Things: Calculating the Oil of Snoop Lion, Marco Eneidi, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

Things!

This fine HP 12c Platinum 25th Anniversary Edition came into my care thanks to our friend Max.  Thanking you Max.  Of the many special things the HP 12c Platinum 25th Anniversary Edition can do, a mere fraction of which I know how to use, it is the ability to conduct one's calculations using Reverse Polish Notation that titillates me the most.  Reverse Polish Notation--look for that as the title to a track on my forth coming solo recording.

Oil from Palestine!

Dare I say this fine oil is better than its Italian counterparts available to me on a day to day basis?  Is that fair?  Am I even allowed to say Palestine?

Seeking the Infinite the much anticipated biography of Maestro Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, written by Frederick Edward Harris arrived via the post not too long ago.  I do love the post.  Hopefully they won't close all the post offices in the United States.

Mr. Harris was kind enough to avail the Citizen's Orchestra a lovely rehearsal room at MIT when Mr. Bill Dixon was in town. 

Because of my HP 12c Platinum 25th Anniversary Edition and a job that gets me up at 4am, I haven't had time to really dive in to the book.  I did, however, dip my toe in the vast waters (634 pages!) and was duly rewarded.  Take page 1, for example:

The renowned conductor and composer Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's sense of reality was influenced by surreal occurrences during his childhood in Lwow, Poland, where he was born on October 3, 1923.  As a very young child, he had a dream about outer space in which he saw stars and a huge flying god wearing a white dress; the dream was so intense that he woke up screaming.  About the same time he also had dreams of exotic, steep green mountains standing like columns.  These dreams recurred a few more times and then suddenly stopped.  He was amazed ten years later to see this dream landscape in photographs of China's Sichuan province.  In 2007 he learned through a DNA test that his ancestry was four percent Chinese.  These revelations and similar experiences throughout his life led Skrowaczewski to believe in the possibility of reincarnation.

There's some great pictures, too.

I've heard Skrowaczewski conduct Bruckner, but I don't know if I can tell you which orchestra it was.  I also haven't listened to enough other Bruckner to speak with that special kind of authority that actually means something.  I have, however, listened to my fare share of recordings of the Rite of Spring, and can say with out any hesitation Skrowaczewski's recording is by far my favorite.

Speaking of favorite, how about my favorite living alto saxophonist?

You really owe it to yourself (and Marco) to buy one of these.  To wit:

 a friend made all the covers, each one individually hand done.

(many of which can be seen here)

By purchasing this, you support 4 artists at once!  So get on your facebook thing and give Marco a shout.  Besides, Marco demonstrates his Morihei Ueshiba side--untouchable and totally fluid.  Marco is at one with the horn.  I wish he would take up the oboe or programming in C or something that would challenge him.  What can't Marco do on the Alto?  Really, who are his peers?

Snoop Lion "La La La" (produced by Major Lazer) by Snoop Lion

Sugaaaah!  Mos-def +1.  Who can hate on this?  Getting beyond the good and evil of music, shouldn't we all be happy to see Rastafari in popular culture?  Imagine if Rastafari took with the kids the same way as gang/thug culture...the healing of the nation! 

When are Snoop lion and HR going to make the duo record, or would that break the universe?

Yes, yes, hurt words from adorno...I know you miss them so.  I do too.  A few more paragraphs left.  Last mile is the hardest mile sort of thing.