http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com Adventures of a dancer, writer, bodyworker, thinker, etc... Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:47:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 en © rubyslifeblog101@ruby-red.com () rubyslifeblog101@ruby-red.com() Adventures of a dancer, writer, bodyworker, thinker, etc... rubyslifeblog101@ruby-red.com No no http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com 144 144 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2008/04/28/something-hot-and-dry/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2008/04/28/something-hot-and-dry/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:50:12 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2008/04/28/something-hot-and-dry-as-an-antidote-to-this-wet-cold-spring/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2008/04/28/something-hot-and-dry/feed/ 2:18 It's spring again... if you define Spring as a 44deg; degree day with cold rain soaking litter into the neighborhood and you have to heat ... It's spring again... if you define Spring as a 44deg; degree day with cold rain soaking litter into the neighborhood and you have to heat the apartment with the oven because you turned off your heater two weeks ago on a chance 69deg; degree day. It used to be that in San Francisco I complained because the weather never really ventured outside the limited scale of 50-68deg;. Now these temperatures seem tropical to me. My boyfriend made a resolution a few weeks back that he would never ever discuss the weather again, because to him it's an easy conversational cop-out. Weather gets discussed out here a lot more than in California... BECAUSE IT'S SO FREAKING INSANE! What is this? There are tulips outside and prospects of an overnight low of 32deg;. Woe to the person who planted something that might be killed by a frost. But yes... here I am... discussing the weather with you. For me the weather dictates my internal state... or perhaps it's more like a catalyst, it stirs certain chemicals in my internal state that result in (sometimes) new states of being. For the last few weeks I've had these strange cravings for the southwest and my imaginings of the wild wild west. Then I remembered, that for several years, spring time was when I took off for a few weeks to drive through the southwest. Yesterday, in my craving for hot dry twang, sun-bleached wood, parched air and a blistering silence punctuated only by the skitter of rattlesnakes, I searched on emusic for some music that would satisfy just a little bit of that craving. I came across two delights. One: Brokeback. I discovered a later album, "Looks at the Bird" sometime last year and decided to go back for more... this time for a three track album that is thoughtful and innocuous. I mean this in the very best sense of the word. I sometimes need noise that does not draw me out of my thoughts, but provides just a colorful enough background to my current activities. It's like mood-lighting. There are any number of noise distractions in my neighborhood that bear a necessity to be drowned out, but black-metal isn't always the answer. Brokeback has a very thoughtful bass, probably something that resembles a guitar run through some effects and some other sounds that might be created by stringed instruments, such as a pedal-steel guitar, but I can't be sure. There is definitely a satisfying amount of empty space interspersed by the faint rumble of a drum that simulates a far away approaching storm. Two: Valley of the Giants This is indeed a self-aggrandizing name to give to a supergroup... the members of whom also apparently belong to a bunch of other important Indie Rock bands. Since I have the pleasure of ignorance, I can only judge them on their current sound. Anyone who uses an image of of Cathedral valley as their cover art is risking extreme scrutiny in my book. It's almost hubris. It would be like a politician using Jesus as a mascot. To me, such landscape is holy land, meant to be preserved, appreciated and regarded with the awe it truly deserves. The title of the album: "Morse Code In The Modern Age: Across The Americas" could easily be truncated to simply, "Across the Americas" because that's the documentary that could accompany this blissful soundtrack. I've only played the whole album through one or two times, but a few tracks are a meandering journey through an abandoned mining town, which is enough to satisfy me. There are other themes, other landscapes that seem to be evoked, making this indeed an interesting journey across America, and not just an abandoned roadtrip that expires in Death Valley through the fault of poor planning. Music rubyslifeblog101@ruby-red.com no No http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/23/moving-ipod-advertisement/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/23/moving-ipod-advertisement/#comments Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:14:20 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=68 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/23/moving-ipod-advertisement/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/20/curtains-and-comittment/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/20/curtains-and-comittment/#comments Tue, 20 Jun 2006 23:16:22 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=67 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/06/20/curtains-and-comittment/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/08/living-on-the-edge-or-rather-the-floor/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/08/living-on-the-edge-or-rather-the-floor/#comments Mon, 08 May 2006 16:19:05 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=61 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/08/living-on-the-edge-or-rather-the-floor/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/02/letting-go-finding-god/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/02/letting-go-finding-god/#comments Wed, 03 May 2006 02:22:14 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=60 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/05/02/letting-go-finding-god/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/24/nine-days-in/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/24/nine-days-in/#comments Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:18:09 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=58 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/24/nine-days-in/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/15/the-conservatory/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/15/the-conservatory/#comments Thu, 16 Mar 2006 05:26:05 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=57 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/15/the-conservatory/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/houseguests-of-a-sort/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/houseguests-of-a-sort/#comments Sun, 12 Mar 2006 19:05:31 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=56 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/houseguests-of-a-sort/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/little-funerals/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/little-funerals/#comments Sun, 12 Mar 2006 17:54:49 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=55 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/12/little-funerals/feed/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/09/novelus-interruptus/ http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/09/novelus-interruptus/#comments Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:27:17 +0000 Ruby http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/wordpress/?p=54 http://rubyslife.ruby-red.com/2006/03/09/novelus-interruptus/feed/