Our Tree...

After the tree had been staked and planted, we applied the label with the name of the tree to the side braces. According to the Friends of the Urban Forest, that's the christening.

General state of things

I am still recuperating from the accident. Thank you everyone who wrote to me- It was really nice to hear from you. My neck is doing much better and the pain has migrated down to the bottom of my spine. I am coping and as you can see, my sun observances have been modest: people I know, wherever I happen to be. For a little extra excitement, this week, I went back east for a wedding. Norman's nephew got married and the family converged on the Amish country. Check out the sites of Hershey, Lebanon, Quentin, Harrisburg and Philadelphia.

Second week of July

7/7 AM What Do They Use to Put Out The Fires?
This morning was not so foggy, but it smelled odd. Not like smoke, but like fertilizer. I wonder if the chemicals they are using to fight the fires have saturated the air enough to carry along with the rest of the airborne residue. Does the moisture from the fog somehow obscure the detection of scent. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t smelled like chemicals until now: a combination of long term use of chemicals sprayed on the fires and an absence of the usual heavy moisture. Any ideas about this?

7/7 PM Car Alarm and Cowbells Duet
This recording is from the backyard. It’s a warm evening, and although you can hear foghorns in the distance, it’s clear here for a change.

7/8 AM Not Ready to Get Up?
I had just finished the morning ringing when I heard a window slam down two doors away. The bells are not an unpleasant sound, but the timing is not so good if you are not ready to get up.

7/8 PM Sunset in the Parking Lot
Driving home just about sundown, we detoured by the beach. Since we couldn’t quite make it to the shoreline, we pulled into the parking lot across the street and rang from there. A noisy little corner in the world.

7/9 AM Cymbal Phrases
It really felt like a conversation between that little bird and me this morning. He was great! (That's my comfy new "Miami-J" neck brace)

7/9 PM The Air is the Wrong Color
Our friend, Paul is Malcolm’s best friend and he is coming to stay with Malcolm for a few days while we go to a wedding. So after dinner this evening, we went up to the corner and walked around with the bells. The air is still very smoky, and everything is the wrong color.
Some updates as of today:
Big Sur
Butte County
General Northern California

7/10 AM Bells, then Airport
Today was the first day this year that we actually had to wake up at sunrise for some other reason than to ring bells. After ringing at sunrise, we continued on to the airport and flew to Philadelphia to go to a wedding and visit family. I wonder if there will be many bells at the wedding?

7/10 PM United Took my Pills
That was the most on time, uneventful, no-need-for-excuses flight I’ve been on in a few years. We left on time, and we arrived on time. No waiting on the tarmac, no weather reports, no scripted apologies. I had forgotten what it had been like to travel before 9/11. The one thing post 9/11 has made easier was for people to go through your bags and remove items. Which they did. When I arrived, I went to take a pill for the pain in my back, which was excruciating after sitting for 6 hours. Someone had taken them. I’m glad I only packed two pills. I only hope that whoever took them needs them more than I did. Now or sometime in the future.

7/11 AM If the Sun Rises Upside Down, is it Still A Sunrise?
There is a leaking pipe out in the parking lot in front of the hotel. At first we thought it had rained, but after returning from the wedding, the puddle was still there. This 90º heat would have dried up any standing water. The wedding was in the backyard and it was as cool as it could be under a canopy. It was a short, quiet ceremony uniting 2 families of five daughters and one son. It was an honor to be there- difficult to sit- but worth the trip. They didn’t have any bells by the way, but people sang.

7/11 PM Go Phillies?
What a crew! This is the cheering section for the Phillies taking a break at sunset to ring bells together. What we lack in agility, we make up for in spirit.

7/12 AM Staying at the Four Seasons Hotel

Another morning in Quentin, PA.

7/12 PM Congratulations Kris and Steven!
As we were listening to the pre-dinner wedding speeches, the sun was setting. So all of us at Table 12 rang very quietly. The PA was so loud, we just sparkled over the top of the general noise.

Midway through the Year!

Gravity, Wind and Death ... Reflections At Six Months
July 1st was the 183rd day of the year. Because of the leap day this year, that makes July 1st the midway point of the year and of this project. It seemed like a good point to reflect on what I have observed and learned so far.

I have come to more fully understand the nature of the commitment I made at the beginning of the year. I am at the point where I realize that I could stop now if I wanted to. I am not compelled to continue; however I wish and choose to do so. It is not because I vowed to observe the sun as it crossed the horizon each day and to ring bells at those moments. I have internalized the practice and integrated it into my daily life. By doing this, I have come to understand something about the nature of vows. It’s probably obvious to others, but I’ve always had to “learn the hard way” as my grandmother was so fond of pointing out to me.

Making a commitment to do something regardless of what may happen (like taking a marriage vow, for instance) ensures that one will honor the commitment in the face of the unknown. One will persevere if and when it becomes difficult to do so. It’s the hanging in there that produces a shift. The shift that I experienced was from external practice to the internalization of the “why”. It’s very hard to describe. It’s as if the repetition and commitment were necessary to achieve a certain state of mind and understanding that would not have been possible in any other way.

