism. Our neighbors are living crappy lives right now and just across the border there is a better life for them. If any of the bigots I know were in a poverty in Mexico they'd want to immigrate too.

I know, I know, mass immigration decreases quality of life here. Listen, if my not making enough money to own a big house and a car or two, or even foregoing my retirement facilitates an immigrant feeding themselves and/or family, I'm totally fine with that. I contend that everyone should be. Do you have enough to survive? Well, some folks don't, and we happen to have a fertile spacious plot of land.

One note about patriotism/nationalism:
I don't care about countries at all. I care about people. I am no more proud of the USA or any country than I am of humanity, and life, and the universe, in general. I am not “rooting for” any one group of humans. I want all of them to feel satisfied with what's around them, and to have good friends, and to feel good a decent amount of the time, to be fed, and to have a place to sleep and think.

I would rather not see folks killing each other or contributing to each other suffering, but the method doesn't really concern me. If that required a one-world-government, that would be fine with me. If that required anarchy, that would be fine with me. If it required wide-spread religion, that would be fine with me. If it required wide-spread atheism, that would also be fine with me. A corporate world takeover? A financial collapse? I guess even universal drug use would be fine with me if everyone were happy, stimulated, and loved.
__________________________________________________________________

I'm sorry that I said so much negative shit about New York city for years. No, it's not my favorite place, but it actually has a bunch of cool shit. Although I might prefer it was less crowded, there's even something cool about having somebody to say something too at any given moment. Additionally, it's fun to ride a bicycle around here.

You know how food goes stale over time? So do ideas. I'm not saying there aren't timeless ideas. I'm saying that when you have an idea it's good to act on it or record it immediately. Ideas are often most potent and effective when fresh. Stale ideas fail to be compelling. Similarly, it has become evident that if I don't write about experiences the day they happen, they cease to become worth writing about. SOOO, I'm sorry I did that last night and that you will never hear what would probably have been a superb story. I was tired. It was late. I shant be a lazy-ass again.


Acting Class II:

First called up. It's exciting to be first and you also get to make everyone's mistakes for them. Well, better me than most other folks. Failure means learning. That's a good thing.

Existential Grapes, Conventional Poison, a Beautiful World

September 20th, 2009

7:34 AM: Good morning. If Ben Griffith and I were going to write a book together I would want it to be about the synergy of science and religion, and how all scientific research is self referential and meaningless, and how religion is just as backwards, and how they're both meaningful, and about about art, and paradoxes, and the human spirit and behavior. It would be called A Portal Into Nowhere; Everything That Make Sense About What Doesn't.

I can't see straight and I'm going back to sleep.

Now I'm sure you're privy to this and I'm the one who's been in the dark, but just so I can get it out there...you can't just walk in Whole Foods and start buying up everything they've got assuming it's organic. It's not. As a matter of fact upon my very unscientific examination of the produce at the whole foods on Columbus Ave, I found that only about 35% of the fruit is Organic. They have them all marked, you see. Organic is specified and all the rest of is is marked “Conventional”. Apparently poison is conventional. I was for a second miffed at the percentages, but once I was able to remove Whole Foods from the pedestal, I saw the sense in the whole thing. Whole Foods is not so much an oasis as a it is a microcosm of the rest of the world. Everything is constant. No matter where you are in the universe the same laws apply. No matter where you are you must look for good. It won't always explode in your face, but if you look, you will find it. You will find organic grapes, and I did.

And as I cruised down riverside drive approaching 92nd st, from the blue convertible several cars in front of me I heard one of the most perfect choruses ever blasting from the stereo, “...We live in a beautiful world. Yeah we do, yeah we do...” I gave the three 20-somethings in the car a hearty thumbs-up as I passed. They laughed and waived back. I think I almost shed a tear of joy as I coasted the next block. Then I stopped here on a bench overlooking some trees and the Hudson river and wrote this.

Feats of Senior Strength, NC-17 plays, Mind-Blowing Cheese, & Southern Hospitality

September 19th, 2009

Have I mentioned Pat? Pat is a lovely woman I live with. She's 83 and still goes to work every day. She's an attorney. Yes, it's impressive that she still works every day, but the more impressive part is that she bikes to and from work every day in Manhattan. How inspiring!

Today Pat had a guest here from Connecticut. I really nice lady named Kim who runs a website called TravelingMom.com. Pat, Kim, and I went on a 17 mile bike trip to Hoboken, NJ. We then biked to the trains station and from the train in Manhattan back to Pat's apartment. Two hours later we biked from the upper west side to Greenwich village to see a play and then back. I estimate that we biked about 30 miles today.

