Dave Stringer

has just been in town and that kirtan was some good stuff. Check it: "Kirtan is like punk rock, except with ecstasy instead of anger." I love that.

Do-it-yourself ecstasy. Sure, the rhetoric about brain chemistry is going to send many people back to "What the &*&%^%#%$# do We Know?" (and many people either love or hate that film), but it sounds too good to simply pass off without a try.

DS told us that recorded music put an end to "everyone being a musician" in cultures and traditions where music was taught by practicing it (singing, instrumentation, whatever you've got). J has said similar things to me, about the ways that in the UK, people will sing or play (J was speaking specifically about Irish dance and the musical culture which accompanied when it was a tradition, way before it became RIVERDANCE (oy!!!)) but in the States, our "music" has become in large part whatever pop tunes we listen to. We listen rather than participate. I wondered if singing along with the Stones in the stadium counted.

I got my voice into a few chants and it felt good, and I thought of a thousand things that are FAR too complicated and deeply narrative to get into here; I'm not in the mood for one of my novels right now.

People are apparently curious and asking, about my two-month Ashtanga thing at the studio. That begins on SUNDAY. I've missed the hell out of teaching on Sunday, and the cool bit is that I'm subbing the big 20-person vinyasa class on Saturday morning, so I'm gonna sell it there, and then I'm also subbing the Monday night ashtanga show, which I will ALSO sell to both Saturday and Sunday crowds (if I get crowds). It could be good.