the warriors of God
    have paint
    under their fingernails
the warriors of God
    carry mandolins

the armory is filled with pitches and color
whispers of the deep Spirit haunt
    brushstrokes and penstrokes and lips
the cavalry are dancers
    twirling their bodies into the streets of war

sweet music!
the impending fiddles
    (a toll of bombs in the distance)
the scrawling impetuous poet
    (a roar of machine gun)
the characters of the play
rising to sacrifice and truth
    (a city, burning to the ground)
the actors cast their broken hearts
    like bread to us poor,
the unruly screams of hope
    cue the raising dead

the warriors of God
    lose sleep perfecting a single word
the warriors of God
    contort their spines
    for an epiphany of gesture

dreamers and excessive lovers of joy!
the Spirit of the deep groans
those orphaned for reckless wonder
    are called pilgrims of light
    and eternal children

everytime I enter this city
there's a sticky anticipation in my gut
the train pushes into her hollowing belly
and I feel the world shake

This software is way to much fun. Here is the result of my fooling around with the program for the first time.

I have a 4-year old student who I teach general music and guitar. His mother told me that at home, he called her into the room and had the keyboard and the guitar all set-up. He proceeded to give her a music lesson. He directed her to tell if what he played was fast or slow, the same or different melody, playing things on both the keyboard and guitar. The same stuff I do to him in lessons! I think that is so awesome. Maybe he has a future is music education...

This recipe never tastes quite the same. When I was an undergraduate, my housemates and I made it all the time and we called it "man sauce." We still call it that despite the innuendo, which didn't occur to us until long after the evolution of the dish.

2 - 3 pounds of ground meat or sausage (cow, deer, pig, squirrel, whatever)
26 oz. carton Pomi chopped tomatoes
8 - 12 oz. can tomato paste (make sure it has no sugar added)
1 large bulb garlic (yes, the entire bulb), chopped
2 medium to large onions, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
handful of fresh basil
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. dry rosemary
salt to taste

optional:
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup kalamata olives, halved
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can kidney beans, or some other kind of beans
(basically, whatever you want)

Heat to medium-low a very large, heavy pot or dutch oven or something like that. Put in the olive oil, and when the oil heats up add the onions and the garlic. When the onions have partially caramelized, add the meat. Stir frequently until the meat is mostly cooked. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, wine, olives, green pepper, and beans. Bring heat up to high. Just as the sauce begins to boil, bring it down to simmer. Cover and simmer the sauce for several hours, stirring periodically. Add the basil, Romano cheese, cayenne pepper, rosemary, and salt. Simmer for another fifteen minutes to half hour.

The bigger a mess you can make of the kitchen while making this, the better. When you chop things, smack the knife down to make lots of noise (but be careful). Wipe your hands off on your jeans. Talk loudly and say inappropriate things. Put the sauce over some kind of pasta and serve it proudly to girls.

Props to Dan Burgess for his help developing this recipe and perpetuating the tradition.

The Golden Link Folk Singing Society brought Bruce Molsky to Rochester last night. He performed solo on fiddle, banjo, and guitar. I am a fan of Molsky's music and feel he is one of the best old-time fiddlers in the world. He played in several other styles last night, including West African guitar and Bulgarian dance music. It was an inspiring display of musicianship and tradition.

Old-time performers often limit themselves to playing the melody, and I've even spoken to old-time musicians who don't feel that improvisation is an important part of the tradition. Molsky is an improviser, and performs with improvisation at the heart of traditional music. He adds harmonies and licks to old-time melodies, stretches song forms out to accommodate extended phrasing, mixes up rhythms, and makes every tune particular to his style and voice. Unlike bluegrass, in which improvisation is structured around the soloist, improvisation in old-time music is a more organic process. There is no specific soloist, and the tune becomes a vehicle for energy and in-the-moment communication between musicians. Molsky's performance last night inspired me to continue pursuing my convictions about improvisation as the beating heart of traditional music.

I had a chance to speak with Molsky for a few minutes last night, and I asked him how he ended up a professional musician. He worked as a mechanical engineer for twenty years after dropping out of Cornell. Ten years ago he gave himself one year to try and be a full-time musician as a "what if." Now he tours the world with his wife; as he put it to me, "It's a great feeling to wake up in the morning, and the first thing you think about is music." He encouraged me to keep playing for the love of it and perform at as many dances as I could.