GIST Walk 2009

GIST Walk 2009
This is a walk-for-the-cure for GIST on October 4th in Congers, NY at Lake State park. I don't have all the details-but I do plan on doing this. If you go to this site-you'll see many stories about living and dying with GIST-so heart breaking. I am absolutely incredibly lucky to be alive-that all of the cancer was encapsulated in the tumor-that they found it in time-that the surgeon got all of it out-that my blood work says "no cancer"-and to have the support of all of you. Today is my birthday-and trust me-this is THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!
thank you so much
love,
Diane
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photos from VCCA

Okay-so you're gonna say-what is this about..... I will tell you....this is the area in front of the studio barn, where we would go outside and eat lunch on the picnic tables-you can see a few artists out there eating. Just beyond that area is a parking area, and on the other side of the parking area is a meadow-where, while eating lunch-we saw a "teenager bear" one day, scampering across the meadow. A few of us yelled bear! bear!-and the bear stopped, stood up on it's haunches and raised it's paws way up in the air- as if to say either where? where? or maybe you got me! or better yet-humans! humans!-then it scampered off into the woods. A few days later, while hiking in the woods, 2 artists came across same bear-the artists slowly went backwards away from the bear-and when they were out of "bear sight" they tore out of there. We talked about that bear everyday.

This is the view from my bedroom in the fellows residence

This is a view of my studio from the northeast side.

I haven't had a chance to publish all of them yet-but here's a preview....the photo above is the road to the studio barn

mystery of the hair loss.....vitamin D

So I heard from my oncologist-it seems I am deficient in vitamin D-so now I'm taking 2000 IU's a day. I also found some biotin shampoo and conditioner that doesn't have a lot of chemicals in it-so I'm using that too. In talking with friends about this vitamin D business-I have found out that a vitamin D deficiency is the number one deficiency in the northeast. So if you're feeling fatigue, hair loss, memory loss and foggy brain, it's probably becuase you're not getting enough vitamin D-and don't forget-you have to take it with calcium in order for your body to absorb vitamin D. You could also sit in the sun for 15 minutes a day-unfortunately I can't-it's one of the big no-no's while taking Gleevec. However, I have been getting in the sun for 5 minutes here and there-and then ducking for cover-ha! I did hear from someone with GIST-on the Life Raft Support Facebook page-where I posted the hair loss problem-and she basically said all of the above-so maybe the hair loss is a lot more prevalent than my doc or Novartis knows....I'll be letting them know, you can bet on that. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/144710/27148611?m=6d54c0aa
You guys probably know this already-but in case you don't-the other new health tip I learned is for people with allergies, to eat local honey-it has to be within a 50 mile radius of where you live-and that should take care of your allergies.

video from VCCA

This is a little video I did for Debbie Gallant and her hyperlocal news website Baristanet
http://www.baristanet.com/2009/07/diane_moser_is_alive_and_well.php
I'm home now and will start posting photos and such from my residency at VCCA.....
stay tuned......

Update from Dmo in VA

Diane will be back from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts soon, but I recently received an update from her about her activities:

"So far I've just been doing solo piano sketches-and I'll flush them out when I get home for the big band. I was just thrilled that I finally got through this book called "Music of the Heavens" by Bruce Stephenson-which explains Kepler-but mostly explains how he arrived at all of his equations etc. All of the astro stuff goes right over my head-but I get the concept. Luckily, Bruce has the music part in the book. I also found a very cool article http://sscm-jscm.press.illinois.edu/v11/no1/pesic.html

I've only read a few pages of the Harmonice Mundi-even the Introduction is tough to get thru-ha!
But I think this project will be going on for some time.

Right now, I'm taking snippets of one of the sketches as a basis for a Soundpainting piece-that I'm doing on Saturday night-I'm getting the other artists involved-it's gonna be totally weird-but I'm really diggin' the process of this. Actually-the "musical portion" of Johannes K is very simple-very basic stuff-but when I put it together and into the context of the planets and their orbits-that's when it gets interesting.

