Magnificent Desolation

Except for a few enclaves of isolation and repression, most people on the planet are aware that our fellow humans have walked on the Moon. To date, only 12 individuals have set foot on that little piece of Swiss cheese in the sky.

Forty years ago on July 16, 1969 I remember being shuffled into the Middle School auditorium on a Wednesday morning along with other kids to watch the event on television. Through the electronic portal we could see the huge Saturn rocket and its Apollo 11 crew blast off from Kennedy Space Center - live. I was just 15 years old. Watching blastoffs was so much better than regular school work. It gave me a break from my teacher, Mr. Berrardi, who tended to make my life miserable for no good reason. He was a borderline psycho.

However, it wasn't until Sunday July 20th when the really exciting stuff happened. The cool-looking lunar module separated from the mother-ship orbiting around the Moon and slowly made its way down to the cratered lunar surface with two of the three astronauts from the mission. My parents had gotten my brothers and I up in the middle of the night to watch the event unfold on our little B&W TV in the kitchen. I recall that we stat in front of the tube in our underwear in the summer heat. It was four in the morning, and I don't think I had ever been awake at that ungodly hour before.

My brother Larry was listening carefully to all of the communications between the astronauts and the command center back in Houston. Whenever the TV news commentator, Walter Cronkite, would make a feeble attempt to translate the terse monotone technical dialogue into plain English, Larry would get agitated and blurt out, "why doesn't he shut up so that we can hear what's going on!" Without a doubt, we were all in awe. Nothing like this had ever occurred before in the history of the world, and there we were - as a family - to see it unfold for better or worse. Everyone was well aware of the historical significance the mission embodied and about the potentially grave risks involved. It was not Science Fiction. It involved real human lives.

The Lunar Module (or LM) landed without incident. People from around the world seemed to be following the story. Later we would learn that the astronauts had a hard time finding a landing spot, and had almost run out of fuel. The Lunar Module had just 25 seconds of fuel left (kind of like a commercial flight I once took on "US Scare").

Late on Monday evening July 21st the live televised moon walk began. The family huddled in front of our little TV again. The TV set had a decent picture for its 5" screen, but we fiddled with the rabbit ears continually in an attempt to improve the reception.



Then it was time for Neil Armstrong make his famous descent onto the Moon's surface. There had been much speculation about what he would utter as his first words on the dusty terrain. Of course great importance would be attributed to the first complete sentence spoken by a human on a celestrial body other than Earth. TV anchor Walter Cronkite indicated that Armstrong had been supplied with many ideas and suggestions by prominent people from around the globe - including (one would presume) from President Nixon. It would certainly land on the front page in bold type as the headline of the world's newspapers, and be interpreted and reinterpreted in the context of the Cold War, and in popular culture.

In the end Armstrong came up with something a little bland and apolitical. Although not terribly poetic, it does have a historical ring to it. Armstrong said, with the hesitation you might expect from a child in a school play: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Later, astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin joined him on the Moon's surface. Aldrin described his first view of the Moon as "Magnificent desolation."

I like Aldrin's phrase "Magnificent desolation." It's poetic and concisely describes that barren, dead world. It's odd that we had to invest so much research, time, and money to travel so far to learn that fact. Sure, we brought back some rocks, and I've seen them (even touched one) at the Smithsonian Institution. But the trip to the Moon was really about exploration for the sake of exploration. It was largely symbolic, although many benefits - such as the sugary orange drink Tang, Velcro, the handheld Dustbuster, microwave ovens, Teflon dish pans, an exciting movie about space staring Tom Hanks, and a dance step invented by Michael Jackson. All of this resulted, directly or indirectly, from NASA's massive space project begun by President Kennedy only eight years earlier.

Oddly enough, the long term societal benefits from the Moon landing may have resulted from this photo:

It is view of the Earth rising over the Moon's horizon as taken from by the Apollo 11 crew. This photo became iconic, and was soon available in wall size formats for average people to hang in their homes. It was a mainstay image of the time, and was used as the cover for the "Whole Earth Catalog" - the de facto owner's manual for operating the planet.

