More Sunday Blather

God, what a stunning day outside here in Marlboro -- and warmer here than it is in either Wilmington (due west, just over Hogback Mountain) or Brattleboro, which is unusual. We're higher elevation than Brat, must be a nice thermal layer lingering at our level. The early AM drive up to meet my parents, sister Kathie and her husband Jim for breakfast at our fave local diner (Dot's) revealed that, while we were frost-free this morning, the Wilmington side of Hogback was thickly blanketed. We noted a ten-degree difference between the two towns, though it's only an eight-mile drive. Ah, autumn in Vermont.

Marge and I have been multi-tasking all day, too, with as much outdoors activity as we can manage between the inside and/or driving chores today. Heavy workload, twixt my prep and packing for three days at CCS this week, and an obligation for every day thereafter (speaking at Keene State College -- twice! -- on Thursday, CCS again on Friday, CCS prep for next week on Saturday, and co-manning a table at the Worcester MA Rock'n'Shock Show with Marty Langford, Mike Dobbs and others on Sunday), and all Marge is juddling, too. I'm doing laundry, too, per usual (my basement rooms are such a disaster area, only I can make it to and from the laundry room). We're also prepping for dinner with the extended family tonight, which will be fun.

In any case, we've kept it as evenly paced as possible. Amid this, and to keep vibes blissful, I've been spinning some old LPs and recording some music for myself (for the long drives and for my CCS office space, where I've no CD player, only an old radio/tape player) and for my son Dan, who's joining us tonight for dinner here.

Dan's quite the vinyl explorer and collector, and among his discoveries is a favorite for both of us now: Don Cherry and The Jazz Composer's Orchestra's February, 1973 recording of Cherry's Relativity Suite. I'm taping this for both of us, back-to-back with the rare Alejandro Jodorowsky soundtrack LP for El Topo, which I've held on to since 1972, still in excellent shape.

Why the double-bill? Dan, bless him, identified the Don Cherry gem correctly as a partial soundtrack for Jodo's The Holy Mountain, his extravagant midnight-movie successor to the grandpappy of the '70s midnight movies El Topo. Good score, Dan, and quite the ear!

My heart swells with pride.

(PS: He's currently savoring my Moondog 2 LP, and already tracking down Moondog music new to me -- ah, the unexpected joys of parenting.)