Celebration of Circe Broom - I'm All In

Since I am on WiFi and cannot stream audio, the objective is to have Daisy stream my music in addition to my voice over Skype.  The way this will work is that I will send her an MP3 audio file that I may yet record tonight.  I started into the tune but got so jazzed with it that I wound up going thirty minutes and that won't quite squeeze into a ten-minute segment.  So I'll do it again and see about getting it stopped in ten minutes this time.

Another way to hold it at ten minutes is to tell Leira that it won't hurt my feelings if she gives me the hook (i.e. sends me a message after ten minutes and tells me to get the hell off her stage).  Since Leira controls the stream, she can cut me off without hurting things anywhere and then she can easily give the show to the next performer.  I in turn tell Daisy it's fine to drop the stream and, yahoo, it's done.

The way this works is that she's running Nicecast from Rogue Amoeba Software and it's an excellent deal at $59.00 US.  As far as I know, every Mac user in Second Life uses Nicecast for audio streaming and I don't know of any alternative.  I've never had any reason to look for one as the software is that good.  It's never crashed in almost six years of use and they update it regularly.  They've never tried to hit me for any additional license dollars.  What more could you want!

So tonight Daisy and I talked on Skype on setting up Nicecast and she was live on my stream before it was done.  What this means is that my hare-brained idea for streaming to the Celebration of Circe Broom will work.  I'm debating doing a song that Circe always asked me to play or whether to record something new and I'm pretty sure I'll go with something new as Circe liked that too, it's a big part of why she kept having me back.

My segment will be at 2:40 pm SL time on Wednesday and I'll play, with Daisy's assistance, for ten minutes.  You MUST contact Leira Vaughan in SL or on Facebook if you want to be part of the Celebration of Circe Broom as well.  Do it soon!

Driving in Pyrgos on a Stormy Monday

The picture isn't all that good because the camera insisted on focusing on the olive tree in the foreground.  Still, you can see the white caps on the waves going out into the Ionian Sea.  I shot this at about four in the afternoon and there's been a wicked rain and wind storm for some hours.  It doesn't matter as I'm inside ... now.

It was dry and looked fairly good this morning so I decided to wing it and go in for my dental appointment on the scooter even though rain storms were forecast for the whole day.  So long as I stayed dry going into town, I'd just live with getting wet on the way back.

Driving in Pyrgos is pretty cool ... so long as you forget every rule of driving law that you ever knew.  There are very few stop signs or traffic lights as no-one would pay attention to them anyway.  The city is largely grid-locked with traffic but it keeps moving as people are exceptionally good-mannered about taking turns.  At every intersection you're essentially crossing against the red but it works because people going the other direction know you're going to do it and you know they will too.  The vehicles all do a turn and turn about between people going east to west and those going north to south and it's hair-raising as it's all done with inches of clearance but it works.  On a scooter, it's a total blast!

Oh yes, do keep moving or someone behind you will climb right up your tailpipe.  Also, don't stop at the stop sign for the railroad tracks as the car behind will go right over you.  It's not road rage or anything like that, it's just how everyone does here.  If you kink it up, you'll be unkinked into a road pancake very quickly, not because anyone is angry but rather because you were stupid!

(Ed:  what about the rain?)

Yah, the rain.  I lucked out through a couple of hours in the city ... until I came out of the supermarket and saw the storm clouds nearing Katakolo.  (You can see the exact route by clicking the MAP tab at the top of the blog)  So I stepped it out and was hauling the freight on the way back.  The scooter still has more in the motor at ninety kph but the wind was quite heavy and she was dancing.  She's easily the most dangerous two-wheeler I've ever ridden but it's ok so long as you know how she behaves.  If you go too deep into a corner, you're going down for sure but you can come out of the corner honking fairly hard and she likes that.  She's a crazy bitch but I love how she dances!

There's no good reason why the good Lord sometimes favors dumb asses but you know it's true and that explains why I got away with it.  Nary a drop of rain on me the entire morning and the storm started no more than five minutes after I got back.  Yah, I'm laughing!

