April 30th, 2011

After many days of playing hard blues scales and practicing arpeggios and learning new notes.   After countless hours of listening to the blues and jazz greats, testify as they enter a new zone of timelessness.
I play exercises repeatledly and smash thru the book breaking new blues ground then covering the same ground over and over.  I can understand and hear jazz and blues quite well since it's all I really listen to anymore.   But I am faithfully following someone elses music and adding each inflection as the music tells me like some tape recorder set on the "unoriginal" button.

But tonight was magic.    First a steady stream, then a full chorus,  then ten thousand ideas fell out of my being and created sound-waves that were impossible to me just a few weeks before.   I felt as a bus station for the blues, which  passed  thru my horn in 4 different scales, each one telling a different story.
Blasting out original prose for the very first time in my saxophone history,   shutting off all cognitive thought and just letting it all flow.   This was like baptism gone right.


Today started as the basic Logan Utah Saturday,  when me and my old buddy Larry having breakfast and talking very little.  Larry used to be my pool shooting, drinking pal, but now I don't do that shit anymore.   So he tells me about the current events at the pool hall,  and I bore him with whatever comes to mind.   Larry had been a good friend and currently my only friend in this Mormon city.   He dropped me back off to my place at 9:00 while the snow was still falling.   I watched a bit of TV and dosed for a while... Boredom started to creep into my soul at this point.   The Saxophone and the Country of China are presently on my mind at all hours.

Begin more research on which Chinese town and school would most likely fit,  and decided to search for the places less polluted than some of my job offers have been,   Finally tired of the house and with the sun out, yet cold, I drove my trusty little Spanish scooter to the neighborhood grocery store.   I opted for the ramen and a few veggies to chop up into a great concoction of healthy lunch which couldn't have cost more than 50 cents.   I did add a chopped up hotdog like the Vietnamese do when they serve their "Pho",  and added an egg as well.   Damn I can live cheap when I wish to!   I made enough for two of course,  so I threw the rest into the toilet and hopefully it to will nourish something.

Did more internet research, applied to a few more places in the few non-polluted towns in China,  and read some amazing things such as:  I had to explain what a rainbow was to my students, and that there are millions of stars and not just a few bright ones,  to those who live in most of the Grey polluted Chinese cities".    I also read a few horror stories, but I doubt that China equals this country in "horror".

 Every hour or so,  I spent 20 minutes playing blues scales and new songs.   I would repeat this everytime my King Zephyr would call to me.   And lately its been calling me all the time everyday.   Two weeks ago,  my instructor showed me a new plastic reed,  and suggested I combine it with the old neglected ancient mouthpiece that I haven't been using,   Now I can play as quiet as a whisper and can control my sound till it sounds like voices from the great beyond or something.   I can still scream it out loud when needed, but its nice that its not always loud as hell.    I am getting along well with the Zephyr and its beginning to make beautiful sounds,  and even talking or screaming when I want it to.   I started out with just a generic honking noise.  

When darkness fell I stepped outside for a few,  and could hear the college kids howling and screaming about something,  this is the farewell to the school year weekend,  which explains the big polynesian guy staggering across my lawn looking for a place to piss while I was leaving to breakfast.   Spring is finally here in Logan town,  and things are beautiful again.    

April 21st, 2011

Is it already 2011?   Crazy!   Had an excellent day today.  Antibiotics for the past week finally seems to have kicked the "Walking Pneumonia" that I have been stricken with since January.   My voice sounds normal after three months of nasal/throat/lung infections.    This happened last year at the same time too.  This valley is so polluted during the winter when the heavy air has us sucking pollution for weeks at a time.   But now its spring time and I'm a happy camper once again!

The day went particularly well,  I had a lot of energy and the students were grateful to see me back to my old self once again.   Rained most of the day but I did manage to get out and go to my first Saxophone lesson in over 30 years!!!   My instructor, who is an old jazz musician, agreed to take me on, but wasn't so sure about my level of playing ability.   I did struggle through some sight-reading trials,  but he was convinced that I am at the upper intermediate level and started me with some hairy complex jazz scales and routines to work on before my next lesson.    I am so happy that he didn't start me off playing mundane shit like "greensleeves" (which is a nice song but easy).    He also helped me with choices of mouthpiece/reed/ect...   and technical crap that I needed to know.   I was worn out after an hour with this dude,  but he is one of the best sax players in Utah,   and I'm lucky to have his input and training. "Dan" was the band director at my school, but retired about two years ago and now plays professionally.

