My Tango Diaries

I write less these days. I'm still thinking, dreaming, and being overwhelmed by tango. The words just don't make it to the page fast enough. Everything seems to be going by me so fast. An entire year has gone by so fast. And now a life gone so fast. Yesterday I got the news that a friend and coworker had passed away. I'd known him for 6 years. Breakfast tacos at 10am, the #5 bus in the afternoons, watching him glide down the street on his bike in terrible weather - routines that formed the fabric of a daily work life. Undone. He's gone and all of those tapestries he was woven into are unraveling. Made worse by so many other routines unraveling at my work. Like every other organization, we're worried about our jobs. Our processes are changing for efficiency's sake. We must all daily justify our worth (and expense) to our organization. No wonder we all feel like unraveling. When people are fearful, it's hard to join together. Empathy seems so risky. We scan th...

The digital quality of this video is a bit poor, which is a pity. The dancers interpret the music beautifully in places and music feels remarkably appropriate to tango. I may have to look into this band some more, as I really like the writing and the vocalist. The spaces in between Two minds and all the places they have been The spaces in between Description from YouTube, "This beautiful song by Stateless inspired us to make a tango music video. Danced by Moti and Gabrielle For tango information see www.organictango.com." Wake up look me in the eyes again I need to feel your hand upon my face Words can relay nice They can cut you open And the silence surrounds you and hunts you I think I might’ve inhaled you I could feel you behind my eyes You gotten into my bloodstream I could feel you floating in me Words can relay nice They can cut you open And the silence surrounds you and hunts you I think I might’ve inhaled you I could feel you behind my eyes You gotten into my bloodst...

One of my very favorite guitarists playing one of my favorite pieces of music. Can't think of a better way to start what will be a very long day.

My thoughts of tango go back to 2002 when I dreamt of tango... well, more of a conversation about tango. That's not precisely right either. I dreamt that I was walking home from work (I worked only about a mile from my apartment) when I was joined by a man I'll just call "the Librarian." I had known the Librarian since 1999, and so it was not unusual for him to occasionally end up in one my dreams. We got about half way to the apartment when we passed a small park with tree-covered patio. This park had never been on my way home before, but it was a dream and these things happen in dreams. The Librarian and I walked over to the patio and saw that people were dancing - dancing tango specifically. The music was the saddest, most beautiful piece of music I had heard to that point in my life. (And I listen to opera, it should be noted, so my collection of sad music is substantial.) I was hearing Astor Piazzola's Milonga Del Angel which I had probably heard earlier in t...

Lyrics: Uno busca lleno de esperanzas el camino que los sueños prometieron a sus ansias... Sabe que la lucha es cruel y es mucha pero lucha y se desangra por la fe que lo empecina. Uno va arrastrándose entre espinas y en su afan de dar su amor... sufre y se destroza hasta entender: que uno se ha quedao sin corazón... Precio de castigo que uno entrega por un beso que no llega o un amor que lo engañó... Vacío ya de amar y de llorar tanta traición... One goes searching full of expectations down the path that had been promised in one’s dreams to one’s desires... One knows the fight’s a vicious and a tough one but one fights it through the bloodshed with a faith that never tires. Time and again one clambers into thorns and in the urge to pledge one’s love suffers and gets destroyed until one learns that one’s been left without a heart at all... One pays it out as the price of being punished for every kiss that never comes or every love that leaves one fooled... too empty then to care and sh...