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Where I'll Be

Where I'll be

What to do?

So I have a friend, actually an old banjo teacher, that is really a good guy. The only reason I left to look elsewhere for lessons was because I didn't want to do tab. And he couldn't teach me to read music. He really is a gifted banjo player. So, every day I visit Craig's List for musicians ads. Mostly its all crap, but occasionally there's real cool stuff. I got my first big time pay to play at The House of Blues, I played at the Viper Room through Craig's list, found some other occasional gigs there, met my banjo friend from Maryland there. Got a part in an upcoming Documentary there. So there's this picture, accompanying an ad that has been on there for about a month. Banjo player auditions for a national touring band looking for a new banjo player. Contact so and so. I look because I play a banjo and there are very few specific ads for the banjo on there. Its way out of my league. I'm not ready at all to play that this level. Then my friend I mentioned above changes his Facebook page to include the same picture, of his national touring band playing the same venue back east. Does he know? Should I tell him? My buddy the drummer says send him an email asking him. My wife says no, don't say anything. What to do? 

The Haiku Master by Takiko Morimoto

I just finished this today. What a great and marvelous story. All about Basho, a famous 17th Century

Japanese poet that is considered to be the finest haiku author that lived. You really feel the time and the culture and beauty of his writing and the beauty of his life.

Where I'll Be

All Of Me, the way my buddy plays it, I think. Musicians are a curious lot. He brought us, my little combo this song that he plays on Uke and sings, rather well actually. So we are trying to back him up on it. The drummer just hears it, The dulcimer player reads music well and groks it as they used to say in my youth (Grok is from a Heinlein novel "Stranger In A Strange Land"} Me, I need to figure it out and practice it. I need a one page doc that I can put on my Ipad and play from. He brings in a two page chart that requires that you jump from here to there to there and here. This is my translation.  

The spaces are so I can add diagrams for the chords I don't know by heart. The fact that I can glance at a diagram these days and play it quick, is a miracle in itself. At 62, there are still marvelous things that can be learned. My fingers ache, but who the hell cares. These is way cool.