Incongruous U.S. presidential campaign update: I was just pointed by Nils Sens to an interesting blog article Can Sanders do it? Or is Clinton truly inevitable? by John Laurits about the Sander/Clinton campaign math, which suggests that (with California as a linchpin) we will have a contested Democratic convention. Anyone better at math than me care to weigh in? Ok, back to the music programming, some light hits and phased cookies on KTWRP FM.  

Over the past year, I have added another weapon to my arsenal as a presumptive endurance artist. Flute guy.  The photo above came on my fb feed as a "memory" today. During a four week stint as a lentil and chayote stew eating camper in Tulum, I got comfortable in my own skin. Playing music with other people for the sheer joy of it.  Posted exactly a year ago, this captures my first freeform rediscovery of the flute as instrument of choice, with Mariano Graziano from Argentina and a Montreal dude I can't remember.*

You heard right, freeform rediscovery. The thing that I rarely reveal is that I have been playing the flute for years––since a season in the California wilderness with the Bolivian keta (courtesy of ace picker and college roommate Steve Perry) my second year at UC Santa Cruz. I fasted for three days on a ridge next to an ancient Native American hand-printed cave and played keta to find a direction into which life could unfold.

There were a few false starts, but I found it. 

I grew up as an only child in about the most isolated part of the Oakland Hills you could find.  PG&E land populated by eucalyptus, pine, poison oak, unexploded WWII ordinance, and the occasional redwood.  My earliest experiences with music as something to be manipulated as an artist was with an early 1970s model tape recorder that was somehow found or handed down to me. I recorded a lot of random sounds, including stuff off the radio that made interesting narratives. I remember one foible I had  involved speeding up the Beatles' "And Your Bird Can Sing" through half-pushing the fast forward and play buttons together. I was a major Beatles fan at the time, it seemed that every song I heard offered a new possibility. Kids know the darndest things, intuitively. 

Amazingly in hindsight––I was a musical snob who completely disdained Hendrix––the first time I heard Purple Haze on an oldies Top 40 show, I was like, what is this shit and how was it by any conceivable measure a radio hit? The most disappointing birthday gift ever was when Dee gave me a tape of early 1970s Rolling Stones. I was strictly a mid-to-late-1960s Stones fan. And Dylan, my mom's favorite? Forget it. 

Oh yeah, I hear you gentle reader. Roll of eyes, snotty little kid. Yes, I was. 

I am going to jump quite a few years to a time in the late 1980s when I was using cassettes for a different purpose, making exploratory mix tapes. REM's Driver 8 (back when that was semi-alternative) rubbed shoulders with INXS "I Need You Tonight," Dinosaur Jr's "No Way Out," one of the Gang of Four's more political numbers and Pink Floyd's Brain Damage.

My favorite listening experience for about a year was this old early 1970s Led Zeppelin II cassette I found in a hidden compartment of a chest, next to some zigzag rolling papers. The tape was so phased out and muffled, it had this mysterious sense of coming in and out of consciousness. This particularly worked well with "What Is And What Should Never Be." Long story short, the tape ultimately broke and I never heard that tone on any CD of LedZep II, so the album lost my interest. The mechanically modulated variations, the running of tape and the variance of it as it aged––what I was experiencing was pure entropy. 

We can create so many sounds via technology but we cannot imitate the tension of purposeful activity and equally purposeful decay. 

About high school I began to formulate my musical tastes like a badge: Jimi Hendrix, Nothing's Shocking-era Jane's Addiction, Doors, REM, White Album-era Beatles. At the same time I was a member of the Oakland Youth Chorus and exposed to some of the deepest roots of soul that exist––performances with Bobby McFerrin, Jon Hendricks, and local luminaries of all cultures and ethnicities. Etta James at the Oakland Blues Festival blew my 16-year-old mind.  Almost anything jazz, world, blues, or soul I could get into. War's "The World Is A Ghetto" was a particular lp + speaker system favorite, as was Traffic's eponymous barnyard stomper. Catch A Fire paired with Harder They Come, rediscovered from my very early years in San Francisco. Stevie Wonder's Innervisions. Al Green. Curtis Mayfield. Leonard Cohen. Red Hot Chili Pepper's surprising new single, "Under The Bridge."  Etc. etc.

