I gave myself three homework assignments yesterday, take a walk, record an edition of Gord’s Gold for Folk Music Notebook and read an honest-to-god book printed on honest-to-god paper. I didn’t take the walk, the weather was bad, but I did the other two. The artist I covered was Rod Picott. He has a new album, one with a title. I only listened to it about three times yesterday so you can’t expect me to remember it. I love My Gentle Readers so I’ll look it up, Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. I’ve been listening to Rod for almost 20 years. The first time I saw him was opening for Slaid Cleaves at Baldwin Station in Sykesville Maryland in February 2001. I went with Carey who lived in Baltimore. It is where we debuted our Oliver’s Army shirts that we made for Oliver’s sideman Oliver Steck. Rod knew that his childhood buddy, Slaid, had made it since even his sideman had groupies. That was a great day and I needed to let that soak in for a moment. I’m back.
Rod’s made a lot of music since then, a lot of great music, none of it greater than the new album, um, let’s see the name again, To Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. Listening to music I’m going to write about is a great experience. It gets me to focus. I fell in love with Rod all over again. I’m getting better at recording for the radio. Some of it is improvements in the physical recording process. This time I added vocal warmups to my routine. Did they help? I don’t know, it could just be placebo effect, but I did get through it in fewer takes. Part of it is growing accustomed to the format; it’s not the same as blogging. It’s closely related but still different. What’s the same is that I still picture it as me talking to one person, My Gentle Reader or my Gentle Listener. One difference is that My Reader knows me much better than My Listener. I can get away with more silliness here. The other is that I have a time limit on Gord’s Gold so I have to stay focused. Here I can go into all the digressions I want. You might have noticed that.
I’m reading A Clash of Kings the second A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) books. I started it years ago and stopped as both my sight and life declined. I should have started reading as soon as my cataracts were repaired but it’s taken this long for me to get my mind in a place where it could concentrate. I am a lifelong reader but lost the knack. It’s coming back. I’m disappointed that I read only 52 pages, but that’s 52 pages more than I read the previous year. OK, not quite true, I started to read right after my surgery but I wasn’t mentally ready yet. I was going to just pick it up where I left off but decided to start from the beginning of the book. At this rate it will take me a month to finish. That’s fine, it’s a long book and not a contest. Yes, I could once read Lord of the Rings in one weekend. If I can’t now, it’s not a disaster. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get back in literary shape and be able to do so again. I am going back to the rule that I always have to be reading something. I’ll need to get a library card.
I’m going back to Allison and Joe’s today and have to leave to catch a bus in 20 minutes. I better post this and get ready.
Wise Madness 