Although we started Amelia's birthday celebrations a week and a half ago with my parents, yesterday she turned two. Because she's ahead of the curve in terms of language and has increasingly been making very vocal demands of us, I've been thinking of her as a two-year-old for quite some time. Now it's official.
My sister came up Friday night and gave Amelia presents on Saturday, because she couldn't stick around for the party we had on Sunday. Beth's family was here for the party, as were our neighbors Fiona and Billy and their kids, Brenna, 3, and Shane, 2; my friend Ray and his daughter, Rory, who's almost 3; and our friends Linda and Dave and their kids, Maya, who recently turned 2, and Zoe, who's 7. The rain held up so I could grill up burgers and dogs, which was nice, given the dreary weather pattern we've been in lately. Amelia had a lot of fun (pictures here) and got a lot of great presents.
Owen started camp yesterday and had a good time. They keep them very busy, with activities including archery (rained out yesterday -- no big surprise), tennis, drama, ceramics, woodworking, swimming twice a day, etc. The day is longer than his school day, so he came home yesterday pretty wiped out. The longer day means Amelia can nap longer, and I can get more stuff done around the house, which is good.
Finally, as someone who cares a lot about music, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of Michael Jackson. I wasn't a fan of his music, although I won't deny having sung or danced along to many of his classic Jackson 5 and solo songs in my day. And I certainly made fun of his bizarre lifestyle many times over the years. But the dude could write a tune and dance like crazy. So I wanted to pay homage to him in my own way. Please to enjoy a video of Iron & Wine (who I know little about) covering the Flaming Lips' (who I know too much about) "Waitin' for a Superman" while Michael Jackson dances.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Another day, another batch of cool clouds with rain. Ugh.
I had a really good Father's Day, hanging out with Beth and the kids and my parents in the morning, and strapping on the feedbag with Beth's family at dinner time for some fine eats from Blue Ribbon BBQ. The kids gave me some really cool t-shirts (The Who, Scooby Doo, others). My parents were in town for the weekend to celebrate Amelia's birthday, since they won't be around this coming weekend. They had fun hanging out with Amelia and Owen, and took us all out to dinner Saturday night at new Newton hot spot The Local.
This morning Beth, Amelia and I dropped Owen off at school and hung out with the rest of the families for a year-capping slideshow and to review all the great work the kids have done over the year (weekend journals, math journals, storybooks about Boston historical sites, self portraits, etc.). It was great to see all the hard work Owen has put in this school year, and to see how much the kids have grown up since September. Hard to believe he's going into second grade!
Tomorrow is Owen's final day of school, so the rest of the week means hitting museums and (weather permitting) playgrounds. He's got a birthday party at a movie theater on Friday morning, and a possible play date either that day or Wednesday. Camp starts next Monday.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
We had an awesome time at Storyland last weekend. The weather was perfect, we got to the park nice and early and spent more than 6 hours, most of them on rides or walking to get to rides. Owen and his cousin Max, who's 2 1/2, went on many of the rides together, which was a lot of fun to watch. Amelia went on a few rides, but mostly was content to hang out and explore while the bigger kids and the adults took turns on rides such as the Polar Coaster, Bamboo Chutes, Twirlin' Turtles, Antique Cars and the Flying Fish.
Over the past few years I've heard countless testimonials from friends about how terrific Storyland is, but didn't really believe them. But in the past few days when people asked how it was, I told them how great it is. The park is neat and clean, the people who work there are helpful, the rides are fun without being scary or skeevy. There are plenty of bathrooms and food options and the lines weren't that long (of course, once summer vacations kick in, that will surely change). We stayed in a condo about 10 minutes from the park, which was great.
With any luck, Owen will still be into Storyland on our planned return next year. Amelia will be 3 and able to go on more rides. I'd love to go on some hikes next time we're up that way, too, and some gondola rides up some of the ski mountains. Or maybe drive up Mount Washington, which I did as a teenager with my parents.
