JOLLYTIME

catch-up express

2011-07-27T22:57:00.001-04:00

been workin' on a building

different VUs

2011-04-30T21:40:00.001-04:00

New Tumblr-like "views" from Blogger ("Mosaic" and "Snapshot" are decent but clunky).

15. Dead horse

2011-04-30T21:30:00.000-04:00

Free Music Archive has a great interview by Rick Moody with Ben Hall re: his collecting & sharing of old gospel 45s & 78s, first via his Bap-tizum site & soon to be archived at DRAM. FMA has 5 tracks to d/l, but you can also check out Bap-tizum Radio to listen to many more.

14. Guess I'm Falling In Love

2011-04-13T22:37:00.000-04:00

Back on my feet, internet up after some storms, so will try to

catch up on recent events. Stay tuned...

13. melancholic

2011-02-15T20:25:00.000-05:00

Little to no motivation lately after foot injury.

Wanting time off, a break, space...

12. They Call Me the Gimp

2011-02-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

Woodworker's shop @ Isla Negra, Chile.

11. Natural Born Killer

2011-01-30T22:17:00.000-05:00

Watched "Black Swan" @matinee today for a rare movie date, and emerging from the theater after being trapped in its tense freakishness for 2hrs, we were reminded of a similar parking-lot eeriness after watching the Oliver Stone film mentioned above (sic): disturbed, disoriented, and not quite ready to touch another human. Still, the writing, acting & camerawork was all inspiring enough...

10. Miss me, but let me go.

2011-01-28T23:27:00.009-05:00

what would you write in your death poem?

9. GuilCo

2011-01-27T00:17:00.000-05:00

8. Well, my mind is goin' through them changes...

2011-01-19T22:32:00.001-05:00

(somewhere VA, summer, from what seems like long ago & far away)

7. Zuckerberg

2011-01-18T00:29:00.000-05:00

Saw "Social Network" @ the dollar flick tonight & well worth a buck!!

6. Sitting here in my safe European home...

2011-01-16T23:54:00.026-05:00

Watched Anton Corbijn's "Control" over the last couple of late nights & was very impressed. Never caught the Joy Division flame during my 80s musical expansion, but found them early 90s/end of college through my buddy Christian. Imagine the scenes from the trailer below, but stretched out & laced with cold space & poetry to reach 2hrs of stark, still Northern England in the black+white 70s. Then add a brilliant performance by Sam Riley captured by Corbijn's intuitive filming and you've got one helluva compelling picture about music, tension and release. (see also: 1, 2, 3)

5. Vom Gehen im Eis

2011-01-15T23:56:00.001-05:00

4. I'm in the mood for 'Schach'

2011-01-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

Played chess w/ Mia yesterday during our "snow & ice day" (letting her win this time), then later we went sledding into the sunset...

3. Back to school

2011-01-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

...(and hopefully snow) tomorrow.

Glad we put up all our Xmas stuff last week...

2. A Walk in the Woods

2011-01-07T01:49:00.000-05:00

Nice chill day w/ Mia today. After doing some work this a.m., we loaded up her new Camelbak w/ water & snacks & went on a long woods walk. I took the 50mm and intentionally shot narrow DOF since I never do otherwise. And looking at the pix tonite, you can tell that I never do it b/c they are all mostly lame misses. So here's the perfect bird's nest on a perfectly sunny day in the New Year...

1. Happy Hair Monster!!

2011-01-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

So I decided to do a "daily dose" of photos here for the New Year, but of course in true JOLLYTIME fashion, it's already Jan. 5 before I get around to the first one....Anyway, here is the beautifully scary "hair monster" that I pulled up from our shower drain a couple days ago. It's probably hard to tell from the crappy phone shot & web-scale, but I think that at least some of those hairs are red!! And to think that my wife wants us to put in a new bathroom....

What?!

2010-12-20T00:51:00.021-05:00

[more here... & here...]

Tumblr too...

2010-11-07T00:01:00.000-04:00

Trying out Tumblr now & may or may not keep this page going forward. Ridiculous that there's not a good iPhone app for Blogger, but I guess it's all part of the grand Google vs. Apple war...

