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A Drum Circle Arrangement of “Galang”

Olaf — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:00:54 +0000

I’m imagining some possible scenarios where I could lead a drum circle into a sort of performance. Most facilitated drum circles enter into spontaneous or random rhythms and are then led to compose the music. I would really like to lead people (sometimes naively) into known songs. There’s an extra sense of excitement when you realize you’re playing an actual song. Even if you don’t know the song, being led through a composed set of rhythms is very rewarding! I spent about 10 minutes this morning and worked out the basic rhythms within M.I.A.’s “Galang.” It’s a fun piece of music if you haven’t heard it (YouTube link provided below). My intention in recreating it for a drum circle is not to play the song succinctly, but rather to have all the parts present and accounted for. When and for how long each part plays is up to the facilitator. If the groove is held well, someone could play the voice part through a solo drum!

Drum Circle Arrangement, Galang: [See post to access streaming content!]

M.I.A., Galang (emebedding not allowed)

A Baby Changes Everything

Olaf — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 21:48:20 +0000

Remarkably, the biggest change at the Gradin household is simply in our perception. There are all sorts of things that change when a new child is born into your family. Your free time dries up, your bank account empties, you become more selfless. But when you already have an older child, the thing we noticed was that the older child stopped being a baby in our eyes. I never realized how big he was – how big his hands were. It’s harder to carry him sleeping into his bed at night. This new addition, so small and defenseless, makes us realize in ways you can’t truly convey to anyone that she’s the only baby in the house. Perhaps Balthazar became “our first child.” Even though he’s only five years old, I sense that he’s more in charge of his destiny and in self discovery now. Sorscha, on the other hand, seems to have so much more malleable potential tied up in her.

I’m doing my best to ensure that I don’t lose sight of the treasures still to come in our first-born while our attention is diverted to this little girl. It can be a struggle keeping up with everything at home while still making time for me and Balthazar to play the games we used to play. Easing that, he’s recently really gotten into board games. I can keep an eye (and ear) on Sorscha while we play board games without being too distracted to give him my attention. It’s also easier to allocate this time, as our outside time has been cut short for the coming winter.

This experience of having our second child – some 5 years apart from our first – has given us new wisdom that I feel one can only gain through life.

One cannot fully appreciate what happens to the being at the birth of your first child. You undergo a transformation unlike anything before or after that moment. I remember seeing a baby born vaginally when I was an adolescent, and the experience gave me some spine-tingling chills that hinted at this fact. When we had our first child, the internal shift from my awareness of self: man, husband, child, protector, supplier, etc., went spiraling around and may have momentarily just been forgotten. It didn’t matter anymore. The thing I remember most – and perhaps something that sums up a great deal of this feeling – is that I lost my sense of invulnerability. Perhaps it’s passed on to the next generation – much to a parent’s chagrin.

Now at the birth of our second child, we see the real development of our first. Less of the initial surge of fatherhood that fills you, though a new awareness of everything that can’t be ignored.

I really mean to say that there are some lessons in life that we’re taught, but can never be appreciated until experienced. You were told that you’d one day look back at your school days and realize you were having the time of your life. You’re told that a child will change you. I’ve heard that time flies as you get older. “One day you’ll understand…” All of these things go unheeded as our elders press them into our heads. Being at the crossroads of naivety and understanding, I want to impart a sort of enlightenment to those behind me on the path. But who am I kidding? I’m just saying the same thing…

Sorscha Valkyrie

Olaf — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:43:48 +0000

The latest member of our family made her gooey entrance around noon today. She cleans up well, however. Balthazar is so happy to be a big brother, and Sorscha’s mother and I are, of course, completely in love with the new girl. She’s such a beautiful, healthy girl; I couldn’t ask for anything more. Mommy is doing very well after her surgery too. She’ll be getting up tomorrow to begin her walking recovery and we should be heading home in a few days.

Sorscha Valkyrie Gradin weighed in at 6lbs. 11oz. and measured 20.5″ in length. She’s capable of thawing icebergs with a look, but has used her powers for good to warm the heart of every soul she meets.

