New Years Resolution #1...Get this mess cleaned up and cut the body fat. Hard process, but I'm determined.
New Years Resolution #2...Arrange original musical pieces into format for recording.
New Years Resolution #3...Practice, Practice, Practice makes PERFECT?!

Happy New Year 2007

Preludes & Fugues

It is about 1:15 AM here in Queenstown, New Zealand. Enjoyed the fire works show the town performed at midnight from the rugby field, been watching the ROYAL PERFORMANCE of BRITISH ENTERTAINMENT from LONDON on the telly. I have celebrated New Years in NZ 16 times.

RESOLUTIONS are good. I believe in them. I have always made a list of things I want to accomplish within a new year and often times I have achieved my goals. I do not make resolutions that are beyond my grasp! I often list books I want to read during the year. Certain pieces of music I hope to 'nail down' by the end of 365 days. To goodness and wisdom we only make promises; we obey pain! I find it's better to prepare for an opportunity that may never come than to have an opportunity but find myself UNPREPARED!

If anyone reading these ramblings of mine, need a goal for 2007 here is one. IF YOU DON'T READ ANOTHER BOOK THIS YEAR READ: "LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION" by Sam Harris. I need not say more. READ IT!

Tomorrow is a lazy, hazy, crazy kind of day...no plans, but to laze around and do little if nothing at all. Come Tues. appointments, work outs, practice times and so many things I enjoy will be on my plate.

DO have a fantastic NEW YEAR! I look forward to meeting and making new acquaintance and friends during 2007 and I treasure the friendships I have made all of my lifetime. Much love, from BJ

There's a feeling of Christmas

Preludes & Fugues
A photo of our Xmas Tree here in the house in Queenstown. There is a feeling of
Christmas in the air as shoppers are out and about and everyone seems to be talking about family dinners and socials. We are staying home. I am baking a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, real cranberry sauce and mince pie. A bottle of good wine, great coffee and chocolates. NO GIFTS! We promised NO GIFTS this year. The gift of all of us being together is a gift that no money can buy. I spent Thanksgiving with my family in Utah before coming to New Zealand this year and that was a first in many many years.
I suppose everyday should be a HOLIDAY, but Christmas is a BIG HOLIDAY and very stressful for many people. NOT ME. I promised myself I would have a wonderful UN STRESSFUL Christmas and I am. Big stress for me is getting up in the morning and hitting the gym! Merry Ho Ho.

There's a feeling of Christmas

Serendipity or Coincidence...

