A Naked Baby Photo ...

While I was at my parents house in Michigan this summer I came across a box of old cassettes.  One of the tapes was of the Grosse Pointe North "Senior Concerto Concert" on June 1st, 1995.

In 1995 my older brother was in a band that lacked a drummer but wanted to play in the concert (I assume someone in the band was a senior in high school at the time).  I was twelve at the time, and though I got a drum set for the previous christmas, I hadn't been playing much longer than a few months.  Somehow intense shyness and lack of musical ability didn't stop me from playing with them.

We played an epic eleven minute version of the Allman Brothers' classic "It's Not My Cross To Bear" complete with a kazoo solo and what sounds like a violin (though I have no memory of any violin player).  Anyway, for your listening pleasure, here it is:



Sound quality is not the best, but what do you want from a cassette that's been sitting in a basement for fifteen years ...

Melodramatic But True

'Nuff said.

New Guitar

While I was in Michigan this summer I got a new guitar.  I've had it for a while, but I've only recently been able to start recording with it (and blogging about it).  My previous guitar was a hand-me-down faux-Stratocaster made by Washburn called a "Lyon".  It worked pretty well for me for the last ten years, but lately it has not been doing so well.  In the summer, my dad and I went to our local music store under the pretense of looking at guitar strings.  I was very close to buying a Fender Jazzmaster.  After thinking on it for a few days, we came back and that day the store got in a shipment of Gibson hollow-bodies.  I was reluctant because my dad's Gibson ES-335 is so big, but the ES-339 is the same but with a smaller body.  Once I tried it, I couldn't go back. The fact that it was about as much as my first car was also cause for some deliberation.  Anyway, I bought it and managed to get it back to Providence safely.   Here are some pictures:

So far I really love it - sounds great (sustain!), plays great.  Now to make some time to record with it ... 

For all your upcycled / vintage jewelry needs ...

Alex has been making cool jewelry for a while now, but she finally opened her Etsy Store where you can buy some of it for yourself.  It's way stylish, so check it out!

A hitch in my git-along

I took a short trip to Seattle to see my friend Michael.  While I was there I saw some shows and did some recording at his Empty Sea studio.  While we were taking a short motorcycle trip on Orcas Island, I dropped his 400+ pound Triumph Bonneville on my foot.  The bike was mostly fine (just one bent turn signal and shifter), but it was sad because it was such a beautiful ride and the rest of our day was spent finding a clinic, getting x-rays, and waiting for the ferry back to Seattle.

Anyway, since then I have had a limp.  When I got back to my carrel in the library, I was going through the calendar of folksy sayings that Alex gave me and this one really fit the bill.