Again, I am only speaking for myself. I am one of those people who learns by direct experience much more effectively than by abstraction. I feel as if I am on the edge of understanding something about the elemental. It has something to do with the value of regular, conscious and direct experience with those things that don’t change and don’t rely on human intervention- like the movement of the earth. Or things that are inevitable- like death. Our close relationship and awareness of these things present opportunities to be grounded and to recognize the ways in which we are all related to the physical world and to one another.

So I have started to think more about other things that could be considered undeniable, incontrovertible- ultimate truth - type of things like the movement of the earth and death. I am not a scientist, so I am merely musing from the position of an observer and speculator. However, as far as the movement of the earth is concerned, besides the sunrise and sunset, there is gravity. We can start with the evidence and observation of the physical force of gravity in our lives and move out from there. The observation of the effect of gravity in our lives is another place to begin to notice the ways in which we are all connected.

I think that all of this is also a way to prepare us and to help us think about and deal with death and the inevitability of our own mortality. Maybe the overarching conceptual frame has a lot to do with Buddhism and the practice of awareness, but I am also trying to narrow the frame for a moment to something contained and directed. Something that encompasses the personal- like the availability of the breath- yet also something that can be visibly and consciously shared with many other people at the same time. That’s part of it. The sunrise and sunset. Gravity. Wind (the movement of air). And yes, mortality.

I am interested in the ways we experience these things sonically – listening and making sounds as a way to both observe what is happening as well as to mark the moment in order to share the experience with others.

Focusing on and being reminded of how we are all connected to each other and to the world – at least in that moment of awareness- anchors us in reality. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the other. Speculation of all kinds. For a moment it all ceases. Maybe with practice we can become more adept at separating out what is real from what is imagined.

Beginning of July- Up and Down

7/1 AM Day # 183. Half way through the year!
OK. So this is really the middle of the year. Half way through. I had been thinking of ways to get further afield in the mornings and I still intend to try out some of the ideas. I can revisit the Ferry Terminal any day now. However, I am not running out so fast now. Since we got rear-ended last night, I am somewhat incapacitated. Because I can’t turn my head at all, I cannot drive for an indefinite period of time. And even though I was in the emergency room until after midnight last night, when the alarm went off this morning, I was actually grateful and almost happy to get up and look out at that grey foggy morning and ring a bell or two. So I will continue with some variations on the close-to-home observances for a spell.

7/1 PM Up on the Roof
The sky was really beautiful and pink again- I’m afraid it’s due to all of the fires. Norman went up on our roof to capture the last bit of sunlight that was visible beneath the encroaching dark layer of smoke and fog.

7/2 AM Many More Fires The microphone is set up in front of the house, and I have wandered off down the street to the right. The smoke is back. You can smell it. There are now 1460 fires burning. The break in the air quality and the momentary sunshine were the result of shifting weather patterns and not because the fires were being eliminated.

7/2 PM Surprise
It’s already pretty dark because of the fog and smoke even before the sun goes down. I started filming out front looking down the street and went out back to join Norman and ring a few bells. Once in the back, we started ringing our bells and all of a sudden we hear other bells in the air. I thought I was imagining things or else just hearing some random wind chimes. But it was our neighbors from 2 doors down. They were standing out on their porch ringing their bells, too.

7/3 AM Comme ci
Dripping. The trees were dripping fog.

7/3 PM Comme ça
It’s still foggy. California’s still burning. It looks about the same now as it did this morning. From fog to fog, it was nice in between in other parts of the city. After setting at 8:36 PM for the past 10 days, the sun has finally begun its retreat this evening.

7/4 AM I Missed It (again)!
I woke up at 6:30 AM- 35 minutes too late. This is the 3rd time I’ve missed the sun observance, and all 3 times have been in the morning. So…in lieu of the documentation for this morning, here is a link about the beneficial effects of fires. This is in a world with no people and what would be best for the trees.
Very briefly, here are 2 ways that trees and other vegetation benefit and actually need fire to propagate and thrive:
“Fire Dependence: This concept applies to species of plants that rely on the effects of fire to make the environment more hospitable for their regeneration and growth. Fire Adaptation: This concept applies to species of plants that have evolved with special traits contributing to successful abilities to survive fires at various stages in their life cycles. For example, serotinous cones, fire resistant bark, fire resistant foliage, or rapid growth and development enable various kinds of plants to survive and thrive in a fire prone environment.”

7/4 PM Fires, not Fireworks

We went to Berkeley to Carl and Sue’s house for a 4th of July BBQ. When we left our house, it was fogged in. But over on the other side of the Bay, it was sunny and pretty warm. Some people were evacuated from Big Sur today. The firefighters say that the fires in that region won’t be contained until September. So far, the effect in the Bay area is the air quality which you can see and smell.

7/5 AM Big Sur Smokes the Sunrise In San Francisco
I walked up to the corner this morning so I could look to the east and west. The air is smoky- most likely from that huge fire in Big Sur. There are still 300 fires burning throughout the state. All of the green areas on the map.