"The Ongoing Moment" by Geoff Dyer

2010-02-08T23:22:00.007-05:00

aleatory, topic-hopping, risky, creative:

2010-02-05T00:12:00.000-05:00

(more from this color later)

snow / run / movie

2010-02-03T22:59:00.001-05:00

2010-01-30T11:04:00.001-05:00

3 de enero

2010-01-03T19:22:00.003-05:00

7530

2010-01-02T16:30:00.015-05:00

"please bless this miserable kitchen"

. . . . purple rain . . . . . . . lady sings the blues . . .

{ songs in the key of life }

morning run

2009-09-06T08:21:00.005-04:00

pair of glasses, CD, key, roadkill, syringe, frog, mini-bottles, cans...

pa la calle!

2009-08-19T01:55:00.001-04:00

Cartas de Cuba, 1: Pennsylvania pre-trip

2009-08-04T23:01:00.010-04:00

George School's logo is a tree, which is fitting, since there are a ton of them spread out over their expansive campus.

There's a large garden, horse stables, an Alternative Energy Center...

and the new LEED certified library (below), which opens in the fall.

The pre-trip workshops were well organized and packed with information, so it was a nice change of pace to start the second day with some cheery team-building exercises...

Behold our fearless leader!

I talked a little bit w/ Rafaela (above, left) from Nicaragua re: the possibility of bringing some of my students to visit her school.

And here is our happy crew outside the meeting house, eager to get on with our aventuras cubanas!

2009-07-08T02:32:00.002-04:00

Last two days @ George School in Newtown, PA doing pre-trip workshops. Tomorrow fly to Miami, then on to Holguin, Cuba on Thurs. High hopes + minimal expectations. Peace, - RJ

Do you know the way to Holguín?

2009-07-01T22:56:00.011-04:00

(photo by Felip1)

Well, first you have to apply for the special license, then wait for months for it to come, and meanwhile work on a "plan B" since the license may not arrive in time, then just when your "absolute last deadline" has come & gone with no license, you hear that it really might still happen, that the license may indeed be on the way, but who knows if & when it comes if there will then be enough time to book a group on one of the limited flights to the island from Miami? Alas...

(1) Luckily for me, other people have been doing all of the above planning, and even more importantly...
(2) I'm realizing a dream next week & going to Cuba!!

I'll be in Holguín for 2.5 weeks, helping to repair a church that was damaged last year by Hurricane Ike. No Havana (as originally planned), but we will get to visit Santiago de Cuba & Gibara. Stay tuned for at least some reports from the road...

And in the meantime, here's an interesting and award-winning blog to check out, written "from the island, about the island": Generación Y (English version), as well as two audio programs put out by Afropop Worldwide re: "The Golden Age of Cuban Music": (part 1)+(part 2)

habitats for humanity

2009-06-18T21:54:00.019-04:00

Went to the zoo today w/ 20 Middle School PhotoCamp students and snapped these pix of the synthetic habitats:

carrying wood

2009-06-15T23:31:00.001-04:00

watched a tiny spider run a tightrope marathon tonight at dusk

"She had to leave..."

2009-06-11T22:21:00.014-04:00

Finally saw X last Tues. @ the Cradle after listening to their music on/off for 25 yrs. Can't remember who we taped it from then, but probably somebody's older sib. I do remember that my copy of Los Angeles had Judd's high school handwriting on the cassette case....

Not a sold out crowd, but plenty of people there, though still enough room to snake up towards the left front where I like to stand. Surprised by Exene's height (or lack of). Just read re: her being diagnosed w/ MS, but she sang great & seemed to be having a good time. John Doe's energy still strong & fun, moving around & sweating like a beast on bass. Billy Zoom played a gold-sequined gtr right up at stage front & made silly smiling faces to all the iPhone stalkers et al. He must be a great guitarist b/c the whole band was so tight, but he looked almost bored at times. Otherwise he seemed to be having good fun too.DJ Bonebrake was...solid, tight...though not as impressionableas the others. Wore an X tee & had jazz/vibraphone CDs for sale.

This was part of their "Total Request Live" tour where you can vote on what songs you wanna hear ahead of time & (maybe) they will play them. And looking at that list, it seems like they got most of them in there. Highlights: "We're Desperate," "In This House That I Call Home," "The New World" ("lately this song has taken on a whole new meaning...and we hope it keeps on meaning that..."), "Sex & Dying in High Society," "Devil Doll," "Adult Books" (inspired by this episode, according to J. Doe), an acoustic "See How We Are" plus some other encores and finally, "The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss". Loud, fast, fun & somehow: relaxing. Afterwards I drove home through the rain.

best blog du nuit:

2009-06-02T23:14:00.007-04:00

Shaun Sundholm's f letter
: typefaces, design jonk, photos & the occasional text mantra.