Preludes & Fugues

Last Thursday we drove to the city of Dunedin. Dunedin reminds me of San Francisco Calif. when I was a kid. Same weather, same steep hills, old Victorian houses, coffee houses that still have wild art work and poetry readings, street musicians and buskers. I could very easily live in Dunedin. We went over to see some movies, shop and enjoy the beauty of the four hour drive. For some reason I INSISTED that I take my Power Book with me. I always travel with my ipod, vodafone, journal and one change of clothing, but this trip I wanted the computer.
I had called around Dunedin last year looking for a recording studio. Not much luck but was told to call Radio House. There had been a storm and the roof had caved in on the studio section of the building. NO recording sessions last year.
Here I am a year later and I decided to find Radio House and inquire about recording some of my original pieces. This is a building where the main national radio station and other radio shows are produced. Lots of interesting personalities work inside this huge office. I asked at the front desk and yes, they did have a recording engineer. Out comes a 30 to 40 age man, ear rings in both ears, tattoos and great hair.
"Sorry mate, but we don't do commercial recordings anymore, however, there is an American Bloke that owns a guitar shop in town on the Octagon called "TWANG", his name is Hyrum and he might know of someone or a place where you can do studio recordings."
(Mind you, I have walked by TWANG well over a hundred times in all the years I have been coming to Dunedin. Off I go to meet Hyrum.
This shop is old. Lead cut glass windows, old tiles and hard wood floors, instruments hanging from the rafters, instrument cases stacked on the dusty floor, every-kind of thing you can imagine for a guitar. I LOVE THESE KIND OF SACRED HAUNTS! The place has young 'wanna be' long haired musicians, and punk style kids looking around. A man probably 50ish approaches me with a smile,
"How can I help? oh, I am Hyrum."
Hyrum has been living in New Zealand for 23 years. He is from California. Long graying hair in a pony tail, glasses, very thin and so kind! I explained my situation and he says,
"Not a problem. Do you have a computer with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(just so happens I DO and it is a MAC) He explained that he could down load a great little system for me to record from my piano to the computer, the program is called Garageband. He told me to be at the shop by 10 AM Saturday morning. I was on cloud nine!
THe next morning is pouring rain, but I walk to TWANG and Hyrum is a half hour late, but I do not care, there is a great coffee house across the street and a used book store. I peruse these places as I keep glancing across the street. AH! finally Hyrum walks up to open his door. This man spent two hours down loading the program and showing me things about my computer. GOD he has two note book Macs on stands and he literally went into my BLACK SCREEN WITH WHITE WORDS ON IT, what I used to call DOS and repaired a couple of things that were going on with my machine. Amazing guy. He wrote down things I would need when I got back in order to jack the piano to the computer. I asked what I owed him, he laughed and said,
"You owe me NOTHING! Learn how to use the program and let me hear your music someday..."
I was overwhelmed by this man's kindness and willingness to help musicians. A young man came in the shop and needed guitar strings. The kid looked starved, but happy, he told Hyrum that he only had $14.00 in his bank account. Hyrum found the package of strings and they came to nearly sixteen dollars. The young man's face dropped and he walked towards the door. Hyrum said,
"Look it's Christmas time. You have $14.00 give it to me and we'll call it even, besides a man has to be able to make music regardless of money."
The young man's face broke into a smile wide enough to catch flies. He thanked Hyrum over and over and dashed out of the door into the pouring rain. I complemented Hyrum on his kindness and promised him that the kindness and generosity he gave to help others would be returned to him double fold. (thing is, HE KNEW IT!)
If I had not followed my instinct to take the computer I would not have Garageband in my computer and I would not have met a beautiful soul like Hyrum and I now have my hands and mind full of challenges and new learning curves. I will figure out how to use this magical tool for creating music!
What's the old saying? FOLLOW YOUR HEART! My heart led my soul to a blessing last week end. Could it be a type of serendipity or just stupidity!

Lake Wikatipu

Preludes & Fugues
I took this photo last year. This one of New Zealand's largest bodies of inland water. EXTREMELY COLD WATER! If you fall into the lake without wearing a wet suit it can mean freezing to death! There has always been a story about a giant that lives at the bottom of the lake. This giant breathes thus causing the water to raise and fall many inches from hour to hour. Other tales claim that the lake is bottomless, meaning that the ocean is the force pulling the water levels up and down.
The lake is a powerful source of beauty and strength. I can gaze upon it for hours watching changes of light and shadow on the water. During storms the water is wretched. I see this body of water before I go to bed at night and when I awake in the morning. Water is SACRED.

Lupin in QT. Grand Tetons in WY

MY Studio in Queenstown!

Preludes & Fugues

Some of you have sent me E mails requesting a picture of my studio in Queenstown. This is a photo of the inside of my studio. Sometimes my friends refer to is as my LAB and some people I live with call it my Sacred Space! I spend a lot of time in this small pixel. I made the curtains. The desk holds my lap top, books, coffee cups, snacks, manuscript paper, any notes I have made to myself of things that intrest me from a telephone number to a web site.
The Electric Piano is a Techniques. IT IS WONDERFUL. I use a Bose head set when practicing or playing so it does not bother anyone. I have wonderful candles, photos and some art on the walls. I have a large collection of stones. Some are truly amazing rocks and crystals. I have a make-shift book case cupboard on the end wall full of books, medicines, herbs, oils, CD's art supplies, fine wines and other VICES! The room is carpeted and has it's own entrance from the outside. You cannot enter the place from inside the house! (I love it!) I have my very own living space. The window looks out on the REMARKABLES and LAKE WIKATIPU. Those of you that saw the Lord of The Rings will recognize the picture I feast upon every day and night. I can step outside the door onto the porch and see the evening stars, moon and milky way. The Sunsets are magnificent but I do not see the Sunrise without stepping off the porch. It is my Shangralie.
I meditate, read, write and make music in this sacred space. WELCOME.

My Studio in Queenstown!

Eleven Days Update...