There's also an invention for the day:  pajama jeans.  I wore a pair of fleecy pajama bottoms under the blue jeans and stayed toasty warm the entire time.  This ride was a hoot!

Sorry there are no pictures from Pyrgos but they will come!  It's not supposed to rain tomorrow and I'll almost certainly go back into town so hopefully I'll get you some pictures then.

Out of Smokes at Six a.m.

So the last one went up in smoke some while ago and now it's six a.m.  It's dark, it's cold, it's raining and the scooter in the wet is as dangerous as a woman in a shoe store.  So I've got to ask myself, just how badly do you want one, tough guy.

We shall see.  I'm not making any promises as you know how it is with smokers:  they always lie.  You just can't trust those bastards on anything they say about cigarettes unless they've been quit for, oh, twelve years or so.  Then it's probably serious.  Otherwise, it's bollocks.

See, I said it was six a.m. but actually it's seven a.m.  Well, it was six a.m. when I started this but I didn't finish it.  But don't believe me.  I'm a smoker and it's probably a lie (laughs).

"Playing in the Cemetery" - Video by Alan Fraser

"Playing in the Cemetery" was the first of the videos I shot in Rhode Island and you can make up your own mind if it works. Some of the scenes were shot in a very old cemetery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and it struck me that the gravestones were only about two hundred years old but it wasn't possible to read much of anything on them.  You can make your own exercise in existentialism out of that, I just like to shoot the video and play the guitar.

It's not clear why the videos poofed on YouTube but, sure as hell, a programmer changed something.  Unfortunately that usually doesn't go well and the all-purpose excuse when that happens is that some other programmer changed something.  And so it goes.

I'll re-introduce the videos just as I have done with My Duck Soup.  Nothing will be as it was but nothing ever is.  Hopefully you will like the changes.  If you infer this means that I'm going to try some video in Greece, you have guessed correctly.  I don't have a camera but this video was shot with some seriously-crumby tools so not having a camera won't stop me.  More to come.

Greece: Map of the Katakolo / Pyrgos Area

The MAP tab at the top of the page will show you a Google map of Katakolo, where I live, and Pyrgos, a city of possibly as many as fifty thousand in the general area.  It's a fascinating place that has not at all been taken over by big box department stores but rather is oriented very much toward individuals.  It's a very compact city with tiny streets and sometimes a tremendous number of vehicles on them.  Driving it on a scooter can be hair-raising but everything on top is gone so there's no reason to worry.

Katakolo is really tiny and is very quiet, except when the cruise ships come to port when the streets fill with color and people.  The biggest attraction apart from the obvious in the beaches is that the Olympia archaeological site is not far from here and, once I'm fully mobile, you will start seeing reports and pictures from many or perhaps all of them.

You might guess that Pyrgos has a long history that disappears into antiquity but that doesn't appear to be true.  There are multiple locations near here that are valid for serious archaeology but I haven't, thus far, located any references to principle characters in Pyrgos prior to the early 19th Century.  Typically we humans build over the top of previous cities and the only way to find the history is to dig it out of the ground but Greece does not appear to do that.  Perhaps in time I will discover why Greece gives the past this kind of respect when it didn't typically happen anywhere else.

Maybe you're wondering where to find the drugs and the hookers but I haven't seen any evidence of either.  I haven't looked but I'm not likely to start any time soon so you'll need another reference source on those.  In a previous article, Greece Rocks Hard at the Melrose Rock Bar in Pyrgos, you'll see that I didn't see any evidence of stoners and there were loads of musicians there.  When musicians aren't getting high, it's a good chance very few others are doing it either.  As to hookers, well, you're on your own there.

There's much more to come as I'm not leaving any time soon.  I love it here.

A Celebration of Circe Broom

There will be a Celebration of Circe Broom in Second Life at Sunset Jazz on Wednesday, December 5, starting at 2:00 pm SL time and continuing until 8:00 pm or perhaps later.  So many musicians and poets have already requested performance slots that they are being booked in ten-minute segments.

