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18 April. '18 - So sue me I'm a terrible blogger! The new digs seem to be okay although I wish it would rain more often. Last month we trapped 5 mice in 36 hours. Who knew mice would like this particular house so much? The whole place is rather like as my friend Darrell would say: 'a frat house'. Each day I do a little something to clean up a bit. I've already had to sanitize the switch plates etc. Perhaps there are fewer roomates that lack environmental and cleanliness disciplines though I doubt it. After a week of separating recyclables from trash I saw one roomate combining the two containers ... not cool.
I've done a lot of work for the Southport Raw Bar and conversely my relationship with The Fish House has crumbled. I liked working for The Fish House and have done so for more than 10 years. It was an awful commute and so I've awkwardly decided to let it go.
I've narrowed the stalling problem on my Caravan to a faulty ignition coil. It has all the symptoms: hard to start, stalling, engine noise etc. I just don't want to spend a bunch of money on ineffectual repairs.
Last week brother Jeff and delightful wife Jill were visiting South Florida. I was able to convince them to visit a sushi bar. However they were both able to avoid the sushi parts! We had wine and laughed and caught up a bit on family stuff. It was great. Next morning we met for breakfast at my go-to bagel shop and had an oustanding breakfast ( all on Jeff's dime ). Jill decided she would like to walk along the beach and so I delivered them to the shore. Jill was totally enthralled by the tall palms and beach environ. Her enthusiasm was infectious and we had a great time strolling across the wet sand. I guess if you live here full time you may forget the simple joys of surf and sand.
7 February '18 - So I now have new digs. I languished on Darrell's sofa ( and later futon ) for nearly 8 weeks. It was awkward ( and over long ) for us both but we soldiered through. Darrell treated me with great kindness and deference. He deserves and has my eternal grattitude.
This new address is on the 7th Green at the Woodmont Golf course in Tamarac, Florida. It's a nice large room. There are another two roomates ( plus one weird guy ). Isn't that always the case? It's so large that I 've been able to empty my storage unit ( again ). Still have a stalling problem with my van and now the left front tire has developed a slow leak. Did research and discovered that everyone who owns Chrysler Mini vans has the same set of stalling issues. They've mostly ponied up thousands of dollars in solutions and still have the same problem... even from the dealership who doesn't seem capable of manifesting the repair.
21 December '17 - So in November I lost my lease. The original lease expired last May and so I was staying month to month. Now it appears that the owner ( who lives near the frigid Niagara Falls ) may have taken up residence in my old digs. I really wasn't planning to move. I think it's impossible to pack up your household and look for a new place at the same time. So now all my stuff is in storage... again! I've been crashing on my friends futon since the first week of November. It's been an adjustment for us both. Fortunately my host has been very busy being Santa. I try to be out of the house as much as possible and have expanded the morning walk to 4.3 miles. Of course my van is serving as closet and pantry so that's pretty awkward. The housing market in South Florida is tough and expensive. I really would like to live farther out west.
I've been working a few 'one-off' jobs but nothing regular. I'm still having a bad stalling problem with my Caravan and then most recently a flat tire. I used to be very busy with Holiday parties at this time of year but no longer. One of the bad things about working on ships is that you fall out of touch with local constituents.
14 September, '17 - Well, I skipped a whole month. I try to do better but as they say: "It is what it is." However, this time I can report my Hurricane Irma ordeal. This community began frantic preparations a week before the storm arrived. Water and batteries and gasoline fell into short supply. And now ( based on the impact we received ) I'd have to say that preparations were insufficient. I plan to make a new web page for this site featuring plenty of imagery and video snapped on my morning walk. Look for it in the next few weeks. The actual storm may lack mercy but the recovery is brutal! Sigh to the Florida Keys.
30 July, '17 - What eventful weeks! Well it didn't start out that well. I had a slip and fall but fortunately nothing permanent. I was sore for a while but all healed now. A few cables in my gear stopped working... I fixed them but it was a brief mystery. On Thursday morning I went to start my van and the battery was completely dead. Click, click, click... It was three years to the day that I bought this battery in 2014. Astonishing, and fair deal. Still it was an unpredictable expense but that's life. Then the plumbing messed up. It turns out that roots were invading the pipes. Good luck trying to pee on that day! They must return next week to replace some pipes. Yippee!
16 June '17 - Well here it is, another hurricane season. Good thing my new digs has these very sturdy, sound proofing storm windows. I've gotten to know the area pretty well. Each morning I take a walk totalling some 3.5 miles. The neighbors are all friendly and always wave even from their car windows. It's almost like: "If you know me then you must know my car?" I've met a half dozen others who do the walk as well, many of whom are walking their dogs. It's surprising how much less tropical this place is for being only 27 miles further north. It's been a hot year so far and I'm grateful that I haven't had to work outside. Working outside is hell on your guitar. Plus, your strings don't last as long and I just changed strings on all guitars. I changed out a mic cable too. There's a bright green lizard living in the tree outside my desk window. And there is a mated pair of black and orange orioles fluting 'round the hood!
