a day in the life of piano monkey

funny i havent even noticed that the days creeped up and went by right under my own eyes. it is october! rather than looking at some arbitrary calendar, however, i have been so luck to be reminded by the beautifully cold morning air. those air that freezes your boogers and bring a bit of tears first thing the morning. the air that makes to think: knee socks. and the low clouds and disappearing mountains. at times the cascades just outside my window plays hide and seek during winter. when the fluff clouds come down and cover them in ambiguity. only hints, or only memories of them across the thick air. and these fogs are not the same kind that one see in summer- hot, wet and heavy. these are proper autumnal fogs: cold, fresh, sharp. almost a week in banff have whizzed by and i casually just walked out from the first recording session. get music on monday. record first thing on friday. kinda tough no? much drama but am glad that it is out and done now and i think actually it will t...

couple things from recent- well last two days really! this is new monkey residency from now till dec 12. that's really not that long is it- september is over and october will just roll on and then as you wake up sober from halloween madness, the trees will be naked and cold will hopefully roll on. beautiful cold majestic blue and grey. can't wait. inst of lloyd hall of banff center, which is what they give you as default, i asked to be located at farrally hall for some humanity. lloyd is nice but it's too professional. so quiet. all closed doors. farrally's got fireplace. no contest there really. i hope all works out alright, fire or not. monkey's gene pools turned 60 this year. both of them. as traditional koreans , they, well their friends decided to have a shindig at a local restaurant. monkey cake stuff was related to this. this was the first cake topper made for dad. flowery eh. take that dad. ha ha ha. i think it's rather nice. and that cake...

i just realized last night that i will be heading off to banff soon. sooner than i thought- am scheduled to fly right after my last sunday service on 27th. which would be 21 days. exactly 3 weeks. this summer is a weird one in a sense that every little cusp point between the major events has been a tad bit dramatic, ha ha. banff - home - uk - home - banff - home/holiday at home - nyc - (insert detroit somewheres) - home- banff. thats what it looks like. i am spending 7 months out of the year in the mountains and will have gone through at least 11 flights by end of the year. the goal is to clear off my student loans and keep sane, play well and continue to appreciate the nicer things in life, such as peeps. even when you have to drive down/back from detroit! i am rather convinced that there is absolutely nothing left there but perhaps i would be wrong. i hope so. in case you wonder WHY im heading to detroit, i am taking my grandma to a family reunion of a sort. shouldnt be more than 4-5...

so monkey just got a word recently from the people high up in the world that she's back next fall for the banff collaborative residency. hooray. it's amazing to think what this all entails- first of all, it means that i dont have to go nutty worrying about what i am going to do for living. from september to december of 2009, monkey will be back in the middle of the canadian rockies, having the luxury of watching the sunrise in the morning, the mountains turning from bright green to the calmness of grey. and the lengthening of the winter evenings, getting slower and darker, mellower and quieter, until the next peak, the winter solstice. watching the process of such inevitability and huge scale in middle of mountains will be spectacular. as i had the fortune to watch it turn from the gravest point of the winter, at its rem sleep, then slowly letting the blood flow again, to the farthest digits, warming up for the next cycle of spring. and i will get to play music. and even fo...