As I have been working hard, with lots of gigs many hours in the studio finishing the Govannen album, and as I have 4 gigs in 3 days starting tomorrow it was suggested that I take today off. Well I didn't quite do that but it set up a mindset, and somehow small magical things happened through the day.
1. In the morning I was totally sucked into listening to Karlheinz Stockhausen's Düfte-Zeichen - sometimes I listen to it for the sound, and sometimes it;s too much, but this time I got sucked into the story - a strange ritual with scents - and followed the lyrics in the liner notes - the weather was strange too - a change - will it/wont it rain - which added to it. I was also reading Ray Bradbury's From The Dust Returned, which has fun otherworldly atmosphere.
It made me think I should go back to thinking of making the trip to Amsterdam next June forAuslicht - a 3 day concert series of concert forms of excerpts of all 7 of Stockhausen Licht operas - so I started to vaguely look at travel plans - it would be an adventure for sure!
2. I worked - I uploaded the new Govannen album As I Roved Out to Bandcamp - tho didn't make it live - but I listened as I uploaded and wrote some credit notes for the album and realise it was pretty good and that i had done a very good job. Such realisations, when they happen usually take months.
3. As I worked a strange pop-up videos of JPop stars Perfume kept popping up on their Instagram Story - they were silly and fun and a bit surreal and cheered my afternoon. :-)
4. I remembered the day off plan - so I strolled in the nearly rain to the Antiques Warehouse and I saw this old tinted postcard of "Chavita" - I was initially amused by the name ( like a little chav :-)) But I wondered who she had been, so I Wiki'd her - Luz Chavita was a Spanish dancer in Paris in thr late 1890s and retired in 1905. I thought how amused she would be that her publicity postcard had turned up in a Leicester Antiques Warehouse 113 years after she retired. On the back was a short letter to someone in France. I caught a snapshot of a life and a moment in time.
5. On the way home I was caught in a little rain - very little as it turned out but after s long with none it felt strange and the air unsettled. On the lawn I noticed leaves were already on the ground - autumn on the 8th of August?
6. I tried to see the film Karwaan at the Bollywood cinema but they only show films if at least 3 want to see it and there was only me. So I strolled a little down the very Indian street. On trip to see it later at the Odeon at 9pm my car CD player would not eject the CD and it seemed to have died. I resigned myself that I would need to get a replacement very soon as I have some long trips ahead.
7. I saw Karwaan as I promised myself - just 6 of us in the Odeon cinema - it;s near the end of it's run. What a strange, low key, offbeat film. Nice though. A man whose father dies is sent the wrong body. The film is a road movie to swap the bodies with the lady who got his dad’s body - with lots of detours with his fiend and the lady’s teenage daughter. Quiet, wistful, and some funny moments - not as lively as the trailer suggested. But the wistful, thoughtful nature, and it;s eccentricity really fitted in my day.
8. After the film - when I got home I decided to try and pry out the CD from the jammed car CD player. After several attempts using 2 credit-like cards - SUCCESS! - and then SURPRISE!. It turns out that the CD I put in the player had always been 2 CDs stuck together! So out came 2 identical discs! With nothing to lose I put one of them into the CD player - it played fine, and ejected fine. No new CD player required after all!
After all this my heart is FULL and my brain is BUZZING with the music, journey thoughts, achievement, a Belle Époque Spanish dancer, strange weather, autumnal thoughts, an Indian street, the strange Indian film of self discovery, and my triumph with the car CD player and the unlikely outcome of the 1 CD that was 2.
It has been a strange and magical day indeed...
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