ME, NJ, CT, STL, and a Skydiving Story…
Friends,
Four short gig announcements, and a skydiving story:
This Friday Nov. 11th, I’m giving a 5 pm partial capo workshop then I’m the feature at the Round Top Farm open Mic in Damariscotta. It’ll be months before I play in Maine again, and this room is really warm and yummy. Local? Please come.
Saturday Nov 19th, I’ll play a co-bill with Kevin So at the Hurdy Gurdy in Fairlawn NJ. THAT’s gonna be a good one. See the link here.
The Following Sunday the 20th, Marc Douglas Berardo and I co-bill for Barbara Manners at her Acoustic Celebration series in Ridgefield CT. That link is here.
The BIG news – December 3rd, I’ll perform the Einstein’s Dreams cycle with the Principia College orchestra and choir. It’s in Elsah, Illinois – about an hour from St. Louis. If you’re close by, it’s going to be one hell of a show. You should be there.
Oh yeah, and a tattoo. For years, I’ve toyed with the idea of getting the call sign of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed as a band around my left ankle.
The thought just kept burning a little imprint in a dusty back corner of my noggin for years. Initially, it just felt too fatalistic. I mean, a plane that went down in mid-ocean?
Then, three weeks ago, Michael died. Michael knew for over a decade that his life would be short. He spent the last several years jumping out of airplanes and telling his friends how much they meant to him.
Last weekend I jumped at his drop zone, and cried through freefall – I could feel him there, looking over at me in between glances at his altimeter, then spinning away as he deployed.
I got the international alphanet words for Amelia’s Electra – Kilo, Hotel, Alpha, Quebec, Quebec – in his handwriting, as a reminder that this ride is often shorter than we would have hoped, a reminder to make it count, because it matters more than we know.
A single life ripples for decades, some for centuries. After you’re gone, the people you touched will carry you with them. The people we love, the ones we teach, that we touch with our example or our caring, or just smile at on the street. We simply have no idea.
Thank you for making it count.
Randall
Ah, October…
Friends,
My birthday was yesterday. It’s been a sweet year, full of all kinds of good stuff. Summer is slowly yielding to Fall up here in Maine, and I’m pushing the weather window about as much as I can to keep sailing until it’s just too cold and windy. It’s been delicious out there.
The life-questioning continues, the whys and wherefores and all that. I’ve got some great Einstein’s Dreams shows in the hopper, including December 3rd at Principia College in Elsah Illinois, with a full orchestra. It’s a free show – if you’re in range, you should come. Email me to get on the guestlist.
But mostly, my ADHD is still zooming along. I wonder about building geodesic disc-shelters in developing countries, I think about sailing off to blue water and working on eradicating my tan lines, and I’m captivated by Helen and Scott Nearing’s writings on sustainability.
Oh, and I was floored by Seth Godin’s take on this recession being permanent:
In ten days, I’m off to China and Korea, both for the first time. When I come back, I’m playing in Philly:
Friday Oct 21st in Media PA at Todd and Sheryl Garfinkel’s (email me)
Sat. Oct 22nd in Glenside PA at the Yavit home:
Then I’m slated to go on a little sailing trip to Bermuda for a bit before playing two other cool gigs:
Nov. 19th: Fair Lawn, NJ:
Nov. 20th: Ridgefield CT:
In December, I’ll travel around India sans iPhone or computer, do lots of yoga and spend quality time on the beach staring at the Indian Ocean. Come January, the whole thing starts up again. I’ve probably given up trying to be great at anything in particular, I’m just trying to show up and be real and let it change me.
What about you? How’s your journey coming along? Anything I can help with?
Love, Randall
The Butterfly Effect – and Columbus and Chicago this weekend.
Friends,
Maybe it’s the Einstein stuff I’ve been working on, all of the causality questions. This week I’ve been thinking about the Butterfly Effect – in specific why it caused me to get the boat I’ve spent the last ten days sailing on.
A couple of miles North of here, some guy had put his sailboat out by the road with a “for sale” sign on it. Nothing odd there. It was there for a few years until it sold, and every time I passed it it started my inner hamster wheel turning. last summer I was biking along a different road when I saw another of the same boats for sale – for those interested, a Bristol 27, a sweet little weekend cruiser. I stopped to check it out, and pretty well decided that it was time to get a boat again. Over the next week I saw a few more Bristols, and then I found the one I wanted. The owner named a great price, and I had basically decided, but took a few days to think about it.
Mentioning this to a friend two days later, she told me about friends of hers who were letting go of their Cheoy Lee Offshore 33 ketch ( a much bigger boat, far more comfortable for offshore cruising) because they were getting older and had too many projects to care for her anymore. The deal was, they’d sell the boat for a dollar – if the new owner would get her back in the water and let them sail her a few weeks each year.
And so that’s how this boat came to me, and how it happened that I just spent the last few weeks sailing around Maine, and why before too long I’ll probably end up on the Intercostal Waterway headed town to the Caribbean to cruise for a while. As a bonus, the couple who owned the boat are the kindest, nicest folks you’d ever want to meet. Tuesday I drive off to Chicago for some shows, and they’ll sail their old boat around the Maine coast until I come back.
But I can’t help thinking that this seed was planted years ago because some guy put his boat out by the road, and it captivated my imagination. We do little things all the time, and mostly never see how they affect the world around us. But they matter in ways that we may never know. Please keep doing what you’re doing – especially the stuff you put your heart and soul into. Our world needs that a whole bunch.
