This is the unanswered question in the life of The Travelling Gigster: how to be at home while away? Then there are related questions, like, how to tour for relatively short periods? What length of time is acceptable for touring? Is the quality of life available to the Gigster acceptable?
A quick answer is, touring is better suited to the life of the single musician. But there are difficulties and problems attached to this as well: the strains of extended touring are better managed within a committed relationship. My own emotional foundation as a single Gigster was my family: Sister Patricia and my Parents in Wimborne.
So, how to be at home while away? My own approach involves contact at a distance, which is qualitative, subtle & exceptionally powerful; lots of telephone calls, which is expensive; faxes when possible (knowing that these will be read by whoever delivers them!); and maintaining a close focus on my work, which is intensive. Then, when I am with Toyah, my time with her is also intensive and, as is popularly expressed, "quality time".
Few things lift my heart like the sound of my Wife's laughter. And the small parts of a relationship which magnify experience, like, the trust in her face when I tuck Toyah into bed. It helps that, at 53, I am post-mature. It helps that I had the clarity of insight to recognise my wife when I found her. It also helps that, when we are together, Toyah continues to entrance and captivate me as when first we met.
And it also helps that I am as close to my Sister as ever, and when in America we are able, as at this past Thanksgiving, to get together.
11.38
The Diaries are a remarkable opportunity to have a sense of the lives of working artists. I've taken advantage of this Sunday morning to catch up.
A member of the Seattle Guitar Circle recently invited another Crafty to contribute his diary to the SGC site. Extracted from this invitation:
"Potential benefits of this process include:
a) embarrassing yourself in a public forum daily
b) alienating your close friends and family by letting them know what you really think
c) attracting the hostility of complete strangers
Of course, as with any task worth doing, there are some negative aspects as well, such as massive time drain, loss of sleep, carpal tunnel syndrome, and eye strain. Let me know if you are interested."
12.54
Off to brunch with Lord Victor the Scribe and Lady Katherine the Good.
20.21
As I was driving out, The Rhythm Buddies & Bill Munson were driving in. Upon my return this early evening they pressed me into action, with Soundscapes & a solo over the track they've spent the day building. And afterwards I proffered them tasty cheesecake and margaritas, which seemed to go down very well after the rather pitiful subs Pat brought in from a takeaway.
Dining in this area is a modest pleasure, although on Saturday I discovered a Smorgasbord Restaurant of acceptable standard. Their special item for the evening was shrimp and crab legs. The crab legs were set in a pot by the door of my allotted dining lounge, looking very much like the aliens which pop out of eggs on distant planets, jump on the faces of unwary humans, incubate and then run around embodying the kind of malevolence recently experienced by Matt Seattle. As a fishetarian I sometimes enjoy crabmeat, but only when it has been thoroughly & distantly parted from its host crustacean. I respectfully left the alien parts to those whose stomachs were stronger than mine.
21.00
The Team have loaded up the computer and are returning to their digs for further editing.
"Performance is impersonal yet intimate."
