“Parting the Waters” CD recording, newly released

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Beautiful Song….inspiring

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New recording “Nectar”

Just had a new recording come out that was in progress for 3 years. It’s Jorge Alfano’s “Nectar”. There a couple of very sweet cuts, plus all the musical diversity & artistry in playing and producing he brings in. Jeff Deen brings tabla, set, Hapi and much much more.
Title track Nectar ….I think the love is palpable. We recorded first take, sat back and found it was so complete. We were stunned and intoxicated by the music, in that moment. Magic moments in music and spirit!
That 3 yr period …they waited until I recovered from one surgery after the next. From the physical and the emotional of sep/divorce, to the next, the long chemo..
It’s very meaningful to me that I kept getting back up and rising to play.
From Chumba Wumba : “I get knocked down but I get up again. Ain’t never gonna keep me down” (repeat)
That they were there to encourage, drive me to play, bring me in to play for the making of the healing medicine sand mandala by Tibetan Monks in Miami. It all helped keep me going. That’s not on the album jacket….it’s the inside story of healing with music and love. Prayer and friends.

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Visiting the “S” cities

Santa Clara, then north & south, a little to the East then, back West to the Wasatch mountains.
Nature is healing. Such great music at every stop. Also the story of human foibles and angst, humor & hunger.
Friendship & family.
Breath…

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Music recording/playing technology..impedance/schmimpedance

Here’s my story…the Laywoman’s Experience with audio engineering stuff…just trying to transfer music and record new tracks…long distance between studios
I’ve been on a learning curve & I feel increasingly incompetent but don’t give up.

Look at the jam I got into with just getting files transferred that were some or all of these: AIFF, WAV, ACC, MPEG, MP3. I had my burned “studio session” CDs (are they MP3s?) strewn around here, my laptop music files that were MP3s or ACC, the mighty new iPod I thought would be my storage & transferrable info….”shouldn’t be used” said the head engineer. Dang.

So I bought a Thumb drive with 16 MG capacity yesterday. That’s like enough space….like using an 18 wheel truck to haul a toaster. I got space!

Oh, here’s more….Days ago talking with a Sweetwater Engineer about impedance of the violin, the iPod, the Jam man and asking, trying to “Grok”, which volume pedal would do it all. (Aren’t they all the same?)

Got an Ernie Ball stereo output. (Hey, I asked if it was AC powered or had batteries. Good question and I looked for it in the box and thought I had gotten ripped off.) Then I said to myself…passive? aggressive? powered? phantom. I plugged it in and it functioned…success!
(score is : 1 for Vicki and 10,000 for technology)

So at the Friday gig what I’d endeavored to prepare logically & technically was a Y connector for 2 inputs into the brandie new volume pedal to switch back and forth from Jamman or the iPod feed in order to control the beginning and endings of loops or accompaniments while playing live…the engineer (Yup another one) said it wouldn’t. He was right. Fortunately only the iPod was used…because it worked! My first time.
(Score: Vicki at a huge #2!)
Here’s where I’m spending all my mental time and questions: Is it Stereo? ..ummm….yes…which, the iPod or the Jamman? … ummm
low or high impedance? ummm ..yes?

You know it’s been a lot of just not knowing and continually asking as the deadlines loomed.Sweetwater, Radio Shack, Staples (thumb drive)
“How many 20 minute songs does it hold?”
By the time it got down to asking the first engineer a question about the long distance studio files to transfer one more time, with an explanation beyond my capacity …well I can see that I had “techno overload”.
The session went well enough but my brain is exhausted from straining on the left hemisphere.

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Cleansing the Chakras

Last week I participated in ” 7 Layers of Cleansing” . Layne Redmond led us through many practices including pranayam, chi kung, yoga, chanting and more. It was rigorous and all was to establish and connect with the chi energy we can manifest or realize in our bodies. Pulling from the ground up.
If it stagnates, we stop moving and then, the cells are not happy campers.
if you ever get the opportunity to take Layne’s workshops…Do it! She’s thorough, has researched & taught for many years, written books, is very knowledgeable, evolving and approachable.
I played Indian Ragas on violin while there was meditation, shiv asana and at various times, sometimes “in concert” with Tibetan Bells. Wonderful people attending this at Kripalu retreat Center in Lenox, MA.
Layne teaches all over the world. You’ll get lots of info and her calendar at layneredmond.com. She’s on uTube too. Her drumming workshops are also fun and transformative.

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