The first ever second consecutive Jam Night at Breuekelen Coffee House TOMORROW!

It's that time again, y'all.

   Breukelen Coffee House will again play host to Secondary Sound Jam Night tomorrow, October 18th 9pm!  We've got great musicians, artists, writers, producers, deejays, emcees, and more joining us from Crown Heights and beyond!  All creative or otherwise interested folks are invited to check out amazing music improvised in the moment.  

   Last week we had a blast with Charlie Porter and Freddy Gonzales rocking a mini improv brass section, and we want more!   We look forward to many others joining the voice of Brooklyn, so come lend yours!  Beginners are encouraged to wet their feet in a positive, creative space with amateur and professionals alike.  Remember: there are no wrong notes.

   BYOB and bring your own instruments (though as of now we have a drum kit and an acoustic/electric guitar available) to BCH tomorrow night to see and create the best of what our nucleus of culture has to offer.  You might find exactly what you're looking for..

-Aaron Cotler

--Secondary Sound

P.S. As always, feel free to email if you have any questions, or are interested in donating your time, instruments, money or ideas.

Labor Day Recession

I want to take this time to talk about our servants.  You may not be rolling in dough like Coke McDuck, but even you have servants.  Your waitresses and waiters.  Your Duane Reade, CVS, Rite Aide checkout persons. Your bank teller.  All these people took jobs out of necessity or desire, consciously or unconsciously rooted in their ability to help people.

    These troubled economic times are a challenge to many of us.  Unemployment is touching 9.1% as of this Labor Day weekend writing.  Almost 1 in every 10 people in the country is out of a job.  Is that a lot?  It sure sounds like it.
   But challenges also represent opportunity.  This economic stagnation is a thinly veiled blessing for many.  I'm an optimist, so I assume even the most down-and-out American can find at least a kernel of growth from being put through the ringer as is.  Being forced into idle time that must be filled with only productive action seems to me a fertile ground to plant new ideas.  Finding new ways to feed thy self, new ways to find shelter or new ways to communicate-adaptation out of necessity is what we do.  Those who have nothing left have nothing left to lose.

We will prevail.

I've been in the food service industry my whole life.  I always comforted any fears of job security with my father's voice in my head, "You can tend bar anywhere.  You could bartend your way across Europe!"  The corner stones of every civilization: the church, and the tavern.  A blessing of a work ethic has allowed me to always find a job when I needed it.
   I'm not saying I've been everywhere and done everything inside the service industrial complex, but I know working in service has taught me more things about myself and my fellow humans than I could have ever learned at Phelan University City College.
   If not for the self-exploratory purposes, then for the backstage pass for food and drink considered expensive, even inaccessible to the masses/civs/suits. It's an admittedly intoxicating feeling.
 
   All this rambling had a purpose, I think - all I'm trying to say is if you happen to be in the food service industry, you probably have main pursuits that are your ticket outta that hellhole.  And even if you don't, if your means is your end, this is especially for you: You can change the world by actively intending yourself to being "of good service" twenty minutes before your shift.

Breath.  Think about all the people you will take care of tonight.  Think of how good good service feels, how a bad night can be turned on its head from a few minutes' action in the course of a meal.

Yes, there's asshole customers, bosses and coworkers.  If it's intolerable, you can always look for another job - and actively looking to improve your situation makes the situation much more bearable.  Maybe bearable just long enough for the asshole to sabotage themselves.  Nobody enjoys being reminded they're a  servant, but if you serve for pay, you have a job, and a lot of folks aren't even that lucky, so you might as well do your job well.  Leave more positivity in the world than there was before your shift.

To any customers: go easy on your servers.  Do you have any idea how much their job sucks?

Thanks for reading,
Aaron

Obfuscation ad absurdum. That was all my smart in one sentence.

   I am the luckiest person, ever.

   I mean, I'm still alive at twenty-six, which is a feat not accomplished by many people.  I am alive, twenty-six, and living during the early aughts.  A feat not accomplished by a great, great many people, and that thought gets me through the day on occasion.

    Everything is going well enough.  I have paying job, I have loving and committed girlfriend, I have adorable kitties.  More to come soon?

Lo, Survival occurs.

It's been a while since I've written.  I had a rough day.

Sundays are not easy - the long shift.  Not as long as some, longer than others, but always looming, waiting to suck up a day of my life to serve the mostly young and beautiful who are stopping in for respite from a moderately brutal New York Summer day to indulge in a perspiring Pilsner, fresh-out-the-fryer, asiago-dusted french fries and the ever zippy, ever playful, Blue Point oyster.  I know.  It's my job.  I get it.  I'm just saying it wears on me.

Lo, survival occurs.  Always a good thing.

On an AWESOME note, I recently finished reading Dancing Wu-Li Masters, though I feel it important to stress the distinction between read and retain in this instance.  Still, it opened me up to the possibility that very mystical systems in the realm of the very small account for an illusion of stability in the realm of the everyday.  Better yet, it opened me to the possibility that the former could be acted upon to affect the latter.

Open to that possibility, I have begun reading Pursuit of Happiness, and am already feeling its benefits.

I have been working my hands ASSES off.  Woodshedding does a body good - I'm working on bringing my non-dominant left up to speed and control of my right.  I have been trying to teach myself to be ambidextrous, brushing my teeth with my left hand, writing southpaw, chopsticking leftly.  Just in case it might help.  I've been feeling more confident in my playing than ever before, and I just want to practice all of the times.

Also started ear training  with David Lucas Birge, who's quite a goof.  I want to have coffee with that guy.  He seems too nice to drink.  I'd like to prove to myself perfect pitch can be learned.  What musician wouldn't?

I have been playing guitar.  Like, writing music.  It's a lifetime process I'm just beginning maybe a little later than I should have, but at least I'm giving it a shot.  Hey, it might be fun.  And it might be good!

I'm trying to find my role in a budding business venture, I'm trying to find cohorts, I'm trying to find my purpose.  It's big times, y'all, and it's happening now.

Well, I feel better.  If you don't also feel better, here's a kitty playing the piano!