7/5 PM Sunset. Fire or No Fire.
With so many fires burning, it was a rare, clear afternoon out here by the ocean so we took the big bell out for the sunset. It was windy as usual and it didn’t smell like smoke for a change. A woman approached Norman and asked him why he was ringing the bells. He told her it was for the sunset. That wasn’t a good enough reason so she walked away to get into her car. When she was near, I invited her to ring the big bell at the back of the car. She asked if it was for good luck and I thought about it for a moment and then said, “Sure. Why not.” The rest of our conversation is obscured by the wind, but after I pointed to the sun passing below the horizon and said you can’t argue with that, she smiled. She liked the idea of people agreeing on something, too. So then she rang the big bell- several times.

7/6 AM
Heavy fog. Growing up in central New Jersey, I never knew about foghorns. I’d heard of them the same way I’d heard of “peas in a pod”. But I had never actually experienced either foghorns or peas that didn’t come in a can. After having shelled hundreds of pods to get a handful of peas, I now really appreciate peas in a can. Usually the fog burns off enough by 9 o’clock. So before I woke up so early everyday, I had only heard the foghorns late at night or in the evening if it was a particularly early, heavy fog. On of the unexpected delights of going outside at sunrise is the encounter with the morning fog. Heavy, white and wet it envelops the world and everything in it in a small and cozy wrapping. And then the gentle and insistent tones of the foghorns. Low, soft-edged and several different notes form a never repeating, random melody. It’s a wonderful alternative to the sunny experience. Peasoup with music.

7/6 PM
I left some of my bells and the camera in someone’s car this afternoon, so it will be audio only for the next few days. Since I can’t drive because my head is restrained, I will have to rely on the United States Postal service to return my treasures in good time. When I went out to ring this evening, someone else was already making some noise, so I just joined in with my cowbells.

Suggestions for Improvements?

A Little More Blah, Blah...

Until now, each observance of the sun crossing has involved the ringing activity itself and the documentation for each event. The range of detail, planning and elaboration has varied considerably for each of these aspects. Some of the mornings and evenings where I have prearranged events or travel away from home required planning and some effort. Compare these observances to the ones where I either roll out of bed in the morning or just capture the evening wherever I happen to be. I like this range of commitment and variety of experience and plan to continue to expand and experiment with it in this second half.

My first inclination and plans were to expand it on the end of greater effort and complexity and more engagement with others. However, since I am somewhat incapacitated for at least this coming week, I have decided to begin with extending the more minimal approach to continuing to observe and document this twice daily interaction. So, for now I will produce a series of short gestures, primarily audio, around the sunrise and sunset each day. These will take place for the most part around my neighborhood, and we'll see how that goes.

Other improvements I would like to make:

I would like to give bells away to people so that they could keep them and keep on ringing! If anyone has a source of inexpensive little bells, please let me know!

More visibility. I would like to do more official events and performances (like the Chapel of the Chimes). The Autumnal Equinox is coming up in September. Does anyone have any suggestions or contacts with places that might like to do an Equinox event? Or places related to planetary or other scientific content. The Exploratorium?

How about pre-performance sunset observances. In San Francisco, from August 17 – September 6, the sun will set between 7:30 and 8:00. Anyone out there willing to have the audience share in the sunset bell ringing?

How about other meetings? Anyone out there willing to start your evening meetings with a group bell ringing? It’s really fun and a great way for people to come together.

Maybe there are early morning meetings that would be open to bell ringing. Churches?

I have received only one invitation for a “house call” so far. It’s for an early morning bell ringing, and I’m going. Anyone else?

OK for now.

Accidents Will Happen

6/30 8:36 PM (again), San Francisco,
The sun is back! Patches of clear blue sky appeared this afternoon and the air smells better. Unfortunately, no light gets into the room in the ER where they perform CT scans. Which is where I was at exactly the time the sun was going down. Fortunately, Norman was my emissary, and he was the witness and bell ringer this evening. If I had had the presence of mind, I would have kept a little bell with me and would have rung it on the way to the CT scan. However, I did think of it afterwards and shook the handful of my jewelry that the technician had asked me to remove for the X-ray. (I’m OK. Details later).

"Where's Waldo's Bell?"

This has been a pretty solitary week- staying close to home.

One thing I have been trying out this week is a new approach to the audio recordings. Because it’s no longer necessary to perform or document each bell ringing observation as if it was the only occurrence, I don’t feel I need to start, ring and stop just as the sun is rising or setting. The primary reason for doing this is not so much to go out and ring bells, as it is to practice and spread the awareness of our relationship to something ineffable- like the movement of the sun. If this is so, then why not focus more on the uniqueness of each moment, each occasion. So that’s what I tried out this week. Instead of focusing on the bells, I’ve taken more of a “Where’s Waldo?” approach to their presence in the recordings. Find the bells if and when you can, locate them in the space by listening to how they sound in relation to the other sounds. Maybe this approach will lead to a greater appreciation about what is unique and special about each event. As the midpoint of the project approaches, I have been reflecting on how it’s going, what I’ve observed and where it might go from here. I had planned to go into some detail about that this week. And then suddenly, I was in a minor car accident. Norman and I are both OK, but I am not up to speed. Not even close. I am not able to drive, so that puts a new wrinkle into my ability to go further afield in search of new and varied situations. For the moment. Also, since day # 183 is the actual midpoint of the year, and it occurs on July 1st, I will wait until next week to go into more details about my thoughts and plans for what comes next.