Crazy thing––I was having these path-to-enlightment musical experiences without herbal enhancers, even a sip of beer. Music just had a mighty powerful effect on the soul.**

*As 4HFlute listeners will remember, this is captured in my Tulumica audio collage. We spontaneously played "Stairway to Heaven" Jethro Tull style, with the water bottle coming into play as a drum at the climactic moment of release.

** The question begs to be asked, what was I listening to as I wrote this? Jimi Hendrix at Winterland, 1968 playing a 12 minute Are You Experienced with the mysterious flautist Virgil Gonsalves. Bob Dylan in Melbourne with a cruddy borrowed (ahem) folk guitar. A strident pre Tosh-Marley breakup Wailers at the Sundown in Edmonton, London, 1973 (fundraiser for Ethiopia), and now Miles' Pharaoh's Dance. 

I am resurrecting Testcut as a long term, ongoing hashtag novel concept.* Tweeted with no emendation at 4HFlute, then collected on the fb Testcut page. A book's worth of fractured sentences that will somehow fit together at the end. This is all very Bolano 'Antwerp,' I know.*

Here is the latest wild batch:

24.10 - Her actual words did not cut deepest. He was laughing and each snort went in like a wound.

24.9 - I rolled through the alphabet on my way to her number. Remembered I had rubbed it out.

24.8 The mystery was not what had brought him so far beyond. It was what he was going to do in this beyond place. ​

​24.7 I am out. I am in. It doesn't really matter because I am dead. Soft-sole crocodile shoes.... 

24.6 It was another summer, but this one, unlike the last two, was without Hermione.

24.5 I do solemly swear that you are fucked. But, I welcome the chance to watch you run...

24.4 - He muttered under his breath a lot. It was his way of not speaking.

24.3 One after another, they filed out. There was something presumptive in their telegenic rage.

24.2 I made it intentionally so. It was so you could see me.

24.1 - One more dip then I depart. Unless you pull the lever.

* The real concept was that these sentences could be viewed as part of a 3-D interactive map flow of a  literary work coming together. In this fabric, there would be literally thousands of versions of the plot to choose from and no "finished" version. Scholars could compare minute changes, flicking their arms like an arniss fighter in fast-forward, reverse mode. Word arrangements would flicker and glow. At one exact configuration of words, among 12.3 million possible, a universal truth would be shown. 

The next step will be to do this with a group of writers, with no identifying marks beyond mercurial hashtag.

#testcut @amwriting #endurancewriter #AriPark

​SEO Alert - Damon Shulenberger aka "shit endures"

This Al Jazeera profile of Duterte sent chills down my spine. The implication is that rule of law and due process may go by the wayside. Now values of transparency and are fairly weak in much of the Philippines and stories of police abuse manifold, but I do not know that they extend to "death squads," which bring back memories of the dark days of martial law.

I am not going to get on a high horse and suggest that you can effect change in a country as corrupt and inefficient as the Philippines easily. But to clean up corruption in the government in 3-6 months? That would take a declaration of martial law, because nearly everyone is implicated. I can easily see things spiraling out of control into grudge matches, with those aspects of the government system that work the inevitable collateral.

Maybe the democratic institutions of the Philippines are enough to keep a strong man contained and working to productively eliminate corruption. God knows that on time EMT response and quality medical care is a worthy aim. Zoom-in security cameras everywhere.? As any reader of Arisugawa Park can tell you, not my thing.

The issue of the rebels in Mindanao and Duterte's concept of quasi-autonomous federal states is one I wholeheartedly endorse. What is going on in Mindanao is all about resources, mining, and exploitation––not the strictly religious Muslim/Catholic schism, as it  is understood by many. It is no accident that the Canadian recently taken from a beach resort and beheaded was a mining company executive. 

My most recent fb comment: 

"Someone asked me why Poe instead of Duterte in the upcoming Philippine national election.

Because Grace Poe seems like she has practical aims that are not based on too much bias and hyperbole. And this is critical in rebalancing the system––which, if actually accomplished, will hurt a lot of butts used to living large. 

Duterte, there is no question he has been a very effective law enforcer. But this is completely different from assuring that money that belongs to the citizens is being used in the most productive, fair, and equitable way. 
By setting as an example someone who uses blunt force to get things done, you are setting the stage for authority abuse that could result in non-democratic tendencies coming to the fore. Especially at local levels, as leaders are influenced by the message from the top.

Democracy may be messy, but it is better than the alternative. I don't really think that someone who says he would have his son shot for using drugs, rather than speaking about rehabilitation and providing hope to youth through job creation programs is moving on the most positive track. 

