My Kind Of Weekend

Feels like it’s been a while since I had a four-day weekend I was happy with. The last few extended times off were decent, but in the end I felt I’d spent the majority of the time being busy as opposed to spending time doing things for myself. No down time, necessarily. No “me” time. […]

21st Birthday, Pine Dust Fever, Gotta Burn Some Calories…

I don’t know what it’s like in your neck of the woods, but it got officially hot here in Northeast Indiana. Mid-80s with some hefty humidity. Plus, as an added bonus the pine dust decided to start falling. So until we get another rain we’ll be living and breathing in a yellow soot. It’s the […]

Mother’s Day, Birthday, Three Day Weekend, Burn Out

This was one of those rare three-day weekend situations where I am ready to go back to work. Don’t get me wrong, it was a decent three day weekend, but I feel pretty burnt out right now. Our oldest came home late Saturday afternoon. They were off work from Sunday thru Tuesday, and their birthday […]

The Grateful Dad

My wife and I were driving this weekend and I looked down at the tops of my hands. I was shocked by how old they looked. Or maybe not so much shocked by how old they looked, but by the fact they looked like my dad’s hands. The hands that I’d see on weekends when […]

“Baby it’s the guitar man”

I recently switched out pickups in my Squier Vintage Modified Mustang. They weren’t the stock pickups, mind you. They were some random Seymour Duncan pickups I pulled out of my very first guitar, a 1986 Fender Squier Stratocaster I received for my 14th birthday. Oh, what a great birthday that was. I’d been playing guitar […]

Celebrating the Big 5-0 And Reflecting On 33 Years Of Ups, Downs, Inside Outs

I haven’t worked a full week in like three weeks. Took a mini-vacation mid-April, then the week after I took a Friday off before the big Joe Satriani concert, then this past weekend I took Friday off so my wife and I could celebrate her 50th birthday. Her birthday was actually Sunday the 28th, but […]

Joe, Steve, Mom and Me

It was almost 34 years ago exactly that on a school night my older brother drove me and one of my best friends to the Embassy Theater in Fort Wayne to see Joe Satriani live. He was touring in support of the Flying In A Blue Dream album, and this was my first concert. My […]

Mini Vacation, Digital Delays, Splitting Hairs

As I figured, my mini vacation was over before it started. Last week I was off Wednesday through Friday, then the weekend as well. That was 5 days in a row for you folks not counting. I had big plans that included working on some painting, recording some music, and just in general getting all […]

Another Quick Weekend, Pending Totality, Mini Vacation

Another Saturday and Sunday come and gone. Quicker than you can say TGIF, we’re already on the pre-dawn drive back to work. It’s a process as old as time. I’m sure there were cavemen wondering where the weekend went as they were leaving their cave for the rock quarries or something(I bet that Flintstone cat […]

Mr. Jones’ Takes The Spotlight : Breaking Down Elvin Jones’ ‘Poly-Currents’

There’s plenty of amazing jazz drummers, but for my money one of the most powerful with the most finesse was Elvin Jones. Jones gained notoriety for being part of John Coltrane’s great quartet, along with McCoy Tyner(piano), Jimmy Garrison(bass), and of course Coltrane. Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Philly Joe Jones, Billy Cobham, Rashied Ali, and […]