Roman Edirisinghe

Rather, I told the band that I didn’t want anything to do with inner band workings, and that I wanted my role to be that of an independent contractor. In effect, I’ve given myself the freedom to say yes or no to One Drum shows, depending whether or not they want to invite me to shows.

It was a really difficult decision to make, but it’s one that I had on my mind for about two years. My involvement in the band was extensive to the point where I burned myself out. I lost patience. Additionally, I became fatigued by conflicts that are typical to all bands. Eventually, I had to cut myself free. True, it’s not a completely clean break, but since I told the band about my decision, the past two months have been very slow as far as gigs.

I haven’t really been playing that much music. A little acoustic guitar around the house, when I feel like it. I am not quitting music. On the contrary, music feeds my soul. I am simply making changes & gravitating towards avenues that will allow me to grow. I’ve been recording a little – mostly older songs that haven’t gotten the attention they deserve from me.

Yesterday, David Stocker asked me if I would join a One Drum quartet or quintet on a trip to the Pacific Northwest in April. I’m actually considering it. I’ve cleared it with work. It may be fun, especially since I’ve never been to that part of the country.

Holly & I went out to Izumi’s Japanese Restaurant on Friday night. Here’s me sucking down some fatty tuna with a nice hit of wasabi:

One of my greatest Lego creations ever…

I was playing with my housemate Kristin’s son Yoshua, and I came up with this bizarre lego thing.

The result of little sleep and midwestern winters in the USA.

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?”

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.

I’m surprised it took me this long to find out what a blog was. I’d heard the word in various conversations, but never bothered to investigate. When I did, I was hooked. I’ve now set up a blog with WordPress, and now I just need to spend some time customizing it and getting it to look exactly like I want.

Meanwhile, it’s bloody cold out. My housemate just left for Jamaica to visit her husband (envy), leaving her son in the care of several friends. It’s going to be good to have the place to myself. I kind of miss nice weather; cold weather seems to make people extremely crabby in general. I went to the grocery store tonight and was confronted by droves of crabby people, fishtailed by their countless kids, most of whom were receiving harsh reprimands from their parents for simply being alive. If you can’t take proper care of your kids & treat them with respect, wear a bloody condom.

I quit smoking last week and general crabbiness ensued. However, I’ve been feeling better gradually.

That’s all for now.