Wikipedia says of Poe that her major aims are: "labor legislative agenda - more opportunities, skill development and growth for Filipino workers, employment security for the disabled and handicapped, and protection of workers in the informal sector. Specific policies she advocated in the course of her campaign include reviving the national elementary school lunch program."
​
I would rather have this type of practical agenda at the fore, than hyperbolic stories of cleaning up the gutter."

For those who don't know it, the Philippines has its own version of Trump in ​Rodrigo Duterte. Such are the complexities of Pinoy society that the most obviously sexist, violent is also the most progressive in terms of cleaning up crime. As mayor of Davao, he took it from being arguably the most dangerous city (in fractious Mindanao) to the safest and most well-ordered.

He reminds me a lot of Yamahito in Arisugawa Park, or Jack Bauer in 24, and I would not want to piss him off. At the same time, what is he going to do about pork barrel? Does he give a shit about sustainability, the environment? I hear he is rabidly pro mining, which is not a great sign for those concerned about the planet. (Here in Dumaguete they have an internationally funded geothermal plant right in the hills above town––yet they get all their power from a cheaper, dirty coal plant in Cebu). And oh yeah, this relatively livable town of 120,000 has as much smoke (burn plastic? okay) and smog (tricycle utopia) as a city of a couple million in the States. 

Here (unedited) is a recently making the rounds rationale for Duterte's alleged rape joke about an Australian missionary killed in a botched kidnapping rescue––explaining the context in which it was made:*

"basically the full video is about the hostage taking happened in davao,1989. duterte wanted to negotiate the kidnapper but the soldiers managed underby pres cory aquino didnt let him. so he couldnt do anything. soldiers resbacked at the area early without duterte's presence.left the hostages dead including the australian lady.
​
the hostages was wrapped. when duterte came, a kid died in front of him. he opened another dead hostage and saw an australian white lady. these brought duterte's extreme anger. he was so angry; she was so beautiful; the mayor should have been first. if he should have been first this wouldnt led to australian's death.

he said if he should have been early & if they allowed him to enter the hostage area, he would negotiate the kidnapper, then this wouldnt happen. he could have save them. because of his anger he took the machine gun, and shot each of the kidnappers. the soldiers asked we need coffins for them but duterte refused a coffin.he said dig only 1 hole at public cemetary and 'burry all kidnappers in 1 hole before they go to hell'.

this wasnt the first hostage taking in davao with these kidnappers. before the above incident, there was also another 'kidnapping case by this group'. pres cory phone up duterte and asked duterte's help. duterte sacrifice himself, went to the area himself and talk to these kidnappers. he managed to free the hostages but offered himself to be kidnapped instead.

but that time (second time) (incident when there was australian kidnapped) the president cory wouldnt let him negotiate and he don't understand why?

all these incidents was reported on the media before."

If this represents the truth, then the question of personally machine gunning the kidnappers without due process of the law raises  troubling questions. There are already rumors of "Dirty Harry" going up in helicopters while Mayor of Davao and dropping accused drug dealers out alive.

On the other hand, my old friend Lalaine had this to say, "Duterte is the peoples choice. first running president that is requested by filipinos. he is in action. he will get rid the crocodiles in the government i hope. filipinos wanted change in my country. those other 3 presidential candidates are supported by chinese business man cojuanco & aquino. very corrupt."

To say that the Phils is corrupt is an understatement: In the last month alone, there has been the matter of the Macau-Manila casino/bank Internet heist of $80 million in Bangladeshi gov funds. 

That said, there must be a better alternatives for cleaning out the "pork barrel" than a violence-steeped strongman. I hear one option is the reform-minded, untainted Grace Poe. Oh wait, she may be a U.S. citizen (she definitely owns property there), pull out the reverse "birther brigades." And wait wait... she may be under Cojuanco and a secret ally of Aquino. "Grace, roxas, binay very good platform but only talking no action, same thing happen in the past."

'Tis politics, after all.

*I had this to say on fb a week ago: "'The video of Duterte's comment, made at a recent rally...' that is all that needs to be said on the subject. If it was 30 years ago and he had significantly changed his way of thinking about women... maybe... I cannot believe this guy is a candidate for highest office in the Philippines."

** The verdict is out on the original hostage situation. Disturbingly, it appears that the "rape" comments date back a couple decades. Though if we are to believe the viral fb post, Duterte's meaning was other than how most Filipinos interpreted it.  What is clear is that Duterte issued a "shoot-to-kill order” of the kidnappers, claiming they were armed with machine guns (no one lived to refute that), and his group gunned them down on the spot.

