Woo! Hoo!

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, I've been getting cranked up on a new project and trying to get caught up on some work that had been building up.

Anyway, here's what's going on...believe it or not, my pickup truck is road legal. Taxes, tags and everything. If you don't know the whole story, you can read about it here , here, here, here and here .

Chris' birthday was Monday. He's 15, you know what that means, that's right, learner's permit. Got it yesterday. We've been tooling around the church parking lot for several months, yesterday was the first trip on the road. We have some work to do, but he did pretty good. For those of you who know me, the red zone is about a 3 block radius around my house from approximately 3pm until 9pm. I'll update you when we venture further out.

Job update....I've been shaking bushes, waiting to hear from folks, Nothing definite yet. I've got some contract work lined up for a while. But I've got to get cranking on something permanent.

My friend Tim told me about something that I was really excited about. There is a restaurant in East Nashville called the Family Wash. It used to be a laundromat, but they converted to restaurant with live music. On Wednesdays, during December, they have a jazz ensemble that plays the music from a Charlie Brown Christmas. If you remember the music from Charlie Brown, it was always some jazzy piano licks. It was written by Vince Guaraldi. Several of the peanuts songs, particularly Linus and Lucy and Cast Your Fate To The Wind are now jazz standards. Kathy was a trooper and said that she would go with me, we got there, the place was packed. Kathy avoided the whole jazz thing again.

Well, I've got some work to do this morning...if you have some room on your prayer list, please put my job situation on there. Thanks.

The thrill of hope...

If you have even the most basic appreciation of jazz, you should buy this Christmas album (yeah, I still call them albums). I look forward to Thanksgiving every year because that's when you can start listening to Christmas music without feeling like a toad. This CD has one of the most stirring versions of O Holy Night ever.

Amazon has samples here.

It's starting look a lot like Christmas....

When I hear this song. Enjoy...

This guy is crazy good...

More on my eclectic taste in music. The family and I were at John and Amy's this afternoon and we got to swapping interesting youtube videos. I showed them this guy. Not sure how I found him, but this is crazy....

My taste in music....

Wednesday night was quite a turning point for me.

I watched about the last 30 minutes of the CMA awards. (yikes)
I knew who most of the nominees were. (double yikes)
I was actually emotionally invested in who won. (I give up)

Yeah, it's still a a little hard to admit, but I do listen to country music now. Music has always been a big part of my life. My tastes have always been varied. I was a volunteer usher at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in high school so that I could see the symphony for free. Rush was my favorite rock band. I've seen them live nine times. I will never forget the day that I heard the song Eruption on Van Halen's first album. I've always thought that Boston's first album was one of the best albums ever made. They thought a lot of it since they basically remixed it for the next three albums.

Growing up, my mom loved Hank Williams (Sr. not Jr.) I heard all of his songs a hundred times. I remember going to the Grand Ole Opry as a kid. I enjoyed Marty Robbins, he was quite a character. If at any time you had asked me, I would have told you that I couldn't stand country music.

I find now that I listen to different music for different reasons. I listen to smooth Jazz like Jeff Lorber, David Sanborn or Dave Koz when I'm working. The fact that it doesn't have lyrics helps me concentrate. However, if we are approaching a tight deadline, then I listen to rock for the energy. I usually listen to Daughtry (whose first album may replace Boston in the aforementioned category). I usually listen to country when I'm in the car.

I listen to jazz to hear the musicianship. I've found that I listen to country to hear the songmanship.

Here's a couple of examples of what I mean. Brad Paisley's song Online has in it one of the most well put together lyrics I've ever heard.

I drive a Maserati, got a black belt in Karate and I love a good glass of wine

Or this line from Chuck Wicks' Stealing Cinderella

To her I'm Prince Charming, but to him I'm just some fella....Riding in and stealing Cinderella

Compare those with one of the worst lyrics I've ever heard from Van Halen's Why Can't This Be Love

Only time will tell if our love will stand the test of time.

I knew that I was getting old when I began worrying about what my kids listen to. A few years ago, Chris loved Nickelback. They came in concert and I took him to see them. I had not listened to any of their music and I enjoyed the concert quite a bit. After that, I loaded their CD on my computer. Once I could understand the lyrics, I was pretty shocked. The whole experience was a turn off of for Chris. He started listening to country after that. He said it was 'cleaner'. I said Well, instead of singing about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, they sing about cheating, drinking and more cheating.

I'll close this somewhat rambling post with one of my favorite music jokes sent to me by Corrie Wells.

What's the difference between a blues musician and a jazz musician?
A blues musician plays 3 chords in front of 1000's of people.
A jazz musician plays 1000's of chords in front of 3 people

Have a good day...

I thought I'd share....

I was sitting here working on a Saturday and wanted to listen to some new music. I saw a top rated youtube video of a guitar player named Andy McKee, I thought that this was gorgeous. Just thought I'd share....



And if you like that one....you gotta see this