Offspring, Part Deaux

Olaf — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:42:20 +0000

In nine days, we’ll be a family of four, having welcomed a new baby girl into the Gradin household on the 24th of this month…at 6:00am. That’s how we role. My wife likes to plan for the unplannable. However, she has made certain assurances for this life-event, and I have little doubt that this date and time are correct.

We’re all looking very much forward to meeting her. You might find yourself wondering what her name is going to be, but you will keep on doing so. So far, absolutely zero people in the known universe (besides Amy and I) are aware of her name. There’s a chance that an advanced race of telepaths may have already discovered our secret. It’s a game we played with Balthazar’s name as well. The reason is largely because we’re not interested in hearing anyone’s doubts, concerns, suggestions, or comments otherwise on our name choice(s). It’s hardest with family, which always has a certain lasting psychological and emotional consequence on the mind. While the name is very important, it is of little matter what that specific name is, really. Once a child’s name is set, it’s generally hard to imagine that child by any other name. That said, the name is nothing more than a parental choice – a right. It’s perhaps the first of many experiments that will imbue your legacy, because what are children if not the parents’ result from hypothesis and experiment.

No doubt many of you wait with bated breath. Still others dread the possibilities. Maybe in the end it will be no big surprise at all.

Twitter Updates for 2008-09-03

Olaf — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:59:59 +0000

Discovered a new artist (musical) I dig: Zoë Keatinghttp://is.gd/2a4s #
Road rash is getting better, but I’m not quite out of the woods yet. Tomorrow is exactly 1 week. #
Dropped off a crying kindergartner. It’s worst when I take him. #
Who saw Bush read a prepared statement to an apparently empty room? Hilarious. Felt like a “Dora the Explorer” episode. #
@mcottmeyer That’s because it’s not supported by corporate IT. But it works on mine – Hahaha! #
Mmmm…50% off LEGOs. If only I could actually justify a couple hundred dollars in them! #

Esquire, Magazine of the Future!

Olaf — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:54:06 +0000

Dippin’ Dots are so 2000…E Ink is the future. Esquire magazine is making a bold move to use E Ink on the cover of their October magazine. What’s more, they snagged the rights to the deal from E Ink Corporation for a year. That gives them megacreds towards the potential future of magazine design. Remember when National Geographic created the holographic cover? It featured the skull of Homo erectus. That was really cool in 1985, but this is quite different. Instead of a static image composed of millions of dots of color, E Ink is the application of tiny double-sided dots that react to electrical stimulation. The dots can flip when commanded to show one of two colors, typically black or white. When multiplied to the size of a magazine cover, you have a dynamic screen that has some basic video capabilities. It’s the same technology used in the Amazon Kindle, if you’re familiar. Esquire’s plunge into this market worked out very well already. Ford was willing to pick up the additional cost of the cover’s production through an advertisement. They will be featured on the inside of the cover, another piece of E Ink wonder. It will be truly amazing one day to see the photos of people on magazine covers in grocery stores winking back at you. It’s Harry Potter technology brought to reality!

I don’t really know what Esquire is all about, but I’ll buying a copy of this one off the stands when it comes out. It’s a historic moment.

Link: BoingBoing

The Sins of Man

Olaf — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:47:01 +0000

We’ve returned home from Philadelphia, though home is not exactly as we left it. There is a gray storm cloud hovering above us; perhaps still building in power and ferocity, or lingering remnants of a thunderhead. I’m not talking about the weather, though the hurricane located near Corpus Christi does invoke a palpable invocation of the mood.

Two very dear friends were struck apart suddenly and violently by the squandering of trust and respect by one from the other. The consequences for such a thing are no mystery, though the act mystifies many of us. How is it that when a relationship is ended so suddenly that it is as if someone died? Did the offender die, or the offended? Does this change their lives forever, or can the shattered pieces coallesce back into solidarity. Perhaps the answer to that question is really the stuff that defines someone. Do you care enough to persist? The hardest thing in the world may well be the acknowledgment of fault; the recovery of abasement despite humiliation.