My Tenor sax is an old "King Zephyr",  which is a great old Jazz players Axe of choice,  but since it was built in 1938,  there are a few adjustments that the player has to allow for.   The sound is still incredible!   My Soprano (little clarinet looking sax),  is a 2010 model Chinese made "E.F. Durand",   and plays in tune and very accurate considering the low price I paid for it.   Many sax players are including the better Chinese horns into their stables.   They are far from perfect like the Japanese "Yanisagawa" brand,  but at one/tenth the price for a very playable horn.....   I prefer my Chinese Soprano,  and I play her everyday.    The big Tenor and the little Soprano both play in the B flat key so I only have to buy music for one instrument!   I play both horns about an hour each every day and within a year,  I hope to be incredible!     I used to tell me guitar students that "they will be incredible with just two hours per day of practice,  and it's always proven to be true."   I have no professional ambitions,  I just want to testify my sound loud and clear and preferably somewhere up in the mountains where the sound rings far and the critics aren't near.   But yes I am happy with the way my first lesson in 30 years went.   I used to feel that I had to play, but now I just want to play and improve.
And the teachers faith in my abilities gave my confidence a boost like I have never experienced before!  Therefore I must practice and have all these scales down by next Thursday or else!



Cheers,

Al

April 19th, 2011 (day after TAX DAY)

First day in a month I was able to ride the bicycle to school.  It was warm enough not to have ice on the roads but still cold enough to pedal fast.   Any day that begins with a workout seems to go smoother.   I love the freedom of speeding thru town on my bike,  running red lights, hopping up and down curbs,  driving down the wrong lane when no cars are there,  just maximizing my bicycle efficiency, since the last thing an urban cyclist wants to do is come to a stop.  

I have so much to do in the next 6 weeks.   I have to sell most of my possessions,  get people to take over my fish tanks and snakes,  get the truck serviced,  and many more things.

Still not sure what direction to take.   I'm seriously thinking about hanging out in Wyoming and Texas this summer then taking a University job in China for the next year.   Chinese Universities start classes in August and I'm seriously considering spending some time working there.   I would like a few more fun travel experiences so I can have fascinating things to think about while I spend my final days as a hermit.
The pay sux,  but being on an adventure would more than make up for the lack of pay.  Plus all my housing needs would be paid for by China's communist government.

But I have made the conscious decision to QUIT THE MIDDLE CLASS.   Its just not worth it.   The middle classes get taxed to death,  have shitty health care, etc..  I can't afford a new car,  I can't afford a house,   yet I make more than the average family in this valley.   What happened to the middle class?   Hell,   lower middle class folks back in the 60's could buy a house and a car.    I don't have any debts,  don't go to bars/movies/restaurants,  don't have kids,   why can't $50,000 a year provide a good living?   I do admit I spend a lot of money on flying out of Utah (I've flown out of this state 4 times  in the past 9 months),   but still.    They tax me at 25% which is ten percent more than I was taxed when I made $34,000.   The richest only pay like %34 percent,  but have enough tax loop-holes to where they wind up paying nothing.    So why bust one's ass working in a high stress job for fifty grand per year?   My health is going down hill,   my stress levels are killing me,  I'm getting nothing in return for all this.    I would much rather live in a truck camper,  work part-time doing labor,  maybe make a few bucks from the internet.   And minimize all the stress factors that are doing me in.      I have quit the middle class,   the benefits don't come close to the sacrifices.  
 
           Sorry for ranting,  but the middle class is getting squeezed worse than ever before.   I quit.   Maybe keep catastrophic health insurance with a huge deductible,  in case I get in a bike wreck,  but I would pay far less per visit, if I didn't have insurance at all.    I remember seeing poor people paying $40 a visit to doctor back in Texas,   while, I (who had insurance),  had to pay $80 per visit.    Seems like only the rich and poor benefit in todays America.   Hell,  the money I would save not teaching 37 kids per class and the stress that involves,   would probably keep me from the doctors office all by itself, not to mention the sicknesses involved by having way too much human contact each day.  I'm done here.

