L's birthday as photojournal

L's birthday was Saturday. Friday I sent flowers to her work, when they arrived the card said they were from somebody called "Davis".


I don't know Davis, but I admit he has robust taste in floral arrangements.

We drove north after work to a house on Lake Lanier we rented for the weekend. We ate at a noisy restaurant on the way and arrived long after sunset. Here's the porch at night.


From the porch, lights line the path as it winds down to the lake.



The house during the day, looking up to the car and the road beyond.


This picture of the lake path...


... is also the 5000th photograph my camera has taken. The completion of a cycle brings one peace. Here's the first picture I took with this camera:


Which brings us back to the path...


... and from there the dock.


We swam and dock-sat and drank absinthe and listened to Boards of Canada and talked and swam some more. Then we walked back to the house.


The house is three stories, has four bedrooms and two baths and feels like it could sleep 26.

L knitting on the porch as I type:


bathroom 1


The ground floor bedroom:


the kitchen:


the basement bedroom, for children:


The author's workstation:


The livingroom 1


The livingroom 2


L's bedroom:


The master bedroom 1


The master bedroom 2


jacuzzi in the bath off the master bedroom:


the shower in the bath off the master bedroom. There were options for water to spray from any combination of four different shower heads.


Back to the living room where L has moved her knitting:


And this is the porch, where we eat. We came downstairs Saturday morning and found water raining from the porch ceiling into our glasses left out the night before. I felt like I was in a Tarkovsky film.


L's birthday dinner:


L's sparkling wine glass, and also her favourite glass in the house:


Breakfast Sunday was French toast and scrambled eggs, prepared by the author.


Another day on the dock. The iphone played Shine on you crazy diamond live from Los Angeles in 1975. We put on lots of sunscreen and played on the raft, seen below, until it was time to head back in.


And here we are.

L's birthday as list

Friday

* L got a promotion/new job
* L received flowers from "Davis"
* Ash asked me to conduct Pachelbel's Canon at his wedding
* L visited me at work
* we packed and drove to the lakehouse
* sat on the dock and drank absinthe and watched heat lightning flash under heavy clouds

Saturday

* the birthday
* french toast for breakfast, prepared by the author
* lots of Bach
* lake swimming, part the first
* a reading from Ender's Game
* a voicemail from Ash asking me to conduct a second piece at his wedding, this one from the Princess Bride
* yes, more absinthe
* also, there was a summery sparkling wine with dinner
* lake swimming again

Sunday

* Author's breakfast
* lake swimming, part the third
* house cleaning

and here we are.

it's in the trees! it's coming!

Music School begins again Monday. Work is getting busy.

Preparations are underway for L's birthday this weekend. The current plan: a lakehouse.

painting by Jacek Yerka.

Netflix

In joyful preparation for tomorrow night's inaugural meeting of The Now Today Film Appreciation Society (which I will be attending virtually, via the magic of the interweb), I have finally joined the Netflix nation.

The Visitor

Number Six's visit was a right creative time. He likes to work efficiently for extended periods, which is always nice, and something which happened several times during his stay.

On Saturday we ate at the now-even-more-famous Carrol Street Cafe before heading right back to the Nunnery for a several hours long seed-sowing recording session.


Any questions?

The recording session rollicked and veered dangerously from Yer Blues and two Rolling Stones songs to a strange new version of The Satyrical Way, and even to some good-times recitation of Aristotle explaining how to respond to the critics of poetry, read in a continuum of different outrageous theatrical accents, over crosspicked bass. Very 22nd century.

Dinner was my favorite by L, from a recipe by Luba Gurdjieff.

A virtual social event followed with Number Six, L, and myself in the Nunnery, and Vlindinhauer Haverhast joining us via computerly magic from the nghbts 1000 mile away. We even played a version of The Narrow Way Part III together. Good times.

some photos of the band

eyedrum

The opening act - Sensitive Chaos - soundchecking.


The bar:


Sabitathica communicating the band's needs to the soundman:


Eyedrum:

The Darkness of Stars at Eyedrum

Number Six came to visit at the Nunnery, and Friday night we played our gig at Eyedrum, which was fun and intense. It was also hazardous, meaning the situation contained both significance and uncertainty as to the outcome. The task was clear and failure was a real possibility.

The quintet:

Number Six: voice, autoharp
Sabitathica: guitar
L: drones, samples
Ash: upright bass
Mont: drums

The first time we played together as a group was the afternoon of the gig, when we ran through the set once.

The show was broadcast live to a limited internet audience, which might be a first for Eyedrum. And I have the multitrack audio, which I'm mixing later tonight.

The event was a success. We held together as a group. And everyone who came, stayed.

Musical events don't organize themselves and, except in rare situations, entropy and apathy rule the day. (But The Now Today Ensemble is never far from go-mode.)

On Friday night the Darkness of Stars met their challenge with grace and good spirit. The performance had qualities I didn't anticipate. A fine time was had by all.

The Darkness of Stars

The Darkness of Stars are Atlanta's first and only dreampunk band.

The Darkness were formed to map the vast territory between the burgeoning stonefolk and dronegaze movements.

Shimmering guitar, smokey upright bass, stone-jazz drums, swirling soundscapes of mystical honeydrones, a detuned autoharp, and baritone words of loss and love, failure and forgiveness, Darwin and decay.

Tech Support: voice
Sabitathica: guitar
Ash: bass
Mont: drums
L: drones

~~~~~~~

Doomfolk Magazine calls The Darkness of Stars "one of the southeast's premiere acts for anyone who craves dark songs of warm despair".

"The experience I had of seeing [Darkness of Stars' singer] Tech Support was similar to watching a wild animal falter and despair and ultimately collapse under the weight of age and responsibility, but over and over again, a dozen times an hour. The Darkness of Stars play the most beautiful soundtrack to self-destruction you'll ever hear." -- Atherton Flux, Information Now

"The Darkness of Stars play dark, mystical, atmospheric dreamrock, with generous notes of cocoa, pepper and black cherry." -- Mr. Phi, Now Today

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

The Darkness of Stars will perform live at eyedrum at 10 PM on August 6th.

Things learned this week

* Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda remove stains left on enamel by bleach.

* Nature resists the organization of a musical performance.

* L is healthy.

* The first few minutes of rain slicken residual oil on the road.

* Brass players procrastinate this year.

* Polly Walker is an attractive woman.

* The Darkness of Stars are Atlanta's first and only dreampunk band.

* The glove didn't fit because OJ hadn't taken his anti-inflammatory arthritis medication.

Nikhil Banerjee plays as I type.

car accident

I've been in a car accident. My body's a bit shaken and my car has sustained damage. I'll keep you posted.

botanical garden

L and I went to the Bedlam Botanical Garden to commune with the flora...


chill with the orchids...




and hang with the free-roaming baby quails.

fireworks!

There were fireworks outside the Nunnery on the Fourth of July...




So beautiful.





We brought our own personal fireworks and lit them off in the Candler Park playground:




Good times.