The recent solo one is a meditation... Three Flutes and one Bamboo Stick. I think you will like it... that is the more flute-centric evolution... theme is how nature, receptive ears are everywhere. Even in the so-called city.... It is also best wishes, don't give up the fight to a lot of people whose lives are evolving.
Earth Day I spent on stage in Valencia at Forest Camp with Chuck Vicuña and the Igoroots band. I think we caught an authentic slice of that on Youtube, playing "Hagpat":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYvt_TylYN8&feature=youtu.be
At first listen, the flute can almost not be heard, But it was fine in the monitors which means that the band members could hear it and I hear it in its absence. 
From my perspective: it is influencing the others and being influenced by their energy.* In this way it affects the other musicians and the sounds we play. This was truly interplanetary jamming.
Now listening back to the full 1:20 minute recording of the concert. Insane. The quality is much better, still can't hear my flute well. Hm... but audience members said they could. That is enough.

I understand why certain musicians would record a lot... Jimi, Jerry, Prince... listening back gives you new ideas for future flows.
*For an example of the influencing, see around 3:35, toward the end of the guitar solo, an intermittent beep-beep begins. That is me on the percussive end of the flute. And the djimbe picks up on that and pretty soon we are in tandem, evolving the beat. This leads to a steady, quick lipped rhythm that allows me to play with the lead singer, who is stomping and drumming and shaking his dreads. These guys all come from the same tribe up toward Baguio, the Igo. The work down in Dumaguete as successful professionals. Reminds me of my cousins in Raleigh in a way, the original Jazz Bros +1.
‪#‎4HFlute‬ ‪#‎endurancewriter‬

I'm giving myself a strict four hour deadline to get Arisugawa Park 1.12 - "Empathy" up... I've been promising it too long.

This section is the first between Kaori and Yuki, the book's two female characters in their early to late 20s (I was about that age when I started the book). It has been a fun and challenging section to edit. I was satisfied with the result the first time around, it was one of those that I always breezed through rereading.

That said, when I dug in I found a lot of shoddy wiring. Now that I really know who these characters are, I can tell everything with more conviction. Shadow boxing with who they later become.

In related news, I am working on a short audio accompaniment to 2.12. An Arisugawa Park podcast, if you will. This will be for après-read consumption, while waiting for the next section to take shape.** My own candid thoughts, wherever they lead. I am aiming for a dozen or two of these AP Podcasts over the course of this laying onto you of an extended cloud novel of Japan. 

*葛飾応為 Katsushika Oi - Old friend and fellow blogger Miwako laid on this painting by Hokusai's daughter from the Menard Art Museum in Aichi. It reminds me a bit of Yuki, a few generations transposed. 

​** For now the podcast will be on Soundcloud, while I figure out the steps necessary to make it go live on Apple Music. 

The recent solo one is a meditation... Three Flutes and one Bamboo Stick. I think you will like it... that is the more flute-centric evolution... theme is how nature, receptive ears are everywhere. Even in the so-called city.... It is also best wishes, don't give up the fight to a lot of people whose lives are evolving.

Earth Day I spent on stage in Valencia at Forest Camp with Chuck Vicuña and the Igoroots band. I think we caught an authentic slice of that on Youtube, playing "Hagpat." At first listen, the flute can almost not be heard, But it was fine in the monitors which means that the band members could hear it and I hear it in its absence. 

From my perspective: it is influencing the others and being influenced by their energy.* In this way it affects the other musicians and the sounds we play. This was truly interplanetary jamming.

Now listening back to the full 1:20 minute recording of the concert. Insane. The quality is much better, still can't hear my flute well. But audience members said they could. That is enough.

I understand why certain musicians would record a lot... Jimi, Jerry, Prince (RIP)... listening back gives you new ideas for future flows.

And where is the next section of Arisugawa Park? Less than a day away. A lot of realizations about the novel and story arc today, watching ships go by on the dock in Dumaguete.

*For an example of the influencing, see around 3:35, toward the end of the guitar solo, an intermittent beep-beep begins. That is me on the percussive end of the flute. And the djimbe picks up on that and pretty soon we are in tandem, evolving the beat. This leads to a steady, quick lipped rhythm that allows me to play with the lead singer, who is stomping and drumming and shaking his dreads. These guys all come from the same tribe up in Baguio, the Igo. The work down in Dumaguete as  professionals. Reminds me of my cousins in Raleigh in a way, Peter Lamb and Paul Rogers, the original Jazz Bros.