Contact Leira Vaughan in Second Life or in Facebook as she is arranging the schedule but do it soon as you may already know how many people Circe helped and it sounds like everyone wants to give something back.


Something you may not know is that Sunset Jazz might be the oldest venue in Second Life.  Circe took it over a long, long time ago to keep it alive when the original owners, William Richelieu and Gina Dawn, could no longer do it and now Leira Vaughan is doing the same thing.  Sunset Jazz has a whole lot of history and Circe's spirit lives on in it.  Many thanks to Leira Vaughan for what she is doing.


On my performance:

I am scheduled for 2:40 pm SL time which is 4:40 pm Texas time and 12:40 am Greek time.  However, I only have WiFi which isn't fast enough for audio streaming.  Read on for a possible solution.

Daisy, your Internet is red-hot so please check to see if you've got Nicecast on your system.  You probably do but if you don't then perhaps you could download it and I can walk you through on Skype on how to set it up.

What I have in mind is that you set Nicecast to capture all system audio and then you start Skype and iTunes.  I'll send you ten minutes in MP3 files and I'll cue them via Skype so you can play them.  The talking from Skype and the music from iTunes will be captured by Nicecast and in turn relayed to Second Life.

It's paramount that your audio in Second Life must be turned OFF or it will drive you nuts because everything we do will be echoed back about thirty seconds later.  I'll explain how to be sure the stream is working if you're willing to give this a try.

I know this plan is hare-brained but it just might work.  The object isn't to fool anyone but gather to show respect for a great lady.  Don't worry about it being morose.  It won't be.  I've talked with Leira and this will all be done with love and happiness in the wonderful things Circe did and gave to so many people.

You will NOT have to get on the stage and make a spectacle of yourself.  All that's necessary is to be in the same venue while I'm there but I'm guessing you'll want to stay for this one as it will be a cavalcade of Second Life stars and it will pop because they will be coming up every ten minutes.  No-one ever tried anything like this before!

Kickin' Out the Jams in Greece

So you're saying it's been too heavy lately, huh.  Well, how about some chopped octopus bits in a can.  Don't think for one minute that I'm kidding as you can get that in many markets.

Oh, and you see the sliced white bread in the market too.  Do not even think about buying it because it's horrible.  It's baked here so it's Greek bread but it's still horrible.  The bread that's baked in a traditional Greek style is much, much better but get yourself a good bread knife as it's crusty.  The taste and texture are a whole lot better than the pre-sliced white bread.

How to save the leftovers from that boring meal from the other night:  stir in a tablespoon of curry paste and microwave.  Stir in a few spoons of sliced jalapenos.  Now it's something that will make your hair stand up a little bit, assuming optimistically that you have any.  That worked surprisingly well and I'm eating it now.

The arithmetic on the dentist is straight-forward.  It costs eight euros a day for cigarettes so that's €240 a month.  Quit smoking and the dentist is paid in a year.  I don't have €240 to spare in a month anyway but the arithmetic is clear.

My mouth to my dentist is like a rusty old car in a field to automotive restoration specialist.  Mary said she's had one filling in her life so imagine how boring that is for a dentist.  In my case, I bring her a whole textbook full of problems!

(Ed:  fascinating, what's the story on the guitar?)

The Boss RC-50 looper is working well and has maybe fifteen songs that I'll keep.  The sound through the computer is horrible so that may mean a small amplifier (i.e. maybe a hundred or so euros) but I've blown up almost every amplifier I ever had so that might be wasting the money.  However, the sound I'm producing is created in the Boss GT-100 and not by over-driving the amplifier so it's quite possible that it wouldn't blow.  The speakers on the computer are maybe eight or ten centimeters and the only way you're going to get any sound that pops at all is by pushing some air.  If that ain't true, tell me why you never saw a Bose system in a concert.

It's Not What You Believe but What You Know

Spiritualism isn't a matter of belief but rather what I have seen and felt for myself.  There's no need to believe anything but rather to keep your mind and your spirit open to everything that is around you and within you and don't let it be clouded by things that will distort or subdue that perception.

