New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #27

fun 3 hr Nordic adventure tour yesterday in cold blowing snow up on Mt wishIcouldtellya with Isa, our friend John and Bernie the wonder dog.

Finaly had a decent biathlon. hit 8 of 9 targets and ran ok... no photos of me, again... 

Beautiful pictures, Nick!  Haunting.  

I just read an article from my Jesuit magazine about Andre 3000 and Outkast. Rather than pretending that I know anything about OutKast I’ll just ask here.  Sounds like I will need to do a deep dive. Apparently Andre 3000 has made a shift from rap to jazz—and wind instruments in particular—which has worked its way into my church. New Blue Sun is his most recent album with titles like “the night in Hawaii when I turned into a panther and started making these low register purring tones that I couldn’t control “.., apparently about an Ayahuasca journey.  Listening to that song reminded me of listening to a didgeridoo. 

No. I’ve never listened to Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

So where do we start?  

“New Blue Sun” is a spiritual jazz masterpiece rooted in the restless artistic spirit of an artist with once-in-a-generation talent. “I think these are kind of ‘earth suits,’ André told Stephen Colbert about human bodies when asked about the afterlife. “I think that energy goes into something else or to another thing that we can’t even imagine. The energy transfers.”

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I went climbing with Bob today. We were at Little Hunk and I made an attempt on Randy’s Zzzzz route.  It’s such beautiful rock and just kind of felt like an honor to be there. I wish I could claim to be macho. I wish I could pull off a climb like this with a little more grace and certainty. It’s just hard face-to-the-wall  climbing. I see no one in the reviews thought it was particularly difficult.  But maybe a few more trips up that route might improve things for me.  

Lori Milaswrote:

Beautiful pictures, Nick!  Haunting.  

I just read an article from my Jesuit magazine about Andre 3000 and Outkast. Rather than pretending that I know anything about OutKast I’ll just ask here.  Sounds like I will need to do a deep dive. Apparently Andre 3000 has made a shift from rap to jazz—and wind instruments in particular—which has worked its way into my church. New Blue Sun is his most recent album with titles like “the night in Hawaii when I turned into a panther and started making these low register purring tones that I couldn’t control “.., apparently about an Ayahuasca journey.  Listening to that song reminded me of listening to a didgeridoo. 

No. I’ve never listened to Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

So where do we start?  

“New Blue Sun” is a spiritual jazz masterpiece rooted in the restless artistic spirit of an artist with once-in-a-generation talent. “I think these are kind of ‘earth suits,’ André told Stephen Colbert about human bodies when asked about the afterlife. “I think that energy goes into something else or to another thing that we can’t even imagine. The energy transfers.”

I personally wouldn't call "New Blue Sun" a jazz record, although the definition of jazz is surely subjective and debatable. It's a new age album in my opinion, more akin to the ambient electronics of Emerald Web than the spiritual jazz of say Pharoah Sanders.

If you're interested in listening to Outkast, I would recommend starting with their second or third albums, "ATLiens" and "Aquemini." They don't have a bad album in their whole discography, I just think that was their golden era in terms of what appeals to my ears (the Jesuits probably wouldn't approve).

Thank you so much for this Sam. I know we don’t talk about religion here and I mostly keep my own practices under my belt. I came to the Catholic Church full of objections and constant pouting and sarcasm but finally I just decided I was in. (Mainly due to Merton and other contemplative monks). I have stayed and dug in many years despite being bored to tears much of the time. But as much as it would delight most of the people I know to see all churches disappear, it’s hard for me to imagine a world with no religion. I think my church is just lost and dying and really doesn’t know what to do. But if we look to our Episcopalian brethren we might find some hope. My church has held all night U2 raves, I spent several days watching Tibetan monks create their sand thankas in the isle of our church, musical Taize with young people, vagrants, and musicians, dropping in after work.  So if inviting Andre 3000 to come do sets in the temple is happening now… it warms me.  (The Slang Word Pussy Rolls…?       )

celebrated my good showing in the Biathlon with a Sauna and cold plunge session.   the last two events I placed 2nd in pistol category but was not happy with my performance.  I probably will still be in second because Brian is really good and very fast but I shot my personal best on this course though I was probably slower than some of my other runs. Given the fact that each miss adds a 5 min time penalty I paced myself a bit to keep my heart rate in a good spot. then I did a massive sprint after the last shooting station. . 