For the next couple of days-I'm going back to transcribing some of the birdsong improvs that I didn't get a chance to dig into yet. Along with the Soundpainting on Saturday night-I'm giving a half hour solo piano concert-with 2 birdsongs-Amy Beaches' A hermit Thrush at Eve-and 2 of my older compositions-Myrtle Ave and For My Mother.

There was a reading tonight-really wonderful writers-Peter Ramos-poet, read a new poem and works from his book "Please Do Not Feed The Ghost" http://www.buffalostate.edu/library/rooftop/members/ramos.htm
and Pamela Durban-poet/short stories and novelist-read parts of her short story "Soon" which is in a collection of American Short Stories 1997, and I guess the new collection-Best American Short Stories of the 20th cent-edited by John Updike-I found a link for you http://english.unc.edu/faculty/durbanp.html
When she finished reading-everyone sort of "gasped" -it really did take their breath away.

A visual artist remarked to me after the readings-that one of the best things about coming to an artist colony is to hear/see everyone's work-it is very cool.

Friday night is an open studio tour for the visual artist-Sat I do my thing-another composer here is going to do a short thing-then we're having a big party because so many of us are leaving-and I announced that if the writers would read their work at the party-I would play piano with them-they're all really psyched about that."

Alexander Technique

While in California last week-I had 3 unbelievable Alexander Technique sessions-which I think technically are called "lessons"-with the wonderful teacher and healer Eileen Troberman.

This is a description from the main website "The Alexander Technique is a method that works to change (movement) habits in our everyday activities. It is a simple and practical method for improving ease and freedom of movement, balance, support and coordination. The technique teaches the use of the appropriate amount of effort for a particular activity, giving you more energy for all your activities. It is not a series of treatments or exercises, but rather a reeducation of the mind and body. The Alexander Technique is a method which helps a person discover a new balance in the body by releasing unnecessary tension. It can be applied to sitting, lying down, standing, walking, lifting, and other daily activities..." and here's the link http://alexandertechnique.com/at.htm
Eileen has her own website http://alexandertechniquesandiego.com/
Eileen helped me to relieve the stress from my surgeries and my hospital stay-and I am continuing to practice the lessons I learned from her. Here are some pictures that my friend, photographer and excellent foot reflexologist Grace took of one of my lessons with Eileen.
While Eileen was teaching me, there were times that I felt a great door had opened-and the tension that was released seemed almost "ancient"-in other words-tension from years ago as well as the surgeries. Then I felt lighter than a feather-just floating across the room.
Also, while working at the piano, the sound would change as the tension was released-and I didn't move my hands! It's all in the vibrations...;-)
That evening, Grace gave me a foot reflexology session-oh my, we discovered that there's still a lot of healing to be done, but Grace really got some energy moving through my legs and my abdomen.
The summer of healing continues...:-)
And one more thing-you'll notice from these pictures that I am loosing my hair at a very fast pace. I had a trim, and I'm using special shampoo, and taking vitamins but it's still falling out all over the place-so I'm just going with it.

Great fundraiser ...

on Sunday at the church in Montclair. There was a nice turn out, which was especially gratifying since it was such a gorgeous day. The church was flooded with sunlight and good feeling, kind of like being outdoors but better.

I got there after 4, but in plenty of time to hear a lot of great music from the Mike Kaplan Nonet, birdsong duets by D-Mo and Mark Dresser, and Diane's quintet. It was such a pleasure to hear Diane playing so well, and see her looking so great.

I have to single out George Cables' solo piano. The music was so beautiful and seemed to flow from him so effortlessly, it touched me deeply. I can't begin to explain what it did to me emotionally -- and words are my business. I'm tearing up thinking about it.

Last week I saw one of the final performances of August Wilson's great play "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." The heart of the story is what happens to a person who loses his song. That passed through my mind while listening to George play. I was hearing someone totally in touch with his song. I'm deeply grateful.

More soon ...