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From the Blogahedron

photo taken from a ferry as it approaches Lopez Island, Washington

Newsletter – September 11, 2015

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Hi everyone, remember what I said last time about getting newsletters out more regularly? Well…I’ll keep working at it. But thinking about how to mention this oversight led me to one of my favorite songs, and that seemed interesting.

As I was hunting for some background on the quotation involving “the best-laid plans of mice and men,” I happened to connect that quotation from Robert Burns with the poem that it comes from, “To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough”. And being a hardcore fan of all things Ian Anderson, that took me to the Jethro Tull song “One Brown Mouse”, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Here is a live version that I’m quite fond of.

https://youtu.be/qztLTrjqZ0I

So even if the news is a little slow, at least there’s some music to help soften the blow.

Summer has been busy, with house and garden and music stuff all mixed up together.  Many things that have been put on hold will hopefully start moving forward again, and as always there will be new things coming along as well.  Very soon I will be off to Lopez Island for their 25th annual juggling festival–I am one of a group of five people who have been to every one of these events, and I am the only off-islander in that group.  For those few who may not know it by now, Debbie & I share the goal of moving to Lopez Island one day so this trip is very special.  I often return home with inspiration for new music, and I am hoping to find some ideas for the Nature Walk album while I am up there.

 

From the Studio

After some scheduling issues I finally recorded a guest spot on Rose City Gumbo, which is a local access TV show in the Portland market.  The segment features some great conversation along with music on Miguel and the harp guitar.  There will be a link to the footage soon, but the studio can’t release that until they air the show locally.  As soon as they give me the link, I will be sharing it with everyone.  The show went well and there was talk of having me come back, so I’m pretty excited about that.

I’m not too proud to say I was a bit nervous about the whole thing–I’d never done TV before so I didn’t really know what to expect.  The crew at Portland Community Media were great and made me feel right at home.  I learned a lot and will try to remember those lessons for next time.  Sometimes it’s a struggle to know where to focus my concentration in situations like that, but I feel like I’m improving with experience.

Recently I’d picked up a large number of fans from Mexico via Facebook, and all that attention inspired me to write something new.  Watch for a rough draft of “Bienvenidos” coming in the next few weeks.  It’s got a long way to go, but there are some pieces of the song that have already started to come together.

The intro & outtro video segments for the “In The Studio” video series have just been completed and plans are in the works to shoot at least 2 segments with special guests during the month of October, with more ideas coming up.  I am really excited about this series and it’s been hard to be patient and get all the parts in order, but we’re getting there.

 

Upcoming Shows

As the farmers market season winds down the show schedule is a little quieter just now, but hopefully there will be plenty of shows as venues make the transition from summer to winter plans.  I am finishing up plans for a regular monthly gig at Girasole Pizza Company in St. Johns, and have recently joined a listing service that helps connect folks at retirement communities with entertainers.  Being the goal-oriented person that I am, my focus is on being able to play music for people and make their lives a little happier for a while, no matter where that might be.

Click here to see the complete schedule

 

Classes

Classes are on hold until after September, but I will again be trying to create interesting sessions throughout the winter months.  Stay tuned for updates!

 

Coming soon in the blog: how Weird Al Yankovic restored my faith in humanity, some seriously awesome fingerstyle guitar, and more.

 

Until next time, walk gently & keep listening…