In other news, my team won its first night game of the season, 3-0 behind the usual stellar pitching of our ace, Angel. I was 0 for 3 again, but made two plays in the field that, if I may say so myself, were pretty damn good. The second one was the true highlight. The infield grass was pretty high, so a hard-hit ball up the middle died just as it reached the dirt on the second base side of the bag. I didn't think I had enough time to glove it, pivot and throw to first, so I scooped it with my glove and dished it to the shortstop, who caught it with his barehand to force the runner. Lots of laughs and high-fives after that one.
My parents are coming up this Saturday to celebrate Amelia's birthday a week early. Will be good to see them; the kids always have a great time seeing Purple Gram and Big Gramps. The reason they're coming up a week early is that they're going to a show in the Berkshires the following weekend, when the rest of the family (including my sister) will celebrate Amelia's birthday, which is the 29th. Of course, it's my fault that my parents aren't going to be around for the bigger party. I spearheaded the effort to get tickets for the play my parents are going to see, not even thinking when I bought the tix for my dad's 80th birthday, that the date I'd picked would coincide with Amelia's party. Oh well.
Penultimately, I had two short dreams last night, each involving some old-school Boston rock. I don't remember anything about the first one other than the fact that a song by the hard-hitting Bullet LaVolta was playing in the background. And, of course, dreams being dreams, the song wasn't really one of theirs; I don't know what the hell it was. But I've posted here one of my favorites of theirs, "Dead Wrong," from late '89/90.
The second dream involved a guy from my high school class trying to teach me a guitar riff. After several tries, I got pretty good at it. Uncharacteristically, I recalled upon awakening that the riff was for The Upper Crust's "Rock and Roll Butler." It's also on the Random page.
Finally, two thoughts: watching the Crust video it occurred to me that lead singer Lord Bendover looks like an older, pastier Andy Samberg. Also, the video reinforced in my head that some day soon I need to pitch a book called "Modern Day People Who Look Like Colonialists." I had that idea earlier this week after seeing a woman who, well, you can figure it out.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Thanks to everyone who listened to and/or commented on The MegaChips. Owen was very excited to read the comments people left on Facebook about his drumming. He and I have recorded more songs since I posted the trio that remain here, but nothing worth posting. Stay tuned, though....
In the meantime, I've posted a solo tune, one that I envision The Toastmen playing when we get around to recording and/or performing. It's called "Ixnay On the Esusjay," and if you're a Christian you're not gonna like it. Don't take it personally. I could just as easily have written a ditty critical of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism or Appalachian snake handling. Well, the latter is one that I actually find really cool.
In other news...
Owen completed his latest tae kwon do test, moving easily from his red shirt to his brown shirt (pictures here). His is the first class to reach this level, with just one more shirt (black) to go. Since Kids U doesn't hold classes over the summer, he'll have to wait until the fall to reach the top t-shirt level. His teacher said they plan to move on to another system, of patches or belts, once the black t-shirts have been handed down from master to students. We're very proud of Owen's tae kwon do skills and dedication to the class.
Speaking of sporting interests, my team is now 3-0 after a victory on Sunday. I made all my plays in the field, which almost made up for my 0 for 3 showing at the bat. Next game is Tuesday.
We're leaving tomorrow afternoon for Bartlett, NH, to spend the weekend at a condo with Beth's family. Owen is beside himself with excitement for Storyland. The boy loves his rides, and it's possible we won't get to all of them, there's just so many. We took him and Amelia to a local carnival on Sunday and Owen had a great time, but the rides were a little lame. After perusing the Storyland web site, oh, maybe 20 times in the past few days, he's worked himself into quite a frenzy for our trip. Should be great.
Finally, Beth and I went to Fenway last night to watch the Sox beat the Yankees, 6-5. I love going to the park, especially when the Evil Empire is in town, and most especially when the Sox beat their big rivals. If anyone has tickets they can't use -- let me know!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Just a quick post. Owen was home sick from school today (although, honestly, he wasn't that sick) and while Amelia napped he and I recorded some songs for the second day in a row. Yes, that's right -- The MegaChips have hit the Internet. Although Owen tells me that today's recording wasn't done under the MegaChips banner, but rather the Fine Friends moniker, I told him that any time we jam, we're The MegaChips as far as I'm concerned.