Some feel a need to suppress the perceptions they see or feel as the pain in them is too much but the act of suppression itself doesn't reduce the pain and instead increases and prolongs it.  We also seek sometimes greedily to keep things we can no longer have but that seeking doesn't prolong the joy of what it was and instead heightens the sense of the loss of it.  In accepting that things are the way they have to be and that things happen because they must, you bring yourself to a state of the present rather wandering hopelessly in the past.  You can read more on this from Eckhart Tolle and he won't deliver a sermon but rather he will talk to you about living now.  While Tolle does talk to some extent about the nature of God, he won't tell you at all what to believe.

The reason I fell apart last night was that I had known all day what had happened with Circe Broom but I logged into the world last night and saw that Circe was logged in as well.  My friend told me that it was a very tough lady, Amy Ferguson, who was giving some deep love of her own to Circe by taking care of business matters for her.  Amy and I talked but the messages were tagged with Circe's name and this shattered my sense of now as I knew what had happened so these messages couldn't possibly be happening and yet they were.  I knew what they were and I knew why it was happening but seeing her name as if she were magically still alive was too much.

I was very surprised by what happened as there were floods of tears and I couldn't control my emotions or even my breathing.  This is what the past can do to you as seeing the messages with Circe's name on them forced me into the past because logically they couldn't possibly be happening now.  All day I had been hearing Circe's voice, not speaking to me from the past in relived conversations but rather speaking now to say everything is alright.  That's why I didn't feel so much upset yesterday as I won't ever lose what we had, I have only lost what hadn't happened yet and I can't know what that would have been so there is no reason to lament over it.  I was terribly upset last night as it couldn't logically have been happening and that threw me but deep down I have peace.

The only problem with living now, 'in the moment,' is that you can focus too much on your 'self' in terms of what am I, who am I, etc.  From my own experience, I don't see that looking for my 'self' really serves any purpose as who it is that looks and what is it that it sees.  Logically they are two entities so if one is the 'self' then necessarily the other one is a construct.  Keith Richards was asked what goes through his mind when he plays and he said nothing at all.  That may sound vacant but really it's full actualization in which his mind and self are tuned perfectly to the present and to the music he is making.  The music flows and millions around the world feel their hearts lifted by it.

Keith Richards isn't the fastest guitarist who ever lived, he doesn't play the most esoteric chords, and he doesn't play the most complex music but he is by far the best at doing what Keith Richards does and this is what gives the purity to his music.  He isn't trying to emulate anyone else or trying to reach for something he can't have and if they were any lesson he would ever teach then I suspect this would be the one.  Just play it.

Some may be offended at any idea that I was the best of anything as there are much better guitarists - they're faster, slicker, and cooler - but there is no-one who is better at doing what I do so long as I stay true to what I do.  If I try to do anything else then any kid with his first Stratocaster will clear my clock but I have already lost if I'm not doing what I was meant to do and instead try to do something that was meant for someone else.  You will know the difference in your own life, you just have to be open to feel it.

Circe Broom the StarMaker

Circe Broom was my friend and we had a deep love for each other for many years.  She gave me my first break back in 2006 when she put me on her stage.  We loved each other almost from the start as she was much more than a venue owner to me and the biggest comfort today is that she knew I loved her.

We talked not so long ago before she went into hospice for the last time and both of us knew what was coming; we had known it for a long time.  In that talk we got a chance to say good-bye to each other and even then or maybe especially then she bore it with dignity, grace and love.  I couldn't help crying then just as I have cried today but she didn't want it then and I'm sure she doesn't want it now.

Circe didn't want anyone to know she was sick.  She was tough and she had to be because sometimes she had to say no.  She said frequently that she only staged the best so she had to be tough enough to turn some people down, you're not ready yet.  She recognized quality and she knew it in a great variety of music, from rock to country to jazz and much more.  She loved all music.

