Black Friday Underground

I spent Black Friday attempting to avoid shopping.  Our one foray out in the late morning gleaned no deals we couldn’t walk away from.  Derek and Royna found a couple of items for her Ipad 2 and wandered around a mall for an hour while Terry and I snoozed in the Bonneville.  After all that excitement, Terry and I headed back to Denton to help Rachelle transport her new Yamaha keyboard to the Abbey Underground for that evening’s performance of “All in the Family: Putting the ‘FUN’ in Dysfunctional” by the North Texas Opera on Tap performers.

I had planned that my  twenty-fifth installment in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ would be about family vacations, but instead I feel very thankful for live music.  The Abbey Underground venue provided a fantastic atmosphere to enjoy the company of friends and family, relax with your favorite beverage and appreciate the talents of local vocal performers, including my daughter (an under-graduate at UNT), graduate students, doctoral candidates, UNT faculty and Dallas Opera regulars.  The selections consisted of arias, duets and ensembles from several operas, including Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte (Rachelle sang a Dorabella aria) and the Marriage of Figaro; Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck; Handel’s Serse (or Xerxes); Verdi’s MacBeth and La Traviata; Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.

My husband noted the nice stage size and excellent sound system available for live performances.  Compared to some of the places his band, WolfGuard, has performed, the Abbey Underground facilities shined.  And even though we were in the basement, everything was well lit and clean and the patrons refrained from smoking (at the courteous request of the vocal performers) so we were spared the usual night club haze and miasma.  The only thing that keeps me from attending more local live music venues is whether or not the club hosting the concert allows smoking.  I refuse to subject my lungs to the second hand smoke.

Another aspect of live performance in a small venue that I love is the opportunity to meet performers and experience the energy often generated in the feedback from the audience to the performance.  It’s live, it’s impromptu at times, and it’s definitely not Memorex, even though I did capture a couple of the numbers with my video camera.  I’ll get those uploaded to YouTube later this weekend (the camera is in Denton and I’m currently at my son’s apartment in the Colony).

Opera on Tap finished off a great week and and put paid to Black Friday, bringing great opera performances to the masses congregating underground in Denton.

IMGP1998
North Texas Opera on Tap (Abbey Underground, Black Friday Show, Nov 2011)

Music to My Ears

I am thankful for my sense to hearing, and specifically music, which will be the focus of the fifteenth day of my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness.’

At age five, I started taking piano lessons from a close neighbor (close being a relative term out in the wilds of northwestern Leavenworth County).  Reading music came to me just about as easily as reading words.  Oddly (because I love mathematics), my only long-standing issue is my (un)willingness to count out a song in my head so that I get the rhythm and tempo correct.  I didn’t spend much time in a band environment (only played flute for two years before middle school), so I rely heavily upon a percussionist if I play and/or sing in a praise band.  And my audio memory of how a song should sound.  Yes, I’m lazy.  Probably why I’m not a professional musician.

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband is a hundred times, or more likely, a thousand times better musician than I will ever be.  He has impeccable timing and near perfect pitch.  He has the patience and technical skills to practice a piece to perfection.

Rachelle posing as a diva a couple of years ago

My daughter inherited most if not all of her musical ability and talent from him (I can still play piano better than her, but she knows more music theory than I’ll ever understand).

Rachelle started singing about the same time she learned to talk.  She surpassed my measly vocal abilities way back in early high school.  Along the way, she learned how to play violin, guitar, saxophone and piano.  However, her voice is her most finely honed instrument.  As she approaches her final semester as an under graduate at UNT’s College of Music, I look forward to attending her senior recital, which will include all of the following songs Rachelle recently recorded for her graduate school auditions (click on the song title link, then click on the play button):

The Nurse’s Song by Benjamin Britten
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Smanie implacabili from Cosi fan tutte by Mozart
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, piano

Ah scostati!
Paventa il tristo effeto
d’un disperato affeto!
Chiudi quelle finestre
Odio la luce, odio l’aria, che spiro

Odio me stessa!
Chi schernisce il mio duol,
Chi mi consola?
Deh fuggi, per pietà, fuggi,
Lasciami sola.

