frozen octopus

Survived the MRI yesterday but if someone asked me for tips on how to get through one, of course I have a list. It was an experience for sure. 

eyes

I wish I would have had an eye mask like the ones people wear on airplanes to sleep. I wasn't in the machine all the way but I was in far enough. The roof of the machine is really close to your face. An eye mask would have stopped the temptation to look at the roof.

mind

20 minutes plus with nothing to look at or listen to. It is pretty rare in our daily lives. I got through it but practicing a complicated linear drum pattern. You can't move in the machine. I drummed by lightly squeezing my hands and feet. I got 20 minutes of drumming in and kept my brain occupied.

ears

You have giant noise cancelling earphones on. It is still pretty loud. Lucky for me I listen to a lot of noise music. It is what it is so embrace the noise and meditate on it. There were a lot of industrial beats in the racket.

Went to get a weird soreness/bump on my hip after rehearsal checked out yesterday. Off to get an MRI scan today. I think the reason it feels intense is all the build-up to the scan. I had to meet with a person that explained to me how loud and claustrophobic the machine is and had to sign off on it.

It kind of reminded me of old horror movies in the 1950s where they had you sign a release before you entered the movie to heighten the effect of the film.

Fingers crossed it is nothing.

Today's drum pattern reminded me that I should resist the dominant hand or foot. My body/mind wants to start with the dominant probably because it is easiest to get going. I should lead with the opposite of what my mind is telling me to go with. It is a little messier and chaotic but I usually find a pattern or fill that surprises me more than usual.

I went to a punk show last weekend. During a song, a cymbal stand collapsed. Someone ran on stage and fixed it, and no one blinked an eye. The person got a few glass raises in their direction.

Each type of music has its things that make the genre a genre. Someone from the audience going on stage to fix the drum kit is one of punk’s things.

The albums that I can remember what they sound like by just reading the title from last week. I really need to go back and relisten to that Jon Appleton album. It was interesting listening to all the snippets of sound back then.

• Jon Appleton Appleton Syntonic Menagerie #electronic
• Jo Ann Campbell I'm Nobody's Baby #rock
• Bennie Maupin The Jewel In the Lotus #jazz
• Booker Little Booker Little 4 & Max Roach #jazz

Other big news is I am thinking about changing the font for the blog. I really want to get the font sizes dialed in and I want it to feel more like a book. Research time.