She didn't want people getting weepy about her illness and she kept it from most people.  She had been in a wheelchair for years but many didn't know it and she didn't want them to know it.  What even more didn't know is that she was a singer before she got sick and she worked with a band that toured around the east coast of the United States.  When the illness came she gave her time, her wallet, and her heart to staging other performers and getting them started.  She loved music and she gave everything to it.

It was an honor to audition for Circe and to be staged by her was the ultimate.  She gave many of the world's biggest stars their first break on a live stage.  She couldn't pay very much but that didn't matter as what was important was to be playing on Circe's stage.  If you played for Circe then you were qualified to play anywhere and so many did.

I loved playing for Circe and every time I would sing she would tell me not to do it, just don't do it.  This became a standing joke between us as I would work up yet another tune to see if that would pass with her.  They never did but the songs did improve so it became a thing with us and we would laugh about it after each show.  No show was over before hugging her until coming back for the next one.  But don't sing, just don't!

Circe let me use her stage late at night when she didn't stage anyone.  These were during my bad rock star days and the even worse rock star nights.  Circe was no fool.  She knew what was going on as there would be multiple naked women on the stage, all sending messages about wicked things they were going to do to me so they could see if I would crack while I played.  Circe had way too much class to come and watch or participate in this debauchery but you bet she knew it was happening.  She not only had style but she had a great sense of humor.

Today I've been hearing Circe talking as her spirit is strong and her voice is true.  Now she can sing again.

I love you, Rose, and I always will.  My comfort is that you know it.

The Great Greek Chess Tournament Continues

Well, folks, this one goes to the away team.  However, it was very well played and I gave Mary a well-deserved congratulation on her victory.  There were no significant blunders and the only material advantage was a single pawn through much of the game.  No-one wants to win a game on errors and this one was strictly strategy and tactics.  It was played down to a rook, a knight, and three pawns each so the first one to bring a pawn home would take it.  I was damn close but she turned it around brilliantly and after that it was all over.

Mary wasn't having any of it but I told her I have believed for quite some time that chess is almost a direct match for the computational / deductive aspect of IQ.  In other words, assuming equal knowledge of the logic of the game, the smartest person will win.  That we appear to have roughly the same IQ, in my view, is predictive of equally matched games in the future.  (Don't think for a moment that I think this aspect of IQ is the only measure of it as it will tell you nothing of why some people are brilliant artists, why some people seem to be inherently lucky, etc.)

Mary and I talk quite easily with each other but, as my ol' Dad loved to say, friends are people who don't have to say anything to each other and we rarely talk at all during the game.  I notice also that neither of us has a wrinkled brow in stern concentration but rather there's a relaxed but intense focus on the game.  These games play out too.  The games will go between one and two hours but it's all very good as neither of us gets tense waiting for the other to move.

Assuming I'm white, I'll play close to a book game on a King's Pawn opening with some mild variations.  Mary plays quite a radical game with her pawns in a way that I consider reckless but the results speak for themselves.

Laughing Gecko, I regretfully report that I did not annotate the game but I do want to make a habit of carrying a pocket-size notebook about with me (definitely NOT a computer) and hopefully I will get that going soon.

Cadillac Man, I know you'd like a shot at the title and of course I'll introduce you to Mary if you come to Greece for a visit.  Don't take that to mean I'm giving away the title just yet as we'll slug this out until there's no point in keeping score.  Hopefully that won't happen any time soon!

Lotho, I don't know if you enjoy the game anymore but I hadn't played or even given it any particular thought in quite a few years yet I'm hugely entertained and challenged by it now.  Hopefully you will be able to come out and visit as well and we'll have a game if you like.

This is the latest report on the playoff in the Great Greek Chess Tournament and this match took place in Katakolo (pronounced kah-TAH-koh-loh).  The standing is now 4-2 with the home team (i.e. me) back down to a two-game deficit.


Unrelated side note:  I followed her to Katakolo on my scooter and the ride back was one major thrill as the scoot doesn't tolerate a wet road at all.  It has a tendency to wander and it's particularly bad when it's wet.)  Harry said when he brought it to me that he's looking for a replacement for the front tire due to the length of time it had been idle and possibly flat.  The problem may be compounded by inflation as I checked it and the tire is hard as a brick.  I don't know the recommended inflation but it seems it would be a good thing to learn.

