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EDWARD JACOBS

Author: Ed Jacobs

  • Tuesday, December 22, 2020

    We received a fabulous gift from Joe/Cristin last week–something I’d not known about before it came in the mail. This Dragon Touch digital picture frame allows selected/approved people to email pictures directly to the frame. You choose an email address for the frame, then send that address to people you want to have emailing ability; they send you a one-time email with a specific code, and you approve their email address. Then, pictures just start appearing in an ongoing slideshow whose specs you can adjust to your liking.

    Joe/Cristin, of course, have been sending pix, as have Pattie and I from our own phones/archives. These pix of Jackson recently appeared on our frame, bringing lots of smiles:

    a boy and his dog; Jackson and Ellie are best buds, for sure.
    but if Ellie’s not close by, there’s nothing like a cuddly stuffed friend
    Jackson making the tree look good!

    We quickly got the same frame for Pattie’s mom. I got all her kids to send their emails, set everything up, and now she’s enjoying tons of pix coming in. The frame holds thousands of photos (publicity says 40k), so this will be a great, ongoing album.

    A highly recommended gift in this time of physical separation.

  • Monday, December 21, 2020

    Winter solstice has arrived. The longest night, of one of the longest years. Not so sure that things will only get better from here, but the days will have more hours of light, and that’ll be nice.

    Pattie and I really needed to do something to change the routine. With Surf City out of commission for, likely, at least another month, we’re really feeling every bit as ‘locked in’ as everyone else. So Pattie found a new hotel down in Beaufort (on the water, near where we departed for a diving trip last June), with a restaurant that looked nice. We went down Saturday, just for a night.

    We stopped in to Pattie’s brother’s, near Beaufort, in Morehead City. I’d not seen them for a long time, indeed–Christine’s wedding a year ago? We dropped off some cookies and bird-feeder wreaths (which we’ve been churning out for gifts to neighbors), visited for about an hour, and moved along. We brought Frankie, as the hotel is pet-friendly. The Beaufort Hotel is nice; clean, well-cared-for (staff were Cloroxing floor boards as we walked to our room), and at about half-occupancy. A beautiful setting, for sure.

    Sunday morning’s sunrise (~6:30ish above, ~7ish below)

    6:25am
    6:50am

    Breakfast on the restaurant’s porch–we the only folks sitting outside, for distancing, but also to accommodate Frankie–brought a wonderful view of some visitors.

    Beaufort, though bringing back memories of Surf City, Hawaii, and travelling…

    Then, arriving back home to Greenville, we pretty much fell back into the routine. A trip to the backyard with Frankie brought yet another surprise…

    And now, it’s Monday.

    ‘nuf said.

  • Sunday, December 20, 2020

    The bright spots in the days, without question, come via NY. THis morning’s video call might require some narration…Jackson does give kisses, but also gets a kick out of the next best thing, “smelling noses.”

    Jackson and dad smelling noses, with Frankie looking on (top left)
    Jackson leaning in to ‘smell noses’ with Frankie
    and Jackson reaching into the phone to offer Frankie a piece of his breakfast goodies

  • Friday, December 18,2020

    A pair of fabulous, thought-provoking pieces

  • Thursday, December 10, 2020

    Some pix from last month, which I neglected to post.

    Slow motion pool throw in Naples…
    at the beach in Naples

    ____________________

    A project on the list is a collaboration with a faculty colleague choreographer. John Dixon wants to explore the idea (rather than the literal text) of a Requiem. [Perhaps I’ve noted this project in prior posts; not sure.]. This would involve dancers in the outdoors and, in my mind, sort of like a New Orleans 2nd line, but with dancers instead of musicians. I am imagining ‘speakers’ mounted on dancers limbs, and me able to control multiple speakers independently–rather than sending the same signal/sound to every speaker.

    And that’s not quite as simple as i thought it might be. Have spent the past three days researching this; yesterday consulted with an excellent resource in this sort of tech. It seems I was already on the right track, but it’s still not as simple as I’d hoped. More research necessary.

    The tech-issue is more on my mind right now than the music, which occupied me for the previous few weeks. The complicating factor is whether I can send different signals to different dancers (whether they’re on phones, or speaker, or a Raspberry Pi connected to a speaker, or whatever tech i ultimately use), or am limited to only one ‘track’ of sound sent to all speakers. Anyways, that’s what i’m trying to work out.

  • Thursday, December 3, 2020

    Here we are, surpassing the number of Covid-19 cases from the spring. As in Europe, this second wave is horrific. Our inability to take basic steps, i.e., wearing a mask and keeping distance, is just astounding. Smart enough to figure out the steps to avoid disaster, but not smart enough to implement those steps.

