I am getting a kick out of watching the current ruckus over health care reform. Who is right; who is wrong? First, doesn’t that depend on one’s definition of ‘right’? If we are referring to ‘right’ from a Buddha’s Eight Fold Path point of view, then those who rant and rave on either side are certainly not Right. The rantings we see are merely emotions at play (at war actually). When emotions are at play, all discernment and impartiality go out the window. All that remains are our emotion driven biases, i.e., our needs and fears. We rarely retain even enough clarity to recognize what is happening to us.…Continue reading ‘Who is Right?’
We go to Costco every week, usually on around the same day and time. As a result, we see the same sample servers every week, and we’ve gotten to know some of them a little, if not always through conversation then by observation. Well, there’s this one gentleman that we’ll call Ralph (not his real name) who stands out. Namely, he’s said some peculiar things.
The first incident was when he was doling out some sort of high-caloric treat. Papa took a bite and exclaimed that it was “good, too good in fact” and that he was on a diet. Ralph’s exact words I forget, but it was something that implicated that Papa ate a lot of fava beans…Continue reading ‘“Did you forget your cart again?”’
To replenish the supply of ducks, we head out to Metzer Farms with friend Hua Jia Ming to pick up batch of pre-ordered ducklings.
Stay tuned to see how fast the little suckers grew up!
(Kyle, I think the word you’re looking for is “prologue”. —Luke)
Here I am with some girl friends at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival outside of Hollister. This is called a tweener set. It’s the set between the main acts where anyone can get up and play. The song is “Blues Stay Away from me†which is pretty obvious when you hear it. The 5 of us got together moments before to do a run through. Otherwise the 5 of us had not played together at the same time. It was a lot of fun!
Blues Stay Away From Me from Kyle Abbott on Vimeo.
Seeing Papa’s post below, you might be wondering, “Gee, what’s a shakuhachi? What’s Hon Kyoku for that matter?!” Well, to answer both questions in the all-language language that is music, Here’s Pa tooting away on a Hon Kyoku piece called Ashi no Shirabe on the shakuhachi. . . in Widescreen!
Prehistoric people made musical instruments out of bone and ivory soon after reaching Europe
A Science News article, Stone Age flutes found in Germany, reports that people living in Europe more than 35,000 years ago made this flute (shown from three different angles) out of a vulture bone. The magnified portion of the flute at the right provides a closer look at two of the flute’s finger holes.
As far as I can make out, it appears to be a simple end blown flute like the shakuhachi. The blowing technique is similar to blowing across the top of a bottle to produce a pleasant resonant tone. By placing holes in it, you can play a melody (or something melody-like in the case of Buddhist Hon Kyoku).
It feels intriguing being connected to a musical tradition (the end blow flute) that predates civilization as we know it by tens of thousands of years. Keeping that image in mind, while I play it, helps me put ‘tao’ into the blowing Zen. I mean, talk about the thread running through the way!
Luke and I were walking home from playing on the mall when we were socially accosted by a lady with a clipboard. She smiled and said, “Hi there! Would you like to help the environment?” I said,…Continue reading ‘EcoMe’
Where is the jungle?
Where’s the jungle?” I thought. Malaya’s beautiful paved roads weren’t what I had expected at all. Still, I had just left Singapore.
While working in Australia in the early 60’s I met folks who intrigued me with their stories of traveling over land through India and Southeast Asia. Instead of returning to US as planned, I decided to set out overland to Europe through Asia. Hitchhiking was a must, in view of my budget, though it felt weird considering I’d never hitchhiked before.…Continue reading ‘Into the Jungle?’
Some highlights from my third year at the Cordova 4-H Music Camp. I’ll try and section this up so you can skip around at your leisure. (Not that I condone skimming Abbott Family Blog posts, of course…)
Sasha! Sasha! Blah, blah blah!
First up: a video of the most popular dance at Cordova Music Camp:
I think this is a Russian dance that was introduced to the camp a few years ago by a dance teacher (who has been absent ever since). The “blah blah blah” part was originally “1 2 3″ in Russian, but the kids couldn’t remember it. And thus, a timeless classic was born…Continue reading ‘Vignettes from Alaska, 2009′
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