Noise, and other things that pass the time...

Montevideo is a loud city. Hell, I came here for one of the things that make it a loud city. During the day: car horns, motorcycles, 80s music, constant construction, conversations that try to compete with everything else. At night (choose from): kids playing soccer using security bars over windows as the goal netting, shouting matches, construction with jackhammers (last nights wonderful new edition). Headphones and an endless assortment of music are my escape. The music is often accompanied with reading, quite often other blogs. Here's some of what has captured my attention lately:

Sō Percussion, particularly Adam Sliwinski's blog. There's not a lot, and he hasn't posted in 6 months, but it's well worth the read. If I could grow up to be a cool percussionist, I hope I'll be as creative as the Sō guys. I somehow arrived at his blog through Adam's post of John Cage's "Some Rules for Teachers and Students." Since I had seen those before, only attributed to someone else, of course I went to Google...

Sister Corita Kent is the name I recognized as the author of the "Rules." Either way, they're worth knowing. Her art is pretty amazing, too...

The Gutenberg Parentheses: Oral Tradition and Digital Technologies. If you have two hours, this is interesting stuff. I like the idea of a super-literacy and secondary orality. Words are escaping the confines of the bound page...

I can't get enough of the articles and video highlights of the South Carolina Gamecocks taking the Clemson Tigers to the woodshed. Three years in a row. Never thought I'd see it in my lifetime...

Some of my best friends continue to be my biggest inspirations. Sometimes I think I keep pushing to accomplish something meaningful just to keep up. The most recent example is Baljinder Sekhon's Twelve Virtues for soprano and percussion ensemble...

I'm always aware of hunger. Food Network, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Ray; easy on the budget recipes. No success here yet as I still don't look to ever save enough to buy drums without not eating...

Wanting Bob Boilen's job. All songs really aren't considered, but there are musical gems in almost every one of these NPR podcasts...

Community and The Tudors. TV shows available on Netflix not overdubbed in Spanish...

And somehow, candombe is never far away, as I've been aware of the open word document the entire time I've been writing this post. I refer you now to Rule 7...