Listening to music . . . .

Villa Casamanza, Nr Perugia, Umbria, Italy

With the villa empty but for me, I have made my base at the large table in the downstairs lounge. While our guests were with us, I wasn't able to listen to any music, but with the house to myself I have the ipod player on more or less all the time. This allows a suitably detailed listening to various artists for extended periods of time. As often described by Robert Fripp (see his blog at www.dgmlive.com) music remains a very mystical experience and, in many ways, is the most important thing in my life and the source of all that sustains me.

Today starts off with a live recording of Portishead from their spring tour, followed by two cds worth of Namlook & Schulze series "Dark Side of the Moog" and two cds of Ravi Shankar (no doubt inspired by seeing the sitars in Perugia yesterday). By the afternoon, I have moved onto John Fahey and Loren Mazacane Connors ("The Camellites" and "9th Avenue"), followed by a wonderful live recording of Joanna Newsom from 2006.

I haven't listened to Joanna Newsom for a couple of months, but it doesn't take long for me to be completly encaptivated by her again. It is possible that her track "Emily" as played by the full touring band is my favourite track by anyone ever!

What it is to be totally undisturbed by anyone or anything!