Way into The Way Out

Q: You know how sometimes you hear a record, and you've been waiting a long time for it (along with a lot of other people), and you know you'll eventually be familiar with every single second of that record, and that listening will be like wearing your favorite v-neck sweater and cords on a brisk fall evening walk WITH steaming hot cocoa in one hand and your beloved's hand in the other, and that in the meantime you're just enjoying the accumulation of listens, the getting to know the record, the learning the songs in your ears and fingertips (for tapping along) and there's that one track that almost makes you cry, and the other that just makes you laugh - wait there are a few of those - and you know the musicians have given it their all (and we're talking about some generous people here), and it's just something you'd like to share with everyone you encounter?

A: Thanks, the Books!

P.S. I may have mentioned at some point during the past - oh - seven months, the TCF's collaboration with the Books, and our 2010 ShortDocs Challenge - Book Odds. Well the deadline's passed, the final tally is tallied, and a whopping 143 submissions were sent from 14 countries. Success! Beyond our hopes and expectations, to be honest. Have a listen - believe me you there are some GEMS in there. For real.

WLD

Well now. There's barely time to think and write and eat and breathe and pedal and rest and read and correspond and explore and relax and remember and extend and accept and wish-hope, still, and prepare and dig and smooth and clear and slice and carry and translate and and puzzle and scrub and cringe and laugh.

This is constant now, this barely time. But today, of all days - find time for listening, please? I'll do the same.

(Puzzle pieces spotted in alley behind friend's apartment in Pilsen. The kind of thing you stumble upon, and everything changes. Click for a good look, and to spot the lucky paperclip.)

appreciating appreciation

Am inspired sometimes by gesture, and sincerity, and clarity of purpose - all of which flows in abundance, in Rick Moody's recent blog post about Jolie Holland's song "Mexican Blue" which he's declared the best song of the millennium. I can only agree it's kind of a miracle song, and am grateful to have been taken deeper in, and for his making the case for making the case for something that resonates so very, very deeply. I hear the song differently now, and may hear every song differently now. Thanks, RM.

Was also charmed just yesterday, sitting and watching my fella's band play at a city festival, when the young kid next to me politely tapped me on the shoulder, and asked if I had a pen he could buy for $1. Genuinely curious, I asked him what it was for, as I began digging around in my bag. "I love this band so much, and I brought a CD for them all to sign. But I don't have anything to write with." I declined the dollar despite his best attempts to lay it on me,  handed over the pen, and turned attention back to the band. Kid started snacking on some Cheerios, we both continued to thoroughly enjoy the set. It was the sweetest moment.

All of this by way of saying...it's so good, so restorative, to collide with people / moments that express an abiding connection to someone, or something, or somehow. All of this by way of saying the appreciation is appreciated.