As you can imagine, I'm really excited to be playing music with Owen. He gets some good beats going, and since he's showing a real interest (as well as an interest in playing drums for Guitar Hero), we'll probably fill out the drum kit with some cymbals soon. Anyway, I'll post more in a day or two about what else is going on in Brigham Town, but for now, enjoy some rock!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Owen and I have formed a band, called The MegaChips. This is a name he came up with a little while ago, and while we don't always use that name when we're jamming (his current fave is The Fine Winners), for all intents and purposes, that's the one we'll use for our first record. Oh, did I forget to mention that he got a (used) snare drum for his birthday from Beth's parents? We added that to the half drum kit I got from a friend years ago (bass drum with one tom, and a floor tom) and set it up in the basement. Owen usually comes up with our song titles (sample: "Guitar Go") and then I come up with some basic chords while he pounds away. Sometimes I make up silly lyrics. It's a lot of fun.
There are a few pictures here (taken before I set up the whole kit, and switched to electric guitar), as well as some shots of our trip this past Sunday to Lookout Farm in Natick, MA, which I write about below.
It's really fun to watch Owen playing the drums. He just looks so excited when he's doing it. I think all the virtual pounding he's done via the Guitar Hero drum set has helped him. If his interest on the real drums continues, I'll buy him a high-hat and some cymbals, as well as a pedal for the bass drum (I thought I got one with the kit, but haven't been able to find it in the jungle I call a basement).
On Monday, Beth and I took the kids to Lookout Farm on what turned out to be a perfect late-spring day. The temps were in the mid-70s, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the burgers and dogs tasted great, the playground was fun and not too crowded and there was even a half-decent magician named Magic Dave, who's been endorsed by none other than Mick Jagger. If the farm's usual menagerie of animals had been on full display, the day would have been almost too good. As it turns out, there were only goats, the rest of the animals being "on vacation" until September for some reason.
The rest of the weekend was great, too. We celebrated Owen's birthday on Saturday, when he got the aforementioned snare drum. He also got a bat, balls and batting tee from Beth's sister and brother-in-law. On Sunday, we went to a barbecue at our friends Jess and Doug's house. Good food, good beer, good conversation. What more can you ask for?
Friday, May 22, 2009
Just a quick note about my latest MP3. It's actually an alternate version of the song I posted before, "Area 51 Is for Lovers." The explanation about the differences in the tracks is here, alongside the song.
Beth took today off from work to attend the Fitness for Life function for Owen's school. Scheduled events include: Jelly Ball/Jumbo Jam (I have no idea what that is); Big Box Hockey (Ditto); Fitness Trail; and Games & Relays. She just called and said the kids are hot and tired, but everybody is having a great time.
Check back later; Beth said she has some pictures.
Tomorrow is Owen's birthday, which we'll celebrate with lunch with Beth's parents, and then whatever Owen wants to do, which will probably mean some Guitar Hero on Wii, some time on the monkey bars at a random playground, and perhaps an aimless drive. We don't have any solid plans on Sunday and Monday, but rumor has it there is going to be a neighborhood BBQ.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
We're still three days from Owen's birthday, but we held his party for his friends this past Sunday. Pictures from the big to-do are here.
Most of the kids from his class were there, as were his friends Zoe and Walter (and Walter's little sister, Rory, and Amelia, and my nephew, Max). Everybody seemed to have a great time, running wild, eating pizza and cake and running wild again. Owen certainly had a great time, and got loads of nice presents.
After his party, I had my first baseball game of this, my 5th season (I can't believe it's been that long). I hauled myself down to Scituate, a 50-minute drive south, for a great afternoon on the diamond. Our ace, Angel, was his old self, shutting the Giants down, allowing just two hits. We won 4-1. I was 1 for 2 (we had a 15-man batting order) and scored a run. Felt really good to be back out there.
