It is a sunny /cloudy day and again I sit down to play “ classical music”. It is “Vexations” by Eric Satie. It is not a restful piece of music. It is not the Beatles, not Bach, not Coltrane. In the ipod of my mind, it has been cycling back and forth. It does not bring me rest or peace. It has no peaks, no valleys. Mostly tritons. Tedium. I thought I knew what furniture music was.

I can hardly play it. I make mistakes every time I play it. Today I played it for 20 minutes. There is more in it. Another music theory lesson comes out… the shapes have some regularity. Both hand together is still a faraway dream, so I am alternating the left hand and right hand, with the implied harmonies. Bumbling along I am. I think of this crazy man, and how he put this together, with the purpose, of driving piano players mad.

I have a gig tomorrow night. I want to think, with excitement, of what I am going to play, with Larry the lyrical on trumpet, and Josh the young inventive bassist I am just getting to know. But all those great musics are latent, as my mind is stuck, sunshine and clouds, in Vexations. Erik Satie, I hate you.