Rainy Wednesday night. Young couples dancing. Straight-ahead Jazz. Renewing old acquaintances. New acquaintances. Old Friends. Old jamming buddies. Days of Wine and Roses. Sugar. What's up the last 8 years?
Balcony Club is a staple of Dallas low rent, down to earth jazz/blues experience. Lots of memories and annoyances. Good to have a place to show up, relax and have a beer or listen or play or whatever.
The last time I played at the Balcony Club I hated it. It was smoky, the piano was way out of tune (not even close enough for Jazz). The trumpet player running the band loved to take lots of "out" choruses. That about did me in.
These days it is non-smoking. Much better. The piano is much better and the band was good. I sat in for a couple of tunes at the top of the second set. Lots of fun.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Downtown vs. the Suburbs
I've been living smack downtown for almost 3 years now. Before that I had lived in the burbs for about 25 years. Well, that's if you can call Denton the burbs. Denton definitely has more of a personality than a typical suburb, so maybe it doesn't count. But the lifestyle has to be a lot the same of living in a typical suburb.
One of the differences I like is being able to walk to anything I need. Restaurant, grocery store, cleaners, pharmacy, doctor, dentist - it's all within a few blocks, usually less than a couple. Another thing is having a good workout facility right in the building where I live. Many of the condos, apartments and lofts downtown have on-site gyms and pools. Very convenient.
Contrast that with having to get in the car and drive to pretty much anything I just mentioned. And getting to the gym was a pain. I believe I drove more than a couple of miles to the gym. Too much overhead. Now I just ride the elevator downstairs.
Another contrast is a more social community feeling living in a high rise. I run into neighbors and other folks that live in the building way more than I ever did in the suburban neighborhood. It was hard to even know people who lived too far down the street. Here in the condo, there is a lot more casual interaction. Also, regular social events make getting to know people easy. In fact, we have a wine tasting party coming up this week.
Another fun thing about my specific situation is the view. Fortunately I live on the 23rd floor with a wide ranging South and West view from my condo. Lots of windows give all the rooms a big open feeling. At night the city view is great. I had a very nice rural and rustic view out the back door of my house before moving here. That definitely compared well to my current view, just different.
One thing missing compared to my previous residences is the quietness of a suburban neighborhood. I lived on a circle with almost no traffic, so it was pretty quiet most of the time. In the middle of the city there is always something going on. Being as far up as I am mutes most of the street noise, but the ambient noise level is certainly higher than I was formerly accustomed. Not a big deal. Good to feel the energy of the city.
I do miss Denton, but not enough to go back :-)
One of the differences I like is being able to walk to anything I need. Restaurant, grocery store, cleaners, pharmacy, doctor, dentist - it's all within a few blocks, usually less than a couple. Another thing is having a good workout facility right in the building where I live. Many of the condos, apartments and lofts downtown have on-site gyms and pools. Very convenient.
Contrast that with having to get in the car and drive to pretty much anything I just mentioned. And getting to the gym was a pain. I believe I drove more than a couple of miles to the gym. Too much overhead. Now I just ride the elevator downstairs.
Another contrast is a more social community feeling living in a high rise. I run into neighbors and other folks that live in the building way more than I ever did in the suburban neighborhood. It was hard to even know people who lived too far down the street. Here in the condo, there is a lot more casual interaction. Also, regular social events make getting to know people easy. In fact, we have a wine tasting party coming up this week.
Another fun thing about my specific situation is the view. Fortunately I live on the 23rd floor with a wide ranging South and West view from my condo. Lots of windows give all the rooms a big open feeling. At night the city view is great. I had a very nice rural and rustic view out the back door of my house before moving here. That definitely compared well to my current view, just different.
One thing missing compared to my previous residences is the quietness of a suburban neighborhood. I lived on a circle with almost no traffic, so it was pretty quiet most of the time. In the middle of the city there is always something going on. Being as far up as I am mutes most of the street noise, but the ambient noise level is certainly higher than I was formerly accustomed. Not a big deal. Good to feel the energy of the city.
