post #250

Good morning gentle readers,


This is my 250th post since moving my blog here. I have about 3 years worth of entries on MySpace. I guess I've been blogging since 9-30-2005. (myspace blog)


Rainy Monday morning here. Puppies sleeping hard. Next, guitar playing. Working "The Mountain Wins Again" into a single acoustic version. Adding a few interesting songs to my collection. "Oh Atlanta," "Closing Time,"  "Big River Blues," "Champagne Supernova," and ever closer to memorizing "Carolina In My Mind."


I have an appointment with a radiation oncologist this afternoon. I'll go in everyday for 20-25 times as a precaution against any further cancer. Hope the side-effects aren't too unpleasant. Awfully tired of side-effects.


PGroove is playing at the new Ziggy's on Saturday. I hope to make it to the show. Been a while since I've gotten to hear any live music.

clean screen

Home from the Oncologist's office. No cancer found. Radiation starts in two week. Getting some exercise every afternoon. Feeling a bit better and a bit relieved. 

playing solo

The art of arranging most songs for the single acoustic and vocal can be quite daunting. There are rhythms from the various instruments that have to be incorporated as this might be an integral and recognizable feature of the song. So the right hand is in charge of the rhythm. The left must form the basic chord structure, although the multiple instruments may have been used to produce the original. A picking style added a few notes to the chords can fill the space between them and incorporate the melody line in to the songs. It is my opinion (well I guess it all is) that the song needs to be reasonably close to the original. At the same time, one must make the song their own. No point in just copying somebody's song.

Singing can also be difficult. I'm basically a baritone but so many singers are tenors and songs range pretty high on the scale. I occasionally have to use a lower harmonic line to avoid screeching like a wounded owl. In my opinion, the songs we choose and the way we arrange the song is what we can bring to the music.

good morning and Hummingbird

Good morning friends and visitors.

Early morning movie is Brainstorm (1983) with Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood (her last movie). The movie explores the idea that memories can be recorded and played back. Filmed in North Carolina this is one of my favorite movies.

The Gibson Hummingbird. Been playing it everyday. Lovely Gibson neck, a bit more narrow than the J-200, but just the way I like them. Wide enough for finger style but narrow enough for strumming. Loud and deep, but unlike the J-200, the upper register is more pronounced. More even across the range than any of my guitars, and with the characteristic dip for the vocals. I A/B'ed against the Santa Cruz yesterday. Similar but different, brighter. Love the coloring (burst) and of course, the pick guard.

Off to have breakfast at Toast, then a CT at Presby Huntersville. I don't see how they'll find anything, but off we go to spend more money on staying alive.

Feeling better everyday but the fatigue is awful. So miss being active and social. Skye had another seizure yesterday and seems to come through ok. Yea Skye.

HBird

Getting to know the new girl. Cannot find a flaw on the instrument. I think the universe is making right for all the last 6 months of surgery and chemo. I first played a H'Bird when I was 15 (1972) and never forgot that sound. Been waiting for this girl for 39 years. How's that for patience?

Got this email today. Sweet.

• •  "I would love to see you! I was just was looking at some of the old pics you took once upon a time. it is so nice to look at those pictures and see how happy I am (as well as everyone else there). You and you alone have captured so many of my favorite moments in my life. I want to thank you for that. It really means a lot to me".

New Guitar Day

I bought a 2009 Gibson Hummingbird acoustic today. I have been looking for another Gibson for a while now, checking Craigslist here and in this part of the state. Yesterday this one appears and the seller is only 5 miles away. It took me three years to sell the piano and within two weeks, the 'Bird shows up. I'd been joking that there was a guitar hidden in that piano. Well, there was and here it is.


I was considering other Gibson models, the Dove and the Songwriter. But what I wanted most was the HB.


The Humming bird is a an icon in the acoustic guitar world. When I was a budding guitar player, I had a chance to play one of these and have wanted one ever since. This was in 1974. I never forgot that tone.


While it is used, I expect she'll sound even better after she's been played up over the next few years.

emotion and logic

I'm in the shower, which takes less time as I have no hair to wash and where I do my best thinking, and a new thought comes to mind. Being human, the pull between following emotion or reason is the bane of our existence. Following either to the exclusion of the other, makes life boring or chaotic. Finding a balance is the art to living an full and interesting life.

A little over two years ago my girlfriend broke it off with me and starting seeing my best friend. Emotion led the charge and I was unhappy for a long time. Working through both emotional and reasoned arguments, I was able to slowly move from more emotional thinking and towards logical thoughts. Eventually I was able to forgive them both.


Back to the shower. I discover a new thought. My friend actually did my a favor by relieving me of a woman who was heading for an emotional breakdown. I don't have much interest in drama these days and had things not changed, there would have been lots. I was able to help her through a transition or two, but could not have prevented her from making the choices she has since she left.


I feel badly from my friend who willingly jumped into that mess and is still there, tied emotionally to her craziness, suffering as a result. I guess the art comes in following both a reasoned life and the joy of the chaos. Like a Phish jam, there are rules in music but the variety and spontaneity make it enjoyable.


Like when Kenny Rogers sang, "Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em".