http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html Saucepan Bach - David Griffith: Blog Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:31:30 -0800 http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/_a_new_year_
Last night’s ”˜Showcase’ at the Family Hotel was the best fun I’ve had in light years.

1/1/11 has an aura of ”˜new beginnings.’ and it did that for me.

A morning spent working out a songlist which is an interesting process of deciding the first song and seeing what instinctively feels good to play next. Keep going until you’ve covered an hour and make sure that there’s a balance between ”˜cut my wrists’ songs, ”˜cut your wrists’ songs and ”˜how lovely it is to be here’ songs.

I try not to mumble so people don’t appear to be fooled by upbeat and slow.

You could have hurled stones and feathers around Katoomba last night and still hear the feather drop.

Got a late invite to an afternoon jam - I’m not very good at jamming as yet - and went anyway. It was lovely and, of course - silly me - it’s about being social. A shy toddler showed me that.

Got fed and played music, came home and went to the Family Hotel.

I keep a face washer cloth in the guitar case. It’s for cleaning the strings but last night it soaked up sweat and ended up sitting on my head.

There are times I sweat on stage through nervous energy manifesting as heat.

Wild Man Bru was running late but Cliff from Mad Cowboys Disease was ready with his mandolin. As the audience numbered three - and I knew their names - there was no pressure and we started on time.
Wild Man Bru is an awesome talent at any time but was immense last night. Not just with my set but with his own songs and with Pennie - as ”˜My Hearts Dezire’.

The sweat poured off my head as I sang, played and ”˜got lifted’ by mandolin and lead guitar.

Adrian O’Toole - sounds like he should be Irish but looks Aboriginal - followed me with a great hour of Dire Straights, Pink Floyd and his own compositions.

There’s a quality about Adrian’s voice that ”˜works’ for me. He busks in Katoomba and if you can picture Dire Straights - note perfect - sung by Joe Cocker, you may be on track.

I like the odd bourbon. It’s about the only time I drink coke. This company is the red flagship of all that I hold false.

I get out the scales. Forty grams of sugar in every can. Can’t be .... how wouldn’t it settle to the bottom of the can?

I measure it out by the teaspoon - not heaped and just over flat - and eight is the number of spoons of sugar in each can.

Gee .... coke IS fun.

A gentle shower of rain and the temperature drops again.

The deeply planted tiger lilies stand chest high - bunches of orange blooms on each glossy, green leaved cane. I’ll replant the bulbs of the lilies which are just as big but almost lying down, at a deeper level later in the season. My mistake when I transplanted them last year.

Set among the tree ferns. It’s a green and orange feast for the eyes.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/_a_new_year_ Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:31:30 -0800 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/ten_thousand_hours_
I’m as clumsy as hell but Griff Hamlin’s backing track to his ”˜4 note blues’ works a treat with each of the blues patterns. What a joy to just play notes which are harmonic.

I did suggest to nine year old grandson, a year ago, that he and I are both at an age where - if our interest is engaged - that we can both devote large amounts of time to music. Somehow, for me, it’s a question of ”˜What else am I doing that is of greater importance ?’ now that family responsibilities are not so immediate. That makes it sound like it’s been ”˜sacrifice’ and ”˜put on hold’ where the truth lies closer to having the space and time to do almost anything which requires no money.

I have no partner. I have limited interests. Grandson is - by age definition - engaged in countless activities.

The Magnolia buds are swelling as Spring approaches. Today was glorious. Still and warm. A world away from counties swamped with flood waters, swamped with war, debt or collapse. I practised my scales and found Irish jig sort of patterns.

Israel builds ”˜settlements’ overlooking the concentration camps in which the Palestinians suffer and wonder why they - Israel - are seen worldwide as utterly untrustworthy.

America fights a nonsense war with real casualties in the twin names of both terror and democracy and we, in Australia, have been dragged into a lie from which we cannot extricate ourselves as our leaders are incapable of admitting mistake.

Meanwhile the Federal Reserve - a private concern - continues to print money and charge interest to the government which gave away the obvious right of any country to control the issue of its currency.
It’s a mind boggling world.

Off to do a night shift. Work is undergoing radical changes, none of which look promising however I’ve got ten weeks leave on the horizon.

I trust that I’ll play as much as possible and, thus, enter my sixties on a promising note.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/ten_thousand_hours_ Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:11:13 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/intense_times_
The cream and crimson Magnolia, living in the front garden, is heavy with bud but running three weeks late with flower. Spring is near but, as yet, no warmth in the wind.