          The University jobs in China I mentioned,  involve 12 - 18 teaching hours per week,  reasonable class sizes,   free room/board,  all bills paid,  free food, 2 months vacation plus plane fare.   And no paying income tax to the US,  who will use my hard earned money to buy bombs or feed crack whores,  or give subsidies to Fannie Mae,   or some other bullshit.  (Damn I'm still ranting)....

          Advice to young folks:   Make a plan to be either Rich or Poor,   nothing in between is worth wasting your time.   Think big or small.   Only those two extremes are worth your while.     Your politicians no longer care about you unless you are rich or poor.   Better yet,   go buy some swamp land and learn to live off it!   No one is going to give a hard worker a fair shake anymore.

April 12th, 2011

(photo by "usd.edu)

I'm back in Logan and my daily grind.   The trip back from Sheridan was fun since I had the airliner all to myself on the leg from Sheridan to Denver.   The steward recognized me from my trip there and asked me if he had to demonstrate the safety features again.    Pretty fun being the only one on a 30 passenger plane; I just sat in the middle of the back seat and enjoyed the luxury.


To follow up on my earlier observations about Wyoming,  I am still as impressed with the people as I was on the first day I was there.  Didn't encounter any rude person,  no one asked me "Where are you from",  I could walk into any establishment and felt treated as well as the locals.   I've never experienced this before, except down in Mexico or a certain chain of Islands in the Pacific.

Tough going back to school on Monday.  I just went through the motions has I have been doing all year long,  but I did talk to my Principal about taking a year off.   I plan to move to Wyoming and "LIVE IN A TRUCK CAMPER",  which has been a dream of mine for many years now.   I will have three monthly paychecks to live on ($10,000),   so I won't have to hit the ground running.  There are plenty of jobs in the hotel and education industry at the moment,  so finding a job should be easy.   I might start taking donations via Paypal (send money to my account at "albarnes707@yahoo.com"  if you are so inclined.     If this experiment should fail I plan to go back to my old job the fall of 2012,  unless the Mayans are right about things.    I also might teach in the orient should Wyoming become boring,  but I doubt I'll get bored in the first year.      I also want to spend the winter at 8000 ft in the Bighorn mountains on land accessible only by snowmobile or snowshoes.  I am full of ideas,  and I usually get around to fulfilling them.    My number one goal is to get healthy,  which is hard for me to do under a full-time stressful job.   I want to live a much longer life than this current lifestyle will allow.

Bought one of those Chinese saxophones off EBAY and had it shipped to the Mountain view Motel where I spent last week.   I have read good reviews about this horn and I must agree.  Being a Tenor sax player I was warned about the difficulties in playing the Soprano sax (which is about the same size as a clarinet).    I had little problem learning to play it and plan to play the Soprano many years into the future.
The case is 1/4 the size of my Tenor,  and can play notes so high it can wake the dead with little problem.   The Soprano is in the key of B flat just like the Tenor,  so I can play the same music on both horns.   I can also play trumpet music with it and hit the same high notes.

After being sick for the past month I finally acquiesced and went to see my doctor,   turns out I have "walking pneumonia" which will soon be kicked after a 10 day regiment of horse pill sized antibiotics.
He also included a bottle of Codeine cough syrup,  which is kicking my ass as I type.  Never mix two beers with two teaspoons of this shit!   My cough is gone,  so no more codeine for me tonight.

That's all for now,

AB

April 12th, 2011

I'm back in Logan and my daily grind.   The trip back from Sheridan was fun since I had the airliner all to myself on the leg from Sheridan to Denver.   The steward recognized me from my trip there and asked me if he had to demonstrate the safety features again.    Pretty fun being the only one on a 30 passenger plane; I just sat in the middle of the back seat and enjoyed the luxury.


