BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

• Thanks to (all of) your encouraging comment(s) (Carrie) I have decided to blog again. OMG.

• Last night I worked a local crew tech load out for a Brad Paisley concert.  Apparently, I’m one of the experienced ones now, so they give me more “important” jobs.  I helped Paisley’s roadies load all of the instruments and equipment into their cases.  The first guitar I held was worth millions!  It was sort of an ugly mustard yellow color, and it had been on the cover of some big guitar magazine.  Eric Clapton used to play it.   I also got to watch the concert from right off stage. He’s a great performer.  Oh and also, roadies are crazy!

• Tonight I have a concert of my own.  I’m in two musical ensembles this semester, Jacare Brazil and Agbedidi Africa.  They will be performing back-to-back in downtown Gainesville tonight.  For Jacare Brazil I’ll be singing five songs in the styles of bossa nova, samba, samba-reggae.  There are only two of us in the group who do not speak Portuguese fluently. Then I’ll change into a traditional African outfit (pictures to come)  and drum ferosiously behind a slew dancers for a REALLY LONG TIME.  In any lineup, Agbedidi Africa always performs last because these African songs can go on forever, especially towards the end, when the entire audience is invited to join in the dancing.  People come up on stage and start having dance-offs, all the while the music keeps going and going and going.  The trick is that after playing for a while it starts to feel like a meditation, and your mind can go anywhere while your body keeps playing variations on the same intricate patterns.  My mind always feels very clear after playing like this.

• I will spend most of this weekend creating my third short film for my film production class and studying for a written exam in Italian Cinema. Reading and writing about films can sometimes feel like dancing about architecture, but this is a particularly hard film class.  My Italian cinema teacher believes we, her upper-level undergraduate students, are the products of a “dumb-down academic system” (…uh oh) and so she raises the bar high above what we believe we are capable (noo!!):  “Many of you may not make it over, but at least you’ll know that you’ve tried.  Not everyone should expect to be an A student.  Everyone can’t be doctors and lawyers.”  She went on to state simply that undergraduate studies are to prove your ability to retain knowledge, while graduate studies are to prove your ability to create knowledge.  She says in order for a good grade in her class, you must prove that you excel at both.  When she speaks, I constantly shift back and forth from understanding and admiring her to completely disagreeing with her.  I have friends who have graduated who say this class is the hardest class they took in college.  I knew all that when I registered for it.  So why, when I have met all of my requirements for my English minor, did I still decide to sign up for this class?  I’ll get back to you on that on that.

• As for the film I have to create this weekend, I have a few blurry ideas.  I’m going to try to do something really different this time.  I think I’m going to use Cassie for this film but I’m trying not to think about it until tomorrow.

• Finally, I am getting super excited to go to Fort Lauderdale in two weeks.  First of all I will be working with some of my favorite people I have in my life.  AWESOME!!!  Secondly, I’ll get to revisit a work of art (that I love so much), make it even better, and then share it with more awesome people! AHHH!! And to top it off I get to meet Obama the kitten!