California on Fire.

Sunrise Recordings. You can see the progression of the fires in the morning photos this week as the smoke gets more and more dense with each passing day. You will notice that I didn't catch on right away that the dark and foggy mornings were a direct result of the smoke from the fires.

6/23 5:49 AM, San Francisco
So foggy. So normal for the summer. All the streetlights were still on. Without the sunlight, they were the only points of light. Sunrise is LATER today than yesterday. woo hoo! Have a listen.

6/24 5:49 AM, San Francisco. SUNRISE AND SUNSET TIMES ARE THE SAME AS YESTERDAY AND WILL BE THE SAME TOMORROW!!!!
The bells don’t have to figure so prominently in the documentation anymore. Enough already. Since we have been listening to the mornings for a while now, let’s just listen to the mornings. I’ll set the recorder up somewhere and leave it in place while I move around the area with the bells. I am curious about how the bells sound from far away. I’d like to know which sounds carry the farthest and how the bells mix into the morning soundscape when they don’t figure so prominently.

6/25 5:49 AM, San Francisco
I set up the audio recorder outside kitchen door in the airshaft between the buildings and then walked around ringing the ship’s bell indoors. This is the last morning the sun will rise at 5:49 AM. Tomorrow we shave another minute off the morning light.

6/26 5:50 AM, San Francisco. Hazy Mornings From Distant Fires
As I walked away from the house this morning towards the south, one of the streetlights went out. It’s extra hazy these days because of the fires in Southern California

6/27 AM California Burning. Covers Solstice Sun
Foghorns dominated the sound this morning – more so than usual. The smoke from the fires has thoroughly mixed in with the fog and there is no direct sunlight. A whiteout. It looks about the same as the sunset last night. Same color and amount of light… The biggest clue to which way the sun is headed is the streetlights. Do they come on or turn off?

6/28 AM Smoke and Flame
So smoky. If you take a deep breath, there’s a good chance you will cough it out. And that’s the “good” air near the ocean. You can’t even smell the smoke anymore, but it will make your eyes itch and water. It’s even worse across the bay and that’s not very far. The smoke doesn't seem to affect the sound very much. Birds get up, papers get delivered and the streetcar runs pretty much on time.

6/29 AM We Haven't See the Sun In Days

More than 100 thousand acres have burned so far. The air quality is bad. Hard to breathe. And we here in San Francisco are the fortunate ones.

6/30 AM Too Excited

In my excitement of approaching the halfway point in this project, I jumped the gun. I thought today was the day, but upon closer (any) calculation I realized that because of the leap day in February, the 183rd day is half a year. And that's tomorrow. I am actually glad that I made a mistake, because now I have a second chance to do something special to mark the occasion. Consider this ringing a preliminary...

End Of June SUNSETS

6/23 8:36 PM, San Francisco No Cows on the Boulevard
Still foggy. We headed out to the corner with all of the cowbells and walked toward the so aptly named, Sunset Blvd.

6/24 8:36 PM (again) San Francisco, Stop! Thief!
Someone came into the Church during our meditation and stole a woman’s bag and jacket. When it was time to leave, people offered the woman something warm to wear and a ride home.

6/25 8:36 PM (again) San Francisco, Can You Hear Me Now?
The sky was such a fuzzy pink this evening. I don’t remember ever seeing it like that before. There are 800 fires burning in California right now. The most in recorded history at any one time. So while Norman strolled down to the corner with his chimes, I took pictures of the sky.

6/26 8:36 PM (again) San Francisco, 800 Fires
I trailed behind Norman and Carl as we walked down the street towards the ocean. The sun was just a little orange ball in the sky today. You could look right at it with your bare eye. The smoke from the fires mixes in with the fog to produce a heavily filtered muted light all day long. But come sunset, it was just as grey as the morning.




6/27 8:36 PM, San Francisco 500 Fires
We walked down toward the beach this evening at sunset. The air is so smoky now it’s hard to breathe. And we are 100’s of miles from the big fires. Here’s a map of the fires at the moment. They are all over the state. The sky is a uniform grey all day now with wisps of smoke laden fog blowing up the streets. Mid-day was a light grey and both the sunrise and sunset were a darker shade of grey. Just to get some idea of the number of fires- here’s a map showing the location of fires as of today.