Humans had traveled to the moon to discover the Earth. Although we discovered that the moon is a dead planet, we noticed that the Earth is amazingly beautiful, but in peril. That turned out to be the great lesson of the Apollo missions.
Over time, as the number of humans who ventured into space increased, an interesting phenomenon known as the "overview effect" developed. Astronauts would arrive back on Earth with a sense of enlightenment about their home planet. After seeing for themselves the entire outline of the Earth standing alone in the vacuum of cosmos, they realized how small and precious the planet really is. It spurred a new awareness and a desire to maintain and sustain the ecological balance of the planet. The Moon was long dead, but the Earth was suddenly seen an oasis in space. It led to a change in our mindset, and R. Buckminster Fuller aptly coined the term "Spaceship Earth" to describe our mobile home.
A few years later I attended a public lecture at Scarsdale High School by the famed science writer Isaac Asimov in NY State. Asimov had written many landmark Sci-Fi stories, including the Foundation Series. During the Q&A he was asked about the historic Moon landing. He relied that he had written fiction about it for decades, and he had been very confident that the goal would be achieved someday. Walking on the Moon seemed inevitable to him, since "you could look up in the sky and see the damn thing." But he confessed that he did not anticipate one major detail. Speaking with his heavy NY accent, Dr. Asimov admitted that he did not foresee that nearly everyone on Earth would be watching the event on the Moon unfold live on television.
Here is a little YouTube clip from CBS about the Moon landing from the perspective of anchorman Walter Cronkite. It's a little corny, but if you were there it may jog your memory...

That's what happened forty years ago this week.
Links:
http://wechoosethemoon.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html
http://www.wholeearth.com/index.php

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The Kruzenshtern

This week Boston is hosting an event known as Sail Boston. It almost didn't happen this year because of budget concerns from the city, but funds were eventually found in the state coffers to fund the event.




Yesterday the sun showed itself after 40 days and 40 nights of rain, and I made an excursion down to the Boston waterfront with my family to see the tall ships.






One large sailing vessel in particular stood out. It was the Russian ship docked at the Seaport World Trade Center. It's called the Kruzenshtern, and I think it is the largest ship at Sail Boston this year.

We walked around it to view the ship from different vantage points before going on board to look around.

Once on board, we discovered a Russian Orthodox chapel housed in the top center of the deck.

There was something ceremonial about all of the Russian sailors with their black uniforms and huge white hats. I overheard a few blond Russian-Americans on board chatting with the sailors.

There was an on-deck gift shop with everything for sale - from ball-point pens, to T-shirts, to officer's hats.





I noticed that the Kruzenshtern was outfitted with a lot of modern ship technology. The deck had giant LCD screens for navigation, communication, and control. American radar systems from Sperry Marine/Northrop Grumman were everywhere.






The Kruzenshtern was originally a German ship built for cargo in 1926, but in 1946 the Germans gave it to the USSR for war reparations. There were some interesting historic photos display on the ship, and from these I could see that the Kruzenshtern stopped in Cuba in 1964 and that Fidel Castro came aboard for a visit and photo-op.

The iron ship is 376 feet long, stands 168 feet high, and weights 4,700 tons. It takes a crew of 257 sailors to run it.

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruzenshtern_(ship)

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One Year of Blogging

Today is July 1st, 2009. It marks the one year anniversary of this blog: deconstructing-jim.blogspot.com (with a hyphen). I have published over 200 individual posts.

I've learned a great deal about myself through the process of digitally publishing my thoughts via this semi-public cyber-venue, and I really appreciate the good feedback that I've received from friends, family, colleagues, and total strangers who have gone out of their way to read it.

While I have not accepted advertising, or attempted to publicize it, the blog's readership is international and growing at a good clip. People find out about it by word-of-mouth, or by pure serendipity.

Using analytical tools such as Google Analytics, I track daily the number of hits, where they originate from, and general activity on the site. It turns out that my hawk photos and video on "Raptors in Suburbia" is by far the most popular post thus far. A year ago when I started this venture, I never would have expected that I'd find myself streaming nature photography and video to hordes of bird enthusiasts world-wide.

