Just Swinging...

I have a power spot. I sit in it all the time and have been accused of spending too much time in it. 

You might remember way back when I found this power spot. I had an old couch that I placed on it. That's been 35 years or so ago when things were bright, magical and shiny and we sat around the power spot, passing guitars around, singing songs and telling our stories. Once when me and Cathy were just acquaintances we sat on the couch one of these evenings in a company of friends and after a period of time we each became aware she was holding my foot as I sat cross legged on the ragged piece of furniture. A few years later we began dating and this week marked 30 years of marriage. Don't think though that you can head over here and maybe enter the power spot (yes I can still sit cross legged) hold my foot and have magicial things happen for you. 

I don't recall what happened to the couch. That's kind of bad because disposing of a couch usually leaves a carbon footprint of some kind, gas burned to haul it off, a fire in the back yard sending up billowing stinking clouds of smoke from burned polyester fabrics or maybe just an old pile of springs left from the process of rot that the East Texas forest could not claim. 

Somewhere along the way the couch was replaced by the porch swing that now occupies the power spot. My kids probably won't remember the couch or a time when there was not a swing there, or a time that we did not gather and pass guitars and stories. There are still bright, shiny and magical times that happen there. As usually though many of them happen when I am alone because probably when it comes down to it I have spent quite a bit of time, some might say too much studying things as they are, sitting on this swing, this spot of thinking, this place that's my own. 

Now you see a squirrel has began to occupy the power spot. I know what he's thinking. That man will come out and bring sunflower seeds. He's becoming good company and at the rate we are going one day I think he will let me hold his foot. 

 

Another Guitar Project...

Once again Bill Cooney has been thrift storing/yard sailing along and picked up a right fine guitar. It needed some repairs and I am ashamed to say how long it took me to get around to it but the reward is an instrument that plays so fine it rivals all the other Asian pawn shop jobs tucked away in the corners of the music room waiting on a gig.  

It's an Emperador Dreadnought Model AAW 11, made in Korea. The shine is thanks to Gibson brand guitar polish. Gibson guitars look and shiny and bright but expensive in the music store and it dawned on me if I used their polish my guitars would look the same. 

Nice shine to the headstock. Good thing I was wearing clothes. Almost enough reflection to be embarrassing. Not a whole lot on the internet about these guitars. Apparently they made acoustic and some pretty nice looking electrics 60s-80s. Looks like Tokai might have been the parent company. I recall a bunch of guys I knew in the early 80s buying Tokai Fender copies because they thought them to be better values than the Fenders of the time.  

Body shot, nothing fancy on the inlay but despite a few dings shines up nice. 

Headstock has been bumped around. That's real life bleeding fingers and broken guitar strangs right there. 

I would guess this guitar has had three sets of tuners in it's life judging from the holes in the back of the headstock. That includes the budget set I put on which seem to keep it well in tune.  

Sound of this guitar is what I would call dense. It will fill up and ensemble. Action is good for cowboy chords and I think I got a good height on the nut. If I take it apart again I might lower the bridge a bit for better lead playing up the neck. 

If you are coming to the next jam session there is another throw down guitar in town. Don't be shy to grab it up. 

Catfishing with Ezra...

Made a quick fishing trip late yesterday afternoon. We were chaperoned by Ezra. For the fishing report the lake is still up, we kept 10 catfish caught under slip corks in 8 feet of water. Fish were mostly small with a lot of throw backs. We will probably start fishing deep next trip. 

Here's a photo of another fisherman working the same area. I can't quite tell what kind of fish this is other than half eaten. 

Ezra gets a fishing lesson. Ezra don't know quite what to think about the boat, the earthworms we carries for bait and the flopping, jumping fish that the big people jerk in the boat and grab with their bare hands.  

Another sundown on Big Sam. Photo required no touch up. 

These catfish are swimming in Ezra's belly! 

Music in the Outdoors...

So I did a thing today, kinda like things I have done before but not quite. I'll get to that by way of these folks I saw playing street music in New York City. 