I take guitars. My Godson - who has had a deeply troubled life - bounds into the farm an hour after my arrival - bottle of scotch in hand and prepared to share a drink.

I’m wary of drink. Hmm... wary of drinkers is closer to the truth. We share a drink and I’m struck by how much ”˜lighter’ he appears. Great recent trauma has revealed that he was sexually abused as a child.

The unburdening has lifted a weight of such magnitude that the prism of intense inner conflict through which he has interacted with the rest of humanity is almost - dissipated.

I was sexually abused and too many of the few I know have suffered similar fate.

I’m sure that there are paedophiles out there who kid themselves that this behaviour is of little harm. It is a hideous lie to pretend that an adult child relationship - however dressed up with overtones of friendliness - can have a sexual content. It is the adult that has the ulterior motive. It is the adult who manipulates.

Godson and I don’t discuss fine detail. It’s enough to know - for the moment - that we both know. We play some music and the practice of blues scales that I’ve been working on pays dividends inasmuch as we don’t have to play songs - just music. Very liberating even amidst the stumbles. I get shown a walking blues which is a stretch for the fingers but very cool.

I’m back home and been a few days back to work. It’s cold but daffodils bloom. Hyacinths smell gorgeous and I’m off to work out what to play tonight at the Clarendon’s singer/songwriter night.

I haven’t played much in the way of songs since my last performance....... echoes of my Roman Catholic childhood and confession.

So Hell’s hot - Heaven’s cool. Perhaps Purgatory is just pleasantly warm. Must be Paradise.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/intense_times_ Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:28:54 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/yippeefor_no_good_reason
The daffodils don’t give a damn about such fripperies and they flower regardless. There’s something cheerfully counter intuitive about flowers blooming in winter. A reminder that growth continues underground when conditions are indifferent above.

Played at the Clarendon last Tuesday without anything in mind apart from ”˜Nota Bene’. A very cool side benefit of playing and practising blues scales, for the last few months, is that my chords are now clearer - more precise. This makes huge difference to both my degree of comfort on stage and my ability to leave space for Bruno to drop in his sweet lead guitar. We followed it up with ”˜Volcano burning’ and ”˜Hick it up.’ Went down well.

The phone rings. It’s my friend whose son is on his way to court. Life can be a hell of a struggle when you’re ”˜young, dumb and full of cum.’ From a distance, I can only offer ”˜Remain as calm as you can.’
We’ll talk later.

If I allow my eyes to go soft focus across the garden beds then the groups of Tree Ferns - with the sugar cane mulch gone cream/grey over winter - become tiny tropical islands surrounded by sand. At the moment I can only dream of sweating through the humidity.

Back to blues scales and small groups of notes. It’s not that I’ve become a fluid musician but more that I’m taking delight in the process of becoming one. Of course it will take years - so what.

Huge thanks to Griff Hamlin of www.bluesguitarunleashed.com who inspired this interest with his video showing how to play blues with four notes - five if you include a bent note. The video is still there and is worth watching whether you’re a musician or not.

Looks like snow and my fingers are cold...... well ...... blow me down! A few flecks of snow drop on cue.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/yippeefor_no_good_reason Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:51:14 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/elephants_and_emperors
Sick in body, sick in heart and madness beckons. How I feel is reflected within society and the world body itself.

The first of the daffodils have flowered through the recent frost and clusters of promise are pushing up through the soil. Amid the devastation wrought by frost - the burnt and damaged foliage - new growth. Thankfully there are forces not within the control of man.

I pick up the guitar again......an absence of months. Back to blues scales and ”˜over and over’. If ten thousand hours of practice make a musician then I haven’t reached the first hundred so it’s just as well that it isn’t a race and there’s no competition.

”˜Have faith.’ echoes in my mind. ”˜Faith in what?’ echoes back.

A moment of fierce joy. Don't know why. No reason required.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/elephants_and_emperors Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:03:46 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/your_wish_is_
Chinese ”˜lore’ suggests that it’s perhaps ”˜wise’ in matters of Empire to kill the leaders of a revolt but to spare the followers. The premise being that the leaders of a revolt aren’t ignorant and, either way, present an unacceptable danger precisely because they are leaders. The followers have been led astray and made ”˜mistakes’. They will be very grateful to escape death and see it as an act of mercy rather than a weakness shown by ”˜the powers that be.’