Spent 1hr. looking through tidbits tonight, and those were just the May entries!

(photo: Luxury Mountain House - Park City, Utah. Credit to Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects, via three85)

sunset bike

2009-05-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

last night

2009-04-30T23:52:00.000-04:00

yesterday morning

2009-04-30T23:32:00.011-04:00

went running on the bypass & saw this (ball peen?) hammer for the second time, so picked it up on the rewind. then noticed the screwdriver handle (actually to a paint roller) and finally the brush. Vesta told me later that she saw me running back to the house & thought i had relay batons in my hands...

listening Captain Beefheart alum. band Fast 'n' Bulbous from their NYC gig earlier this year: like Dixieland Dada in the Desert! all instrumental multi-horn takes on the Captain's inimitable hookish melodies.
poking through the web for more, i found a recording of one other gig (fm. Barcelona later in the week) and this comment that made me imagine & laugh:

#3142429 by tianlai at 2009-03-18 23:49:10 GMT

very cool--i just pulled and shared trout mask with HS sophomores today after state testing. didnt fare well, happy to see this "new" project...

sure glad we don't have to deal w/ standardized tests @ our school, or who knows what my poor students would be subjected to...

cullen stephenson

2009-04-17T22:47:00.003-04:00

...has some interesting collage work going:

zoolandia pt. 3

2009-04-13T11:07:00.002-04:00

(little homage to joe holmes)

zoolandia pt. 2

2009-04-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

zoolandia

2009-04-09T23:39:00.003-04:00

synthetic habitats
on the outskirts of knoxville...

peace =

2009-04-04T23:50:00.001-04:00

Savage Detectives + latte + birdsong + sun

DB's got soul!

2009-03-11T22:41:00.011-04:00

One of my favorite internet radio programs over the last couple of years has been David Byrne's, which features a different genre or international theme each month. DB is currently spinning a great selection of OLD SCHOOL GOSPEL, so get over there & listen to it before March has got up & gone! Plus check out the interesting & usually informative online journal from a man who ain't scared to wear a tutu!

8 yellow berries

2009-02-24T20:59:00.010-05:00

out of the school
into the woods
past the stream
along the path
towards the sun
and the sound
of the fiddler
across the lake

attempt @ fortnight fish

2009-02-15T20:42:00.014-05:00

Target parking

Sitting alone
this movie

doesn’t know
pronunciation matters

Them words
Us all.

End
folded

snapping tape,
leftover film

something re:
childhood's mem.

Why though
“Die!"?

What gift:
This watching

the rehearsals
last day

2924

2009-02-01T18:28:00.005-05:00

sundays were made for exploring abandoned houses.

into the ordinary...

2009-01-31T15:02:00.003-05:00

"I think extravagance in your life takes the energy from possible extravagances in your mind."

Kay Ryan, when asked in the Paris Review re: the importance of living an ordinary life

welcome to the white house!

2009-01-20T06:34:00.003-05:00

Sept. 27, 2008 - Obama-Biden Rally, Greesnboro, NC

philly nilly

2009-01-18T00:38:00.007-05:00

the last picture i took in new york...well, almost

2009-01-09T00:29:00.010-05:00

coupled with the almost-first i took on a sunday morning last october:

here are the pix for Boogie in Nippon that didn't make it (except the middle, which is a substitute for another i forgot)

2008-12-05T00:01:00.007-05:00

Ling Girls Reunion

2008-10-17T23:11:00.001-04:00

In Gaithersburg for the 2nd annual reunion of families who traveled together to China 3 yrs. ago to adopt our daughters. 7/10 families made it this time & it is great to see all the girls playing together, almost like they've all just seen each other last week. Tomorrow we'll have a "Princess Ball," trick-or-treating around the hotel lake, and then go to a restaurant for dinner, with the girls wearing their fancy China dresses. Felt a little bummed that I forgot my Nikon (esp. after spending time last night emptying out all the memory cards), but already felt more relaxed/less "on" (in the photographer sense) tonight at dinner.

