First email to romoblog from my phone
Well, this is coming along quite nicely. It trips me out that I’m actually writing this from my mobile phone. Tech has advanced considerably. It’s quite astonishing, actually.
Japanese Zen Flute Music
Checked out Brian Ritchie playing traditional Japanese Zen flute music. I was crabby when I walked it, but the music quickly put a stop to that. It was deeply contemplative and I felt excellent by the end of the show. He even asked me to come up and sit in on a song, playing melodica in the style of a dissonant Japanese instrument. The funny part of sitting in is that I was on the way to the bathroom to take a leak when his wife Varuni chased me down and told me Brian wanted me to sit in with him.
I said, “I’d love to, but could I go to the bathroom first?”
Lunch with Brian Ritchie
Severe insomnia last night. Tossed and turned for hours. Finally, I was so tired of being tired that I started crying. Somehow, it worked. About an hour after I finished crying, I fell asleep. It must have been about 5:00 am. I remember seeing snow falling outside.
I had lunch with Brian Ritchie today, at the African Hut. We both enjoyed the akara and Yinka’s “Sunshine” hot sauce. Conversational topics included Sri Lanka, the Violent Femmes, One Drum, Shakuhachi, etc. One thing I noticed was how nervous I was. After all, I was having lunch with one of my heroes, someone whose music I had been listening since I was a teenager. Despite the fact that we had already jammed together in an intimate setting, it was strange noticing the nervousness.