My parents and my sister were here on Saturday to celebrate Owen's birthday. We went out to dinner and when we got back they gave him his presents. He got a bunch of great books and games.
This Saturday, his actual birthday, we'll finish up his celebrations with lunch with Beth's family, and, of course, more presents.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Yesterday I took Amelia to the playground in Newton Center that we've been frequenting lately. The playground used to be a dusty wasteland, but evidently a private citizen who lives near the park paid for its transformation into an oasis, with areas for little kids and big kids, new picnic tables and enough stuff to keep everyone busy for hours.
Sometime around 11:45 I spied a group of teenage girls walking past the adjoining baseball field, headed toward the playground. This wasn't your typical group of Newton girls, however, with cell phones, flip flops and uptalking. They were dressed in long black skirts with matching charcoal gray, velour hooded sweatshirts with a school name, the only part of which I could read was "Boston High School." There were at least two dozen of them, accompanied by three teachers with similar black outfits and helmet-style, ironed-out haircuts.
Their entry into the playground and time spent playing and eating lunch was like something out of the late 19th century. Too old to be playing on the equipment, nonetheless the girls fanned out on to the swings and the monkey bars, talking quietly or sitting primly eating their lunches. All I could think of was "Picnic at Hanging Rock," the movie from the '70s that, frankly, I knew nothing about until I watched this trailer.
My curiosity got the better of me when I got home. A quick search turned up the answer to what school they attend. I was almost certain it was a Jewish school, and I was right. It's the Bais Yaakov of Boston High School for Girls, an Orthodox Jewish institution located just a few blocks from the playground. It's not uncommon to see Orthodox Jews in Newton, especially Newton Center, but they still seem somehow exotic when I see women who wear long, dark dresses and something (hat, bandanna, wig) covering their hair (Thanks Wikipedia; maybe the three teachers I saw were all wearing wigs. Hmm...), and men with long beards dressed in formal attire, with strings hanging from their shirts at the waist (I've always wondered about those strings; now I know they're called tzitzis.).
That's your religion lesson for the week.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Just a quick note while I've got some rare down time. Amelia's napping and Beth took Owen to the playground to meet a friend. Everyone is still healthy, and Owen's allergies are under control. There must be a lot of stuff in the air, because I can feel it a little and I don't have allergies. I feel bad for Owen when his eyes get itchy and his nose gets stuffed up.
I'm looking forward to celebrating Mother's Day with Beth and the kids, her sister, brother-in-law and our nephew, and Beth's parents. The plan right now, weather permitting, is to go to a local playground along the Charles River for a picnic. The menu is lobster rolls, pasta salad, strawberry shortcake and (shhhh) sangria. Should be fun.
I know I've talked about recording songs, both here and on Facebook, and I realized that if I wait until the perfect moment, or until I have the perfect song, I'm never going to do it. So check out a very rough demo of "Area 51 Is for Lovers" on the Stream page. The song is from my ongoing UFO-themed concept album.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Health update: Owen finally emerged from the dark cave of illness on Sunday, but even now, a week after he first got sick, he's still trying to get his strength back. He returned to school on Monday, which made him (and me) happy. But he's battling his seasonal allergies, which make his eyes itchy and stuff up his nose. He takes Claritin, which helps, but because he didn't eat much last week, his system is a bit weaker than normal. Every day he gets a little closer to full recovery. Thankfully, none of the rest of us caught his illness.
Needless to say, because Owen was still recovering over the weekend, we didn't do much for those two days. We did get out for a family drive on Sunday, but that was about it. I skipped my baseball practice, so the next time I throw a ball and swing a bat will be at our first game on May 17.
Last night I went to see The Kills, a duet consisting of Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. She's American and does most of the singing and plays guitar sometimes (and spits on stage once in a while); he's British and plays guitar and sings a fair amount of the time, too. And they use the hell out of a drum machine and pre-recorded bass lines and other sounds to pound out a wonderfully primitive and sexy blues groove.