To follow up on my earlier observations about Wyoming,  I am still as impressed with the people as I was on the first day I was there.  Didn't encounter any rude person,  no one asked me "Where are you from",  I could walk into any establishment and felt treated as well as the locals.   I've never experienced this before, except down in Mexico or a certain chain of Islands in the Pacific.

Tough going back to school on Monday.  I just went through the motions has I have been doing all year long,  but I did talk to my Principal about taking a year off.   I plan to move to Wyoming and "LIVE IN A TRUCK CAMPER",  which has been a dream of mine for many years now.   I will have three monthly paychecks to live on ($10,000),   so I won't have to hit the ground running.  There are plenty of jobs in the hotel and education industry at the moment,  so finding a job should be easy.   I might start taking donations via Paypal (send money to my account at "albarnes707@yahoo.com"  if you are so inclined.     If this experiment should fail I plan to go back to my old job the fall of 2012,  unless the Mayans are right about things.    I also might teach in the orient should Wyoming become boring,  but I doubt I'll get bored in the first year.      I also want to spend the winter at 8000 ft in the Bighorn mountains on land accessible only by snowmobile or snowshoes.  I am full of ideas,  and I usually get around to fulfilling them.    My number one goal is to get healthy,  which is hard for me to do under a full-time stressful job.   I want to live a much longer life than this current lifestyle will allow.

Bought one of those Chinese saxophones off EBAY and had it shipped to the Mountain view Motel where I spent last week.   I have read good reviews about this horn and I must agree.  Being a Tenor sax player I was warned about the difficulties in playing the Soprano sax (which is about the same size as a clarinet).    I had little problem learning to play it and plan to play the Soprano many years into the future.
The case is 1/4 the size of my Tenor,  and can play notes so high it can wake the dead with little problem.   The Soprano is in the key of B flat just like the Tenor,  so I can play the same music on both horns.   I can also play trumpet music with it and hit the same high notes. (the Soprano is the little sax at the bottom of the photo)  [photo by USD.edu]

After being sick for the past month I finally acquiesced and went to see my doctor,   turns out I have "walking pneumonia" which will soon be kicked after a 10 day regiment of horse pill sized antibiotics.
He also included a bottle of Codeine cough syrup,  which is kicking my ass as I type.  Never mix two beers with two teaspoons of this shit!   My cough is gone,  so no more codeine for me tonight.

That's all for now,

AB

April 5th, 2011

Wyoming:

I simply love this windy state.   The mountains,  hills, plains, all conspire to amaze me everytime I come here.   The best thing about Wyoming is the people who live here.   They are pretty much straight forward and real.   I'm sick of people with artificial veils,  who have hidden agendas,   who have no real idea who they really are...  Most people I meet in Wyoming are the real deal.  Ask them how their day is and the answer you get is sure to be honest.  They seem to expect the same in strangers,  and are very welcoming to the strangers who they percieve to be like themselves.   "How are you doing?"  I asked someone today... "Shitty day but things could be worse" she said..  We both had a good laugh about it and the day was brighter.   The weather here seems to be windy and abyssmal for the most part, but with frequent hour-long breaks of windless sunshine.,    I just wear a windbreaker and lean forward as I walk.  Haven't been knocked down yet in the three weeks I've spent here in the past year,  but I'm sure it will happen.   Currently I am visiting my friends "Melissa and Chuck", up in Buffalo, which is located in the North Eastern part of the state,  close to the Dakotas and Montana.   My son "Logan", moved here in early January, I plan to move here on June 1st.   I learned alot from living in Utah,  but I need some new stomping grounds.  The Orient will be next!   The west is still calling me and China will probably be where I spend the golden years.

Yesterday, Chuck took me on a tour deep into the lovely "Bighorn" mountains,  which are a bit taller than the "Wasatch" range that I am used to.   We stopped at the pass at 9600 feet for a photo shoot, but the winds and clouds prevented much success in that arena.   I was also dressed in shorts and a bowling shirt,  which made the restroom break a study in fortitude as the below zero chill factor worked it's way deeply into all parts of my exterior being!     This last photo was taken as we approached the Big Horn range,  but the huge peaks were obscured by the clouds.   Tomorrow we are going out again and taking the snow mobile,  and we plan to take Logan with us as a token snow boarder!

Nite..