Smanie implacabili, che m’agitate
Dentro quest’anima più non cessate,
Finchè l’angoscia mi fa morir.
Esempio misero d’amor funesto,
Darò all’Eumenidi se viva resto
Col suno orrible de’ miei sospir.

English Translation:

Ah, move away!
Fear the sad effect
of a desperate affection!
Shut those windows,
I hate the light, I hate the air that I breathe

I hate myself!
Who mocks my pain,
Who will console me?
Oh, leave, for pity’s sake, leave,
Leave me alone.

Implacable restlessness, that disturbs me
Inside this soul, doesn’t cease,
Until it makes me die.
A miserable example of fateful love
I will give to the Furies, if I live,
With the horrible sound of my sighs.

 

Auf dem Kirchhofe by Johannes Brahms
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Auf dem Kirchhofe

Der Tag ging regenschwer und sturmbewegt,
Ich war an manch vergessenem Grab gewesen,
Verwittert Stein und Kreuz, die Kränze alt,
Die Namen überwachsen, kaum zu lesen.

Der Tag ging sturmbewegt und regenschwer,
Auf allen Gräbern fror das Wort: Gewesen.
Wie sturmestot die Särge schlummerten,
Auf allen Gräbern taute still: Genesen.

English Translation:

In the churchyard

The day was heavy with rain and disturbed by storms;
I was walking among many forgotten graves,
with weathered stones and crosses, the wreaths old,
the names washed away, hardly to be read.

The day was disturbed by storms and heavy with rain;
on every grave froze the words “we were.”
The coffins slumbered calmly like the eye of a storm,
and on every grave melted quietly the words: “we were healed.”

Les Berceaux by Gabriel Faure
Rachelle Moss, Mezzo Soprano
Violetta Zharkova, Piano

Les berceaux

Le long du Quai, les grands vaisseaux,
Que la houle incline en silence,
Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux,
Que la main des femmes balance.

Mais viendra le jour des adieux,
Car il faut que les femmes pleurent,
Et que les hommes curieux
Tentent les horizons qui leurrent!

Et ce jour-là les grands vaisseaux,
Fuyant le port qui diminue,
Sentent leur masse retenue
Par l’âme des lointains berceaux.

English Translation:

Cradles

Along the quay, the great ships,
that ride the swell in silence,
take no notice of the cradles.
that the hands of the women rock.

But the day of farewells will come,
when the women must weep,
and curious men are tempted
towards the horizons that lure them!

And that day the great ships,
sailing away from the diminishing port,
feel their bulk held back
by the spirits of the distant cradles.

Sevens and Seventy-Sevens

I rarely turn the radio on in my car.  I will when I’m driving the van, because forty-five minutes is a long time to maintain a conversation.  But when I step out of the van and start up my car for the two mile drive home, there just doesn’t seem any point to turning on the radio.  The fall weather this week begged me to open all four windows, though, and crank the volume.  So I did.  I caught the tail end of a Scorpions song on 101 the Fox (don’t ask me which one … it was probably “Rock You Like a Hurricane” … but I’m not entirely sure).  The next song immediately grabbed my attention, as I hadn’t listened to it for years.

The Grand Illusion (Styx 1977)
The Grand Illusion (Styx 1977)

First, let’s take a giant leap backwards to the late 70s, specifically July, 7, 1977, the release date for the seventh album of a band I couldn’t get enough of in my early adolescence . . . Styx.  Back then, I barely knew what rock ‘n’ roll was.  Heck, I hadn’t even officially made it to the ‘teen’ years yet at that point.  But over the coming months, you couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing “Come Sail Away” or “Angry Young Man” or “Miss America” or, as I heard last night “The Grand Illusion.”

