quiet.loud.silent.music

Sometimes, I believe that silence makes for the best music. In silence, we can find the true meaning of sound. While that may seem counter intuitive, it is somewhat of a shared philosophy; not only among zen Buddhists, but musicians.

In the early 1950s, composer John Cage created a piece for piano entitled 4'33" (four minutes and thirty three seconds). The piece, as figured, is 4'33" in length. During this time, not a single note is played. Rather, the pianist sits at the instrument, and watches four minutes and thirty three seconds go by, on a stopwatch. You might think, "this is not music." But, that prompts the concept of music's definition. This is an age-old discussion, and is even recently discussed in a new book by Daniel Levatin; The World in Six Songs. What is heard during 4'33", while not notes from the piano, are the sounds of the surrounding environment; the wind, birds, creaking of a wood floor, etc. The piece is, in essence, music in silence. John Cage himself said, "I have nothing to say, and I am saying it." The connection can be made, then, for having nothing to play, and playing it.

I mention this, to make the point that there never truly exists such a thing as absolute silence. The world is never quiet, and I say this not only as a resident of the city that never sleeps, but one who understands sound. It is, indeed, everywhere. Even in the quietest of places, we are kept company by the music of our bodies. As long as we breathe, blink and listen, we are ourselves noise producers. Even our nervous systems create a "hum" that, while we cannot hear per-se, does resonate, and therefore makes a sound.

I would not dare argue, or even attempt to answer the question of “what is music.” Even as a musician, the answer to that question varies from person to person, and as there has been sound and music predating the historical record of our planet, no one person would have the answer. But again, sometimes, the prettiest melodies, most moving crescendos and captivating compositions can be found not by turning on a radio or visiting a concert hall, but rather, by closing our eyes, laying back in our chairs and letting the tones of our lives carry us away

The hardest thing about saying goodbye...

...is never again saying hello. I know that sounds so obvious, but if you give it some thought, it makes a lot of sense.

My grandmother passed away recently; she was the last of my grandparents. Minute for minute, I likely spent more time with her than I have with any other person in the world. Up until this past December when I moved out, I had been living under the same roof as her my entire life. She was there through every significant experience I ever had - my first performance, my bar mitzvah, my high school graduation, college graduation, the acceptance of my first real job - you get the point.

I'm not a terribly spiritual person. By that, I mean while I do believe in the fundamentals of religion, there is much of it that I am yet to comprehend. Of those, the idea that we will all meet again in the afterlife, is one that strikes me as, well, shaky. It implies, to me, that our entire purpose while we're alive and breathing is similar to a waiting room in a doctors office. Seeing the doctor... well, again, you get the point. However, I wholeheartedly admit to the fact that there likely has to be more. This "waiting room" can't just be it, because, how sad would that be? I hope for that, in a sense, because it means that for all the years that my grandmother was in pain, there is some peaceful place where she now exists, however that may be.

Back to the point of never saying hello again: it's a horrible feeling. When someone is such a routine part of your life, the thought of never being able to see them, hug them, wish them a happy birthday, buy them chocolate, take them to the store or hear them speak becomes a terrible, awful reality. It's a reality we all wish was fiction, and I haven't even begun to fully comprehend just what that is going to mean for the remainder of my life.

She was an absolutely incredible woman, and everyone that ever met her not only loved her, but respected her for her strength, fearlessness and blatant honesty. She was returned to the earth on her birthday, and to me, that seemed somewhat comforting.

Mary Boroden - July 3, 1925 - June 30, 2008

Reality VS. teh interwebs

Spring and I were spending some quality time with Hazel on the couch last night, when, under the door slides a piece of paper (followed by what sounded like quickly retreating footsteps).  I gave Spring a look, because, I had thought this was the dreaded "Please stop your f*cking dog from whining all day" note I was expecting we would receive at some point.  It wasn't that, thankfully.  Rather, it was an invitation to join this social networking site called meettheneighbors.org

Meettheneighbors is a site designed to - you guessed it - meet the people you live with and near!  Now, I'll ju

st start off by saying that, I think using the Web as a social networking tool is fine.  I, myself, spend a bit of time each and everyday perusing Facebook or MySpace (of course, not at work...).  However, I do that because it keeps me abreast on the goings-on of people that I normally don't see - friends that live far away, friends whose work schedules don't allow us time to catch up, and friends who add funny pictures of their new puppy.......................................... What?

A Web site that promotes "meeting" your neighbors, though?  Does anyone else think this seems, oh I don't know, counterintuitive?  I understand people are busy, and even that some people are shy, bu

t if I want to meet a neighbor, I'll go meet a neighbor.  I'm not generally the kind of person who befriends someone digitally before I do in real life (although, I did court Spring through MySpace, but, that doesn't count because I knew her in person, first).

We immediately sat down and logged into it, of course.  Low and behold, a whopping four people were registered, including us.  I'm not math wiz, but, I'm guessing there are more than four people in our building with computers.  Needless to say, no one had even completely filled out their information sections, and there were no posts or anything.  I'm guessing they all did exactly what we did - sign in to see who signed in.

Long story short - say hi to people as you enter/leave your building; don't stare at the floor when you're riding the elevator; offer your doorman/super/landlord some cookies; and above all, don't rely on teh interwebs to connect you with the world at large... Mind you, I say this from a blog post - oh the irony.

On a Sunday, I'll think it through...

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The Terrible Twos

It is now two weeks since Hazel's arrival.  She has been a trip thus far, and I suppose she's staying.  I'm writing this as Spring is playing with her on the couch, talking about how she's crazy, ferocious, and has no hair on her belly.

It has been an interesting two weeks.  For anyone who is used to having a family dog (i.e., a dog that the entire family raises), having one of your own is definitely a new experience.  We expected her to be a calm, playful dog when she first got here.  Those hopes quickly disappeared, and out from the depths of quietness emerged a much more hyper, squirmy, pee machine.

A funny thing I should mention is that she is a master of escape; a regular David Blaine if you would.  We tried keeping her in her crate while we were at work, and she broke out.  The next day, we tried keeping her in the kitchen with the gate we purchased.  Being only 6 pounds, she was able to sneak out of that.  Then, we tried covering the openings with mesh screening, which she also proceeded to escape from.  Finally, we took the beast to home depot and asked for their suggestions.  After nearly $100 of attempts at keeping her captive, the final solution was: $11 worth of cork board and zip ties.  This primitive solution has successfully kept her locked in the kitchen for days, and we hope for the continued success of this creation.

All in all, she's a cute dog.  She's doing slightly better with the housebreaking, and is pretty decently walking with us outside on the leash.  Her newest habit, unfortunately, is destroying her wee-wee pads during the day.  I suppose we'll work on that by the next update.  Until then...

Coincidence?

Hazel:











Fennec Fox:









I think not.

Day 5 of the puppy, and more

We're just about 5 days in to having the dog up here, and it's starting to slowly work out. She took a few days to get into some kind of a routine, but I think we've figured it out. She seems to enjoy Prospect Park a whole bunch, and so we've made that her official bathroom.

It's Friday now, and we're going to see Passing Strange tonight. Spring and I saw it back when it was at the Public, and it was a pretty incredible show, probably one of the best I've seen. I've heard/read good reviews about it now that it's on Broadway, so here's hoping it follows through.

I think we're going out to Lawn Guyland tomorrow for dinner with my folks, and they'll get to meet Spring's dad for the first time. I think he'll probably have a lot to talk about with my dad, such as tv documentaries, dog training, bridges, and maybe even the Jews of Williamsburg.

Auf Wiedersehen.