July 4

Work
Had a gig today (finally). Nice trio gig. Was fun just blowin' through some tunes and having a lot of good conversation between the sets.

Exercise
Morning - Stretching and weights before I went to the gig this morning.
Evening - Weights (again)/yoga/chi kung

Movies
Saw two movies this evening when I got home.
Lord of War
The trials and tribulations of an illegal arms dealer. Highlights several situations around the world including the Soviet Union, Sierra Leone, Africa, and South America. Draws attention to the bigger picture of the arms business, that war and conflict are necessary for profits. A lot of "predictive programming" in this one.

House of 9
A study in how quickly and devastatingly societal structure can deteriorate. Unfortunately, confirms what I read and posted in this blog yesterday from John Dewey's book, Experience and Education. Dewey basically said that humans aren't intelligent enough to maintain a society on their own.

Also, these people in the movie were being monitored by 75 cameras. I happened to look up several times today walking through train stations and noticed cameras always above me. Saw this article on Alan Watts' website this evening when I got home.
"Big brother is watching: The technologies that keep track of you" by Claudine Beaumont (telegraph.co.uk) - July 2, 2009.
Alan Watt Podcast 7/3/09

Reading


War of Art was suggested to me by my buddy from college, Perry Lawrence. Perry has been traveling all over the world the past several years video recording and making documentaries. Recently, he's been doing great things on the internet with his new business at ASKMRVIDEO.com

It's really a great book that has as it's basis resistance. Talks about resistance in all it's forms and how we create blocks to disrupt our creative flow and also how we can use the "commitment of a pro" to do battle against the resistance and eventually transcend all of that to a more creative "space." I can understand the concept of the "commitment of a pro." My survival (food/paying rent/taking care of family/life responsibilities/bills/etc) depends on the sound coming out of my horn. Knowing that can definitely cause you to play from a deeper place I think.

"The professional keeps his eye on the doughnut and not on the hole. He reminds himself it's better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot."

Steven Pressfield - The War of Art (pg 90)