Today I paid a visit to my son's classroom, where they are preparing for the big "Kinderconcert" field trip tomorrow at Orchestra hall. I brought in the 12-string and gave a small presentation to a captive audience of 4 and 5-year-olds.

I played "Twinkle Twinkle" on the low strings, then on the high. And then on both finishing with a flourish (basically just an open E chord but it seemed to impress them). Then we all sang together while I played.

We talked about how different instruments work together to make music sound better and I answered questions like if it's harder to play 12 strings, what the tuning pegs do, etc.

I told them that music is for everyone, and that anybody can learn to play an instrument - It just takes practice.

At the end they all clapped and practiced the two new words they learned this week - "Bravo!" , "Encore!" You can laugh at me if you want but that is the only time I have heard those words spoken aloud while I had a guitar strapped to me.

My son capped it all off with "Thanks for coming! See you tomorrow!"

He better hope that I come back before then.

Labels: Family, fatherhood, Life, Music

I can always count on the youngest of my big sisters to send me those feel-good emails with the animated puppies and kitties with their subtle warnings of dire consequences if I don't forward the email to at least 6 people.

But today she took a break from puppies and kittens to send me an email about a woman who purchased a 2006 Hummer H3 and converted it into a 'rolling memorial' for her son who was killed in Iraq. The H3 features a 25,000 paint job (a good-hearted body shop did it for her at cost for $3k) and you can see photos here.

I'm sure that there are a lot of people who see that as a touching homage to fallen heroes. Personally I see it as spending 3 grand worth of petroleum-based paint on a gas guzzler with a pathetic 16 MPG combined rating.

I am not some environmentalist global warming greenpeace nutjob, and the last thing I want is to be perceived of as bashing anyone - least of all a parent of a fallen veteran - But JEEZ, lady! I don't really do politics on this site but the sick irony of this story left me shaking my head as I watched a grief-stricken fellow countryman go out of her way to put money into the hands of her child's murderers.

Labels: Peak_Oil, The_News

The other night I dreamed that we were playing an extended set in some auditorium. For some inexplicable reason we began playing "Going to California." Even more bizarre was that I was singing it, hitting every note and even ad-libbing in a convincing fashion.

It all came crashing down when I reached those "Seems that the wrath of the gods Got a punch on the nose..." lines when suddenly I realized it was my normal voice, the one that I would probably sound like if I were to attempt to sing the song during my waking hours. I stopped the song and asked for the house lights.

As they came up to my horror I saw that there were only six people left in the auditorium, and they were people that I knew. I began to apologize profusely for my singing but somebody called out that it was OK because nobody had been able to hear anything for the last hour anyway.

I then looked down and realized that my "Microphone" was actually the 4-D-Cell mag Light flashlight that I keep by my bed. The dream jumped ahead to after the show when we were packing up our gear and I was stopping a stage manager from walking off with our hi-hat.

I woke up with a sense of anxiousness as though there were actually music gear nearby that I was supposed to be packing.

Labels: Dreams, Music

There's dull ring or buzz somewhere behind my right eye that has been droning for the last week or so, with occasional frantic screeches like a giant fish is stripping line off of a fishing reel in my mind. The drag is set too tight friends, and the line is unbreakable. The gears are starting to smoke.

I have been stressed out at work, which I avoid writing about so as not to get dooced. Suffice it to say that There is a lot going on and I am over extended. I find myself working until 6:30 at night, going home and logging back on at 10 to write embarrassing (Lack of) progress reports.

The second two panes of this cartoon pretty much says it all.

Labels: Life