2008 Summer Solstice AM and PM

Low Key Sunrise
Early this morning it was still hot- left over from yesterday – and so unusual for San Francisco. Late last night the house was too hot. It felt like we had left the heat turned on by mistake, and this morning it was still warm. All of the windows in every room were open to cool off the house. So this morning when I woke up, the scarf that stands in for a curtain was moving very softly back and forth by the window. There was no need to leave the house as the outside had already taken over. This summer solstice was warm and very bright already. So we rang the bells in he bed. Even Malcolm was more curious than sleepy for a change.


MultiKey Sunset
The bell ringing this evening at the Chapel of the Chimes was really beautiful. While the video captures only a sliver of the indoor/outdoor experience, the audio recording captures the sound and spirit of the event much better. Because of its length (11 minutes), the audio recording is highly compressed so that it would fit on the ftp site.

This evening’s event was magical and once begun, it was hard to stop. There were close to 100 people ringing bells, jingling their keys, singing, crashing cymbals and continuing to perform their own music through the sunset bell ringing observance. I walked around 2 adjacent spaces with the recorder and captured the local sound. However, people incorporated the observance into their sets and Norman went outside and rang the loud bell in the back of the car. The exuberance of this experience reminded me of the evening sunset celebrations in India. I would love for this to happen everyday.

One scheduled performer withdrew from participating this year. He objected to the bell ringing on the grounds that it would be bad luck. From what I understand, this bad luck is somehow related to Vampires and is based in Chinese thought. I certainly do not wish to invoke or cause any harm with this activity and would like to know more about it. Does anyone have any information or insight into this?

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