Fallow, for a Future Growing Season

- Fallow, for a Future Growing Season
- Ears and Eyes: What I'm listening to and reading
     -Vaclav Havel, Brandon Seabrook and more
- Upcoming Gigs & appearances
     full calendar: https://patwictor.com
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Fallow, for a Future Growing Season

Dear folks -

You may have been wondering about my relative silence and absence in this time of streaming concerts and social media engagement.  Some of you may have seen posts on facebook acknowledging my various health challenges.  

In April, a couple weeks after coming out of being sick with Covid-19, I ruptured the distal tendon on my right biceps. I'd like to say it happened doing something exciting, but no, I’m embarrassed to say, it was from… opening a window.  I had surgery in late May to reattach the tendon. After two weeks in a cast and a month in a brace, my right hand was quite weak and immobile.   I’m now newly brace-free and have made my highest priority the rehabilitiation of my right arm and right hand.  It’s a full-time job, with the help of some great physical therapists.  So far, there’s been a lot of progress.  My reward:  for 5 minutes each evening, very gently and carefully, I play the dobro, in some of the best 5 minutes of my day.  Guitar isn’t possible just yet.  It’s going to take many weeks - months, even - to rebuild the strength and mobility of both the hand and the arm.  

Okay, but can't you still sing?  Yes.  And I love singing.  I'm continuing to practice, learn, and advance as a singer.  And - working on singing during my forced hiatus from guitar playing has made clear to me just how intertwined my music-making is with playing the guitar.  I mean, I freakin' love to play the guitar. For me it's a powerfully emotional, tactile and spiritual experience. I love the feel of the strings under my fingers, I love the vibration of the instrument against my body, I love the technical puzzles and conundrums it poses, the weight of it against me.  For me, the great joy of making music comes from the interplay and combination of playing guitar and singing.  Without one or the other, much of what drives me to do either is missing.

Okay, but why the silence on social media?  My eyes have been acting up too - a common problem in Covid-19 survivors - and spending less time in front of computers seems to help.

So, this is why I’ve been absent from public music-making in the last several weeks, and accounts for my planned absence for the next couple months or more.  I've canceled all scheduled streaming appearances through the end of October. I will be less active on social media as well, to let my eyes heal too - less screen time is better.

I’m not gone, nor anywhere near "retired" from music.  Just lying fallow and healing, for a growing season that lies in the future.  I don’t know when I’ll be able to make music again at the level to which I'm accustomed, or when I’ll be ready to announce streaming performances.  I’m taking it slowly and setting no deadlines - it’s going to be a while.  Thank you all for keeping track of me. I'll re-surface when my health has improved and I’ve regained proficiency on my instrument.  

The best of health and safety to all of you in these unsettled times.  May there be a better era - more just, humane, and creative - ahead.  May we have the patience, endurance, courage and mutual support to get there.
Warm regards,
Pat

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Eyes and Ears:  What I'm Reading, Listening to, and Watching

 -Books
Vaclav Havel, "The Art of the Impossible:  Politics as Morality in Practice"  https://tinyurl.com/y4flbomf
Ernst Fraenkel, "The Dual State:  A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship"  https://tinyurl.com/yxg3t36n

 -Music
Seal, "Best 1991-2005 Remixes" https://tinyurl.com/yyjlhbsf
Brandon Seabrook / Cooper-Moore / Gerald Cleaver, "Exultations"  https://brandonseabrook.bandcamp.com/album/exultations

 -Watch
"Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool" - Netflix
"Chasing Trane" - Netflix

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Upcoming Pat Wictor gigs and appearances:  
All canceled between now and the end of October.
Performances will be scheduled when I'm healthy enough to perform.