Thoughts from the studio and beyond…

This vid is of a home built shovel guitar. The performance leaves me a bit flat but, then again, all loop based music does that for me. It’s interesting for a couple of minutes but the idea of listening to an album of this stuff would send me running and screaming through the woods. I gave some thought, briefly, to adding this as a Dorkfest candidate. The cleverness of the tuner installation on the shovel handle, the fact that he plays in tune and in time, and no costumery kept him out of the running. I’m sure he’s grateful for that.

I am still playing from sheet music on a daily basis as per one of my 2012 goals. It is still a brutal ear bashing but is getting better. It’s difficult to stay on the written page when I would rather just be fiddle shredding by ear. Ah well, no gain without pain.

Lots to say and a short time to get it down so I’ll begin with a spot of shameless promotion. Friday night the Rundmans (Bruce and Noble) and I will be playing the Franklin Square Inn up on the seventh floor. Thank goodness for elevators! The job is an 8:00 to midnight affair and is open to the public. They serve fantastic food so an early arrival for dinner and then music might make for a perfect date. Why should you wait until Valentine’s to be a hopeless romantic? We will be crankin’ an eclectic blend of the 80′s, 90′s, and beyond with traps, guitar, and an assortment of acoustic instruments including, but not limited to, violin, mandolin, accordion, tin whistle, bohdran, and bouzouki.

Thursday is a lesson day for the mando and fiddle bunch. Nels Kilpela at Good Times Music is kind enough to lend some space for that purpose. Stop in and support the local music business if you get a chance. You won’t be sorry you did. The Burbot trap comes out of the river today. There will be a couple of hours worth of ice chopping involved but the fresh fish will be well worth the effort. I also pound out an hour on the Anglo concertina as a matter of practice and proficiency tonight once the fish are all cleaned. So much for the synopsis; I’ll write more when I can.

My apologies for the lapse in posts to begin the new year. It is based on the relapse that accompanied the cold that rang in the new year for me. I got VERY sick again three days ago. A trip to the hospital/doctor and a new medication seems to be getting things under control again. All in all, this has been a couch-ridden crappy couple of weeks but hopefully recovery waits patiently around the corner for me… Now, on to the veiled news I promised in posts just before Christmas.

The last seven or eight months I have reworked, on again-off again, the “Psalter for the 21st Century”. The poems were tightened up a bit from the Kindle available version, a dedication and forward were written, and full color coffee table style illustrations were added to each poem. I also have been squirreling away money and working with a printer. Long story short, the book goes to print on a limited run the end of this month. The full color coffee table version is in industry standard 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 glossy paperback. Due to the 60 full color photos they are insanely expensive to print (My cost is $28.31 per copy.) and I will sell them for $30 postage included. Depending on where you live I will lose between 50 cents and a buck and a half per copy at that postage paid price. I don’t care since this was a vanity self-help project from the very start during the time I was recovering from a stroke. The poems were written to help me heal. In the meantime I have found that others have found them inspirational also. I am happy to share them with others rather than make any profit from that which God laid at my threshhold.

Special Note: The low-cost, poems only version will still be available through Kindle and Amazon. I also will continue to email a copy free to anyone who can’t afford the $1.50 or can’t figure out how to have Kindle installed on their computer. They just need to drop me a line as per the instructions in the dropdown above and I am happy to do it.

It’s not the warm weather which is sending us to the camp at the lake today. I need to pick up some lumber, ice fishing equipment, and just check on things in general. It will also be nice to catch up on the local gossip at the coffee shop. It’s one of those places that everyone is nice to you until you leave; then they talk about your shortcomings. And EVERYONE seems to be fully flawed. The key to sainthood is to stay, drink coffee, and be the last one out the door.

To date, and I know it’s early, I have been able to keep my resolution to read music an hour daily. Concertina and violin have been the heavy hitters so far. This written music stuff is absolutely brutal but I intend to keep at it as long as physically possible… at least until my ears rebel and demand something more demandingly musical.

With the arrival of 2012 I once again resume a weekly lesson schedule. To date, all students are either of the fiddle or the mandolin inclination. That means there is room for a banjo or two yet if anyone has made the five string a resolution for the New Year. As it stands, I could still take two more students for the winter if there is anyone brave enough to brave the cold. Just give them a call at Good Times Music (906-482-0245) and the great folks there will get you signed up.

Today, while still in recovery, I played the snot out of the concertina. The dog and cat were alternately rocking and slinking throughout the living room. I didn’t care. I was too busy stomping and smiling. For those of you who are relatively new to the blog, the girl I played today looks like this.

I have been couchbound for the last several days. At first I didn’t mind since I actually needed a touch of R & R. Now, as I start to feel slightly better, I am afflicted with another disease named Shackhappiness. I need to get out and about. Today that shouldn’t be a problem since there is a fresh foot of snow in the drive and I will need to plow. I have little patience for personal illness and consider it a major inconvenience at best. So, enough with the complaining!

This year I will finally begin to reduce my collection of instruments. It is another disease with which I am deeply afflicted. I tell myself I won’t buy any more. I cross my heart. I make the ‘stick a needle in my eye’ promise. Then I pick one up at a festival and play. After a time I hear this voice asking how much it costs. The voice sounds strangely familiar. As I walk back to my campsite I notice that I am carrying an extra case and my face is stretched into a disproportionate smile. When I get home the inevitable question comes up. How many guitars/mandolins/banjos/violins/concertinas/et cetera can you play at the same time? The question is a trap. All I know is that when I pick up an instrument, ANY instrument, that sounds good and is a joy to play I turn into another being. One which has no control over his sensibilities or wallet. I know for a fact that I can’t quit buying, so my resolution for the year is to sell more than I buy. Wish me luck.