6/28 8:36 PM (again) San Francisco, Intermission for the Sunset
Norman and I went to hear Pamela Z's new piece, Pendulum. Despite technical difficulties, Pamela is an incredible performer, and it was a wonderful evening. Unfortunately, I had to step out in the middle of one piece to catch the sunset. When I returned, Pamela was playing the piece Syrinx, where she recreates birdcalls with her voice. By slowing down actual bird song and learning it in her range at human speed, Pamela could then speed her voice up into the bird range and we humans certainly couldn't hear the difference. I wonder about the birds? Would they answer back or just be a little confused?

6/29 8:36 PM (again), San Francisco
This evening, Norman’s longtime friend Victor came to visit us on the way back to North Carolina. This is the end of Victor’s annual visit to his family in Sacramento and he stopped by on his way to the airport- just in time for the sunset. Thank you, Victor.

HOUSE CALLS ANYONE?

6/22 PM HAVE BELLS, WILL TRAVEL
What about house calls? Please invite me to join you. I would love to visit and observe the sunrise with anyone who is already up at that time. We could ring bells together. Is anyone interested? Contact me here.

We hadn’t rung the big bell around the neighborhood for a long time so this evening in the middle of dinner we got up and Norman went out to the curb where the car was parked. Another mundane regular everyday event. I like how it has become a taking-in-stride kind of activity on the one hand and a grand event on the other. Other aspects that I like are the mini dramas that have occurred i.e. the series at the ferry building or the stalking of waiting strangers. I would like to develop more opportunities regarding the early morning search for interaction with other people who are out and about. Someone I met recently was so right when she said my project demands that I extend myself to seek and engage with other people, especially in the mornings.

Third Week of June- MOVIE SUNSETS

I documented the evening sunset observances with little movies:

6/17 PM Going, Going, Gong
On my way out the door I noticed the final bit of sunlight on the curtains and decided to stay inside. The gong is a birthday gift from my sister. Thank you Lisa. This one is for you.

6/18 PM Rare Sunset at Ocean Beach. It's Warm!
Norman and I met Liz and Ramona at Ocean Beach for the sunset this evening. They took the streetcar and we met them as they got off the train. When we first got to the shoreline, we saw streams of pelicans flying north – like bird-cows going home. Today had been such a rare, hot day in the 90’s that there were lots of people on the beach scattered among the dunes or walking along the shore. All of us were staring and enjoying a beautiful, clear and not-windy moment at the beach. People actually applauded when the sun went down.

6/19 PM Wherever You Are, Whoever You're With
Krys Bobrowski, Karen Stackpole and I make up the current configuration of Vorticella now that Erin Esplenade has moved to Montana for her new job. So the three of us met for rehearsal in Oakland this evening in preparation for the Chapel of the Chimes summer Solstice event on Saturday. We all paused for a moment and observed the sunset with the entire household.

6/20 PM Sunset at the King of Thai Noodle House
. I took a dinner break from Kinkos where I was making invitations for tomorrow evening at Chapel of the Chimes. In the restaurant, I asked permission before ringing the bells inside. One young man wanted to know what I wanted the staff to do, and I said nothing. I just wanted to know if they minded us ringing the bells at the table. He said it was OK and then was very curious about it. He asked me “do you believe in something?” and I said no it was just about observing the sunrise and set. However, afterwards when I thought about it, I realized that I do believe in something although it’s hard to articulate. I believe in some unassailable connection we all share as living beings and the importance of recognizing and expressing that connection.

Third week of June- SUNRISE SOUNDS

SUNRISE SOUNDSCAPES
I have returned to San Francisco from New York this week, bringing a nasty summer cold with me. While I haven't much energy in the morning for adventurous excursions, I have documented the soundscape of each morning as I observe the sunrise. I am a slacker this week. Sorry. Despite my lethargy, I did make a surprising discovery- the earliest time for the sunrise does NOT coincide with the solstice. The sun rises a minute later and holds there -all week long. Here we go toward winter...

6/16 AM Someday, a Tree
Cold outside and cold inside. I also have a cold. It’s summer in San Francisco. Besides the temperature, the biggest difference between mornings here and mornings in NY is how much quieter it is here. I walked around with those cymbal bells on strings, and you can actually hear them and hear them move from place to place. It’s such a different feeling wondering if people might actually hear the sounds of these bells as they wake up. This is the last morning of the earliest sunrises. Tomorrow, the sun will rise one minute later than today. Hallelujah! Am I the only person who is glad about this?

6/17 AM
While I am recovering from my air-conditioned induced cold, I am just ringing the bells around my house. Here’s an audio recording from the first morning that the sun begins to rise later. Although the sun is continuing to set later in the day, the sunrise has reversed its direction and now begins the inevitable march towards darkness.

6/18 AM
We rang inside the house this morning. The cell phone alarm I had set for the sunrise went off while we were ringing the bells. It made me realize how routine the whole thing has become. But I am so tired in the morning and still feeling sick so I have no energy for anything more adventuresome yet. Maybe next week…

6/19 AM
The still camera is on the fritz. I like recording sound only when I am at home so I will concentrate on that for a while. This morning I left the microphone just inside the doorway and ventured out into the back, passing over the threshold as I rang the bells. I like this sound only routine in the morning.