Preludes & Fugues

Been in NZ for 11 days as of this morning! It's so good to be back and have people recognize you. Almost every cabbie that drives me home from down town says,
"Welcome back! I know right where to go. 11 Panorama Place. So how was your season? How old is your mum now? Did your brother finish his garden project? Still playing the piano?" It is rather comforting to know that IF, God Forbid, I fell over on the sidewalk someone would grab me up and drive me where I needed to be!
Christmas decorations and the 6' Christmas tree are decorated and glittering the sprit of the season in rays of colored light.
Had two intense work outs at the gym. I am about half way through Stienbeck's classic,
Grapes of Wrath. Am reading another good book: HEAT, by Bill Bouford, all about restaurant kitchens and the prep cooks, line cooks, gofers that work in them!
Spending time with my Mac and searching for information about everything from bread recipes to the International Space Station. Getting caught up on E mails
and most of all loving not having any DEAD LINES TO MEET or any REAL SCHEDULES THAT HAVE TO BE KEPT!
I go to bed when I want and I get up when I want!
Have a dear friend visiting from Wellington. Beverly is right out of the 50's and 60's. She is a love and at times, can be a re-incarnate of Carol Burnett! We watched an old movie made 50 years ago: The Long Long Trailer, with Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball. OMG those dresses that Lucy wears are indescribable! American MORALS one more time, but in the movie the bedrooms have to have TWO BEDS for a married couple! and the couple always don PJ'S before turning in, yet in this movie there is a shower scene with Ricky where he gets into the shower naked and can't adjust the sprayer. INTERESTING cause the scene goes on for some time exposing most of his naked body except the pubes! We all
laughed till our ribs were aching.
I will learn how to post pictures this blog so I can show people what my studio looks like, people I talk about look like and where in hell I am living!
Today I will meet up with a most interesting young woman. She is a delight. We met at a private gym years ago and she works in the Sex Industry. Mind you most of these people are 20 years younger than me, but the stories, the desires, the insecurities, the fears are the same as I experienced 50 years ago and through out my life.
I filled my room with various bottles and glasses filled with cut roses from the gardens a couple of days ago. It smells heavenly in here!
I'm going to have breakfast on the patio, then begin my walking regime to Frankton along the shores of the Lake. I'm packing a light lunch of cheese, thin sliced roast beef and slices of crusty sour dough bread and a thermos of strong hot coffee. It will appear that I am stark raving mad as I will be talking to myself as I walk, but I actually talk to people that are long dead or not with me, but always on my mind and deep within my heart. (who ever is reading this, well, you might be one of those people I am yapping with! ! Really Scary huh?!!)

Santity of marriage...

Preludes & Fugues

Mary Cheney is going to have a baby! As I recall the Republican's screamed, ranted and raved over the fact that IF THEY WERE NOT RE-ELECTED GAYS WOULD DESTROY the SOLOEM SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE !!!!!!!!!!!!! Mary is a LESBIAN. 100%. Not just a little bit. She claims she did not DECIDE to be a lesbian.
She is very open about it.
She is having a baby OUT OF WED LOCK! I do not know IF her daddy is completely against gay marriage? His buddy Doctor Dobson must be going crazy (the christian
family man) the Republican party he has supported in more ways than with money will enjoy the blessing of a grandchild for one of it's blessed sons, Dicky Boy and the sad part is his daughter is having a baby without a FATHER! TWO LESBIAN MOTHERS? Who will be the FATHER IMAGE? Grandpa? Dobson had his ass kicked sideways only weeks ago when one of his most prominent PREACHERS FOR FAMILY VALUES was outed by a male prostitute that he paid for sexual services the past five years!!!!!! God does move in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

I donated to a sperm bank in LA nearly 40 years ago. I needed money to get back home to Utah. Seemed harmless at the time and I do believe my seeds are long dead...hopefully Mary didn't go to LA for the Turkey Baster Juice! OMG.

Maybe she's had enough of daddy and the BS of the Republican party. Any self-righteous Elephant Republican Bigot talks to me about VALUES and WAR and THE
CONSERVATIVE MORALS OF THE RED STATE PEOPLE...well I have only one thing to respond with: Mary Cheney no doubt is the blessed Mary and had a moment when the spirit of the Lord overshadowed her and she has had a immaculate conception what ever. GO FIGURE !