I won't say I was scared ... oh yes I will (laughs).  This was definitely a ride in stay cool or take a slide on the low side.  ('Going off the low slide' is when the bike slides out from underneath you.  'Going off on the high side' is when you get all smashed-up.  Speed doesn't matter a whole lot to how smashed-up you get as, in the worst one, I was doing, tops, about 35 mph / 56 kph.)

Singing in the Rain ... on the Scooter

And I was too, singing it out at the top of my voice.  This scoot might have been planned better but I thought I had the weather scoped as it had been nasty early and had been drying out ever since.  When I left there was no sign of rain clouds and the sun was shining cheerfully.  It wasn't quite that way when I left the A-B Supermarket, tho, as the sky was quite dark over where I live and at that moment I knew:  boy, you're going to get wet.

I knew one way back home but thought I would try another way that I didn't know because it would be more direct and the part I didn't know was a relatively short bit right at the start.  I took that route and it was strange as all the way back I was thinking I was on the wrong road.  I suppose the darkness made it look different.  Something else that might have changed my perspective was that it started pouring almost as soon as I started riding.

No, this trip was not at all well-planned as one of the reasons for doing it was that I wanted to get an extension cord so I can wash my clothes.  It may puzzle you that rain would have an effect on that but the washing machine is outside and Greeks don't seem to use clothes driers, everything gets hung up to dry in the sun.  Why not as Greece is sunny most of them time except, well, on my ride home!  Naturally, as soon as I got back here, the rain stopped and the sun came back out.

It wasn't a complete bust as I discovered multiple varieties of curry paste and I got some BandAids for the inevitable next kitchen disaster plus there was a treasure strike:  the market had Marmite!  For the Yankees out there, Marmite is the British equivalent of Vegemite so it's very unlikely you will eat either one.  Your loss as the stuff is delicious!

The beauty part is that there's a little sticker on the jar of Marmite that reads Feel the Love.  It struck me as odd that anyone would float away on beams of love from eating Marmite so I read further and discovered a little ditty:

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
Marmite you're brown,
and I love you.

Yah, this is from the same country that gave us The Beatles.

Apple GarageBand '11 - Smelly and Awful

I don't just dislike GarageBand '11, I farking hate it.  Where previously GarageBand had been an extremely useful tool, it's now extremely intrusive on the audio levels of the mixed tracks and this makes it nearly useless.  It smells and I hate it.

It took some while to understand why I was having such trouble getting the audio levels out of the guitar that I was expecting and the change in GarageBand is the reason for it.  I was driving the signal from the guitar into GarageBand as hot as it could go without clipping (i.e. flashing those nasty red peak lights) but the signal would disappear or at least be greatly subdued in the overall mix.  GarageBand never behaved this way previously so it took a while before I realized what was doing it.

There is a marginal correction one can make and that's to turn on 'ducking' for your song.  This is a procedure one can use to assign audio priority to one track over another or multiple others.  I'm still deeply-suspicious of how much GarageBand plays with the mix of the tracks over and above what I have specified in my controls but I've got no particular reason to go on an all-out snipe hunt as I've only got the one instrument here whereas previously I was playing many.  And, yes, I do miss them but that's ok.

It may be the answer is to switch to Apple's Logic but that would mean upgrading it, re-learning it, etc. I don't have the money for that and really I couldn't be bothered.  That's not fatalism or defeatism as with one instrument there's no point in going to sophisticated recording software even if I do tricky stuff with the way I play it.

The positive side of what appears to be a quite hateful article is that I got the Boss RC-50 looper working last night.  It was no big technical deal as I just needed an extension cord but I hadn't previously been able to find one.  Thank you to the scooter on that.

The result of getting the looper going is that I may bag the back tracks altogether.  Although they give me a big fat sound that I like a lot, the looper is a whole different adventure and I enjoy that very much as well.  More to come as I'll experiment with that over the next few days and we'll see how it works out.