As my regular readers know, the vast majority of my flashbacks, daily obsessions, and random thoughts relate to the unusual world of contemporary concert music. I never seem to run out of things to talk about when it comes to this obscure black art.

Although I am still technically classified under the status of "under-utilized worker" in this economy, I will attempt to find time to update you periodically about my activities, job search progress, and general musings.

One of the discoveries I made shortly after beginning this admittedly self-indulgent blog was that the name "Deconstructing Jim" was not as unique as I had thought. It turns out that until the end of March, there was a heavy rock trio based in Joliet, Illinois by the same name. None of the three musicians in the band was in fact named Jim. It appears that Deconstructing Jim (no hyphen, the rock band) has disbanded, and confusion between our two websites will hopefully diminish over time. Any similarity between us is purely coincidental.

Going forward, I plan to continue deconstructing as I slowly decompose. Same place. Same channel. Bring your own beverages.

In the near short term, I plan to take a few days off and spend the long weekend with my very tolerant family.

I wish you all a great 4th of July American holiday, and much fireworks in your life.

Year two of Deconstructing-Jim is about to begin...

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Cavaliers Overture

Here is a performance of a new work for concert band by Stuart Jones. The work was written for alumni of the East Stroudsburg high school band in Pennsylvania and is titled "Cavaliers Overture." The premiere performance was conducted by the composer. The alumni band was comprised of players from the class of 1940 up to the class of 2008, a remarkable 68 year spread. This music will give a lift for the day and make you smile...

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Marty's Retirement Party

While not the best of photos, here is a group shot of the first arrivals at Marty's retirement party last evening. From left to right: Armand, Jim, Michael, Allen (who drove up from North Carolina), Marty, and Eric. Soon the Boykan's house would fill up with his distinguished colleagues (past and present) and students (past and present) that he has known from 53 years of service on the faculty at Brandeis. At one point, I'm told that there were over 4o composers walking around the house. The food and drink was great, and Marty's wife Susan kept everyone well fed.

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Looking into the future

Ten reasons why I’m optimistic about music in 2009

1) We have a new Administration that I hope will be much more supportive of the arts.

2) There appears to be a renewed interest in Modernist music as exemplified this past year by wide-scale performances of works by Elliott Carter. Audiences have come around to appreciate this genre of music.

3) The commercial music industry has found a new model to apply, since revenue from CD sales and Internet downloads is declining quickly. The idea of presenting music live in concert has reemerged as a profitable venture. This will translate into more work for musicians of all sorts, including composers.

4) The current world-wide economic crisis will require a massive injection of government stimulus. This may potentially result in new and expanded Federal arts programs similar to what occurred with the WPA in the 1930’s.

5) As the number of people who are structurally unemployed increases, it will lead to more leisure time and a public desire to experience performances of new, innovative, and experimental music within their community. The arts in general will flourish as people seek a broad-based and affordable form of cultural entertainment.

6) With the change in American political leadership, negative feelings about the value of American culture on the international stage will be diminished. American composers will find renewed interest in their work internationally – including an increase in commissions and performances across the globe.

7) By “going green” it will be discovered that acoustic instruments are more energy efficient than electronic ones, and there will be a resurgence of musicians who perform exclusively on traditional instruments. String Quartets will replace DJs and programmed synthesizers as a way to conserve precious kilowatts and the environment.

8) Although composers may age physically, it is a profession that favors decades of experience and the accumulated wisdom of the long view of history. By consistently composing new pieces each year, my music will continue to make a statement and develop. The works that I plan compose in the coming year could potentially contribute to my personal artistic legacy.

9) 2009 may prove to be an inflection point in history, and if a cultural tsunami strikes, I feel well-positioned to take advantage of new opportunities and artistic challenges as they arise. My pencils are sharpened, and I’m ready to go.

