It’s a Wild Combination

Greetings from Austin, Texas. I am home again and hot again, reflecting on New York, walking and thinking, and other important topics.

Walking around New York I thought about Arthur Russell. New York is a place for thinking about heroes while walking around. I thought about how much music derives meaning from context. My steps sang ‘Wild Combination’ and ‘Habit of You’, illuminating the melodies in new colors.

Sunset geese in Prospect Park

We played 2 gigs in New York, one in the city and one in Kingston which is about 2 hours away on the Amtrak train which comes and goes as it pleases, free of schedules or concepts of time! There’s something about that I truly admire. A mode of transportation that you have no choice but to devote your day, potentially to *just hoping* for its arrival.

Eventually the train does come

Lately I have been trying to intentionally, compassionately, capture little improvisations that I create in my daily life. I do this all the time, singing weird passionate little songs to myself or my dog or my partner, filled with whatever images I’m thinking of, whatever rhythms, whatever repeated theme of the day or the year. I flow wild and free when I’m just messing around, it just doesn’t occur to me to harvest anything from there. It’s the weirdest place but the most honest. Here’s something I captured while waiting for the (many hours late) Amtrak train: