I saw Chubby Carrier and Bayou Swamp Band play at an Austin event today and they were terrific. I especially loved the washboard player, who wore his washboard like a chain mail jacket.
Go right now and buy their CD. (I got mine autographed).
I was chatting with the bar's sound guy about them. "They're good," he said. "They're really good. I know. I listen to shit bands all day long."
Sadly, gang of people at dinner last night, someone else already thought of WiiWhaling.
We'll have to get rich quick some other way.
A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.
Yup. Dave and I talked terms and he's my new banjo teacher. We kicked it off with a phone call in which we discussed my banjo past, present and future. I'll be starting my first lesson with Dave on the 22nd.
Here are some of the highlights from our discussion.
A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.
I think I've found my new banjo teacher. Dave comes highly recommended by some folks I know in the local music scene. He's got a great bluegrass style and he's the go-to guy for the local jam schedules. Dave and I arranged to meet at a local jam (first Tuesday of the month at the Red Line Bar), which gave us a chance to size each other up. Apparently I passed Dave's sniff test. We'll be talking terms and schedules soon.
Also in the last week:
J.R. answers letters that aren't really addressed to him
Dear Maid of Stress,
I saw Dear Prudence' response to your letter. Prudence got it wrong, and I'm writing you so you can do right by your friend at her wedding.
So your friend wants to have a cartoon-themed wedding and has asked you to be in the cartoon-themed wedding party. Take it as a compliment, get over yourself and help your friend enjoy her day.
Your friend obviously believes that you can lighten up and have a good time. I think you're an old fuddy-duddy who wouldn't know a good time if it hit her on the head with an anvil. So prove her right and prove me wrong by getting out there and partying down as Daffy Duck – a character who, like you, is funny because he takes himself too seriously.
To prepare yourself for this assignment, you need to watch the Chuck Jones classic cartoon Duck Amuck.
In short: It's your friend's wedding day, not yours. Get that stick out of your ass and use it to conduct the orchestra for her.
Signed,
J.R.
P.S. Send me photos of the wedding. It sounds like it's going to be a blast.
I like using the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard to move my digital photos from my devices to my hard drive. But for some reason Windows XP had stopped running Autoplay when I inserted a CD card into my internal SD card reader, so I wasn't able to use the wizard.
After a bunch of Googling and failed attempts at repair, I finally found the Autoplay Repair Wizard at microsoft.com, and that fixed the problem.
I really regret that I didn't collect names and contact information from all of the great people I met at Wizard World Chicago 2008. If you're one of the people I met there, please drop me a line at...
...so we can keep in touch.
If we met, you'd probably remember. I looked like this:
A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.
This was kind of a big week for me, banjo-wise. I've decided to switch banjo teachers. Mike has been a great teacher, but I want to get really good at bluegrass stuff and his expertise is in frailing.
I'll still be working with Mike, but in a different capacity. One of the banjo jamming skills I'm working on is my ability to follow the guitar. In order to do that well I need to recognize what chords the guitarist is playing. I figure the best way to do that is to learn a little guitar myself, and Mike is a great guitar teacher. So I'll be taking some guitar lessons from Mike.
But I'm looking into some other teachers for the bluegrass banjo. Watch this space for the results.
I'm working on a Granny Goodness costume how-to, similar to the one I created for my Plastic Man costume last year. But it will probably be the weekend before I finish it.
In the mean time, let's check in with the Internets and find out what people are saying about GG. (I'll update this over the next few days.)
The Granny Goodness picture here is priceless. Even my four year old daughter loved that picture. She said, "That's a Super-Grandma! That's funny!"
Take Pictures: I took like 5 pictures, and they don't quite convey the fun we had. I did get a sweet picture with a guy who was a little too into his Granny Goodness identity. He made for one ugly woman.
I don't know what would have made him think, 'I'm going to dress like a supervillian of the opposite sex from thirty-five years ago.'
Costumes: Nothing like sweaty polyester to keep the sane at arms' length, though I have to give that one guy props for dressing as Granny Goodness. Takes balls, kids.
You like me. You really, really like me. *Sniff*.
Is there anyone who doesn't think that Granny Goodness is a terrific costume for J.R.? Anyone? Yes, lowlie child? You in the green and yellow outfit? Did you have something to say?
I didn't THINK so.
Then, hearing no objections and with a tip of the hat to the artwork of the great Jack Kirby...
...I'm pleased to present this year's costume for Wizard World: Granny Goodness.
There's more to come as I find time to blog under the Granny Goodness label. And I'm sure there will be other people blogging and posting about the costume. It was a real hit and lots of people wanted to have their picture taken with Granny. Like this little child from, oh what was that planet's name? Oh, yes. From Krypton.
Granny loves her children.
A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.
If you've been following my first-banjoversary-labelled post you know what I've been up to this last week. But I'll bet you still have questions, yes you do. Two questions, in fact.
Oh, yes!
Yeah. It was a pretty low-practice week. And counting my blogging time as banjo time would be against the rules.
It's J.R.'s one year banjoversary and he's writing a series of posts on where he's been and where he's going, banjo-wise.
Yes, after those first six months I just wasn't making the progress that I wanted to. I'd performed on stage and had a good time doing so, but I wasn't satisfied with my musical performance. I'd spent half a year on my banjo and had gone to lessons every week (mostly), but I could just barely manage a Seeger-style sing-along. (And I'd have needed the printed music and a lot of practice before I could play the song.)
Coincidentally – or perhaps because the universe just wanted me to learn to play the banjo better – this period of realization came upon me at the end of the year, just in time for a new year's resolution:
My new year's resolution for 2008 is to spend at least as much time playing my banjo as I spend watching TV.
I set down some ground rules and started the year-long Banjo versus TV project. And let me tell you, the last six months have been much, much more fun.
As you can see from this chart of my banjo hours over the year...
...I logged a lot more banjo time in the second six months than I did in the first. The Banjo versus TV project has been a success!
"So, J.R.," I hear you say, because I can hear things over the Internet. "That's what the last year has been like. But what's next?"
I'm so glad you asked. Stay tuned for the where-do-I-go-from-here portion of my first banjoversary celebration.
It's J.R.'s one year banjoversary and he's writing a series of posts on where he's been and where he's going, banjo-wise.
You can pretty much divide the past year into two parts: the first six months in which I didn't practice enough and the second six in which I did.
Here's a look at those first six months.
Sorry to end the post on such a downer, but that's really where I was after six months. Things will pick up in the next post, though, because I've created a trick that helped me stick with my practicing.
It's been one year since the redhead gave me the best birthday present ever. Let's relive that moment, shall we?
It's 2007, we're having a birthday dinner at a nice vegetarian restaurant and I'm opening a big, oddly-shaped package from the redhead.
Isn't she wonderful?
And as you know (especially if you've been reading my blog and the 61 posts [so far] with the Banjo label) I've been working on my banjo playing ever since.
How am I celebrating my banjoversary? By blogging. A lot. I'm going to use this occasion to have a little public think session about where I've been and where I'm going, banjo-wise.
So, if you like that sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you'll like and you should really like the next few posts.
Update: It's not just my birthday. It's not just my banjoversary. Apparently, June 20th is the happiest day of the year for everybody. (Thanks for the link, little sister!) (Link broken? Try this one.)
A weekly check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s resolution to spend more time in 2008 on his banjo than on TV.
I spent most of my banjo time this week listening to the audios from Midwest Banjo Camp. (And yes, I'm getting them together so we attendees can share them, like I promised. Stay tuned.)
It was all part of a thinking-about-where-I-am experience that I'm in the middle of. More on that soon.
But not much actual practice this week. Guess I'm still on that plateau.
Also in the last week:
I'm going to start a new personal tradition this year by burning a tattered flag. Like the U.S. Flag Code says:
The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning. (4 U.S.C. Chapter 1 [The Flag] § 8 [Respect for flag])
If any of you have flags that are tattered or torn, maybe you could join me in burning that flag on Flag Day. I've got one that's too frayed to repair, so its time has come.