I do miss Denton, but not enough to go back :-)
Monday, March 22, 2010
XM Radio Jazz Obsession
A few weeks ago I wrote that I had carefully picked out 6 music stations for my XM Radio presets. My idea was to have a wide variety of music to choose from as I sail up and down the Dallas Tollway to and from work every day. I did this for a couple of weeks and I really do like all the stations I chose.
I have to admit to a jazz addiction. It's very hard for me to choose something other than the Jazz Standards station on XM Radio. It is an excellent modern straight-ahead mix of great music all day and night long. Nothing matches the mixture of intellect, intuition and emotion that jazz brings to the musical table.
No matter how much I have played, arranged and listened over the years, there are always many more artists and stylistic nuances to experience. Mixing the new artists and tracks with an occasional track of some old favorite that I have spent hours listening to in my life makes it almost impossible to move away from the station.
I know at some point I'll get unstuck. But for now, it gets me inspired and ready for the day.
I have to admit to a jazz addiction. It's very hard for me to choose something other than the Jazz Standards station on XM Radio. It is an excellent modern straight-ahead mix of great music all day and night long. Nothing matches the mixture of intellect, intuition and emotion that jazz brings to the musical table.
No matter how much I have played, arranged and listened over the years, there are always many more artists and stylistic nuances to experience. Mixing the new artists and tracks with an occasional track of some old favorite that I have spent hours listening to in my life makes it almost impossible to move away from the station.
I know at some point I'll get unstuck. But for now, it gets me inspired and ready for the day.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Existentialism and New Thought
Existentialism is similar to New Thought in a few ways. Both emphasize individual passion as a path to true existence, or being. Exercising passion by becoming the person you are creates self-realization, or self actualization. Becoming who you are is important to both.
Becoming the person you are refers to the reality that we have a general fate through our character. We are born with a proto-character that is the foundation for the self-realization that has occurred so far. Our basic genetic character along with decisions that have been made from within that perspective during our lives has produced our "fate" so far.
To some degree we cannot completely escape our fate, since, we cannot act radically different from our basic disposition or personality type. But we do have control over the "style" we create within our overall personality context.
Existentialism is a secular expression of this idea. New Thought is a theistic version. New Thought proposes a relative world beyond the physical, absolute world. We can connect with this presence in our consciousness through regular prayer, silence and meditation. Connecting with the Spirit ensures the expression of the Christ/Buddha/Atman/Brahman within depending on your language/conceptual/traditional preference.
Existentialism supports a virtue ethics that is consistent with Aristotle's ethical system. Nietzsche refers to a Master/Slave dichotomy of ethics, where the Master ethics a self-actualizing virtue system and the Slave system is more constricted, reactionary and limiting. New Thought is similar in that it moves away from limiting language and traditional scriptural interpretations toward a more self-realizing, positive and this-worldly responsibility as opposed to some historical theological perspectives.
Becoming the person you are refers to the reality that we have a general fate through our character. We are born with a proto-character that is the foundation for the self-realization that has occurred so far. Our basic genetic character along with decisions that have been made from within that perspective during our lives has produced our "fate" so far.
To some degree we cannot completely escape our fate, since, we cannot act radically different from our basic disposition or personality type. But we do have control over the "style" we create within our overall personality context.
Existentialism is a secular expression of this idea. New Thought is a theistic version. New Thought proposes a relative world beyond the physical, absolute world. We can connect with this presence in our consciousness through regular prayer, silence and meditation. Connecting with the Spirit ensures the expression of the Christ/Buddha/Atman/Brahman within depending on your language/conceptual/traditional preference.
Existentialism supports a virtue ethics that is consistent with Aristotle's ethical system. Nietzsche refers to a Master/Slave dichotomy of ethics, where the Master ethics a self-actualizing virtue system and the Slave system is more constricted, reactionary and limiting. New Thought is similar in that it moves away from limiting language and traditional scriptural interpretations toward a more self-realizing, positive and this-worldly responsibility as opposed to some historical theological perspectives.
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