I’ve played piano since I was five (more than forty years), so I naturally gravitated to Dennis DeYoung‘s compositions (my all-time favorite being “Castle Walls” from this album, but my favorite to perform is “Pieces of Eight” from the eighth album released the following year).  And, yes, I could play at least the opening to “Come Sail Away” from memory when I was in high school, along with the Entertainer, which was still popular thanks to that movie with Newman and Redford starring in it.

So even though I arrived home mid-way through the Grand Illusion, I sat in the garage, with the windows rolled down and the stereo blaring until I reached the bubble-bursting end-of-song stanza below:

America spells competition, join us in our blind ambition
Get yourself a brand new motor car
Someday soon we’ll stop to ponder what on Earth’s this spell we’re under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are

Back in the late 70s, before the recession (and heat wave) of the early 80s, and the dot-com bubble pop that followed later (was it the 90s or the 00s?) and now the ‘Great Recession,’ I can really feel the pain of these words.  Does America still spell ‘C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N’? or have we outsourced it all?  Are we blind to ambition or just blind?  I have yet to purchase a ‘brand new motor car’ and probably never will.  I’ve been pondering for decades what spell we’ve deluded ourselves with because I still don’t think I’ve made the grade and I think Roxy has more of an idea who she is than America does right now.

So I’ll close with a quote from my aforementioned favorite song from the Grand Illusion album, something I previously  consider a mantra, but have long since moved on to something more positive, encouraging and inspiring (check out Phil. 4:8 for my ‘life verse’):

Life is never what it seems
And every man must meet his destiny

What a Wild and Wacky Week

Winding back to Tuesday evening, Terry and I jumped in the car as soon as I got home to return the bluetooth stereo headphones to Best Buy at the Legends.  In an effort to one-up my surprise anniversary gift of a 24 inch widescreen HD monitor for Terry, he purchased a Nook Color for me.  I spent the next couple of hours playing with that new gadget and finally getting the recent software update to download and install.

Backyard Astronomer's Guide
Backyard Astronomer's Guide

Not having enough to do, I setup the telescope near the mailbox  on the driveway since the night was exceptionally clear for an early May spring evening.   I was able to view Saturn and at least one of it’s moons and I saw the shadow of the rings on the surface of the planet as well as some contrast between the clouds of that gas giant.  I tried a filter, but couldn’t remember the exact number I should have used from my reading of The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide (Part 1).  I swung around to the north-northeast to view Mizar in Ursa Major and attempted to find the Owl Nebula (M97) and as well as M81/M82 (a couple of galaxies).  However, the light pollution from the Lansing Correctional Facility and my neighbors porchlights and yard lights (and possibly some haze in the atmosphere) prevented me from find any of the deep sky objects. I packed everything back up and went off to bed.

Wednesday morning, I left early to visit my local Wal-Mart to find a protective cover or sleeve for the Nook Color.  Even though two employees were in the Electronics department, stocking shelves, they managed to ignore me the entire time I searched for said product.  I found a leather-looking folio-type cover which had the word ‘nook’ on the packaging and purchased it for about $30.  Once out in the car, I quickly discovered that ‘nook’ does not mean ‘nook color’ as the product was too small.  I had run out of time though to return it immediately and rushed to meet my vanpool and commute to work.  During lunch, I took a fifteen minute walk to the Country Club Plaza Barnes & Noble to pickup the cover I had placed on hold via the B&N website.  Since most of my lunch hour still remained, I walked back east and decided to try Firehouse Subs.  I had just received my order when a couple of my coworkers arrived and asked to join me.   We had an enjoyable visit before I headed back to the office building.

Elvenbane (unabridged audiobook)
Elvenbane (unabridged audiobook)

I easily transferred the 15 CDs worth of MP3s for the audiobook Elvenbane using the microUSB cord provided and a spare 4GB microSD card I originally purchased for my unsmartphone.   The Nook has a regular headphone jack (instead the proprietary one for my Samsung cell phone) which allows me to use a comfortable pair of wired stereo headphones.  I enjoyed an hour’s worth of listening during the commute back to Leavenworth.   That means in about a week I should be able to finish this book and write up a review for Fantasy Literature.  I’m about one-quarter finished and a bit exasperated with the current characters, who are children acting like children, even if they be dragons or half-elf/half-human in origin.  I usually avoid young adult fiction and/or fiction that focuses on children, pre-teens or teens because the melodrama usually makes me nauseous.

While on the phone with an IT colleague in our St. Louis office, I received a call from my daughter.  I asked her if I could call her back as I’d been trying to connect with the St. Louis  person for several days.  I surprised myself by remembering to call my daughter back when I finished.  Rachelle reported she passed her opera divisional jury easily.  The jury panel once again wondered why she was a music history undergrad student and not a vocal performance one.  She consoled them by affirming she planned to study vocal performance as a graduate.  We also discussed the best way to send her the rest of her summer tuition, debating the merits of PayPal versus a traditional check.  She opted for the latter and I mailed said check promptly Thursday morning along with several other items I had forgotten to mail throughout the week.

Wednesdays mean Wolfguard rehearsal, focused for their benefit concert this Saturday afternoon.  I didn’t hang around for the first set.  Instead, I ran back to Wal-Mart to return the nook cover.  Ironically, after finding all of the items on Terry’s shopping list (except for the nine volt batteries!), I spent the same amount that I had just had refunded to me.  I made it home in time to catch most of the second set rehearsal.

I had trouble dozing off, tossing and turning until well past one o’clock in the morning.  So when the alarm went off at five o’clock I felt like I’d had a nice nap.  Joy of joys, Thursday mornings are trash days in Lansing, so I dealt with the garbage and the recyclables before dragging myself to the van for the morning commute.  I again listened to Elvenbane while trying to stay awake without the assistance of a caffeinated beverage.

My morning flew by as have the other two days of this work week.  So much to do, so many projects to juggle and so many distractions and fires interfering with my well laid plans.  Just after the bi-weekly Change Management meeting broke-up and as I was settling down to compile some information, I received a call on my cell phone from an unrecognized number.  The woman on the other end was the Director of the Leavenworth Library, calling to tell me my mother had been ambulanced to Cushing Hospital a few minutes before eleven o’clock.  I asked the Director what her symptoms and/or condition was and she replied that she had been dizzy and incoherent, on the verge of passing out and once the EMTs were on site, her blood pressure and blood sugar were both very high.  I, of course, assumed the worst — that she was having a stroke or heart attack.

I spent the next several minutes making phone calls to determine how best to get home.  Since I don’t drive to work, I can’t just jump in my car to return home when an emergency occurs.  However, one of the benefits of participating in the Guaranteed Ride Home program for the last several years (first as a carpooler and for the last year as a vanpooler).   Never before have I had an emergency occur where I couldn’t find an alternative way home without invoking this benefit.  Today was the day.  I explained my situation and they provided a limo service for me since I live over thirty miles away from work (although it’s a similar fare if you are going from the Plaza to KCI, since I live very close to KCI, just across the Missouri River on the Kansas side).  One of the last call’s I made was to Cushing Hospital ER to get an updated status on my mother.  I was able to talk to her (she hadn’t seen a doctor yet) and I told her I probably wouldn’t make it to Cushing until close to one o’clock in the afternoon.

The ride home was uneventful but dreary, as rain had arrived in Kansas City.  However, by the time we reached Lansing, the rain let up and the clouds began to break-up and patches of blue sky became visible.   In fact, when I parked the Firebird at Cushing, the sun was warming up the recent rain and promising some humidity and haze.

The ER reception desk at Cushing was unmanned, although I sign indicated I should sign in on a clipboard.  I hesitated to do so since I was not a patient needing care, but rather a relative seeking to visit an ER patient.  After standing around for fifteen minutes, a woman returned to the desk and asked me if I had signed in.  I explained I did not need treatment but wanted to see my mother.  She shocked me by stating that my mom would be released in a few minutes so I could have a seat while I waited.  True to her word, my mom arrived in the waiting area about five minutes later.

The ER doctors had run an EKG and a CAT scan and found nothing of note.  He encouraged her to rest for the next couple of days and eat more frequent small meals.  Apparently, her appetite has been suppressed recently (in fact, she’s lost enough wait to wear clothes two sizes smaller than usual).  I’m not sure if that’s a result from her previous trip to the hospital a couple of weeks ago and the prescriptions she’s been taking for that incident.  I got her into the Firebird (which rides low) and took her home so I could switch cars and gather up Terry.  I fed her a light lunch to make sure she got something to eat before we drove out to Easton.  We stopped by the Library to drop off her doctor’s note excusing her from work for the rest of the day and tomorrow.  I drove her car back to Easton while Terry and Mom rode in the Bonneville.

I am grateful nothing more serious occurred to my mother, especially since Mother’s Day is this Sunday! That was my other reason for taking her to my house – her card was sitting on the kitchen table for Terry to deliver that afternoon.

Rainbow on May 5th
Rainbow on May 5th

Terry and I stopped at Denney’s Produce on the return trip but couldn’t find many appealing or appetizing veggies.  Once home, we talked for a few minutes and then watched three days’ worth of Jeopardy episodes.  Then I took Roxy for a walk and saw a vivid rainbow just before the sun set.

It doesn’t look like I’m going to get a break until Sunday.  Tomorrow night might be all right, but Saturday is chock full of activities – first Spring book sale for the Kansas City Public Library at the City Market (undecided if I’ll attend), the Wolfguard benefit concert and opening night at Powell Observatory.  I feel tired just thinking about the next forty-eight hours.

Otherworldly Choral Compositions

Last night my daughter performed with the UNT College of Music Chamber Choir in concert in Winspear Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center.  Thanks to live streaming provided by the recording services at the UNT College of Music, my husband and I are able to enjoy outstanding audio and adequate video of most of my daughter’s concerts.

After the Intermission, the Chamber Choir moved on to some late 20th century choral compositions that challenged both the performers and the listeners.

One of the more difficult pieces was a 1981 choral composition by Sven-David Sandström entitled Agnus Dei, a 16-part piece which created a sensation when it premiered at the international choir festival in Stockholm.  Following that performance, members of the audience rushed the stage and pulled the music from the choir members, not something you normally envision happening at a performance of sacred choral music.

Another strange piece performed immediately following Agnus Dei utilized harmonic overtone singing, a specialty of the composer, Sarah HopkinsPast Life Melodies (1991), with its 11-part composition and other-worldly harmonic overtones with roots in Mongolia and Tibet, reminded me quite strongly of a sequence from the soundtrack of 2011: A Space Odyssey.  You may remember the visually stunning sequence, but the aural atmosphere was equally astonishing.

If only I still owned a turntable, I could ask my mom for the vinyl recording, which I listened to repeatedly in my youth.  I wonder if any choirs have attempted a performance of Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite?

Singing, Snowing, Zinging, Knowing

My least favorite forecast includes ‘wintry mix’ concatenated with ‘winter storm warning’ culminating in excruciating commute times.  My vanpool dodged that bullet (barely) on the return trip home last night, for which I am very grateful.  It allowed me to watch and listen to my daughter’s first concert of the year, as a member of the Chamber Choir at the UNT College of Music.   While she is also a member of the Collegium Singers, she enjoys the challenge of increasing her repertoire in those two choirs and in her vocal performance studies individually as well.  Musicology is her primary focus as an undergraduate for the next year or so.   Living eight or ten hours north (by automobile) from her concerts would be torture if it weren’t for the appeasement offered by the College’s live streaming of most of the concerts.

Even though the concert only lasted thirty minutes, Terry and I enjoyed hearing Rachelle’s voice across the aether of cyberspace.

Immediately prior to the concert, while I shook off the last dregs of the work day, Terry tried a new recipe for stuffed tomatoes, which we barely got in the oven before the singing started.  Twenty minutes later we sampled his latest savory culinary comeuppance.  Delicious!

We opened the front door to near white out conditions.  We couldn’t see across our court to the houses on the opposite side.  Thick snow blanketed the steps and driveway, even though just ninety minutes prior there had been less than a half inch of icy, slushy, sleety mess.  We promptly closed the door and return to our regularly scheduled DVR programming.

Snow Accumulation in just 90 minutes Thursday evening
Snow Accumulation in just 90 minutes Thursday evening

Due to some systems maintenance performed overnight, I overslept by thirty minutes, awaking at 5:30 a.m.  Barely stopping to slap on some socks, I jammed on my boots, grabbed my coat and gloves and opened the garage door to an even thicker blanket of snow.  And while it looked fluffy and airy, it proved to be heavy and wet.  I began to doubt my ability to shovel just half the driveway to the street in the thirty minutes before I needed to dress for work.  My white knight came to my rescue and helped vanquish the snow dragon.   He even volunteered to do the steps while I finished my morning ablutions.

Terry drove me the two miles north to the Hallmark plant in Leavenworth so I could catch my ride to work.  As we were passing by the IHOP in Lansing, I commented that we should have had breakfast when I was awake between two and four o’clock earlier this morning.  Being such a considerate husband, he drove in a circle around the van chanting ‘na na’ at me because he planned to stop at said restaurant for breakfast on the return trip home.  True to his taunting, we saw him parked front and center at the IHOP as we headed south on K-7/US-73 (aka as Main Street in Lansing).

Our commute to Kansas City’s Midtown and Plaza regions remained uneventful, if a bit slow.  We observed several cars languishing in the medians and ditches, but we deigned to join them.  And for once, I made it to work when some of my team members decided to turn around a go home due to the icy road conditions in their part of the metro area.

Finally, and in closing, in perusing the blogs I follow as part of my morning tea sipping ritual, Modesitt posted a rebuttal to his previous blog (from earlier this week).  The earlier post, entitled ‘The Problem of Truth/Proof” generated several comments (a couple of which were mine), which then spurred Mr. Modesitt’s posting this morning, entitled “True” Knowledge is Not an Enemy of Faith.  I will monitor this blog throughout the day to follow the next wave of comments, but will probably refrain from commenting myself.

May you all have a restful and peaceful weekend!

Midweek Mull

Perhaps I’m in a funk because at least one of the four books I’m currently reading is a dystopian classic by Sinclair Lewis entitled It Can’t Happen Here (1936), part of my journey into various warped zones.   Perhaps it’s just hormonal, pre-menopausal doldrums.  Not enough fruit, vegetables and exercise?

I did purchase a new battery for my pedometer, hoping the predicted snow for later this week leaves only a dusting so I and my Rotts can get back in shape.  We could all benefit from a brisk walk and fresh air to invigorate our outlook on life.

My outlook dimmed after reading L.E. Modesitt’s recent blog post about the problem of proving truth.  I attempted to comment, probably not very eloquently, nor diplomatically, but again, my fug lens needs cleansing.

I do have my daughter’s first concert of the spring semester to look forward to tomorrow evening.  One of the choirs she’s a member of (Chamber Choir) performs a short concert at 6:30 pm, streamed live over the Internet.  She’s listed in the program under the Altos as Rachelle Moss, mostly because the color of her voice lands her in that section nine times out of ten.  I do miss hearing her rehearsing at home.

I’ll get little rest, peace or quite tonight (so I might as well walk the dogs) since it’s practice night for my husband’s rock band.  I just wish it wasn’t dark so early, because I could take my camera with me while walking and probably snap a few interesting photos.  I don’t want to start yet another book (on audio via my phone) nor do I want to re-hash all the old MP3s I’ve let languish there.  Guess I’ll just talk to Roxy or Apollo until they howl me silent.

I did finish my third crochet project of the year, but haven’t had a chance to photograph Terry modeling his new scarf.  He did wear it yesterday when he was out and about, but said it was so warm he had to remove it.  At least he won’t be cold the next time we have a frigid blizzard in February.

Today I wish my mom a very Happy Birthday.  Here’s a photo of her from 1965 helping me celebrate my first birthday:

My Mom, me and my cousins in 1965
My Mom, me and my cousins in 1965

Three Hours and Fifteen Hundred Stitches Later

I tied off and finished my second crochet project of 2011 this evening.  I probably could have made the moebius scarf just a bit bigger, but it will do.  When I drape it over my head and then double it around my neck, it snuggle covers my ears and keeps my throat toasty.

Moebius Scarf folded into open triangle
Moebius Scarf folded into open triangle
Moebius Scarf folded into a closed triangle
Moebius Scarf folded into a closed triangle

After taking a few final photographs of my new scarf, I immediately began a second scarf as a Valentine’s Day gift for my hubby.  Using Lion Brand Yarn’s Wool-Ease (worsted weight in black), I started crocheting an extremely simple ribbed scarf pattern.  I should easily be able to finish the scarf before next Monday.

3rd Crochet Project: Ribbed Scarf
3rd Crochet Project: Ribbed Scarf
Ribbed Scarf Closeup
Ribbed Scarf Closeup

I crocheted during WolfGuard‘s regularly scheduled Wednesday evening rehearsal, approximately three hours, and by my estimate crocheted over one thousand five hundred stitches on the third project of 2011.   While they worked on some new cover songs during the first session(Aerials by System of a Down and Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three), the last half of practice included such classics as Rush’s Finding My Way; BOC’s Godzilla; Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls; and, the show-stopping, heart-pounding, easy-to-lose-count-of-your-stitch-in-time Iron Maiden’s The Trooper.  If that doesn’t tangle your skein, nothing will.

Revisiting My Purse’s Contents

After meeting a friend for dinner last night at Jazz at the Legends, I rushed home, changed clothes and cars and headed to exciting downtown Leavenworth to Sweetwoods Bar & Grill to listen to various local bands, including WolfGuard, perform during open mic night.   I got there in time to hear Smoking Gun’s version of Dreams (one of my all-time favorite Molly Hatchet songs) with Chuck Ebbe as guest bassist.  Also got to sing along with the great Janis Joplin classic Mercedes Benz.

Terry had just ordered some appetizers when Smoking Gun introduced WolfGuard so he abandoned his boneless hot wings and pepper poppers to setup to perform.

So why did I entitle this post ‘Revisiting My Purse’s Contents’?  Because, Chuck Wiley, WolfGuard’s drummer, wasn’t using his electronic drum set.  Oh, no!  He was using an accoustic drum set.  And, I know it’s hard to believe, that two amplified guitarists and one amplified bassist (all set to 11 on their amps no doubt), playing heavy metal and hard rock, can be completely overwhelmed by an accoustic drum set.  And the one thing NOT in my purse was my ear plugs.

So if I don’t respond quickly to phone calls today, it may be due to the excessive ringing in my ears this morning. But the guys did great, playing some BOC, STP, Rush, Alice in Chains and Def Leppard.  Looking good, and sounding good!

Wolves on the Prowl

Good news for Wolfguard fans this week.  The band shook off the rust tonight at  rehearsal.  Terry will be taking it very easy, as his back, ribs and ankle are still not fully recovered.

Tomorrow night, come out and hear them play a few songs for open mic night at Sweetwoods Bar & Grill in Leavenworth.

China Grove from June 2010

Wolfguard at Sweetwoods back in September 2009