Here are some pix from our trip in 2005 that I printed, matted & framed recently. If you get your arse to Lyndon St. before the end of the month, you just might be able to see (or even purchase) one! Over & out, - RJ

three more

2008-10-17T23:10:00.002-04:00

(first and last are from a holiday parade
for Kwan Yin, the female buddha)

thank god its lyndon

2008-09-03T23:39:00.001-04:00

for anyone in the GSO area tomorrow (Fri.) night, i'll be @ Lyndon Street from 6-9pm showing & hocking some new wares, including pieces from the recently mentioned "stench of decay" series. (directions)

(there are also still some studio spaces available
if anybody is looking for an artistic home...)

^ ^
just get in touch w/ erik AT needsculpture DOT com

39 days

2008-09-03T23:33:00.007-04:00

24) lost track / early a.m. / no coffee / but clear.
23) "i learned to kick from my friend the gorilla."
22) smooth / and strong / telephone coming.
21) 3 hr. siesta
20) animal noises / @ aimee mann
19) hither & yon / prank calls / tiny drops / missed the train.
18) feigning football / flower frame / dark coke / and tenderloin.
17) night breeze / surprise lunch / feeling the / inward turn.
16) 1st of sorts / library lag / double woods.
15) four pools / ocean necklace / crop duster / splinters the sun.
14) early a.m. / bike to end / group pic sushi.
13) tibby talks / 11 years / ketchup sleep.
12) dark drive / confluence of dreams / pre-teen wisdom.
11) ducks don't move / as sun shines / on tiny eyes / of toad.
10) tarantula drops / with thurston / relaxing on / the gravel river.
9) arrive early / face down / past brings / good luck.
8) new faces / tears inside / old joys / the rain.
7) training wheels / water snake / air-conditioned siesta.
6) chai room decor / chicken lemonade bike.
5) evener keel / long swim / movie life / goes on.
4) overwhelmed, tired, sad / hard to resist.
3) broke bike but / ping pong champ.
2) sleeping girl / photo series / stench of decay.
1) still hazy / all these years / woods fall but / saved face.

working it

2008-08-28T21:40:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of shots of my oh-so-elaborate setup used to finally take some "stench of decay" shots, for which I've been planning (and saving flowers) for a loooooong time:

plus a couple of results:

. . . . . . . . . robby in the low ground . . . . . . . . .

2008-08-15T23:12:00.012-04:00

doing the jollytime hustle in turbo mode today running quick to quaker village to ply thru bb's spent stacks w/ mia & who should recognize me in beard costume but mot! big hug & smile mia in her five dollar white leotard me surprised & happy all three of us lights on the sidewalk like nightjars w/ candles inside. perry's just over there at the car she said & when i looked that way realized instantly that we had seen but not recog'd him already during our multiple parking space search circuits. it was damn good seeing your folks & i told them so saying the truth that it made my day.

----

just also wanted to say thanks to anyone everyone who has viewed this thing in its short & needy lifespan whether robot cat paw or human hoof i appreciate you taking the time to stop by & smell the bird shite. send me some birthday kinks & let go of your words.

amen.

water & shade

2008-06-12T21:38:00.006-04:00

*IMPORTANT UPDATE*
...CURRENT JOLLYTIME EQUALS...
...11HRS.+30MIN. SLOW...
{pls. exercise}

. painted chest . wire cutters . stuffed animal .

2b - Climbing Cotopaxi

2008-05-30T23:19:00.052-04:00

1/2 way up the active volcano, parked in the lot &
up to the shelter. avalanche of tea. brilliant sun.

emergency lunch, in need of a report
from our scouts:

and throughout it all, the luck & smile

of the punctured goddess of altitude:

may 1st draft

2008-05-01T02:47:00.003-04:00

david gordon green

going to FLA tomorrow to see fam. & shoot a wedding.
hoping for sun & a salty cure for my scraped throat.
perhaps words...

lou, lou, lou @ carolina theatre, durham: transcendent...in moments

2008-04-29T00:16:00.018-04:00

* leather angel opera rock *

my setlist notes

(i don't usually keep track, but red wanted me to bring home a full report of everything that happened....) longtime fans will see that i didn't know the names of many of the recent songs, some of which i liked/seemed to work better than others, and most of which featured lou's typical goofy/sincere lyric combinations. one stood out: "the power of the heart," which hasn't been released yet. (nice love song incl. the lyrics "i would marry you again".) also didn't realize that he and laurie did finally make it official.