10) It’s a new calendar year, which brings with it a fresh opportunity to submit my application to an assortment of composer-related foundations and organizations (e.g. Fromm at Foundation at Harvard, American Composers Orchestra, The Composer’s Conference at Wellesley, etc). I apply annually, and retain a glimmer of hope each year that it will yield a positive result. The new cycle of 2009 grant applications begins on January 1st.

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Reunion of the "Concerned Students Coalition"

It amazes me that brain cells can be so resilient.

Last week I had a reunion with some old friends that I have not seen for a very long time. At least in one case, it had been about 36 years since we talked. When a group of people who grew up in the same place and time reunite in the present universe, it's bound to create sparks of mental activity. That is exactly what happened Thursday night. Our reunion was boisterous, wild, and very entertaining.

Laura (seated second from the left) arrived the night before on Amtrak for a visit. She just retired as a second grade teacher from the public school system in NY state. Next to her is Kim, who's beautiful house in the suburbs were were visiting. And Corky (on the far right) shares with me (sitting on the far left) the dubious distinction of being a transplanted New Yorker who came to Red Sox Nation many decades ago.

Kim, on short notice, agreed to host us and our respective families for dinner. Everyone brought something to the feast: Corky and Cathy contributed ice cream and cookies; Laura, Jim, and Willemien brought fresh tomatoes and mozzarella from Wilson's Farm; and Kim and his lovely wife Susannah made a classic Northern Italian pasta seasoned with bread-crumbs and freshly cut basil from their amazing backyard garden (where Laura was in her element). Kim provided a constant flow of fine red Italian and Spanish wine that he selected from his stock.

There was so much to talk about: not only from the days of our youth, but everything that has intervened in the world since. But invariably the discussion would return to the days of our adolescence in the late 60's and early 70's.

Although as individuals we had forgotten many of the details from that period, as a group we could remember an amazing amount of common history and fact. The stories about what we did in those days for entertainment would fill volumes.

Just to recount a few memorable points...

Although I appeared to be the only one who actually made it to Woodstock in 1969 (more on this in a future posting), the Rahsaan Roland Kirk concert at Mercy College seemed to be a big event in the small town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahsaan_Roland_Kirk

I found it interesting that Corky remembered something my brother Larry said that night... Larry, a jazz connoisseur who had heard Kirk perform many times before mentioned "this percussionist brings tambourine playing to a whole new level." I was there that night too, with Susan E. who was very impressed with Kirk's circular breathing technique and his ability to play multiple saxophones at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ah2nBtcn2A&feature=related

(I would see Kirk for the next and last time up close in the Boston Public Library not long before his untimely death from a stroke. He was blind, and was searching through the braille-coded phonograph records in the lower-level music section of the Boston Public Library. I was too shy to go over and strike up a conversation).

In our teenage high school years we had two favorite hangouts...

It was at Laura's house where many of us would flock at lunch hour. It was very close to the High School, and her parents were unusually tolerant of us. A favorite activity was to put on the TV in her living room and mute it. Then we'd accompany whatever daytime television show was on with music from a randomly selected album of music. We found endless amusement in the chance associations that were derived between the visual and audio dimensions while drinking herbal tea and snacking on crackers. It has hard to go back to class.

Our other refuge was the "Peace Center" in the basement of Susan and Christine's house. This place doubled as a movie theatre for 16 mm black and white films that their mom would bring home from her work at a film distribution company in NYC. It was there that I remember seeing WC Fields for the first time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._C._Fields