”˜A hard rain’s gonna fall’ and ”˜You don’t know what’s going on - do you - Mr Jones?’ rise from subterranean memory along with the memory of my own unease, all those years ago, as I felt too close a kinship with Bob Dylan’s ”˜Mr Jones.’

Ignorance isn’t bliss for any length of time. Applied to personal life it invites disaster from both within and without because you cannot be prepared, mentally or otherwise, without some knowledge of prevailing conditions.

A hard rain is falling across the Gulf of Mexico and the failing purity of that water corrupts growth and withers the vegetation across the land. ”˜Whose land? Which land?

Take your pick.

Donkey’s years ago, I vividly remember driving a cab across Sydney Harbour bridge with a passenger who, in the course of conversation remarked that he really didn’t give a fuck about the world and that he’d be long dead before the shit hit the fan. A ”˜well-heeled professional gent.’ Perhaps he had no family, no future generations with whose fate he need be concerned. It caused the conversation to falter which, in retrospect, may have been his sole intention.

In what can you trust when words lose their meaning.

Can you really apply the word love to things? I love the World Cup Soccer Games. The transient unity which it inspires - inspires me. I’m not by nature cynical, not even sceptical in my approach to life. I am easily moved and, like most of us, am uplifted by witnessing excellence in action.

This isn’t the bread and circuses of ancient times though those who rule the Empire may see it thus. Blood isn’t shed and the players aren’t usually threatened with death at a World Cup match. It’s the perpetual war on ”˜terror’ and ongoing natural and manmade disasters which are the real circuses of our time.

The idea that there is an agenda in place leading towards ”˜One World Government’ isn’t the stuff of conspiracy. Globalization - ultimately, the process of relinquishing all sovereignty and national independence - and the idea that bankers and corporations are ideally suited to ruling the world is the nightmare future manifesting now. I suppose a one world government might well be asked for by the peoples of the world if prevailing conditions become unbearable. Hmm.....that’s right this moment for many.

I don’t know that buying an extra bag of rice or putting in a rain water tank is going to help very much but unlike the passenger of long ago, it ALL matters to me and for those of us who feel human connection.

So where’s the light, bright spark? Where it’s always been. Here, there and everywhere.

”˜This’ isn’t all there is.

And while I’m blithely ignorant of any specifics, it’s ”˜Hooray’ for the existence of the rest of ”˜it’!]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/your_wish_is_ Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:11:53 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/cold_comfort_better_than_no_comfort_at_all
I’ve been sick with a long lasting cold which has hit most of my co-workers. We’ll probably all survive and meanwhile the Gulf of Mexico pours oil on troubled waters, dying food chains and the land itself. If the methane contained within the undersea chamber - all at a pressure of 100,000 pounds per square inch - were to explode through the existing well - designed to withstand all of 2000 pounds per square inch - we have a dreadful scenario which will impact the whole of the world. This information isn’t hard to find but doesn’t make our local news except with superficial comment.

Then to Greece, Spain, Italy and as their economies crumple and the effects ripple across Europe, now is not a good time to be a tourist.

While sick I watched a program about Krakatoa. Again a dreadful disaster building through the ”˜Son of Krakatoa’ which started rising from the sea in 1930. This isn’t an ordinary volcano ( if there be such a thing ). The ring of fire which marks the boundary at which the north moving Australian tectonic plate dips under the tectonic plate on which Indonesia sits, has a kink - a v-shaped distortion which lies beneath ”˜Son of Krakatoa’. This is becoming, again, a gigantic volcano fed by molten rock from two tectonic plates and already belching and rumbling for all to see.

Enough of disaster. I now have a rain water tank and a light drizzle sends a quiet trickle off the roof ...yippee. The Daffodils, Hyacinth and unknown bulbs are already showing new life notwithstanding the frosts. The slow growing tree-ferns are tough and appear unconcerned and unmarked. The fast growing variety are browned off but o.k. There’s something valuable about slow and steady growth.

Music has been far from my life for awhile but as we’re past the shortest day I expect my interest to pick up - just because the processes of growth which apply to nature apply to me in equal measure. There’s hope for all of us and it’s just as it ever was - no certainty.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/cold_comfort_better_than_no_comfort_at_all Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:17:37 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/shortest_day__longest_night
Planting into environments which aren’t entirely suitable doesn’t indicate either disaster or stunted growth. A little help with micro climates isn’t difficult to achieve within a garden and my existing Tibouchina buds and blooms late but it flowers and showers its gorgeous purple regardless of whether or not it should.