I was supposed to go with Beth, her sister and brother-in-law, but, well, it being a Tuesday night, they all backed out. I tried to sell the tickets online to no avail. I considered trying to sell them outside the club beforehand, but decided not to. So I ate three tickets and they were just fine with a little salt and pepper.
Anyway, the band was really good. As I stood there watching them growl, writhe, stomp and spit I thought, "This is so primal. It's like it's been handed down from cave-people." They've got the same hypnotic powers that the Velvet Underground, Junior Kimbrough, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and countless others in blues and rock 'n' roll have mastered. Strangely enough, about 10 minutes after Screamin' Jay's name popped into my head, The Kills buzzed through a very down and dirty version of his classic, "I Put a Spell on You."
For three hot Kills videos, go to the Random page.
The second band on last night's bill (I missed opener Magic Wands) was The Horrors, who had a few fans in the crowd. I was not among them. As someone who's seen countless bands over the years, and listened to enough college radio to last 10 lifetimes, I can't help at age 44 breaking down Bands from the Now Times into their various influences. The Horrors are equal parts Bauhaus, The Chameleons UK and Comsat Angels. Toss some Jesus & Mary Chain in there, too. I didn't hear that influence, but the lead singer was wearing one of the band's t-shirts, so there ya go.
If the kids like it, though, who am I to say it's no good?
Friday, May 1, 2009
As I was putting the finishing touches on Tuesday's post, Owen was asleep on the couch. It was about 5:30, so I knew something was going on with him, but little did I suspect that he'd end up missing three days of school in a row.
He developed a fever Tuesday evening and threw up around 9:30 that night. Overnight, he had two bouts of night terror, or pavor nocturnus (Am I the only one who hates when writers drop Latin or French words and phrases into their text as though English isn't good enough and everybody loves nothing more than running to their dictionary or dictionary.com to figure out just what the hell the guy/gal is talking about?), which were freaky and frightening but not completely foreign to Beth and me. Owen has had a few episodes over the last few years, but nothing like he had Tuesday night.
A Night terror is when someone, often a child between 2 and 6, screams, thrashes and otherwise acts possessed after having fallen asleep. The person isn't having a nightmare, but rather is caught between being asleep and awake. In Owen's case, he seemed petrified of something, and having Beth and me there, trying to calm him down, holding him, stroking his hair, only seemed to make it worse. I think in his fever-addled brain, we were monsters or ghosts (too much "Scooby Doo," perhaps?) or some sort of demons. Thankfully, after several minutes he calmed down and woke up, unaware of what had really gone on.
He had another brief episode during a day-time nap on Wednesday, but it was nothing like he'd had the previous night. He's had a fever off and on since Tuesday night and thrown up one more time. He hasn't eaten much until today, so his energy has been low. He appears on the mend, finally, having eaten some chicken nuggets and one of Amelia's cereal bars. With any luck, he'll be able to go to the Big Apple Circus with Beth tomorrow.
Through it all, Owen's been a trouper. He hasn't complained, and has been content to watch TV (we're watching the "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddy Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and a computer-generated Scooby as I write this), do stuff on the computer, rest quietly on the couch, read and draw. Amelia has been really good about hanging out in the house, even though we had to skip her swimming and Gymboree classes, and our regular Friday playgroup.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that none of the rest of us get what Owen has.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thanks to my man Jay Kumar for shaking me out of my DaveTronik 2000 doldrums. I wasn't doing a good job of managing my time with this site, and the ongoing work on my short-story collection and life in general. The solution: DON'T SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON FACEBOOK AND EMAIL!!
So here's what's been up since my last post....
We had a great time Sunday afternoon at Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA. While I was at baseball practice that morning, Beth came up with the idea of going to the beach (which we erroneously called Crane's Beach; I still like calling it that). She told Owen, who's totally into "Scooby Doo" lately, that we were going on a special adventure in the newly christened Mystery Machine (aka my Mazda 5).
Amelia took a nap on the way up, which was good, and I enjoyed a rare turn in the passenger seat (I was tired from practicing in 85-degree heat, plus going for a two-mile run afterwards). The drive on Route 1-A after we got off Route 128 was really nice. Lots of historic homes and horse farms. The beach was probably more packed than it's been on April 26th for many years. People were in full summer mode: girls and women in bikinis, guys with their shirts off, a few jet skis and motor boats in the near distance.
