Jazzfest 2008

Went to second weekend of Jazzfest last weekend. All in all I was glad to be back for that short time. It was refreshing to be back in the throng, the tremendous gathering that occurs this time of year. After being drenched watching Stevie Wonder and the John Butler Trio I decided to take shelter in the WWOZ Jazz Tent where Terence Blanchard was playing the soundtrack to Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" with LPO providing the orchestral accompaniment. Didn't eat the usual crawfish sack, crawfish beignets, oyster pattie, and crawfish monica. I went for the cochon de lait po-boy instead and a tasty plate of red beans and rice with sausage. I think I also indulged in a plate of bbq pork ribs with white beans by the blues tent. This was all washed down by a satisfying glass of mandarin orange iced tea and two pints of Pilsner Urquell draft. I practically broke the bank with my weekend excursion back to NOLA.

Passed by Bart and Christy's after the fest that Saturday. Ended up staying the night after one too many SoCo and soda water concoctions, bowl hits, and philosophical rants. Checked out Persephone too. Nice basement accomodations and it was rather cool that night. That was the end of Friday.

Went to Rue the following morning to catch up on my reading and for old time's sake to see how my old caffeine fueling hole was doing. Same as always minus certain familiar faces including the baristas. Met up with Matt and Veronica that afternoon to watch Robert Downey Jr. play superhero in "Iron Man". Is it because the previews were too revealing? The visual effects feast was a given but nowadays movies like that don't quite thrill me anymore. Too cliche'd and too juvenile to warrant any degree of intense appreciation. Plot development unsophisticated and cartoonish as expected but am I being too critical? It was good to see "The Dude" playing a baddie however. After the movie we met at 13 on Frenchmen for lunch.

Friday at the fest was all I could manage for the year. I couldn't imagine shelling out another forty to fifty greenbacks for another day at the fest. The Hornets were going to play game 1 of series two that night against San Antonio. So that was going to be the highlight of my second day in New Orleans. Tickets were sold out however, so I spent that evening watching the game at a friend's house. It was a late game and I was too pooped to go out that night so watching the Hornet's win game 1 against last year's world champs pretty much completed my activities for Saturday.

Sunday's high point was having lunch with my brother Jon and his wife Linda along with their eight month old son, Olivier. It was at Hana Japanese Restaurant on Hampson St. Five hours later I was on a flight back to Seattle. Man, I miss New Orleans.

the matrix office scene

As I sit on my desk editing lines of code to refine a parametric model my mind wanders to that scene in Matrix where Keanu Reeves sits motionless in front of his computer terminal. The reality of my present moment seems caricatured in this forgettable scene. We all seemed destined to follow a script intentionally or not. The concept of whether our present reality is a dream or an illusion was an interesting concept but one that was hacked to death in philosophical discussions, blogs, and the rest of the Matrix series. I'm resigned to the fact that yes this is reality and not a cover up for something sinister but I still sort of wonder where this seemingly eternal rat race leads to.

Bladerunner Nostalgia

Sitting in Jazz Alley on a Saturday night listening to Spyro Gyra play their style of jazz fusion I couldn't help but get nostalgic as one particular musical passage resonated with my memory of a synth-layered Vangelis track I remembered from way back. It served as the score to the Bladerunner scene where Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard is looking out onto the futuristic cityscape from his apartment balcony.





Vangelis effectively plays to the mood of this particular scene. As we observe Deckard comfortably taking a respite from the almost routine perils of his profession one can't help but feel cradled by Vangelis's synth textured soundscape. It's essentially a futuristic sounding lullaby that seems to hint at emptiness in terms of human emotion. The scene is contemplative, prompting us to peer into Deckard's mind. What's in there? Why does he look somewhat lost as he cradles his drink? It's a soothing harmony yet cold and barren at the same time which is of course a perfect audio backdrop against a dystopian Los Angeles.

revelation?

The following post was begun over three weeks ago. I chose not to complete it because moments after the hasty composition the feeling just left me and I went back to bed. I also did not want to ramble on about some sex-crazed dream that I had and make this post sound like a contribution to Penthouse Forum. So, for the sake of continuing my foray into the world of bloggery here's my second post.


Once again I am not much into this blogging craze of posting every rampant thought that comes to my brain. This is simply an experiment. What brings me back here however is a dream that I had less than two hours ago. A type of dream that perhaps I've had in more than a few previous occasions. This particular one however brought in a flood of thoughts and emotions when I contemplated its meaning upon awakening.

It is currently 5:15 on a Sunday morning here in Washington state. I can't get back to sleep because I feel a sudden urge to put down my thoughts on paper or ... well, my blog. Don't know if anybody will read this. At this point I don't really care. I just need to preserve whatever's in my head at the moment because moments of clarity like this tend to be rather fleeting and highly transient that one forgets its alarming urgency. Is it an epiphany or moment of revelation? Perhaps because it encompassess everything that I've had a nagging concern about lately. My aloneness in this world.

The dream itself was fleeting as most dreams of women tend to be. Fleeting yet almost real because you wake up feeling disappointed that it was only a dream. A few elements however made this dream stand out from previous ones of the type. I dreamt of two women. The setting was in a church during a sermon.....


That's where I left off. Obviously I did not want to go into detail because after all it was simply a dream. The background setting however still strikes me as odd. I mean why the heck would I be surreptitiously groping a seemingly attractive Asian woman as I stood behind the congregation observing a Catholic mass? Although much of the dream has faded away I do recall there being a second female character who possibly served a similar purpose.

It was apparent however that I was reaching out for a deeper meaning which is why I chose to put it in a blog in the first place. Loneliness could certainly have been a concern but I have a feeling it was something more profound than that. As I ponder further and slip down this slippery slope that I call my psyche I can almost vaguely recall that my concern at the moment was my seeming detachment from life in general. The details of the dream itself were inconsequential. It was the vicarious feeling of a love lost that caused alarm and a feeling that subconsciously I am crying out to be recognized and dare I say it .... loved.