Sander Roscoe Wolff

A Little Seed
By Sander Roscoe Wolff
3-10-06 7:17 AM

The little boy in footy pajamas,
a shock of curly black hair,
curled into a tight ball on the floor,
impossibly small.
A finger moves, unfolds, and another
followed by wrist, so slowly, so slowly
so smoothly unfolding, his small form flowering.

This performance is his, and we love it.
A little seed sprouting into a flower,
his little body stretched straight,
his fingers reaching for the ceiling.
In those moments, no judgment or doubt,
just the simple joy of blossoming.

Forty years have slipped away,
the flower faded, withered.
That sweet, bright child
so full of innocence and joy,
seems distant now, barely a memory.
His loss lingers in my heart,
but I know he’s a part of
my essential self,
as close as my breathing.

Wait
by Sander Roscoe Wolff
3/11/06 3:02 PM

Burn in amber language
Acidic sparks explode
Wonderment cracks a code
Bent by my desire

Burn the fire down
Round turns back again
Pens point and write
The brightness

Crackle snap crack
Don’t lay on my back
Look me in the eye
And say you love me.

Burn your clothes
Run naked through the grass
The sun shines on your skin
Lets begin!

Turn a phrase, a phase
Of endless expansion
Tension released
The beast slumbers
In the ashes.

In the morning
dewdrops glisten
on your eyelashes and nipples.
I wait for you to wake.

When I allow myself to really see, not just with my eyes, but with my mind and heart, the world becomes so bright that I can no longer see. Everything becomes one, everything connected by the light. You and I disappear and become unity. This clarity, this perception, is rare and often painful because we cannot contain such beauty or truth, or sustain it for long. We see, we know, then return to this drab and mundane world, clinging to those moments of understanding. We feel their loss, ache for their return yet, even in their absence, we are sustained by them.

I got a custom case made for my new custom guitar, and decided to have a matching one made for my lap steel. The company that made them, Morris & Holmberg Cases in Santa Ana, did a pretty nice job. They used material I provided them, and painted it with a custom color. Sweet!

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The signal chain for my performance was:

The Gretsch BST-1500 and/or the Industrial Guitar Indy Rail > Ernie Ball VP Jr Volume Pedal > HBE UFO (fuzz/octave) > Analog Man Sun Face (NKT275 with Sun Dial mod) (fuzz) > HBE Psilocybe (phaser) > Marshall Vibrotrem > DOD DFX94 Digital Delay/Sampler > Line6 Delay Modeler > Fender Blues Jr. Amplifier.

I also used a cheap digital voice recorder, purchased in Little India, that I played by holding it against the pickup of the lapsteel. You can hear this about 5 minutes in. Later, I also use an Ebow to create long sustained notes. You can hear this toward the end, around 9 minutes or so.

The set of guitar effects I use is designed to provide me with a wide sonic pallet. Each one adds to or changes the sound in a distinctive way. I sometimes use them by themselves, or in combination with other pedals. With the 7 pedals, there are countless variations possible.

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I was privledged to be invited to perform at the 3rd anniversary of Dung Mummy, a performance event for experimental music, poetry, and other ecclectic creative energy. The event is hosted and organized by the Hop-Frog Kollectiv, a group of adventurous and creative artists from all over the Southland.

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Sierra is a lovely young lady who goes to Lauren’s old school. She and Lauren are friends, and we all enjoy her company when she visits. She’s a wonderful human being, with lots of wonderful qualities such as intelligence, humor, sweetness, cuteness, and our dogs love her.

She asked me to post a pic of her here, so I’m going to:

And here are some more!

We had a wee birthday celebration for Sierra at our house:

Make a wish!

I hope it comes true!

Carnita and the Magic Pozole

By Sander Roscoe Wolff

Once upon a time there was a dry dusty desert. Wolves and mice fought for seeds, cougars ate leaves, and everyone was hungry. One day a little girl named Carnita was walking to the store. Her mother had given her three pennies to buy a bag of beans. On the way she met a Bruja named Asada.

“I know you’ve got three pretty pennies, Carnita,” said Asada. “If you give them to me, I’ll give you a bowl of Magic Pozole!”

Carnita, not one to be fooled easily, was suspicious.

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See some early pix of the guitar project.

Here’s another pic of the guitar body. It has received several coats of boiled linseed oil, tung oil, and lacquer. Pretty!