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM4Lak_11eQ

But, in the era of the Vietnam War, we couldn't sit idle and escape into the comfort zone of silly movies all of the time. I remember getting my draft card at the age of 18 (which I still have), and knowing that the annual lottery for the military would be just around the corner. My brother Larry had a low number, but eventually got a deferment for medical reasons. His friend Wayne (the older brother of our host Kim) was not so lucky. He got drafted and went to Nam, but was one of the lucky ones to return alive and physically unharmed. I vividly remember Wayne telling myself and J. Alexander (the bass player in my band) what it was like to be in the heat battle. It opened our eyes, and we were next in line so to speak. We were more than "concerned." Wayne went on to become very active in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Last week at our reunion, we were having collective amnesia about the official name of our anti-war organization. Fortunately, I got an email from Susan who remembered that it was called "The Concerned Students Coalition." Susan, Eric, and Christine all played vital roles as well as others too numerous to list here (such as Dr. Joe, Robert, Floyd, Ann, George, Tom J., Tom B.). Kim apparently made a mass-mailing to the public and the organization received enough donations to pay the phone bill. I often wonder if our little group rated high enough to be placed on something similar to Nixon's "Enemies List" or to have the phone tapped by the FBI.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon

If anyone from this circle is able to locate their copy of the political and sarcastic song "Spiro Agnew, we love you, we do" which was recorded on LP, it will be digitized and posted on this blog.

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The Black Swan

The following video on YouTube is about the launching of a hand-made sailboat into the Hudson River under the shadows of the Tappan Zee bridge in Nyack NY.

The classic "catboat" was built by Peter in his garage over the course of a five year span (working part time). I remember on my last visit he was carefully warping the mahogany strips to arch at just the right angle to form the hull.

The sailboat is named "The Black Swan" to reflect the notion of an improbable, unexpected, high-impact event:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory

The hull is also finished in a natural oil that makes the dark mahogany wood look black.

The nine minute video features the river town coming together to celebrate the boat's launching with a parade, music, and song. In addition to Peter (who doubles as music director), Laura and their loving dog Oscar share in all of the excitement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9EPp5QK0h8

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The Great American Yard Sale

Sooner or later all of the clutter builds up and reaches the point of critical mass. As the late comedian George Carlin nicely put it "we have lot's of stuff."

Fortunately Americans' have a practical solution to remedy this situation. The Great American Yard Sale has long been a suburban ritual. It's a summer time institution in these parts - and I'm glad that it exists.

I say this proudly because the "sell my garbage" tradition is not yet ingrained in European culture. It seems to be an American thing. In Holland for example, the public is only allowed to sell their used possessions on just one day of the year. That day is April 30th; the birthday of their former queen - Juliana. It is known as Koninginnedag (Queen's Day), and aside from public celebration, people are permitted to sell their old tea pots or Delft bric-a-brac TAX FREE. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koninginnedag

We Americans have it good. We can sell our garbage all summer long without a Royal decree.

As a way to rid our basement of extraneous items, and perhaps generate some extra cash, we had a yard sale today. (It helps if you pronounce "yard" with a New England accent).

We have been planning this big event for a long time. This past week we were up late at night sticking little orange dots on countless items for sale while anxiously looking at the weather report to see if the forecast would be in our favor or not. We made bright DayGlo yellow signs to place around the neighborhood, and electronically posted our event on the town's Internet listserv.

Saturday morning seemed to arrive very early. Before we knew it, people were hovering outside our door at 7:30 AM for a yard sale advertised to begin at 9 AM. These early birds are known as the "vultures." They are professionals who take their work very seriously, and have the phrase "can you do better?" burned into the speech-center of their brains. And the more advanced examples of the species use technology too. I saw one lady snapping photos of select items with her cell phone. I presume she was emailing them back to her staff at HQ who were analyzing it and finding comparative prices on eBay.

Even before I could inject French Roast coffee into my bloodstream, we had to move what seemed like a truck load of stuff from our basement over to the driveway and front yard. Here is a photo of how things looked once we were setup...

The results were good. Many interesting people came and our clients seemed to be made up out of the fabric of America. We heard a lot of different languages being spoken, including Hungarian. In the process you get to know your neighbors a lot better too, and meet people from the community at large. It's a very social activity, and clearly the consumer can determine a lot about the seller...including what you wear, read, and listen to. It invites discussion. Even our regular mail carrier took a break from his route to see what we had for sale. It was a mini-happening.