We stayed for about an hour, going without sunscreen and suffering no ill effects. Owen and I stuck our feet in the surf a few times, but it was ice cold, so we went no further. He, Beth and I built some sand bridges and tunnels, while Amelia mostly stayed in Beth's lap or arms, or my arms, afraid to touch the sand (pictures of our trip are here).
We finished up a perfect afternoon with dinner at Bertucci's in Newton Corner.
As I mentioned, I was at baseball practice Sunday morning. Temps were already in the mid 80s when we started at 10:00. Crazy, yes, but we kept things fairly mellow so nobody melted down. After practice I went for a short run, figuring I was already hot and sweaty. Pretty tough 20 minutes, but it felt good.
Our first game is slated for Sunday, May 17, at 4:00. Owen's birthday party runs from noon to 1:30 that day, so with any luck I'll be able to still make my game.
On the banjo front, the guy who was trying to fix it had no luck. Because there's no truss rod in the neck, he couldn't straighten it out using traditional methods (whatever those are). He suggested I take it to a specialist, but I'm not sure how much money I want to spend on an instrument that I don't know how to play. My buddy Ray suggested I hang it up as a piece of art.
That's all for now.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
I gotta tell you, oh faithful readers, I'm just not into this web site much any more. If anyone cares, send me an email and I'll do a better job here.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Happy Tax Day!
Spring has sprung this week in the Boston area. I've taken the kids to the playground the last few days and boy, does it feel good. Owen is all over the monkey bars with his friends, and Amelia does her best to keep up. Owen's even gotten into wiffle ball the past few days, something that he never showed any interest in.
We went to CT over the weekend for our usual double birthday celebration (my sister's and mine) and for Easter. We went out to dinner with my sister and my parents on Saturday, and I got two Borders gift cards for my birthday.
Amelia, as you can see in the photo above, had fun playing the piano with my mom. Amelia was very cute banging away on random keys and singing "Twinkle Twinkle."
Music was a big theme for the weekend. Owen, Beth and I put on two air band concerts, one at my parents' house and one for the Sunday brunch crowd. Owen's totally into The Police these days, so we performed four songs from Zenyatta Mondatta for the crowd. Owen played guitar for both shows; Beth and I switched between bass and drums.
Owen's favorite Police song, and one of mine too, is "Driven to Tears."
Please to enjoy the song from "Urgh! A Music War."
Owen especially loves Stewart Copeland ("Oh, Stewart, he's so funny!"), but I haven't told Owen about Klark Kent yet.
Owen and Amelia had a good time doing an Easter egg hunt at my parents' house, although Owen found just about all of them.
Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, I posted something at the Random page about Black Kids and Honeyglazed. If that makes even a little bit of sense to you, check it out. If not, well, check it out.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thanks to all my friends and family who called or left notes on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday yesterday. For those of you who didn't, I'm keeping a list....
Beth took me out Saturday night to Boston's Smith & Wollensky steak house. We had great filet mignon along with a bottle of red wine. The restaurant occupies, according to Wikipedia, "the Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, a castle built in 1891 originally intended as a military building, and is the only S&W location on the National Register of Historic Places." The building was also once the library for UMass Boston, according to my father-in-law, who taught at the school back in the day. It's a pretty neat place to gorge on beef, that's for sure.
We also went to Finale, a dessert restaurant, where we split the mini sampler and I enjoyed the port wine sampler. A great night.
Beth and the kids gave me a t-shirt and a Guinness baseball hat, so I can play and drink at the same time. They also gave me a Bose Pirated Music Blaster, aka a Digital Music System for my iPod. Kicks ass over the JVC donut-shaped iPod speaker system we had before. Good stuff.