I really needed the session this evening. I hurt my shoulder two weeks ago @ Willoughby and the cold plunge sauna sessions really have made a huge difference. also feeling my knee from running with snow shoes. Plus all the other aches and pains.   4 plunges and  3 saunas. the last one @ 178f.  It was 4.7f  ambient temp which is cold enough to freeze wet feet to the dock if you don't keep moving ;) 

Lori Milaswrote:

Thank you so much for this Sam. I know we don’t talk about religion here and I mostly keep my own practices under my belt. I came to the Catholic Church full of objections and constant pouting and sarcasm but finally I just decided I was in. (Mainly due to Merton and other contemplative monks). I have stayed and dug in many years despite being bored to tears much of the time. But as much as it would delight most of the people I know to see all churches disappear, it’s hard for me to imagine a world with no religion. I think my church is just lost and dying and really doesn’t know what to do. But if we look to our Episcopalian brethren we might find some hope. My church has held all night U2 raves, I spent several days watching Tibetan monks create their sand thankas in the isle of our church, musical Taize with young people, vagrants, and musicians, dropping in after work.  So if inviting Andre 3000 to come do sets in the temple is happening now… it warms me.  (The Slang Word Pussy Rolls…?       )

I recently watched a pretty good documentary about the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams called "The Lady Who Swings the Band," she converted to Catholicism after hitting rock bottom in her life and career. They showed some great footage of her playing at mass, very non-traditional music for a Catholic Church service, they seemed to embrace her nonetheless. Vince Guaraldi is another musician who comes to mind when I think about jazz and the Catholic Church, "Vince Guaraldi at Grace Cathedral" is an excellent album.

Not specifically Catholic, but John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" is undoubtedly the greatest "spiritual jazz" album ever recorded, I will never stop listening to this record. One play through "New Blue Sun" was enough for me.

Sam Cieplywrote:

I recently watched a pretty good documentary about the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams called "The Lady Who Swings the Band," she converted to Catholicism after hitting rock bottom in her life and career. They showed some great footage of her playing at mass, very non-traditional music for a Catholic Church service, they seemed to embrace her nonetheless. Vince Guaraldi is another musician who comes to mind when I think about jazz and the Catholic Church, "Vince Guaraldi at Grace Cathedral" is an excellent album.

Not specifically Catholic, but John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" is undoubtedly the greatest "spiritual jazz" album ever recorded, I will never stop listening to this record. One play through "New Blue Sun" was enough for me.

Thank you for all this, Sam! Who knew you would have so much to give here. So now I have new things to listen to.
thinking about this a little more I think my point was that religion should never be a separate thing. Music art sex joy climbing surfing having babies… It’s all one. So just feeling happy that Andre 3000 was welcomed into a church to do several sets without it having to be “religious“.

For about a year, my older son thought he was black, and in solidarity I made a valiant attempt to listen to some rap. It was mostly in fun but I came to enjoy quite a bit of rap. But, you know, it was never my thing and apparently I’ve missed a lot.  So, no time like the present!

Again, thank you so much. We can compare notes after I’ve had a listen.

Todd Berlier wrote:

this bit always made me laugh.

Hahaha! So true, but I still like Jazz…

 Noel needs to stick to Brit Pop…

Hmmm, never liked jazz, or the catholic church that I was bought up in, or any other religion for that matter.  I'm more of a rock or world music person and love Spanish influenced acoustic guitar.  I've also found some modern cello that I really like.

Jan Mcwrote:

Hmmm, never liked jazz, or the catholic church that I was bought up in, or any other religion for that matter.  I'm more of a rock or world music person and love Spanish influenced acoustic guitar.  I've also found some modern cello that I really like.

Name a few, not the cello...  

Russ Wallingwrote:

Name a few, not the cello...  

Of course, I often listen to Andres Segovia which is  true Spanish guitar…

Sorry, had to add Cello:

Russ Wallingwrote:

Name a few, not the cello...  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_7zkXv17QE

We love Eliades Ochoa, who became more widely known in the US with the movie Buena Vista Social Club. I don't know enough about music to say if this is Spanish-influenced.  He's Cuban.  If you've never seen that movie, it's fabulous.  Ochoa is 77 years old now.  We saw him live (for free!) at the Music Center in an outdoor concert last August. His voice isn't as beautiful as it was, but it was a wonderful experience.