In the first hour "product" was just flying off the shelf. Some items that we had been embarrassed to offer for sale found a rightful and happy owner. Little children came in droves and earnestly picked through the boxes of toys to find the one that appealed to them in a special way. Others found an item of interest or fascination (such as an obsolete analog cell phone) and they were glad to take it home for a dollar or so. Joseph made out very well, having sold his PS2 and a lot of video games and controllers - including Guitar Hero II. (He recently upgraded to XBox360 and has no need for the old technology).

I had also thought people might like to beat the heat and purchase a bottle of ice-cold drinking water. We had purchased bottled water and a large cooler at Walgreen's the evening before thinking it would be a nice option, but for some reason nobody seemed thirsty today. But it will eventually come to good use (I hope). On hot days this summer I plan to take the water cooler down the hill to sell cold drinks to dehydrated joggers, rollerbladers, and bike riders as they zoom by on the bike path. It's the Capitalist way. It seems that wherever there is a need, there is someone to fill the niche and supply the service.

Our yard sale had been scheduled to go until 1 PM, but we kept the doors open a little longer to satisfy the strong demand. Cars kept driving up, and at one point it created a traffic situation on our normally quiet little street. What didn't sell is currently piled up on the sidewalk in front of the house with a large sign reading "free" on top of it. We hope that these last remaining remnants will mysteriously disappear in the dark of the night. (Anyone in the Boston area reading this is welcome to drive by and pick through it).

Today's take was close to $200. Not bad since most of the items were priced to be purchased for small change! Joseph earned about half of that, and he is currently out at the local Chinese restaurant having dinner with his buddies and paying for his buffet with hard earned cash from the yard sale.

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Now, if I could only clear garbage and clutter from my mind as easily.

Is that what blogs are for? (A rhetorical question).

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Postscript: July 13th. I woke up early the next day and looked out my front door to discover that virtually all of the free items had been removed during the night.

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4th of July

The 4th was a blast.

It was the occasion of the second semi-annual "4th of July" DFHS class of 1972 regional reunion. The DF contingent consisted of myself, Corky, and Susan. We were accompanied by our respective significant others: Willemien, Cathy, and Tom and were quite pleased to have at least a subset of our assorted children on hand - Joseph and Anna - who patiently listened to our stories.

The rain held off and was sat around outdoors at a large round table chatting like high school kids for hours on end. Our food was scrumptious beyond description - and "heart healthy" as well, since one of the members of the DF group had a major heat attack since our last reunion. Tom expertly prepared the chicken on their new grill. We also had fresh salad, greens, and potato salad. For desert it was fruit salad. Those who could handle a few extra calories indulged in Susan's yummy blueberry cobbler with Eddy's vanilla ice cream as a topping.

To get all of the medical histories out and behind us for the evening, Susan (a licenced Social Worker) suggested that we go around the table and provide a medical updates. I will just say that modern medicine is amazing.

We were also entertained by Anna who had just become a door-to-door salesperson for Cutco http://www.cutco.com/home.jsp (a summer job before she begins at Simmons College in September). We were her very first potential customers.

She showed us the Super Shears, which in Corky's hands sliced a penny down the middle with ease.
http://www.cutco.com/products/chooseDetail.jsp?chooseId=77

But the knives were the most impressive. Cutco's handles are made out of thermo resin. This material is similar to that used in bowling balls and football helmets. They are also very ergonomic.

Anna demonstrated the Spatula Spreader (known affectionately at the Platapous"). It looks like a butter knife, but it can cut through rope!
https://www.cutco.com/products/product.jsp?itemGroup=1768.

In the end we were impressed with her presentation. Corky and Cathy purchased a knife used by Rachel Ray (often seen on the Food Channel) and received a free peeler as a gift.

Willemien really liked the Paring Knife - so we ordered one: https://www.cutco.com/products/product.jsp?itemGroup=1720

Unfortuantely, the $4,000 knife sets were out of our reach.

After dinner Susan suggested that we take a drive to the pond in the center of her town of Sharon and visit the newly renovated Senior Center where she works. It was impressive, and the following group photo was taken just in front of the pond....

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And then we drove back home and stopped off at the Sue and Jeff's for desert and some fireworks....