6/20 AM
While sun is still rising a minute later than it’s earliest moment for the year, we will continue to slowly inch into longer nights when the sun rises yet another minute later on the 23rd. This morning’s audio recording is from the back yard.

6/22 AM Morning After (the solstice)
Even though the sunrise and sunset times are shifting a minute here and there, the amount of daylight each day is 14 hours and 57 minutes. We will continue to have this much sunlight for the next few days. Today is same as yesterday. This morning I wanted to do a quiet, gentle ringing after yesterday evening’s exuberant one.

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?

Interested in a review?

Accordion Sun Crossings

Here’s the approach and departure to and from the summer Solstice this year.
In San Francisco, the sun rose at 5:47 AM everyday this week (June 9 – 16). The sunset, however, continued to creep a little bit later each day. Imagine a ball tossed into the air as it reaches the top of the arc. This is how I think of the rate of change in sunlight at the end of the day. As the sun rounds the far end of it’s ellipse, the rate of change slows down. The sunrise has reached its earliest point for the year while the sunset is edging to it’s latest point. The latest time that the sun sets is 8:36PM and it continues to set at that time from June 23- July 2.
Solstice Info

Chapel of the Chimes- Solstice Ringing

INVITATION- BYOB (that's - bring your own bells)

Anyone in the Bay Area, don't miss this year's summer solstice celebration at Chapel of the Chimes. The sun sets at 8:34 PM in Oakland on the summer solstice this year. I realize that many people may already be gone by then, and that's OK. But I'd like to invite whoever is still around- performers and public - to ring bells wherever they happen to be.
Usually the bell ringing is not associated with anything other than the sunrise or sunset. However this is such a special place and time, I would like to dedicate this evening's observance to remembering. We could call it "In Memory Of..." and people could elect to ring in memory of someone or not. I will have a few bells on hand, but if you have your own bells or other little noisemakers, please bring them."
Chapel of the Chimes is an annual event created by Sarah Cahill which takes place in the Garden of Memory at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, California.. It is a walk-through concert at the Julia Morgan-designed Chapel of the Chimes wherein audience members move through the environment with new music ensembles performing simultaneously throughout the spaces. Here is some more specific information about time, location and price.

Second Week of June

6/9 AM Coney Island
Liz and I headed for the subway at 4:00 this morning. We were determined to go to Coney Island to see the sun rise over the ocean. It was dark when we left and by the time we emerged from underground after waiting forever for the trains, it was beginning to be light. Once I realized that we were not going to get to the beach by 5:25, I just took movies of our journey. We were alone most of the time except when it was time to ring the bells. There was one other person in our subway car and he was minding his own business a few seats away. At 5:24, I propped the camera on the edge of a seat and rang the bells as we watched the sky through the scratched up windows. When I asked the man if he wanted to ring in the sunrise with us, he said OK and as soon as he finished, he put on his orange MTA vest and got off at the next stop. Before he left, he wanted to know where we were from since he figured we must be from out of town. I know if I told he I was living here, he would have thought there might be something wrong with me. So we told him we were from San Francisco. By the time we got to the beach the sun had already risen. However, it did not come up over the water. Coney Island faces southeast. Even if we had made it on time, we wouldn’t have seen what we were looking for.

6/9/PM Hot and Loud
This is Liz’s last night here in Brooklyn. We went out back and rang the cowbells in the still 95º heat.

6/10 AM On Ceremony
Since it’s so much quieter out front, I brought the two cymbal bells out there and did a more ceremonious ringing this morning. After I finished ringing, I draped the rope with the cymbals over my shoulder and then bent down to turn off the recorder. Wham. One of those heavy little brass disks swung around and bashed me in the nose. So much for ceremony.

6/10 PM Nights of the Happy Countenance or (Whole Lotta Shaking Goin' On...)
I went with my friends Taylor and Sue to hear Caroline Bergvall and Mario Diaz de León perform together at a series produced by DIA at The Hispanic Society of America this evening. Three quarters of the way through the concert, the sun was due to set and I had to go outside. There were some parents and their restless children already standing outside.
It was beautiful and very hot out there among the statuary and unused fountain. As we stood in front of the “Knight of the Woeful Countenance” and sampled the assorted bells, some of the other people came over to see what was going on. One of the dad’s was Kenny G, and he and his son joined us in ringing down the sun. Then we returned to the performance for the last 3 pieces. It was a wonderful evening.

6/11 AM Good Morning, again
The rapid transitions between the 95º outdoors heat and the freezing cold buses finally caught up with me. My voice has gained an octave on the lower end, and I can hardly breathe through my defeated sinuses. Anyway, I woke up and went out back again for the morning ringing and recording. Maybe I am beginning to enjoy this a tiny bit. It was relatively peaceful out there in spite of the traffic and I was grateful that I was awake at that hour- even if only for a moment.