SEO Alert - Damon Shulenberger aka EnduranceWriter - 4HFlute - still chasing the sun.

Bamboo flute and Negros Oriental adventures (just saw the world's largest pigeons, native to Papua New Guinea) notwithstanding, my focus is steadily shifting to Arisugawa Park. When 1,000 views arise out of the ether, I know I am onto something. Gradually, a few regular readers interested in seeing where the "deep Kanto" narrative wends seem to have emerged.

The editing process has really got me stretching. I am not the same person I was five or 10 years ago, and want the narrative to reflect that. I am also free from the impetus of finding an agent or conforming to publishing industry expectations concerning length, title, or style. Freedom in the groove.

The next section Ari Park 1.12 - Empathy will depict Chiba detective Kaori's first meeting with GEON manager Yuki. It has required a lot of finessing. Completely different interpersonal dynamics (not to mention ages, sex) from the section preceding. Which is why I never get bored. 

​#endurancewriter

Facebook just reminded me that it has been a year since I was camping on the beach in Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula and getting serious (i.e. jamming) with the tribal flute. I think I have come a long way, baby. Here for your listening pleasure, my latest excursion. This begins with the self-made bamboo stick and shaker combo and continues with my three main squeezes. Bamboo flutes by Raul, Jin, and Oliver respectively. 

I'm now thinking about putting all those flute photos and recordings into a little photo essay that will revisit some of the crazier moments traveling with a flute, create a coherent explanation of what I am trying to do (other than stay high on life) with the ongoing Chasing the Sun project.

Curious how this ties in with the literary project, Arisugawa Park? I explained that a couple posts ago and put up the spoken word piece  #4HFlute

I am hard at work on Arisugawa Park 1.11 - Faded Beer Poster. It should be up in a few hours... a ramen shop conversation between the old detective Hayao and his former protégé Jiro, in which (the fictitious) TMAT makes its first appearance. 

I have been experimenting with blog posts, trying to find a readership pattern. The take home seems to be that when I post a new section of the novel I get 600+ views in a day. When I post a poem or something offhand, I get less than 200. Note to self: quality counts and some people are getting into the narrative flow. Which motivates me to speed up the editing process, get sections out. Even at top speed, say one section every 2-3 days, Ari Park is of a length that it will take more than a year to complete.

If I start getting thousands of views (serious readers, no gimmicks) a day I may drop my SEO work for a week or a month and really focus on shaping the novel up, because now we are talking about potential e-book purchasers and a way of making a living as a creative writer. 

How is the editing-on-the-fly process going with Arisugawa Park? Let me give a little sample, an audio capture* of what I do with music, words, flute––whatever I have on hand to set a rhythm, take me deeper into the narrative structure. This is the secret sauce––the reason why the words are so textured and dense. The reason why I am still finding creative paths when algorithms have pronounced them dead and IT geniuses proclaimed content free.

About the music, spoken word triangulation process: if the words fit the music, I am good to go (for the nonce). If they do not,   I adjust . (The background music here is PERRO**, an acoustic project with Garcia, Crosby, Kakounen, Freiburg, etc. that I stumbled on on Youtube literally minutes before I employed it in the service of literary production - the flute at the end is naturally my own).

Musical compatibility does not mean the passage is ready to go. Like as not, I will mull it over, come back again the next day and change it up other subtle ways.*** (You can blame the training I got from William Winston as a fledgling writer for that).

Beyond readership, putting Ari Park online as a serial has become a necessary process for me. I am finally (and very quickly, considering the thousands of hours already chalked up) settling on a finished version of the novel, with no editorial or marketplace pressures.

Are you listening, Franzen? It's me, Damon.

* So far blog reads have not translated into a significant number listens. I am curious to see if a couple hundred views of this post translates into more than 3 SoundCloud listens. The reason for the disconnect? My audio output may seem relatively scattered and formless, particularly given the western tradition in which most readers are immersed. I tend to seek out the scattered and formless for those nuggets that send shivers deep into my soul. 

** Planet Earth Rock n' Roll Band. Very 1970 redwood hills, I know.

*** Literary sleuths may be interested to compare the audio with the finished written version, when section 1.11 goes live.

SEO Alert - Damon Shulenberger, planet Earth writer.