We went out for dinner last night with the kids to Johnny's Luncheonette, one of my favorite places for dinner. We invited along Owen's friend Walter, his sister Rory and of course their parents, Ray and Inez. This guy was making the rounds, entertaining the kids with hidden ball tricks and the adults with his mind-reading abilities. It was a fun night out.
Good news for Toastmen fans: Webmaster Ken has posted rough MP3s from our last (instrumental) jam session, and added some photos at the band's international headquarters. New pictures are here and here.
Yesterday my team had its first practice, and I have to say I felt good being on the diamond again. I was pretty rusty, with lots of muffed grounders on the field and lame ground balls during batting practice, but that's OK. Most of the team is back, and we've added at least one guy. We should definitely contend for the title as we have the past two season, albeit unsuccessfully.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Get Random
for obscure music videos from Charlie Chesterman....
Not much going on. I went down to Walpole, MA, Saturday night to visit with my friends Jim and Nikki and their daughter, Sophia. They were hosting a woman Jim and I went to college with, Heidi, who I hadn't seen since, well, college. It was good to catch up with her. She's got grown kids unlike the rest of us suckers who started so late on families. She does graphic design, and talked with Jim and me about doing cover art for the short-story collection that Jim is curating, and to which I am contributing. I've also talked to Heidi about doing some artwork for my own story collection.
Despite the fact that I'm rocking my Red Sox sweatshirt and slippers as I type this, I can't believe that the season starts next Monday. I'm totally ready, but know that it will take me a little while to get fully into the swing of things, baseball-wise. Speaking of which, my team's first practice is slated for Sunday, weather permitting.
Apropos of nothing, I'm linking you to the Mutual UFO Network web site. Longtime readers of this blog know that I love UFOs, and this site offers a lot for fellow enthusiasts: info on upcoming symposiums, places to report sightings, a forum to discuss all things extraterrestrial, and, my favorite, a UFO event report map, which offers real-time info on sightings. Enjoy, my friends....
Thursday, March 26, 2009
First, let me point you to the Stream page, where I blather on about watching Scooby Doo, exploring old nursing homes and speculating on whether a ravine in the woods behind my childhood home was made by a UFO.
Second, not much new 'round here. Beth and I had a good time at the PTO auction last Friday. She was top bidder for a new iPod Touch, which is a pretty cool gadget, even though I have no desire to use it. I won two silent auction bids, one for a local restaurant and the other for a local farm with loads of kids' entertainment.
Third, I've handed my 10,000+ word short story over to my editor, Jim. Now I can get back to my long-neglected (C)rock collection. I also plan to develop a new chord structure for "Hand in Hand in Tucson (Area 51 Is for Lovers"). It was either that or write rhyming lyrics, because the song as it currently exists just doesn't work. I like the lyrics, so I'm gonna try a new musical structure. Something outside of my 3-chord zone of comfort. Or maybe it'll just be one chord. Who knows? I did record it to GarageBand, which was fun, so once I get the song the way I like it I'll record another version and, with any luck, get it online soon.
Dat's all....
Friday, March 20, 2009
Ah, spring has arrived! Sure, the temps are struggling to stay in the 40s, and there's nary a leaf on a tree, but the skies are blue-blue-blue, I'm thinking about hitting the batting cage and tonight is the big Spring Auction for Owen's school.
One negative note amid my high-on-life mood: my car is the shop. I bought it just before Thanksgiving, a brand-spanking-new 2009 Mazda 5, and four months later it gets admitted for in-patient surgery. I forget exactly what they're replacing, an oil exchange thingamabob or something. I'm stylin' and profilin' in a PT Cruiser for now, but I want my damn car back!
Not much else going on. Last night I worked on the first song for which I plan to record a demo and upload to Archive.org. "Hand in Hand in Tucson (Area 51 Is for Lovers)" is part of the UFO-themed concept album I've been working on for years. The lyrics are done and I have a chord structure or two that I like. I need to put it together and figure out a lead guitar part and then I'll see about recording it and getting it online.
While you wait for that, please to enjoy The Rezillos' "Flying Saucer Attack":
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I'm having a hard time managing stuff I do at Facebook, the short story I've been wrangling with for quite some time, thinking about writing new songs and reworking existing ones, raising kids, keeping current with TV and trying to keep this web site somewhat up to date.