Thursday night this week, I’ll make a brief stop in Columbus Ohio to hang with friends.
Friday I’ll get the double Einstein/Orchestra CDs from the printers (woo hoo!) and will mail out your pre-orders right away.
Want one? Click here: http://bit.ly/nFjqzc.
Saturday I’m playing live on 98.7 WFMT in Chicago, (streaming: www.wfmt.com, 8 pm Central), joined by cellist Dirje Smith and vocalist Helena Nash.
http://www.midnightspecial.org/folkstage.htm
Sunday we’ll play a sweet little concert series at St. Giles in Oak Park at 7:00.
http://www.stgilesparish.org/MonthlyEvents/ParishEvents/Concert.html
Wednesday the 24th, Helena and I will do a show in Mendota IL, for those in the neighborhood. Write me for details if you’re interested.
Since losing Leo, more than ever it’s been so clear that we just don’t get a dress rehearsal for this thing. Thanks for being your bravest selves out there and for the art you’re making with your lives. We need you.
Randall
Einstein’s Dreams Double CD with Orchestra
Hey Gang,
It’s summer in Maine. So it’s been hard to do real “work” of any sort.
My coping strategy has been to get into a rhythm – do the most important thing 15 minutes a day, then if I can manage, do other important stuff for a bit. After that, no more work. It’s kind of a variation on Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week.
It’s going okay, I guess. I just got back from five days of sailing around the Maine coast in my 33′ ketch Fine Companion, and tomorrow I’m off to Nashville for the weekend. Today, I’m writing you and wrapping up the graphic design on the Bijou Orchestra version of Einstein’s Dreams.
Here’s a great video of one song.
This whole project has been tough going, mostly because it caused me to push hard through all kinds of resistance – writing a full show in 8 months, contracting with my lawyer and Alan Lightman’s agent, nasty bronchitis the day before the premiere. At a number of points, I was prepared to cave and walk away. Then the worst possible thing happened – I lost my friend, the show’s orchestrator, and my business partner.
Listening to the recording and seeing the videos has been tough. But he’s standing silently by as this show develops a new life of it’s own. I’ll take it to other orchestras, to high schools and colleges, and tour it internationally. I’ve even been offered a distribution deal that will bundle the book and one of the CDs together, and I’ve been invited to perform these songs for an association of science museums.
It’s the right work, if it requires pushing back against the lizard brain. I’m glad I’ve got you. Thanks so much for your support and encouragement, for making the shows happen, and making it all worthwhile.
The Bijou Orchestra double CD of Einstein’s Dreams has 21 songs, including the prologue and the epilogue from the book. It goes from gentle ballads through heavy horn funk and rhythmic spoken word. It’s a fantastic recording from two live shows, by David Lau, a Grammy-winning classical engineer, and it’s a remarkable trip through turn of the century Switzerland as Albert is breaking the world with his wild ideas about time and space. It’s my biggest and most ambitious project to date, and I’m proud of it. I think you’ll love it.
It goes to press in a few days. If you’d like to pre-order a copy, I’ll send you one just as soon as I get ‘em: http://bit.ly/nFjqzc.
Thanks, friends. And have a great summer.
Randall who just finished eating an avocado smoothie. Trust me on this. Avocado and a cup of almond milk with a little agave, blend the bejeebus out of it. Yum!
Einstein’s Dreams links
Gang,
Forgive the again sparse updates.
The Einstein’s Dreams CD is available for download or order from CDBaby, or from me directly.
Happy Spring!
Love,
Randall
Austin this weekend
Gang! It’s SPRING!
And it’s very exciting to be home. Since leaving five weeks ago, I was all over Europe and then back before trotting off to New Zealand for two weeks. All very fun – but even Comet Boy’s ADHD has limits. I cancelled two weekends away to stay home and work on getting the boat ready for launch.
Which brings up a great question, actually. How many of us are doing exactly what we want to be doing? I’ve tried to build a pretty intentional life, and support others doing the same. I try to make music and teaching about pushing past boundaries, too. And still I wonder, what serves folks the most? How to help break routines so that we can do more of what we love, be with the people who matter the most, all that? Comments welcome, below.
Thanks to Club Passim’s Iguana Fund, this fall, I’ll be teaching Einstein’s Dreams as integrated curriculum in in two New England high schools. There’s a cool video about it here: Iguana Fund Grant video. Oh, and if you like, I’ve got copies of the novel now – you can buy the Einstein’s Dreams Book/CD combo from me here for $30, with free shipping.
As always, thanks for being there and making it all worth it. Austin dates for next weekend are below.
Love, Randall
Friday May 6th at Paul Barker’s House (with awesome cellist Dirje Smith!)
http://www.accel-marketing.com/randallwilliams.html
Saturday May 7th at Tom and Vicki’s Onion Creek series, (with awesome cellist Dirje Smith!)
onioncreekhouseconcerts@austin.rr.com
Sunday May 8th at Journey IFC,
for the morning service as well an an evening show.
http://www.journeyifc.com/modx/
Sunrise over Gotham. Another day, another set of possibilities. Guy beside me on the flight was reading Einstein’s Dreams.
Warm and breezy – and a $40 hotel with a view of Manila Bay: travel
exactly like it’s meant to be. Share a favorite travel memory?
http://ping.fm/p/5VkGO – Zach and Dave
