My body has traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Hitting the skins

I started playing the drums over 30 years ago. I was pretty serious at it for a while and not too bad. Eventually started College on a partial music scholarship and a music major. Mistake I made was going to a Liberal Arts College that wasn't all that liberal when it came to musical styles (I remember a jury solo we had to perform, I played the drum part from a Police tune which was quite hard. Yeah, they didn't get it). The Jazz Band, of which I was a member for 2 years, pretty much stuck to music from prior to 1970. Good music and I enjoyed it but I wanted to Rock. The fact that I skipped Freshman orientation to go to a rescheduled Def Leppard concert may have been a harbinger. Of course the music dept really didn't know what to make of me with my long hair, concert Tshirts, actual work ethic and real sense of humor. It wasn't long before I realized whatever career I wanted in Music wasn't going to happen there. It was a good school, just not for non-traditional music. So I switched my major (got a music minor) to something that would get me a retirement plan (back when people still thought there would be such a thing), a steady paycheck and vacation pay.
I played in several bands while there, they never went far, people had bigger goals in college.
Played in a few after college and like most bands that don't have an amazing click, they disolved due to internal pressures and drugs. I was just happy to play. (Not surprising I ended up stickfighting either, eh?)
Got my son to play drums in the band starting in the 6th grade as well ("become a drummer, they're the only cool ones in the band"). He enjoyed it and was pretty good at it as well, certainly better with keyboard type stuff like vibes. Eventually he realized the direction of nerdiness the band would take him (and the uptightness of the director) and opted out. That, and the fact that there wasn't enough room in his high school schedule to fit in all the science and advanced placement classes he wanted.
Well, it appears I'm playing again - sort of. My daughter is in the local theater production again this summer and co-opted my wife into it as well.
And oh, they're doing a musical.
Oh, and "you need a percussionist? My husband/father plays"
You see where it's going.

So, I've now sat through two pit orchestra rehersals trying to read the most horendous music scores ever. This is all hand written stuff from back at the time I actually began playing.
Scores for musicals are bastardized based on the desires of the director and this one ranks up there. It goes all over the place.
But I realized last night, my old teachers would be pretty pleased. Even on the first run throughs and just sight reading it I'm hitting 80-90 percent of my part. Despite that I haven't really played from music since 1987. I've always been a good listener and can pick it up despite the music anyway. Must have been all that sight singing, piano and composition classes back in '83, ugh.
But if only they could have picked something a bit more uptempo, even "The Sound of Music"! but I mean "Anne of Green Gables" of all things????

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

All growed up

Just for Steve Perry




25 Signs You've Grown Up


1. Your house plants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.

2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.

3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.

4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.

5. You hear your favorite song on an elevator.

6. You watch the Weather Channel.

7. Your friends marry & divorce instead of hook up and break up.

8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.

9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."

10. You're the one calling the police because those darn kids next door won't turn down the stereo.

11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.

12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.

13. Your car insurance goes down and your payments go up.

14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonalds leftovers.

15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.

16. You no longer take naps from noon to 6 PM.

17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.

18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.

19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.

20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good stuff."

21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.

22. "I just can't drink the way I used to," replaces, "I'm never going to drink that much again."

23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.

24. You no longer drink at home to save money before going to a bar.

25. You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Records in red

They wrote their records in red, with bolo blades and wavy-edged krises, on a shining white beach. But the tides came, and the tropic rains, and washed the records away.


Stealthy sorties through the high cogon grass; the skewering of men like beetles on the hafts of long-handled spears; the murderous flick of a crimson blade, severing a man from neck to crotch; the screams of the amuck and the juramentado Moro, weaving a twisting trail of death through the Constabulary encampments. Fallen tents a shroud for soldiers decapitated by the swish of the barong and campilane; long jungle nights -- terror haunted -- with every rustle in the grass a summons to the God of Battles. Kipling's "Things jumping up in the grass, to scurry away as you pass"
Vic Hurley, Jungle Patrol 1938

Friday, June 19, 2009

Need your ipod repaired

Need your ipod/iphone/zune repaired?


Check these guys out


They happen to be located arount 30 miles away so we checked them out in person.

They're on the up and up.

We dropped off a 4 gig that had fallen in water and an ipod touch that the kids found on the road.

The 4 gig had been dead awhile so the corrosion had done it's work and it was toast. More to fix than a new one. Now had we known about them sooner, who knows.

They have plenty of self help info on their site, tons actually for that and many other problems. Easy to understand too.

The touch was password locked up for like 9ooo days out and we were unable to do anything with it.

They pulled it apart, restored it and said everything works but the wifi.

The wifi would be $190. But the restore was only $30 plus shipping.

Not bad for finding it on the side of the road.

Check out their services, the offer a lot including free, fast diagnoses.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Monday, June 1, 2009

I'm an adult now

haven't heard this in years. Pales a bit over the years but still cool.

"I'd sure look like a fool dead in a ditch somewhere
With a mind full of chemicalsLike some cheese-eating high school boy"




Well, I don't hate my parentsI don't get drunk just to spite them
I got my own reasons to drink now I think I'll call my dad up and invite him!
I can sleep in till noon any time I want Though there's not many days that I do
Gotta get up and take on that world
When you're an adult, it's no cliche, it's the truth

'Cause I'm an adult now
I'm an adult now I've got the problems of an adult
On my head and on my shouldersI'm an adult now

I can't even look at young girls anymore
People will think I'm some kind of pervert Adult sex is either boring or dirty
Young people, they can get away with murder
I don't write songs about girls anymore
I have to write songs about women
No more boy meets girl, boy loses girl
More like man tries to figure out what the Hell went wrong

'Cause I'm an adult now
I'm an adult now I got the problems of an adult now
On my head and my libido I'm an adult now, I'm adult now

I can't take any more illicit drugs
I can't afford any artificial joy
I'd sure look like a fool dead in a ditch somewhere
With a mind full of chemicalsLike some cheese-eating high school boy


I'm an adult now I'm an adult now
I've got the problems of an adult On my head and on my shouldersI'm an adult now

Sometimes my head hurts and sometimes my stomach hurts
And I guess it won't be long
'Til I'm sitting in a room with a bunch Of people whose necks and backs are aching
Whose sight and hearing's failing
Who just can't seem to get it up
Speaking of hearing, I can't take too much loud music
I mean I like to play it, but I sure don't like the racket
Noise, but I can't hear anything
Just guitars screaming, screaming, screaming
Some guy screaming in a leather jacket Whoaah!

I'm an adult now I'm an adult now
I've got the problems of an adultOn my head and on my shoudlers
I'm an adult now I'm an adult now
I've got the problems of an adult On my head and my libido
I'm an adult now