persistance

Last night, I went to the Rhythm Room to hear Terakaft perform. These are guys from northern Mali and they play basically tribal music except with electric guitars instead of the more traditional instruments.

Unfortunately, I forget that when The Rhythm Room says the show starts at 8, this is what actually happens:

8:00- people start doing sound checks.
8:05- the DJ starts his set.
9:14- the DJ finishes his set.
9:15- the warm-up band comes on
10:10- the warm-up band concludes their set
10:15- the warm-up band finishes taking down their stuff
10:30- the band you actually showed up to see comes on stage.

In general, I need to remember to show up upwards of two hours late for advertised shows and I'll be ok. The warm-up band was a family band led by Dad, an aging deadhead, from "Phoenix....Ari-ZONA!!!!!!" just to clarify that he wasn't referring to Phoenix, Iowa. He looked like mid-fifties and wore a tee shirt and bear claw bracelet. Daughter played violin, backed up by a base and a lanky drummer. I nursed my tequila. The best thing you could say about the music was it was loud.

Anyway, it was a light night at the RR, but it filled in slowly before Terakaft came on. It was a good set, they played for nearly two hours and as mellow as the music is, I was never bored by it. All I have to say is I really feel bad for these guys going through TSA. Hope they have Vaseline in their 3oz clear plastic containers.

Today was a reasonably productive day. I called a lighting consultant about a possible job- no luck. Reworked some of my best work from Tatiana into a small three page sample and re-applied to 4a in Stuttgart (they're high on my list, and they turned me down over 2 months ago, so time to apply again. My Mexican friend, who doesn't speak Japanese, got a job at Sou Fujimoto's office in Japan by persistent calling.)

Also applied to another office in Stuttgart where I may have a connection. So that's a work-related phone call and two applications in. I should be doing this every day. Unless I want to end up staying here forever and taking a job as a Revit teacher at a community college. It has now been a month, four weeks, since I arrived in the United States.

What else? I'm making mom calaveras for her birthday so today I went out to buy balloons and tape. Zara is intrigued and a little scared of the inflated balloon. It's really funny to watch because when Zara comes in close to investigate, the balloon is statically attracted to her fur and rolls towards her, and Zara ends up backing up in circles around the room, pursued by the relentless balloon. The Marsh cats are just terrified, on principle.

Went out hiking to give my knees a rest from the running, and ended up walking and hiking in the mountains until sundown. Got in about two and a half hours. Close to dusk, with the sun already around the far side of the mountain, I came across a band of three coyotes on the trail which was new for me. Bigger than foxes, more like dogs, but perhaps not as large as wolves. As I waited and watched, they crossed over and continued to higher ground, keeping a wary eye on me.