to try to describe the black leather t-shirt that 66-yr. old lou wore wouldn't really do it justice, though i'm sure you can imagine...or you can just check out this shot of it two days later in Knoxville (w/ the "silver shovel" guitar):

(by TennesseeJed)

"sweet jane" was fun, but never quite took off. however, by the third song i was hooked: thrilled to hear "i'm set free" w/ a great lou solo (though the accordion caused a conflicting fascination/repulsion, as though elvis costello were performing the song with full band on "Austin City Limits".) "i'm sticking w/ you" was a complete surprise, b/c of course i haven't seen that juno movie to know that it must now be "current". the poe stuff was alright, interesting & i'm sure a fun & challenging exercise to set to music. "guardian angel" was probably my other favorite recent one, the lyric from poe sung in lou's voice seemed "absolutely lou". biggest complaint was that the whole thing was waaaaaay short, and of course they only played one encore ("perfect day"): fun to hear but not particularly...transcendent.

the backside of my notes sums up the evening pretty well:

"fancy pants (to my left) didn't like the show.
bob & shirley (to my right) loved it.
i just grokked. "

Day 2: Hacienda Porvenir

2008-04-27T00:17:00.009-04:00

high up in the altitudes, stayed @ this working farm (llamas, cows, sheep: oh my) & woke up every night @ 3am w/ a throbbing headache. but the scenery was fab, cotopaxi & raminahua were snowy, and we got to volcano hike & ride horses....everybody enjoyed the 'comfy rustic' vibe of the hacienda, but they didn't complain later when we moved on to the tropical swelter of Tena...

Day 1: llegada en Quito

2008-04-17T22:21:00.029-04:00

give thanks to y'all:

finally posting some ecuadorian mashcards for everybody who was expecting to get something old-fashioned & papery in their metal mailbox, but din't. these are the backs of the cards i bought (but didn't send) after doctoring on a hike (read: lazy foto walk) a day or two after we got home. tops are real w/ this after-scribble (but not necessarily city-specific) addenda, bottoms are my pix from then there.

gettin' on wit it: can't remember if this one had anything to do w/ the after-scrawl, but did plan on using it for my 'walking thru el centro' lead-in, the chance this time around too good to desert...

here's what i remember now re: them times --

uneventful, easy flights (+ miami diversion)
Stace left her cell phone in the mag. pocket of our 1st plane & had to almost chase it back down the run.way in panic
meeting Cary @ aeropuerto/Quito, 1st glimpses of the city @ night thru bus eyes
nighttime walk to Casa Sol: pedestrian, colors, digs
meeting Stefi next day & asking where i could find a copy of Los detectives salvajes (LibriMundi blocks away hooked me up 2x)
walk downtown, exploring the Basilica: impressive round the corner, but no expects for attic-crawl & ladder-hoist up to the tippy towers
E. jockeying for space on the pivot-circle of the ecobus, holding straps as the bellows skeleton turned
rainy streets a week later as we enjoyed our farewell dinner & packed up to leave hotel @ 4am

<< reminds me of houdie, but better decorated... >>

retorno a Misahualli

2008-04-02T00:13:00.011-04:00

resting up (here) after 10 days in Ecuador w/ students last week (there).
the guide in canoe front wore a faded Auburn U. baseball hat.
trip recap soon come....

after the rain

2008-03-16T19:28:00.003-04:00

2008-02-25T07:35:00.006-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MUTTI

2008-02-23T10:46:00.017-05:00

winter triptych

sometimes stuck in this clear jar,

which happens to hold

a cardboard drink

which is the name of this country,

almost slurped down now

to its saccharine bottom.

the snow on the ground

burns white sun patches

into our eyes

and gives the cold,

brown mud clumps in our hair

a dingy glisten.

it must have seemed easier, better

to decline the autopsy: not to know

whether the tragedy was even more tragic,

the well of burnt chances, disappointments

and abuse perhaps still deeper

than their sad, hopeful pain.

love in the mtns.

2008-02-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

. stolen book . cracked sole . guineas, beagles, sheep .

a good day

2008-02-04T00:04:00.001-05:00

. found airplane . swam mile . ate waffle . went down slide .