6/11 Central Park Sunset
I met with my friend, Ginger and her friend, Lisa in Central Park this evening. Every field was full of ball players when we arrived. Summer in full swing.

6/12 AM Trash Train
Lethargic. Me. The trash train.

6/12 PM Do Not Enter
After dinner, my dad and I went down to the Delaware River to see what it's like at sundown. My dad had a particular place in mind, but when we got there, the entrance to the dock was boarded up. We were running out of time before the sun set so we decided to walk down as close as we could get to the gate and ring from there. Lo and behold, it was a trick! And a good one. We almost didn't go there.

6/13 AM Plastic Playland
As many times as I have seen that big plastic structure in the playground across the street, it hardly registered in my mind as anything other than a collection of color. This morning it seemed like the only place to go. So my dad and I walked over to the schoolyard and toured the plastic playland as we rang in the sunrise.

6/13 PM Another Sunset on the J Train
Again, I almost made it. "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen..." I hate hearing that phrase on the train and even more than hearing it; I cringe just contemplating saying it myself. However, tonight as soon as I realized I would have to ring the bells on the train, I thought about saying to the completely full subway car "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but let me draw your attention to the sun which will be setting in one minute..." I would like to do that one of these days, but not this evening. I just wanted to get home. I did, however, have a fantastic view out the back of the train.

6/14 AM Waking up On Broadway
I am still sick. My friend Stephan was going to join me for this morning’s ringing, but when he wasn’t there in time, I did it by myself. Just as I was finishing, a man walking by the front door stopped and studied my microphone and recorder setup on the stoop. As he bent over to examine (or remove) my equipment, I ran across the street yelling to him that it was my stuff, and he looked at me and left. As I was packing up, a car pulled in front of the building, and I thought maybe it was Stephan. However, the driver shut off the engine, dropped the seat back and settled in for a little nap.

6/14 PM Grounded. Sunset in the JFK Terminal. Again.
Gigantic Thunderstorm .Torrential rains pouring through the roadways from he bridge onto the street below. Water rushing over the curbs like a stream rushing over rocks. Little water falls. All the way to the airport. Once there, we waited and waited for the storm to pass. However, because the airlines are understaffed and overbooked what used to be a minor delay has now turned into a routine marathon. While we waited inside the terminal for the thunderstorm to pass, planes full of people waited on the tarmac to deplane or to take off. Many hours after our scheduled departure, we were finally in line to take off. Then we told that there were eighty planes in front of us. So that meant another two hours inside the closed and sealed plane waiting to take off. (One good thing I’ve noticed is that my claustrophobia is fading away). When we finally arrived into San Francisco, it was 4:30 AM, and we were asked to wait a little longer for the baggage handlers to arrive for work. It was then that I realized that at some point our departure time must be determined based on our expected travel and arrival time. If our plane had left earlier than it did, we would have arrived in San Francisco at a time that was too early for the airport support personnel. I wonder if we were held in New York for a few extra hours just so that we would arrive in the morning and not the middle of the night. I imagine that there must be timetables for the latest departure and earliest departure allowed in order to coordinate with the destination airport. Has anyone else experienced this?

6/15 AM Early to Bed. Late to Rise.

It’s my birthday today. Because the plane arrived at such an early hour this morning, the timing was perfect for the sunrise ringing. As soon as we got home, Norman and I unpacked the bells, rang them and then went to sleep for a few hours.

6/15 PM Not Quite Wedding Bells

While in New York, I had missed seeing the sun actually cross the horizon. So when it was time this evening, we went down to the beach. When we arrived, we encountered a couple who had just become engaged and were there taking pictures. I had forgotten how windy and cold it is by the ocean here compared to the 90º heat of New York summer. But it is still pretty romantic.

First Week of June

6/1 AM Good Morning Straphangers
I stood outside in my pajamas and waited to greet that sunrise J train.

6/1PM Ringing Bells with my Dad
My father and I rang the bells from the balcony of his apartment in Lambertville. He lives near the Delaware River and it would have been lovely to watch the sunset over the water. However, there are so many trees there's no way to see the sun.

6/2 AM Strolling Through the Park One Day...
My dad woke up at 5:10 this morning and went out with me to ring bells at sunrise in his neighborhood. We walked across the street in front of the playground, just as I had done at the end of March. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a tripod this time, so I just propped the camera up on one of those orange rubber cones used for traffic regulation.

6/2 PM J Train on the Bridge
Returning to New York on the verge of sunset, I almost made it home in time. However, the sun was setting set as we crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, so I rang inside the subway car. No one wanted to join me, but a few people were interested in the project. A Hasidic woman stood next to me, and she reminded me that most religious people already pay attention to the sun and the times of day.

6/3 PM Sundown on Canal Street
We finished eating in Chinatown just before the sun was due to set. Under no circumstances did Ching want to ring bells inside the restaurant so we hurried outside and rang the bells on Canal Street. All the bells this evening are very recent gifts. The one that Ching is ringing came from my father's cousin, Miriam, who has recently moved into a nursing home. Miriam was a nurse and had worked all of her life in Trenton hospitals. She was also the nurse who delivered me when I was born. She had a small collection of bells on a rope. The rope was so old that it let go of this one bell, so I put it into my bag this evening to ring after dinner. Those cymbal bells that I am dangling in front of the camera are a gift from Ching. They are from Nepal. Thank you, Miriam and Ching!

