Arisawkadoria “Chapter One” Review

Ari Zucker (guitar), Kevin “KJ” Sawka (drums), and Joe Doria (B-3 organ), are each individually accomplished artists steeped in the culture of Seattle’s progressive music. Combined, they are Arisawkadoria, a rising force in the worlds of jazz, funk, and instrumental music. Their debut album, “Chapter One”, is an intricate exploration of sonic possibility exhibiting masterful instrumentation and ground-breaking improvisation.

Backdrifting

This far but no further
I’m hanging off a branch
I’m teetering on the brink
Oh honey sweet
So full of sleep
I’m backsliding

Gettin’ School’d (with ample puncuation)

I sit here in the quiet space between the end of my English essay and the beginning of my large assortment of horrendously mundane Java assignments. After finishing my essay (which I’ll post after the break) I was quite frustrated with school, so I flipped to a random page of the Tao Teh Ching. I thought this passage, the first one I flipped to, was quite apt:

20

Have done with learning,
And you will have no more vexation.
How great is the difference between
“eh” and “o”?
What is the distinction between “good”
and “evil”?
Must I fear what others fear?
What abysmal nonsense this is!
All men are joyous and beaming,
As though feasting upon a sacrificial ox,
As though mounting the Spring Terrace;
I alone am forlorn as one who has no
home to return to.
All men have enough and to spare:
I alone appear to posses nothing.
What a fool I am!

What a muddled mind I have!
All men are bright, bright:
I alone am dim, dim.
All men are sharp, sharp:
I alone am mum, mum!
Bland like the ocean,
Aimless like the wafting gale.
All men settle down in their grooves:
I alone am stubborn and remain outside.
But wherein I am most different from
others is
In knowing to take sustenance from my
Mother!

I don’t entirely know how to interpret that, it is rather depressing. There are a lot of parallels between that and this past weekend. I had another great time listening to a backup of voice mails about all the fun I am missing as I toil with teaching and learning. I hope you don’t think I am rude for not responding. I like hearing from all of you.

meditative blogging

This is the second day in a row that I have posted a blog. I’m not sure if this is more of an effort to procrastinate on school work or some sort of way to think outside the confines of my skull. It does seem to be therapeutic, and decent writing practice.

I made a pi estimation program for my Java class tonight. I should have been studying math for my test tomorrow, but I didn’t since this program is due. I would post the source but the formatting gets fucked every time I try. It was a load of crap, but I suppose it practices the things we’ve learned. Actually, I didn’t learn anything until I made the program. This class is painfully slow and I can’t pay attention. I wouldn’t go to it but the teacher sometimes surprises us with graded in-class activities. It’s fun to plug a number like 1,000,000 into the program and watch it scroll super fast through the approximations.

I’ve been using this Japanese Dictionary Denshi Jisho for some of the words on this page. It’s a really good one, and the sentences are helpful. It has been really fun to play with.

Listen to ‘Imaginary Cuba’ by Bill Laswell. This album is amazing! Parts of it give you that psychedelic tingly feeling in your spine like Shpongle or Tipper. The vocal parts are somewhat infectious, I hear them ringing and looping in my head. I’ve listened to it twice in a row tonight. The percussion is truly sublime. The rhythms flow like water in wonderful syncopation. Often they culminate into a bouncy break beat. One of the songs has a rhythm that really reminds me of Nightmares on Wax. I wonder if perhaps Nightmares on Wax sampled this CD, or if perhaps it is the other way around.