I am so happy that Bush has two more glorious years to follow his HIGHER FATHER'S GUIDANCE and run to DICK C. (Dick head is to George W. kinda like what Peter was to Jesus...best buddy? of possibly Judas, you know the thing about the kiss of betrayal! May the whole house of cards fall, but WE the people will save the day.

Remember the old joke when the two idiots were elected the first time?
FOR ONCE WE HAVE A BUSH WITH A DICK IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Well, I wonder who is 'putt-in' IT to who?

Al Gore's Movie

Preludes & Fugues
Yesterday afternoon I viewed Al Gores Movie about the Environment. Stunning and yes intelligent. He did not go into any 'religious dogma" or binge out about some kind of new philosophy. It was fact upon fact about what we have and are doing to our planet! Only thing I
can say is: GO SEE IT and then THINK. I came home and pinned a 3x5 card up behind the toilet: "IF IT'S YELLOW LET IT MELLOW IF IT'S BROWN FLUSH IT DOWN" (lived this way in the 70's we really did!)
I have been shutting lights off that I do not use at night and I am observing nature with a gentleness I have not experienced in years.
My only hope is: ever since I was about 10 years old I have wondered IF we are alone in the universe or IS THERE SOMEONE ELSE OUT THERE! I do hope that If there is someone OUT THERE they can help us to continue life on planet earth in harmony with all other forms of life. Plank once said something to this effect:
When we change our attitude and the way we OBSERVE something IT CHANGES ALSO! Well, I hope we all begin to view the planet and our situation here in a more healing and loving way and that we can steer away from such ECONOMIC/CAPITLISITC INSANITY. God knows I like money and the things it affords me and those that I love, but I can see that over consumption and greed can also put a dreadful end to life as we know it. GO SEE THE MOVIE.

As the World Turns...

Preludes & Fugues
I am in one of my "Blessed Places" on planet Earth, Queenstown, New Zealand. It
seems as if I have never been away for the past 7 months. I leave every year April 28 for the States, Alpine WY. Open the Nordic Inn and work non stop from May 28 until the end of September. Fly to NYC and indulge myself in great art, music, drama, dance and yes the indescribable energy of 8 million people living on a small island! The entire population of New Zealand is half that of NYC. Around 4 million people, 65 million heads of cattle and 85 million heads of sheep. In Alpine WY I live in a population of around 600 humans not to mention all of the amazing wild life and during the tourist season probably 3 million people drive through the area.
I leave a huge house in Alpine and move into a smaller home in QT. My studio here is TINY compared to my GIANT ROOM IN ALPINE. You shall not hear me complain about my very small studio here as it holds my favorite rocks, books, music, small Technics Keyboard, my computer, candles, plants, paintings, photos, desk and various objects of art I have collected in 17 years coming to NZ. It amazes me how we adjust to our surroundings in life!

Today I renewed my membership at the QT GYM. It is a fantastic facility. When I first came here in 1990 the gym was a HARD-CORE-HOUSE-OF-PAIN-SWEAT-TEARS-LOUD MUSIC and seemed to attract AMAZONS and GIANTS. I loved it.
Over the past years a new "state of the art" gym has opened and it is gorgeous.
(Just like the bodies that work out in it's sacred walls...I am not one of those men living in a gorilla suit anymore), but I do love the high I experience of blood rushing through my heart, muscles and the routine of doing something that is good for me! I no longer wear 'tank tops' to work out in, I cover this sagging mess of flesh up with long sleeves on tee shirts and long pants, but underneath all that I feel the 'pump', the 'rush', the 'endorphin high' and the release of any anger, hate, frustration or depression. Practicing the piano gives me the same thrills. (well, for that fact, watching the sunset, the first evening star, or a bird singing into the firmament of heaven can give me a joy I find difficult to express in words.)

Today I purchased a bottle of my favorite wine: Peregrine Winery of Central Otago, a beautiful Pinot Noir 2005. You would love the bouquet, the mystical essence of black cherries, dried spice and rich velvet tannins. It is matured in French oak barriques for over 10 months. It is a complex symphony of surprising textures. I have often described this wine as a prelude to a delightful fugue.

The only place on this planet I can see the "SOUTHERN CROSS" is when I am in the Southern Hemisphere. I love it. Every star of the universe is sacred, but this constellation is a blessed comfort to my soul. Good night to all those I love, you are always with me no matter I roam...