6/4 PM (MAYBE) Can Hardly Hear the Bells. Can't See the Sun.
I took all the bells out back and rang them- to the traffic, to my neighbors, to the rain. After I had already finished and packed up, I heard a train coming so I grabbed all the cowbells in one hand and another bell in my other hand and rattled them all to the people passing by. I felt like King Kong.

6/5 AM Ears out Front
The early morning soundscape is much denser here than in San Francisco. More machines, less birds. Yet it’s relatively still compared to the rest of the day in both cities. Since we’ve already seen and heard enough from the front and back of the apartment this season, I thought it would be nice to just listen for a change. This recording is from the front of the building on Broadway.

6/5 PM Making Tussie-Mussies
Mary and Connie hosted a Tussie-Mussie workshop at the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden.Tussie Mussie “is a small bunch of flowers, typically given as a gift. They have existed in some form since at least medieval times, when they were worn around the head or on the lapel to mask the unpleasant smells of the time- literally, to keep the nose gay (to keep the nose happy).” Wikipedia. During Victorian times Tussie Mussies were given during courtship, and the flowers were used to convey specific sentiments and ideas. This site offers examples of the “language of flowers”. At the end of this evening’s workshop, the remaining tussie-mussie makers rang bells for the setting sun.

6/6 AM Meanwhile Out in the Back...

This morning’s recording is the book end to yesterday’s. I went out behind the apartment just as the early morning J train was passing by.

6/6 PM Ring for the King
Pauline, Ione and I ate at the King's Wok. We could have hurried out into the parking lot to catch the sunset, but we decided to ring inside the restaurant. So I brought out all the little quiet bells and we rang them for dessert. When I placed the camera at an empty table across the room, I didn't think anyone would notice. The waitresses at the King's Wok are sharp and the food was really good, too.

6/8 AM Sunday morning by the Williamsburg Bridge

LISTEN Try jumping around in the audio file as it's playing back.

6/8 PM Crack in the Fence

Penelope, Liz and I walked down to the East River at sundown. It was in the mid-nineties here today and we thought it might be cooler by the river. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get anywhere near the water. Restaurants, construction, un-named security areas and locked parking lots blocked the way to the bank of the river. We managed to slip through a crack in the fence at the back of one of the parking lots. All we could see was a deserted cement slab with a few decorations scattered about. The slab led right up to a little ridge overlooking the water. There was loud music playing and we peeked around the fence and saw a tent set up by the water – but no people. Not wanting to disturb anyone (or to get thrown out), we decided to wait until the last minute to walk into the area and ring the bells by the river. While we waited an announcer came on the PA and started shouting over the music, inviting “everybody to get up and come onto the dance floor”. So we did.

Cart Before the Horse

6/7 AM Olivebridge Sunrise
Bob woke us up extra early this morning to ring the bells so we walked back to the woods where Connie had some large chimes hanging in the trees. This morning was one of the rare occasions I actually experienced the tranquility and special beauty of this time of day. We didn’t just ring the bells, we played them and we listened to each other. It made me wish I had set up for a good audio recording instead of just using the little movie camera.
The performance this morning made me aware of how perfunctory the morning ringings have become and also how predictable they are. Get up, grab some bells, run outside, ring, look around, stop after a minute or two and go back to bed. The habit and formalization of the structure for the ringing and documentation have often overwhelmed whatever is special and unique about each morning.

6/7 PM Speakers Under the Porch
It was really nice to ring bells with everyone on the porch before dinner this evening. However, my insistence to show and direct the action of what was happening obscured the possibility of letting whatever was going on to evolve. The ringing this evening has cemented the realization I had this morning about the effect of the rigid formalization of documentation and the effect this has had on the observance itself. While I am not terribly interested in producing innovative or even especially interesting documentation, I am concerned that the act of documentation itself has overly determined and defined the act of observance. So from now on, I will try to separate the act of documentation from the act of observance to whatever extent that I can. By this point, the routine has been well established and is familiar enough that I don’t need to show the bells or bell ringers over and over again.

Calling all Cars

As I was walking to the subway this evening, I saw all of these police cars sitting at the bus depot parking lot. All in rows. All lights flashing. Since 911, there have been occasional “shows of force” from the police at this location just below the Williamsburg Bridge. So when I saw two policemen walking towards me, I stopped and asked one of them what was going on across the street. He said, “It’s a drill”. I tried to imagine what kind of drill required so many cars to sit together in the parking lot with their lights flashing and no other activity so I asked, “What kind of drill?” He replied, “Sometimes the police need to go places together and they need to practice getting around all together”. As I pondered his reply, I must have looked as incredulous as I felt because he added as he began to walk away, “It’s a drill”.