Saturday 24 July 2010

flying from St John’s Newfoundland to Halifax
OK, I take back whatever I wrote about Van Dyke Parks’s Discover America album being vacuous. I’ve been listening to it properly on headphones and it’s stunning, if deranged. Worth it for the perfect string arrangement on The Four Mills Brothers alone. Did this album really come out in 1972?

But the best thing to listen to on the plane was the birdsong I recorded on Lismore back in April: absolutely riveting. Maybe you have to be high up to enjoy listening to birdsong recordings.

I just got my head down yesterday and worked solidly on the Gentle Shepherd scores for the best part of the day: the rest of it was spent on packing-related activity. When I bought my suitcase I used to regularly fill it to bursting; now even half-full it’s over the weight limit. Perhaps I just need a smaller suitcase.

Fortunately my immigration interview at St John’s was short enough to enable me to catch my connecting flight. In Halifax last year the guy there kept me waiting for 2 hours for no apparent reason, which wasn’t exactly helpful.Getting sleepy now, I’ve been travelling for over 13 hours: still 2 or 3 to go before harpsichord tuning and tonight’s rehearsal …