October Newsletter
September brought many instruments flowing through my shop as schools welcomed back students and band programs got the year started. Old family instruments were in for cleaning and “a tune-up” before being called back into service for a new generation, and teachers were getting their personal instruments and school fleets ready for another year. I enjoyed gigs with my sextet (my quartet plus two special guests) at Pratt Hall in Montgomery on a Friday evening and with Black Gold on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Fisher Brothers Farm in Shelburne. They were gratifying ends to a musically vibrant summer, playing with friends old and new.
First Chair Winds is still busy, and I hope to complete a 1950s King Zephyr alto saxophone rebuild this month. But it’s the season of the leaves, so I’ll be making time to see the tops of a few mountains in Vermont and maybe the Adirondacks. My gig schedule is light, giving me time to recharge and add new material (starting with “Make Me A Pallet On The Floor”).
I’m playing with Ted Perry at The 126 on Friday, October 4th, for the early set (7-8:30). It’s Ted’s gig, and he is threatening to bring out his organ and call some old-school funky tunes, so I’ll be sure to bring my tenor and soprano. And you can still find me, weekly, at The 126 on Tuesday nights from 9-11, hosting Big Easy Tuesday and playing New Orleans roots music—except for October 15th, when I’ll be taking the night off to record with my quartet—more about that later. Connor Young will sub for me, joining Rob Church and Mike Santosusso (Back Porch Revival).
Several folks have been in the shop recently checking out Joe Moore’s gear I have for sale. There are some high-end mouthpieces (Theo Wanne, Claude Lakey, David Guardala) and battle-tested professional horns. If you’re thinking you’d like to try something, let me know. There is a fantastic silver-plated Selmer Series III tenor saxophone and a stunning Yanagisawa sterling silver alto saxophone. Both are in excellent condition and ready to be played. There is also a Selmer Mark VI alto from the early 1970s. There are no dents or scratches, and the Roo pads ares in good condition, but the palm keys and left-hand pinky table have been raised using a polymer. The horn plays, but the next owner will likely want to have it overhauled. It is an opportunity to get a Mark VI at a great price and have it set up exactly how you want it. Last week, I did work on another Mark VI alto (pictured above), which was manufactured around the same time and overhauled by Matt Stoher. It is as nice as any I’ve ever played. So I’m confident Joe’s old horn is a diamond in the rough! And, of course, Big Joe’s Conn 10M.
As you might imagine, I listen to a lot of music in the shop—and a lot of audiobooks as well. I want to share three perspective-altering nonfiction books from the last couple of months that have been exceptionally engaging and revealing. I didn’t realize it until after I’d finished them, but they offer complimentary insight on topics related to consciousness, physical and social health, agency, and mindfulness.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth By Zoë Schlanger
“It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.
The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence.”
The Myth of Normal Trauma, Illness, & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Dr. Gabor Mate
“In The Myth of Normal, renowned physician Gabor Maté eloquently dissects how Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems are actually seeing an upsurge in chronic illness and general ill health. Prescription drug usage, high blood pressure, mental illness, and so many other troubling issues are on the rise.
Over four decades of clinical experience, Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how the toxicity of today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance.
Now Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing.”
How to Change Your Mind - What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
“A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.”