Journal

Long day of rain forecasted. I am lucky to be wearing my heavy wizard robe after much heat recently.

‘Forest Path’ tea courses through my stomach w/ growing intensity as the rain’s audio occasionally pierces through my consciousness.

The gentle sounds of the Moon Kettle have done a remarkable thing, perhaps in combination w/ the rain: I don’t have a song stuck in my head — just an occasional brrrring of the kettle’s 4 note jingle into signaling: “boil complete.” Of course, the white noise of rain is an absolute treat and treasure. Nothing can compare. My cat is entranced, I think by grasses nodding as they get hit.

Now try white paper for the rest of the entire book, as Umpa goes to vomit. I am a bit worried about him — he doesn’t seem quite as virulent as usual. We cuddled this morn — he came to the lap of the robe — and it was truly glorious. He escaped at midnight on July 4th and ate a lot of grass that was vomited the next morning — I was happy to see he still has plenty of mischief.

Not sure if we have internet today or not. It’s probably nearing 8 am — I began preparing for tea at 6:45. My stomach feels scraped. This tea is powerful! Forest Path — the very first sip I sensed the marks of a hidden path in the way the after-taste flowed. But since, it’s been a bit too strong — I’ve been barreling through w/ machete.

Dear Readers,

On this 250th anniversary of a hot mess of a country I figure I might as well pile on. Because Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays, on the anniversary of Cranky’s release one year ago, it’s time to share more music.

I’ve been graced with the opportunity to be working on two new musical projects, each of which are duos with a singular other musical specimen (with a little help from our friends). And as fate would have it, both albums have been completed at the same time. (The doldrums of bureaucracy will of course space their release out tantalizingly).

One album is with a usual suspect : Samuel Huntington (lead singer of Mobile Steam Unit). Approximately 10 years ago, we flirted with the side project called LARGE TEENZ that only ever had one song and a dilapidated Tumblr account. Now, living on opposite shores, with MSU deep in hibernation, the duopoly has remarkably resurfaced. More on this soon (and attached).

The other project is an unexpected startup with a newfound friend living nearby named Alex Letourneau. Being freaks, we quickly gravitated towards the band name Rattlesnake Rectum. We’ve since tried to rename it many times but failed.

I’ve grown weary of waiting for Spotify and all various furloughed delays. So I made a website and put the song on it:

Apollonius Identity

(I haven’t yet reached out to the guy that wrote the book that inspired the song. Looking at his website, I think there’s a chance he will like it.)

You will also find an array of disperate information on patrickmanian.com. Don’t worry if you can’t absorb any of the information now, we will be going through it in sparse detail over the coming months. A couple of things you’ll notice: I’ve been part of perhaps too many bands, and I have been writing.

There is some preliminary photographic memorabilia attached. Thanks to my stupendously lovely wife for styling the men’s robes with Cremona Studios garb.

Patrick Manian

ps. Soon enough, electronic mail will squeeze me onto a newsletter service. You’ll automatically be ported over there unless you tell me no. You are also welcome to tell me that your friends deserve to be subjected to this triage.

I just finished reading the entirety of the Lord of the Rings for the second time. Once around age 18, and now again at age 36. I had no idea how good it was until this time around. All the old-fashioned language and silliness that made the first read a struggle reads to me now as precious. I think the ingestion of film and digital lore in-between readings, as well as reading the Silmarillion a few times, Hobbit a few times, and all the others has made the original stand out in its unique voice and pacing. The endless backstory, dipped into seemingly at a whim, was what kept me hooked as a younger lad and what launched me into lore. Reading it through this time, the poignant nature of look-backs into the imaginary past struck me as true reverie not unlike real life as so many memories of my ‘real life’ have already collected quite a misty haze. And of course, knowing the plot, I was in no rush to get anywhere and hence the jaunt felt all the more textured, relaxing and pastoral.

The truth is being laid bare: I have only myself to turn to. Teachers need not be stagnant. They may now come and go with the wind.

May the whole world realize the truth that we are all one living body

It’s all about clarity. Because the root of everything is right here, right now.

The thought is that simple. The practice of this is always fresh and never ends.

Dear Ear Dreamers,

I’m reading Lord of the Rings again... (fuck, its good). Apparently Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays. Bilbo calls it “not a bad system.”
So today, on this bizarre national holiday that shares my birthday, I’m following suit—and giving you a gift:

An album called Cranky.

I conceived it in 2023 after a few years growing desert dough, though a handful of these songs go back a decade. A handful are ‘city’, some are more ‘folk’.

I don’t know if this is a genre, but I keep thinking of these tunes as headphone music — one-on-one, emotional, raw, genre-jumping and far from perfect. In a day when AI is soon to top the charts, I don’t expect this to be playing in any clubs. It veers towards solitude and a long stare at the ceiling.

I have many people to thank for this coming to be.
Andrew Stevens (drummer for more projects than I can find) for playing the drums on all the songs and engineering machinations out in the high desert.
Joe Ulmer (Rann drummer) for mixing the city ones with proper super fund slime.
Tim Walsh (Jimbo Norman / Stepkids drummer) for mixing the country ones with proper twang.
Ivan Anderson (Cyberattack/Sweet Fix) for Peace and Quiet picking.
Jeff Manian (MSU/Sweet Fix/Jimbo Norman) for B3 magicals on Tired Along.
Dan Manian (MSU/Jimbo Norman, WWB) for laying down (too) many good bass takes on Lost my Way.
Hannah Gentiles for making my photo likeness crisp.

Happy listening! May you find some old memories and enjoy some new feelings.

P.S. I’ll call out the 3rd song. It’s a quirky one that keeps creeping closer to my heart. It has to do with the Buddhist notion of ‘attainment’ After all these years, how good it feels to realize I’ll never attain anything!

P.S.S. The USA, a monastery I am quite fond of in the Catskills and I all ‘began’ today. It’s always been a confusing day to me. The disparate forces of hot dogs, fireworks, long silences, peace, pain and my desire for ice cream cake all seem swirl together — especially the way America is going these days. And yet, there is hope, because in at least some sense, we are all free — even when we’re Cranky.

Happy 4th of July.

What do you think of this statement?

Philosophizing at its core is to help guide our rational mind back towards intuition and sensation

I trust the world to put us where we are needed.

Is nostalgia a trap?

Sporty is a masterpiece filmed in a vile apartment based on a huge jacket and a timeless truth: sports.

https://youtu.be/gdwchohlMjI

GM throwback to desert tea with my shadow in March

Truth is fundamentally scarce but infinitely divisible