After last week's big relaunch -- that quartet of lights sweeping the skies over North America was my doing -- I've once again let things slip. I'm trying, trust me, but not hard enough, as I just realized that when I posted a week ago, I forgot to edit out a part about how during the upcoming weekend we were going to CT for my dad's birthday. In fact, we'd already been to the party, and I mentioned that. I tell ya, you can't get good help these days.
I took Owen out last night to see some Irish music at the West Street Tavern around the corner from our house. My neighbor's father plays in a two-man band that I've been curious to see, and Owen is pretty into music, so he watched my father-in-law and me each down a Guinness. Owen was into watching the drummer (my neighbor's brother), and said he wants to buy the rest of the stuff we need to fill out our hand-me-down drum kit (we need the important stuff: snare, hi-hat, ride and crash cymbals). One day maybe we'll have our own family band set up in the basement.
Not much is new. Beth and I are going out this Friday for a PTO function that is the social highlight of the school year. The annual auction is a fun event where we can catch up with friends, have a few drinks and bid in the silent auction and the regular auction. We didn't win any of our bids last year, but maybe this year we'll try a little harder, especially if there are Sox tickets.
And now a tip of the hat to my friend, Mike Caulfield. He's committed himself to writing 52 songs and 12 stories during 2009, an ambitious goal to be sure. I've listened to most of the songs he's posted at his web site, but this one is my favorite so far. I'm going to try hard to get some songs in shape and record them and post them at the same site Mike's using. Somebody please hold me to that pledge.
Oh yeah, I also added something at the Random page.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I am returned!
I'm just gonna jump back into things here, from most recent things in my life to stuff dating back to my last post.
We went to CT over the weekend to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. I can't believe he's 80; he looks 10 years younger. My brother and his family flew up, joining my sister and most of my cousins for the party. Owen and Amelia had fun with my parents and with their cousin Grace. Here are a few pictures from the party.
I have been working on a story tentatively titled "The Bottle" for a short story anthology being curated by my good friend Jim Corrigan. He hopes to collect stories from 20 writers around a common theme (I'm not sure how much detail he'd like me to give, so I'll keep it basic) and shop it around to publishing house. Jim has been published and has contacts in the right places, so I'm confident he's going to find a publisher. Since my story isn't quite finished (I, like almost every writer he has recruited, missed two deadlines to date), I don't want to give away too many details. I'll just say that it deals with 19th century medicine shows and leave it at that.
I've also been giving a lot of though lately to recording music. When I graduated from college in, ahem, 1987, I swore I would play in a band and record an album before I was 40. I've goofed around musically with people over the years, including the mighty Toastmen, but have played exactly zero gigs over the last 22 years and recorded but one song. I recently blabbed on Facebook all about the songs I've written, and realized that I have some good stuff that I'd love to record for posterity's sake. The Toastmen plan to record some stuff this year, and I have a loose agreement with my buddy Jeff to record some stuff as well. I've spent too much time procrastinating in my life; I'm not getting any younger and I want to get this stuff done. I'm also going to explore using GarageBand to record my stuff.
As for the family, all is well. Owen has lost a total of four teeth, the most recent one this past Monday. He's doing well in school and with his tae kwon do class (see pictures of him, Amelia, Beth and me here). Amelia's language growth continues to amaze Beth and me. She talk more and more every day, in more complex structures. She sings songs, adding more words every time, and even improvising.
Sunday, January 4
I was going to post a Christmas wrap-up, but in the last few days I've realized that one reason I've been neglecting this site is that I'm bored with it. I need to come up with some new ideas. I've got a few, but until I fully develop them this site's gonna be idle. I won't stay away too long, as I do enjoy posting stuff here. Just needs to be a bit more dynamic.
Hope you've enjoyed what I've been posting, and will check back once in a while to see how DaveBrigham.com version 2.0 (or is it 3.0? or 4.0? I forget) progresses.