To the offender: I am not immune to my friends’ pain. I cannot abide such disrespect to any of my friends, especially not from another. However, I am also one of the best friends to have; even though my respect has been scarred by this event, I am willing to lend my support and help where it is appreciated. I’m not the best friend because I can forgive…I’m the best because I won’t settle for anything but an attitude for reparations. After that, you two can determine your own futures.

Afghanistan Remembers Music

Olaf — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:40:46 +0000

I listened to a piece from WNYC’s Radio Lab recently only to form a more concrete relationship with the loss that victims suffer under Taliban rule.

From the outside, looking in, the culture seems muddied with the intermingling of past and present times. Between incomplete reports from the news agencies, history, and modern documentaries, it is difficult at best to discern the true sociology for a given place and time. My interpretation of the events that have transpired in the Middle East, especially those concerning the Taliban, were that I was getting a one-sided story and that the culture in general seemed very foreign – even hostile – to my Western upbringing. I didn’t have a real appreciation for the victims, primarily because I felt as though the victims were only really victims because the U.S. government told them they were. Because I didn’t have the contacts to speak to in the Middle East and I’ve never been to evaluate the situation for myself, I could only trust what I’m told for so far.

The Radio Lab podcast, Pop Music, went into a segment regarding one man’s experience in Afghanistan with his accordion. The piece is really quite good and I encourage you to listen to it for my post to have it’s full impact. At any rate, this novice accordion player discovers that some forms of music cross the boundaries – or preconceived boundaries – of our world’s cultures. There are ideas that translate to sounds in music that are echoed through every civilization and tell the same story. Afghanistan had just crawled out of very long period of silence during its war with Russia, then Taliban rule. Music is one of those mediums that can insight such raw emotions in people and the Afghans were no exception. After the cultural bans experienced through the previous years, this accordion player steps timidly onto a bar stage where prompted by his new audience and supported by his translator, performs Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire to “the best audience [ever].” It wasn’t particularly well done, but the crowd goes wild. At a certain point during the program, I was awashed with a feeling of joy, triumph, grief, and camaraderie. There’s probably a more succinct way of stating that, but it isn’t anything that’s happened to me often enough to find the proper word for.

It was this last bit that really stuck with me. I finally understood what it must have been like to live in such a stifled society as to be allowed no cultural displays; no music, no dancing, no art. It’s an incredible feeling of sadness and hopelessness that I feel when I try to imagine it.

The Taliban were not the first to run a people in this way, and it’s doubtful they’ll be the last. I just hope that I’m always in a place where I am free to explore my culture, or anybody else’s for that matter. I really hope that people being oppressed in the world today find liberation and the strength to reunite with their forgotten past.

Further Reading: Afghanistan, Ahmad Zahir, Taliban

The Lumberjacks were Here

Olaf — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 14:41:30 +0000

This morning a guy with a fluorescent-green shirt came to the door a little after 8:00am. “It’s a little too early to be sporting that color,” I thought. Apparently, after 7 or 8 years now, it was time for the local officials to take notice of a small stand of Mimosa trees I had reared from seeds. Two of them them were growing underneath the power lines, and seen as a serious enough risk that they would be cut down immediately. It’s very unfortunate because the trees are beautiful and provide some cover from the neighborhood traffic during the summer. I’m thankful, I guess, that they didn’t have to cut the biggest down. But I’m still sad to see them go. My wife was able to salvage a portion of the second tree; they merely cut the offending limbs off.

Bah! Wireless power will be all the rage in the future…

Status Upgrade: “Celebrity”

Olaf — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:56:48 +0000

An associate from work recently pointed out to me that the likelihood of the names, “Fox, Olaf, and Balthazar” from Gainesville being someone other than my family is a losing bet. A bit like solving the geometric theorem that three points make the line, I presume.

It turns out that a picture of my wife was randomly discovered on Digg over the weekend holding a dollar bill on which those terms were written in permanent marker. In addition to the fact that there is now irrefutable evidence showing her guilt to federal property vandalism, the incident now brings her image to celebrity status. Digg is bigg, and showing up on it in any form is worthy of commemoration in my mind.