    ________________

    An ‘album’ of a few of my pieces seems to be nearing completion and release. The recordings took place January 28-29, 2019, the first edits made available for my review on November 7. A year later, things may be getting closer to completion.

    I’ve checked in with some friends and colleagues with more experience than I, and it seems that this is actually normal. Two reported that the only way to get an engineer to complete a project is to sit next to them in the studio until they finish the damned thing. Bizarre. It’s been a long process and, in fairness, neither I nor my dear-friend-and-supporter producer have been pushing the engineer very hard at all. So, i suppose the time-drag is no surprise.

    In preparation for this final stage, the producer, Chris Grymes of Open G Records, set up an initial meeting with Chris Glass, a designer/artist, to discuss the look of the release. It was an easy meeting, as both Chrisses are engaging, creative, and supportive. As I’d not met Chris Glass prior, this was a chance for him to ask some questions to get some ideas. Some questions were expected–about the music, influences, etc.–and some weren’t–about my workspace, where I’ve lived. We gave him two possible ‘titles’ to think about for this project, using titles of two of the included pieces: “The Line Between,” and “Addressing Wonder.” Grymes and I thought that “The Line Between” was the more evocative title, but are fine with either; we were surprised that Chris Glass was more drawn to “Addressing Wonder.” As Chris like to work with multiple possibilities, he’ll explore both paths and we’ll reconvene next week to see what he’s thinking about.

    And then there’s the ‘liner notes.’ I’ve never been a huge fan of writing ‘program notes’ for concert pamphlets, but certainly recognize the reason composers need to write them. Audiences/listeners need a way in, some frame of reference, something to hold on to as they encounter something not heard before, a logic that may be unfamiliar. So I’ve certainly written such notes for every piece, including them on the inside cover of the score, so that performers can just have them available as they prepare events.

    Trying to frame the bigger picture, i.e., a group of pieces in a ‘concert’ of multiple works, is a bit more of a challenge for me. I’m so grateful that Grymes wants to play a big role in this process. He’s just requested some basic ideas, and the aforementioned pre-written program notes about each piece, and he’ll work something for discussion/review.

    In honesty, of course, this is a means to record my ideas, to make those ideas easily accessible/available to anyone who might be interested. Perhaps it’s really just a vanity project, but this is really the way one distributes musical ideas now (and for the past 70 years). There are certainly more works I’d like to record (when this recording released, this will be eight pieces), but it’s quite a process, from finding the right performers to fund-raising, etc. We’ll see about the next collection of pieces, as I’ve eight-ten I wouldn’t mind getting out there…

    Those notes for Chris have been sent out, some lessons/recruiting done, a few home projects. complete…today’s about writing some recommendation letters, and finishing up that song for Dan Shirley, which he’s liking thus far, but which I’ve been remiss at completing to date.

  • Tuesday, December 1, 2020

    ’tis the season

    how time flies

  • Friday, November 27, 2020

    Hoping you enjoyed a reasonable day yesterday, wherever you were. As large gatherings aren’t really something I particularly enjoy, our day here was quite relaxing. Joe, Cristin, Jackson, and Ellie departed before 10am; clearly it was a good idea to travel on t-day, as they were home before 6pm. Less than 8 hours is quick, so. that worked out well.

    Just a sheer joy to have them visiting. All day fun with Jackson, a pleasure to get to see him growing. One of the biggest treats was when we all just leave him alone and watch him play on his own. He’s enjoying time on his own–of course, at his age, wanting to know that someone was nearby. He’s doing great.

    November 25, 2020
    early July, 2020
    just hanging out in the dog-toy. basket

    We pretty much spent the day giving the house a bit of a deep clean, and got to an early bedtime.

    Today, back to writing!

    And, of course, the daily presidential idiocy; if you’ve not seen this Turkey Pardon from 2018, it’s an absolute must-see.

  • Wednesday, November 25, 2020

    One final day with our special guests, as Joe, Cristin, Jackson, and Ellie will try to avoid traffic by driving back north on t-day. They’ll have been on the road more than three weeks; similar to what they did in early July. Really glad they’re able to get these trips in, and just hope they find a way to get closer to us sooner, rather than later.

    Enjoying some evening reading together with dad
    …and with mom…
    …and Jackson discovering the doggy door.

  • Sunday, November 22, 2020

    A few shots from Crystal Beach, Jackson’s first visit to see the clan there.

    _____________________

    Feeling a bit defeated this morning, so it’s good that Jackson, et al, will reach us at some point this evening.

    Defeated and deflated as it now seems Surf City will remain out of reach until well into January; and flights to Bonaire (3-week scuba diving trip booked in February) are cancelled. So, in short, feeling just like the rest of the world.