I had a house while you were gone

Current Music: I'd Give It All For You, by JRB

I was very happily surprised the other day when JRB himself emailed me, out-of-the-blue, since he had run across my earlier entry that mentions his new album. I felt pretty star-struck. He often feels like he is singing directly to the listener, especially since he since a phrase at the end of Hear My Song. You can't get much more 2nd-person as a composer than actually singing your 2nd-person lyrics in a musical to the listener, and then later emailing the listener directly! It felt as if I had been reading If on a winter's night a traveller and then Italo Calvino himself had called me up for a chat to see how the reading was going. So JRB is successfully in touch with his fan base, it seems!

On a related note, I made a purchase offer on a condo this afternoon. It's brand-new, in a pretty new neighborhood. It was scary to pick between two that I liked a lot but it was nice to be decisive and make a decision. There were lots of documents to sign. I still have to get mortgage approval but it sounds like it's going to work out thanks to my parents' help and the government FHA loan program. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I might get to pick out the carpet color, and I have to buy a fridge and stove. Maybe I'll be really extravagent and get a fridge with an ice-crusher and water tap. Ah, the American dream!

I only can think of one appropriate new-house-purchase song, which is the one I'm currently listening to. JRB writes/sings:

I had a house while you were gone
The week after you left me
I found a couple acres
Near Severna Park
I had a house while you were gone
A house with silver shutters
And a driveway laid in marble
And thousands of rooms to fill
And miles of space to fly
And I tried to believe it
It was better without you
I was safer alone

No, I'd give it all for you
I'd give it all for you by my side once more
Oh, I'd give it all for you
I'd give it all to hold you again
To feel I'm completed
To know there and then
That all that I needed
Was you to fight the fear
And now you're here

Of course, having a condo means I can sing that found

A place with zero acres
Near the Country Club

But I'm happy with this place regardless!

Today I also finished taking the introductory Lindy Hop swing dance lesson series. It was surprisingly fun, so I'll be signing up for East Coast swing lessons next month.

Ethereal Girl

Current Music: in my head: the chorus of Ethereal Girl

Last weekend, saracariad, moonzie, geeoff, and I got together to play music. Our fearless leader wrote lots of cool lyrics and music, even though she was pretty critical of her own stuff. My favorite part is the start of the chorus with the words "ethereal girl" that were found after a long search of words like effervescent, elusive, apparition, etc. And it sounds like the opposite of "material girl" so it's quite amusing. I can't wait to make a complete version of this song as well as other new ones in the works. As often happens, we should have started this at the start of the summer!

Ethereal Girl is about missed opportunities, etc. with a girl who appears at an airport, bus depot, etc. and quickly disappears again before the guy gets up the courage to talk to her, and as such it reminds me of Jonathan Lethem's story "Vivian Relf" from his collection Men and Cartoons. In the story the protagonist, Doran, keeps meeting Vivian but they never talk about anything other than how they thought they recognized each other but actually didn't know each other before. And that's basically all they ever talk about, but Doran gets fixated on the idea of her. Eventually he writes a poem about her after a chance meeting on an airplane:

Oh Vivian Relf! Oh eclipse, oh pale penumbra of my yearning!
Pink slip, eviction notice, deleted icon, oh!
Stalked in alleys of my absent noons, there's nobody
knows you better than I!
Translucent voracious Relf-self, I vow here
Never again once to murk you
With pallid tropes of familiarity or recognition
You, pure apparition, onion --
Veil of veils only!