September 2018 finds your host astounded by the passage of time.
Highlights of the past months include: Getting a good start on basses number 3 & 4, Flying to Vienna for three reunion concerts with Salonorchester Alhambra, playing 20′ and 30’s music with some really great musicians, visiting Verona, Brixen, Cremona, Perugia and Rome in June and July, meeting great bass makers like Tetsu Suzuki and Edgar Russ in Cremona and David Wiebe in Woodstock, NY, attending family Camp Ohana in Fairlee, VT with the fam, Katie starting the fourth grade of a great new school year, and meeting my dad and Dennis Stark in NYC last weekend.
I am currently holding down the fort while Beth is away for a conference, tending to errands, playing with my 1989 Toro Key-Lectric mower I found in the trash, and working a few hours a day in the shop. We are also struggling with the loss of our friend, K., who tragically died while on post with the US Embassy in Madagascar last Friday. RIP.
I struggle with my multiple identities often, but am feeling really great about my abilities at the moment. I love fixing old stuff. The Toro started right up as I tested it today, but then made a funny noise and lost power- either the one push rod got thrown again, or more likely there’s a problem with the governor assembly which is killing the throttle. I am a little tired of taking it apart more than once, but man, it’s a nice machine and it was a big mess when I picked it up. Key start and self propelled…
I also got the screenplay draft of a film project yesterday in which I will appear. Weird. My good friend, Ludwig Wüst in Vienna, makes about a film a year and appears regularly on the European independent festivals. Since he works with amateur actors, I should fit right in. I sent him ten minutes of footage years ago at his request. I just did one take of improvised dialogue at his sparse direction: “Just explain to your mother why you haven’t been in touch for so long.” That’s what I did, and it was used and credited in “Heimatfilm” 2016. Now it looks like a major commitment of time and effort is in the works for “Erde” (“Soil”), where I will play opposite the lead female as the foreign visitor. The film is currently planned for release in 2020.