Saw this sax and drum duo on a nice spring day in Central Park. It's a gig, they got the tip jar out and I tipped them and made their photo. 

This was a soprano sax and piano duo playing in Washington Square. I bet there is some pretty good tips for these guys, maybe not a living but darn sure keep you in sax reeds and piano tunings. Washington Square has a long history of protests and performers. It was a gathering place in the 50s and 60s for the beat and hippie movements. Texas music legend Buddy Holly once lived nearby and spent time sitting in the park with a guitar helping others with their chords.  

Here was another duo in the Square. Check out the banjo bass. I've been kicked out of lot of bands for showing up with things like this that some people did not think fitted the music. Looks like these two go together real well. I was surprised that there were so few musicians, poets, and artists doing there thing in this famous place. Seems there might be some new rules about how close you can be to this or that that might be killing the vibe. 

Not quite the same category but on a walk we stumbled into a Jewish/Greek Festival. The band was a stringed instrument (just when you think you know everything) I could not identify, a clarinet and a hand drum. I don't know the band but I bet they are stars of the Jewish/Greek Neighborhood.  

I think the first night in town we were walking along the Hudson River and it was kind of a dark area with loading docks for the hotels and townhomes and at the curb I spotted a pile that looked to be a homeless person's nest. He was sitting totally unaware of us and playing this home made guitar with headphones on. Rather that intrude into his home and privacy this late at night I went on but returned to the area a couple of days later and made friends with Randy. He made the guitar, confessed to it being hard to get a good sound from and we shared a few tips with me telling him I built cigar box guitars. I don't think you could really call Randy a homeless person or a bum because his set up was a little trailer type thing that could be moved and he was neat, clean and polite. I was prepared to tip him for his playing but he did not seem to need that or expect it so we wished each other well and parted ways.  

This photo taken at a park between Chinatown on the way to the Bowery neighborhood. I saw a couple of Asian guys playing a one stringed instrument, very similar to some of the coffee can guitars I have made only they played with a bow instead of a slide. He was reading music as he played and had his instrument amplified through a pink transistor radio sized thing that was really putting out some sound. I love my little Blackstar Fly3 battery powered amp but this guy might have drowned me out. Let's just say he was cutting through the mix very well. Again no tip jar, no expectation, just alone in the middle of the city with his music. 

So here's the thing I did. I was off work early with Cathy sleeping because she works nights. I took my horn out to a local park. I sat in the gazebo. Kids and parents playing on the splash pad 30 yards away. A basketball game was being played about 100 yards away. People circled but not too close on the walking trail. Some kind of event at a distant pavilion but screened by trees. I took out my music, a couple of trombone books with simple folk songs and a beginner baritone horn book with familiar melodies. I practiced the music for the brass quintet me and some fellows are rehearsing. I worked on an etude from the old Blazhevich 70 Tuba Studies Book, first published in 1942 that I have had since college and few simple tuba solos. I played all these things, plus working on some brass band type grooves for over an hour. 

Once some people passed and said "hey, good rhythm!" A mother and child walked past and I over heard her telling the little one "he will start back playing in a moment."  

After a pretty good lip work out I loaded my gear and I found that for over the past hour I had not thought about anything else but music. Now I play a lot around the house but there are the distractions, a text, a call, let's see how they do this one on youtube and so one. Playing in the park was different. It was different than the street busking that me and Cathy have done. It was relaxing. I'll do it some more. 

I Take My Yearly Fittness Test...

Every year I count my knee board test as a gauge of general fitness. Can I get up or not? This year the testing results are mixed, possible medium as to my general health. 

Here I go.   

Almost got it up. 

Just barely in control. I think I could have done better if all the kids had not been standing in the boat putting hard eyes on me, watching for signs of drowning or just plain old waterlogging. 

So after a couple of tries I was huffing and puffing pretty good so I had to give it up. I am much better at the tube. I got good tricks on it, the kind of tricks you need a partner for. 

There we go...

Stay tuned for more summer fun in a couple of weeks.