Travel Diary: South By Southwest

(26 September 2012) JACKSON, MS — The course of my life is slowly starting to become clear. Well, not my entire life, but the next little while.

I arrived in Jackson on September 21. I’m staying with my friend Mike and his family. He’s one of the most important people in my life, but we’ve been out of touch for a few years, which was my fault. It was way past time to correct that mistake, and it’s turned out to be a wonderful reunion. Mike is one of those people whose advice is always good and whose support is unconditional. Folks like that are very rare.

On my way here last Friday, I found out that I was accepted into the residential program at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM. I’m extremely excited to go there. I just got my plane ticket this morning — I’ll be going to New Mexico on October 16. Being in the residential program means following this schedule [PDF]. The residents serve as both students and staff, keeping the center in order for the folks who are there on retreat. I’m going for a one-month trial. If I’m a good fit for Upaya and if Upaya is a good fit for me, I’ll stay for three months, at the end of which time I can renew, leave, or decide to stay for a year.

Upaya has a chaplaincy program that I’m very interested in. Each spring, one resident gets to enter that program for free (rather than paying the regular tuition), so that’s one path I’m exploring.

I spent about 10 days in New York City before coming back down south. I stayed in the home of Jonathan Matz, a member of The Jazz Session and an extremely nice guy. We talked about music and life plans and cycling — and Jonathan let me grill him about Judaism, too.

I had lunch one afternoon with Scott Burton, who is one of the most open-minded, forward-thinking, creative people I know. I met him in Richmond, VA, during the tour and was happy to see him again in New York.

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with Kate, which was wonderful. Of course it was hard to leave, especially given how long it will be until we see each other again. I’m headed to Upaya, she’s headed to Japan in January. (You can follow her exploits at katemoser.wordpress.com.) We left in a good emotional place and without making any predictions or promises. But I’ve got a food feeling about our future.

I spent a lot of time with my sister, too. She’s been such a big help to me as everything has been collapsing, and I can’t thank her enough. (Thanks, Sis!)

I also did a bunch of interviews for The Jazz Session while I was in New York. Except for the first one, all the interviews were with women. The show has been way too male recently, so it was good to get back to some kind of balance. As it turned out, those were my final interviews, because I decided to end the show. My last interview was with Natalie Cressman. She was a really good guest, so it was nice to end on a high note. It’s very weird to think of not doing more jazz interviews, but I have a feeling I’ll be back with a different show in the future.

One of the people I interviewed was Nadje Noordhuis, a trumpet player whose new, self-titled album is one of my favorites of 2012. I went to see her the night before our chat at Dizzy’s Club Corn Syrup, playing with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and Marlena Shaw. Marlena Shaw sure knows how to grab and hold an audience.

I also got a chance, on the same night, to see my pals in The Respect Sextet play at Le Poisson Rouge and Anat Cohen play at the Village Vanguard. Both were excellent.

I wrote some poems, too:

• “Hemingway’s mustache”
• “Prospect Park”
• “waiting for a sign of recognition that came never”
• “night bus”

Then it was back on a Greyhound bus for a quick 29-hour ride from Manattan to Jackson, with transfers in Baltimore, Richmond (VA) and Atlanta. Tomorrow night I’m leaving Jackson and going to Auburn, Alabama, for a couple weeks to see all the lovely people I met on my tour. I had planned to stay there for a couple months, but then my application was accepted at Upaya.

A few weeks ago I had no idea what was going to happen to me or how I was going to keep the show going or where I was going to live. Now I have some clarity on those points and a feeling of at least some control over my life. It’s a good feeling.