Thursday night in NYC
I've always believed that when somebody has a good idea one should put it into practice right away. All the years have shown me that spontaneous ideas are often the real gems among all ideas. I woke up with such an idea on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago and as the day progressed I was convinced it might offer the way I had been looking for for a long time. I thought it would cut a swath and open a new path not only for myself. It took me a lot of courage but since it means so very much to me I dared to take a chance. I hope it was received the way it was arisen from my heart, with beautiful and sincere intentions. 

I went to see Marissa Nadler at Joe's Pub last night. It was really weird to go back to the place after that most wonderful experience in October when I saw the show with Roy Nathanson. A part of me was scared it would become too painful, another part of me was dying to revive the precious memory again. It was indeed all coming back. I still felt Debbie's presence and I was kind of spellbound. More than anything did I wish I would see her play there again at that beautiful and intimate bar with the cozy atmosphere of a living room. No, I didn't really want to see anyone else but her at that place. I was one of the last people to enter the bar. I have no motivation to be in the front row for anyone else.

Marissa Nadler is considered part of the New Weird America wave, a movement of contemporary folk singer-songwriters who mostly play guitar but also in popular music unconventional instruments such as the harp or banjo. The most striking feature of these artists are probably their unorthodox lyrics. Their music is mostly unpolitical and contains a lot of references to nature which might give one the impression they spend a vast majority of their freetime reading Thoreau or woodcarving. 
I find this type of music very refreshing in contrast to what the media likes to sell as mainstream, especially in times like these. It's like a statement that the future should not be found in advancement of any kind, making everything more convenient, smaller, faster, impersonal, but in going back to nature, the origin of mankind and the rediscovery of transcendentalism to give the overstimulated brain of today a break and to allow it to wind down - if only for 16 minutes while listening to Joanna Newsom's "Only Skin."

I'm going back to Joe's Pub once more next week before I go back to Germany.