NOTE TO SELF: WHEN YOU ARE 83, BIKE 30 MILES IN A DAY.

Pat is actually take a bike trip from NYC to DC next week. 4 days. 200 miles. WTF.

Our trek to Hoboken was to the legendary Fiore House of Quality, a deli famous for its fresh mozzarella and other Italian deli specialties. I had the fresh mozzarella and the smoked mozzarella and I must say that both were the absolute best I've ever tasted. What more could I ask for but perfect weather perfect cheese and a long-ass bike ride?

As if I needed more awesome shit, I had Ethiopian food and then I saw the most vile play I've ever seen, complete with nudity, rape, drug use, teen pregnancy, and murder! Believe it or not, it was a comedy. I think.

Final thought: At one point during our cycling trek today I waved a friendly hello to a passing cyclist who, after a look of surprise, smiled and waved back. Kim, riding behind me, said “That's so southern.” I nodded. Then she added, “Keep on trucking. These people need it.” That felt good, and I agree. Everybody needs it.

Form, Function, The Art of Love and Happiness

September 18th, 2009

I have often, in excusing my demeanor or actions, described myself as a 6 year-old boy who got thrown into this world which is way bigger than me and concerned with things I don't grasp. Kids try, but at a certain point there's a disconnect. At my core, there is a disconnect. I am a boy on the living room floor in his fireman hat with a toy fire engine. I am a boy with a Fisher-Price bubble-blowing lawn mower. I am a kid obsessed with the novelty of the bicycle without training wheels. I am into sweets and whole dill pickles...jar after jar of them. I am intrigued by the physics of hoisting my own body up a 15 foot pole to the top of my swing set. I can be seen at times in my back yard as the honorable knight Sir Enoch of Nochsenburg wrapped neck-to-toe in aluminum foil, gleaming in the morning light. I've missed some fashion cues and am the only 6 year-old on the block who can be found wearing hot pink hat, shirt, and shorts...BECAUSE I LIKE PINK. I've also been known to don a three-piece suit all day around the house for to particular reason, but I woke up and felt like it. My childish curiosity has compelled me on many occasions to dress up as a woman, complete with heels, a wig, and a fancy ladies hat, just to see what I might be missing as a boy.

I've been in some very adult situations. Strains of all kinds of stretched and contorted me in every way imaginable. In those moments it's difficult to feel in touch with the zen child within yourself. You feel very much in touch and connected to the weight of the world, and the dark matter of the universe which drags you closer and closer to a the final halt--one moment, after another moment, after another earth-shattering moment.

Kids don't understand those kinds of moments, and therefore they are not within their universe. Don't believe me? Spend a few moments with a child-in-body, connecting with their eyeballs and living with them. They'll let you into their universe for a moment or two. Pop your head in and you'll lack to apparatus to perceive the shit-storm you so frequently imagined.

This is not a lament for days gone by. You and I are still 6 year-old kids in a world which is way bigger than us and concerned with things we don't grasp. We sometimes try, but at a certain point there's a disconnect. At our core, there is a disconnect. Thank God. There are better things to dwell on.

ASK YOUR MOM IF YOU CAN COME OVER AND PLAY WITH ME

Mother, I Can Feel the Soil Falling Over My Head

September 17th, 2009

It sounds like a cliché, but every morning from my window I hear a jackhammer echoing around the buildings of Manhattan. Can there really be that much jack-hammering going on? It's not that the sound annoys me. It's not loud or overbearing, it's just that I thought maybe that was just in the movies and there wasn't actually always a jackhammer running.

The rest of this chapter is written less in a clever way and more in a mom-here's-how-my-life-is-going sort of way. But I feel that's okay because sometimes you want to let your mom know how your life is going, and while it's best to do that is a song (and dance), sometimes the logistic limitations of life weigh heavy on an artist's plight. So... Dear mom,

Today I had my first class at the Maggie Flanagan studio. I love Maggie Flanagan. She talked for a bit about the nature of acting, and about her teaching method. We had a short break, and then introduced us to a few fundamentals of acting and the beginning of repetition, an exercise designed my Sandy Meisner which I would do a disservice to try to explain. (If you're curious about the Meisner technique you should read a book called The Actor's Art and Craft by Bill Esper.)

Peacefood, my job, is pretty much awesome. I couldn't tell the first day because I was training and it was akward because training is always akward. But yes, all the people who work there are my speed of folk, the guests are good people looking for good in the world. It's awesome. I had a really good time tonight and I think maybe I did extraordinarily good work.