Suddenly so steep.
Continually making choices along the way
that speak only to my weaknesses.
The rut overtaking.
Rational thought.
Left with so many options.
We seem only to choose what is the worst for small wrong blamed.
For so much.
Tiny breadcrumbs never followed.
Realizing what is now and how it has become the punishment
for so many small errors and so few opportunities.
Taken and run with.
Why can I not learn from the mistake that I made only yesterday.
How come I forget the stolen moment
as well as the pull that once seemed so strong.
As my courage increases, I lose my sense of how it once was.
All the things that I used to fight for, I could care even less.
Now there are bigger issues.
I’ve completely lost my sense of pettiness
and my sympathy for those that complain, with so much.
Once I felt as if I owned nothing real,
that I had done nothing and only struggled to stay alive.
Fat, wasted, lacking purpose and self,
but yet all the overwhelming beauty in the world.
That which is standing right beside me.
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by David Chiu, Chronicle Contributor 10/29/2009
It was a miserable, rainy Saturday night outside of the Waltz-Astoria, a café and performance space on Ditmars Boulevard. But inside the intimate venue, jazz combo Short Memory was entertaining the patrons with the smooth sounds of live music.
Led by saxophone player David Aaron, 43, Short Memory’s music that night was mostly in the vein of traditional, old-school jazz, yet also sounded contemporary. It was evident that the band’s members were in a groove highlighted by Spencer Katzman’s graceful guitar licks and John Frederick’s sharp bass lines.
Aaron, with his warm-sounding sax-playing, is the focal point of the group. In addition to having appeared at venues such as Lincoln Center, the Knitting Factory and the Bitter End, the Toronto native, who now resides in Ozone Park, has recorded seven albums since 1995. But jazz wasn’t always on Aaron’s trajectory. He grew up listening to rock ‘n’ roll and R&B.
“It wasn’t until I hit my 20s that I started listening to more jazz,” Aaron said. “Now I love jazz — post-bop and a lot of 50s and 60s — but I didn’t grow up listening to it from a young age. When I started composing I kind of felt it was more jazz than anything else.”
Before arriving in New York, Aaron ran a music store in Toronto. He said that he had performed music just for fun and jammed with blues and rock groups. Once he settled in the Big Apple, he came across an advertisement in The Village Voice in which Roy Nathanson, the saxophonist and leader of the group the Jazz Passengers, was offering music lessons.
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