No different fate for much of humanity. Uprooted and moved. Survival a matter of prevailing conditions, appropriate care and resilience - inner strength.

I love these parallels between the garden and the personal life. It’s not that I can so easily translate the lessons learnt into a wider life but that there’s consolation in the recognition that retreat and advance are both ”˜suitable’ if that is what the prevailing conditions dictate. I am nature and can’t help but be as restrained or otherwise as the internal and external forces allow.

The frost has melted where the sun is bright. The shadows burn with white on green.

I dug up a few errant Canna lilies - bright yellow in colour and too lovely to lose - and replanted them into two large blue glazed pots. Even amongst the family of colours which Canna lilies display, there are colours which multiply faster than their brethren. Orange flowers atop bronze green leaves - I have a large clump of this type in the ”˜wrong’ place. Only ”˜wrong’ because everything competes for water and these Canna’s would drink more than their share. The great majority of my Canna’s sprawl across a circular bed with a concrete border which - thus far - has contained them in splendid isolation.

This errant clump of Orange Canna’s has to disappear as does an even larger clump of Agapanthus. Funny thing ... one man’s problem is another man’s solution ...... ”˜Ooh - Agapanthus - can I have some?’ asks a co-worker last night.’I’ve got a place in which they’ll be on their own and up against a fence.’

”˜If you’re sure.’ say I and am left wondering if a problem only becomes a problem when it’s noticed and named as such.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/shortest_day__longest_night Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:38:30 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/missing_the_moment_and_getting_the_point
Consumerism isn’t dead but it is becoming a dead end for many. Onward and upward isn’t any more sustainable than the cod which no longer breed, the bees sent senseless by microwave pollution and the underlying unease which most of us feel. It has implications.

Don’t think I’ll holiday in Greece this year. It’s twenty two years or more since I took a holiday which really took me to physical ”˜foreign lands’. It was pre- terrorism and now - even with a grudging acknowledgement that tourism is useful - life is harder, less innocent, less welcoming.

I went on holiday for a month - from working as a cleaner with barely enough money to buy a pair of shoes to playing chess in a Royal Courtyard room within a palace in Bali. What a wondrous transformation life can bring.

I have been putting my house in order in every respect and yet.... it hasn’t been enough. I’ve missed something of what has been important and that something has crashed into my life as the Iceberg did to the Titanic.

The depth of a relationship which one holds sacrosanct. You’d want to find that within the family. The mistakes that we saw so clearly within the way in which we were brought up and swore we’d never duplicate within the framework of our own family give us the choice....break the chains and forge new links or bow to unquestioned ”˜tradition.’

Missing the moment and the relative importance of it has occupied my mind for a concentrated period of time - most of which has been spent carrying out creative and needed hard but wonderful work.

What conclusion? It’s the work which has to done according to the demands of the time which matters. Bruised feelings can be repaired. To a drowning man every moment matters but to most of us ”˜missing the moment’.....hmm..... yes it matters but getting the point and rising to the occasion is the enduring legacy.

I’m nearly sixty ... and even writing that feels humourous as I wonder what I’ll be when I grow up.

The bruised feelings? If sincere rapport is to be re-established then that’s part of the creative work.

That’s what I’ve been working on recently and no guitar involved.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/missing_the_moment_and_getting_the_point Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:56:48 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/what_a_wonderful_world
Pennie and Bruno, of ”˜My Hearts Dezire’ have put in the blood sweat and tears to make these songwriter nights available to all who wish to play. It’s often an indifferent world and there are nights where it’s so quiet that we’ve all played twice. No problem with that so I rearranged my brain and went back to the guitar in the car when - having suggested to Pennie that I’d come to be a supportive audience rather than play - Pennie responded with “You’re on next.”

Bruno played his set as I tuned up and then stayed onstage for my three songs. Dunno ... performance isn’t necessarily related to ones frame of mind. You know you’re in the moment when your hair stands up and your skin goes electric.....hmm...either it WAS good or I need to stay away from dodgy electrical leads.

The rain has poured and all the critical autumn work has been done within the garden. The haircut which I gave to twenty or so Tree-ferns six weeks ago has encouraged the late summer growth to unfurl smoothly.

Even though we’ve had good summer rains the garden beds were bone dry to below a spade’s depth. It’s easy to forget that we’ve been in drought for years so I’m grateful for the rain - we need a great deal more.

Feeling more grey than blue. Undoubtably that will pass too.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/blog.html/what_a_wonderful_world Sun, 30 May 2010 23:46:22 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - David Griffith - Blog