Russ Wallingwrote:

Name a few, not the cello...  

Jesse Cook.  

Johannes Linstead.  

Dead Combo e as Cordas da Ma Fama.

And come on, try some cello: Zoe Keating - Into the Trees.

Li Hu... Slash?  GNR Slash?  It's beautiful.     Working my way through all these suggestions... 

I was a little disappointed in Andre 3000's new album, but if it is actually New Age, then that explains it but I will be catching up on Outkast.  

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What's on everyone's stove today? Jan... you must be cooking something.  

I'm committing mutiny in the kitchen today.  I told Tony I want to create my own 'signature pasta sauce'... to him this is total betrayal.  It is now cooking for 3 1/2 hours stovetop, and I have to keep an eye on Tony.  He wants to sneak into that pot to "correct" the recipe.    

This ingredients:

carrots

celery

onion

red wine

beef and pork

Tomato Sauce

Tomato Paste

Butter

Parmigiano reggiano 

and the secret ingredient.... CLOVES.  (?)  

No garlic, spices of any kind.  Just the above.  

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I had some distressing news a few days ago.  A FB friend, Amy, who is in my "Diabetic Ultra Endurance Athletes" site wrote about the physical crashes she endured after rock climbing outdoors for years.  She can handle 100 mile endurance races... but she had to give up strenuous outdoor climbing.  

"I have to spend way more hours in recovery than I want to, it's just something I have come to terms with.  I had to stop doing trad a few years ago because the extra effort was making me sick the following days.  Pushing my limits makes me physically crash the next day.  I try to push grades in the gym where the temperature is controlled, there's no hiking and carrying a heavy pack, and I have endless cool water and bathroom access.  I would say that the thing that helps me the most is intense hydration and branch chain amino acids on days I do full body endurance sports. With Type 1 being a metabolic disorder, our bodies struggle to metabolize food into energy.  So even with synthetic insulin, our bodies are still struggling at the cellular level.  Being wasted for days after is also a sign of other autoimmune diseases..."

I really appreciated her taking the time to write this.  At least I have a direction to look to. (So far, it's been is it aging? COVID? anemia? Diabetes? "e"?)  Yesterday was a whopper of a day out there... I was just 'off' energy wise so a 5.9 felt incredibly hard.  So when I got home and saw that my Whoop score was 20.5 (the maximum theoretical possible is 21), I realized today could be horrible.  So... I'm on the 'intense hydration' and BCAAs today and all last night... so far, I haven't had the usual hard crash.  

ZZZZZ  / a Vogel route on perfect granite. 

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Still trying to accept the death of Nalvalny.  Watching a documentary this afternoon called Navalny, and I've just been so sad.  Didn't we all know if he returned to Russia he would be killed?  In my eyes, he was a true hero. 

What's happening in Russia and Ukraine is very sad. I find it hard to believe we're abandoning Zelensky. 

I'll check out that music.  I know about Apoaclyptica and the Cuban stuff, and the movie was great!

My standard go to is just about any Al Dimeola, along with Paco deLucia et al.  A new-ish one for me is an odd pairing of I think a CostaRican guy and an Iranian... Strunz and Farah.  It is a fusion/flamenco sort of thing.  Well worth a listen.  Strunz/Farah

Russ Wallingwrote:

I'll check out that music.  I know about Apoaclyptica and the Cuban stuff, and the movie was great!

My standard go to is just about any Al Dimeola, along with Paco deLucia et al.  A new-ish one for me is an odd pairing of I think a CostaRican guy and an Iranian... Strunz and Farah.  It is a fusion/flamenco sort of thing.  Well worth a listen.  Strunz/Farah

Been listening to this one for 40 years now... 

Have to check this one out... didn't even know there was one...

wendy weisswrote:

What's happening in Russia and Ukraine is very sad. I find it hard to believe we're abandoning Zelensky. 

This is a very complicated situation and very sad.

Europe is about to go through a big recession. UK and Japan are officially stating as much. The only hope is to get the economies running again. Stop trade wars and allow free trade. Ouch, I sound like a staunch conservative, and I’m not … :-P