18 March '17 - I wonder what the blogger police would think of me now? I still do the morning walk ( 2.7 miles ) though lately I've been avoiding it. It's too cold outside in the morning. Even my car is complaining about the temperature by stalling at the most inopportune moments. These new digs may be 2.5 miles from the beach but they're also about two miles from the RR Tracks and it's still loud. Can't imagine living any closer. There's also plenty of air traffic since the location features two busy airports. My neighbors are all 420 friendly but many also smoke cigarettes. We don't really have much in common. They're not jazz heads... they're meat heads. Would never try sushi and don't recycle. Not sure I will renew the lease especially since the rent has been raised by $630 a year. I bought new free weights. Last week I won the lottery... $9. Couldn't decide if I should take it in a lump sum or not!
27 Nov '16 - Incredible. This year is nearly OVER! There really hasn't been much to blog about until now. I bought a King Plaform bed with storage beneath. It was a great space savng idea. The power supply in my computer went 'tets up' but I was able to replace it same day. I'm auditioning a Netflix subscription.
My friend Darrell has encouraged me to embrace the latent fondness I harbor for that acoustic side of performing so I've been rehearsing alot lately. I had an oil change and a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. It was my first holiday in 4 years. Thanks to Diana ( Darrell's lady ) for a marvelous dinner and for permitting us to attempt the 'manneguin challenge' at her table. Hopefully I'll be posting that soon. They even made Salmon for me! Oh yeah, a moron has conquered our Republic. Castro just died and the Cuban community here is going bonkers with joy. Don't think I could ever be inspired to dance on someone else's grave.
20 May '16 - Another less than timely post from yours truly. I guess I'm only good for one posting every 6 months or so. Well, I did it again... moved that is! The new place is filled with windows and so is very bright. I might be able to resume having house plants. The previous address was so dark inside that it was not possible for any plant to survive. I liked Coral Springs tolerably well except that there wasn't very much energy. So basically all I've been doing for the past two months is lugging around stuff. Into the van, out of the van and into the storage unit; out of the storage unit, into the van, out of the van and into the building etc. Nothing like hefting a ton of heavy boxes to break off your finger nails! Hope I won't be doing much of that again any time soon! I can still get things done but it seems to take more out of me than before. Also, I had to lose my great heavy desk and so now shopping around.
I'm in 'gettings things really clean' mode. So far I've mostly cleaned up the kitchen. Never had a tile floor before. I notice that antenna TV reception is better here in North Fort Lauderdale than it was in Coral Springs.
10 Dec '15 - Well I got my guitar back and it does finger easier. Trouble is that the 'B' string seems to buzz somewhat. Still examining it. I've had this guitar for nearly 25 years and it has been an excellent instrument. Now I think it may be time to update. So I've been looking at Taylor Guitars and in particular a somewhat hard to find thin line acoustic. It's a pretty expensive pursuit.
I've struggled to make this web site compatible with mobile devices. No easy task. No one even envisioned mobile devices when I started creating web pages ( with little content back in 1998 ). I thought making historically significant pages about monthly observances like 'Valentine's Day' or 'Labor Day' would be a good way to start. At least there was some content apart from just talking about my own self ad nausem. Trouble is there are more than 200 pages of similar content now and way too many to meet mobile standards without great effort. That's why there is a link back to the desktop site in the mobile menu. So I concentrated on the main 5 pages like 'Calendar' and 'Playlist' and 'Videos' et al. Then I ran into another snag because Microsoft doesn't support the new '.webm' encoding codec ... it's a long story.
20 November '15 - Well here I am not being a good blogger. My friend from Cleveland has been here for almost two months and seems to be having car trouble! I have a new demo on DVD that has a good look and it appears to be appealing. I just negotiated a first Thursday at the Seminole Casino here in Coral Springs ( in January ). It's a duo and they don't want any backing tracks! At the moment I'm working to make this web site into a mobile version and starting work on a new web site for a rehab worker. Also, I had to put my Songbird ( black guitar ) in the shop for a few adjustments. It won't be finished 'til Tuesday. If it's not one thing... it's ten!
22 September '15 - If there is only one thing to like about Windows 10 it is the absence of log-on / log-off music! Some of the usual folders are hard to find and so difficult to customize. On another note, last week some vandals set fire to one of the recycle bins melting it into a huge blue ball of trash and filled our pool with fire extinguisher foam. They also melted a porta-potty across the street at a construction site. I've always heard that you can light a fart but that really kicks it to a new level! I finally finished a new brochure that I plan to use as DVD inserts. There's an image on the photo page. And lastly it looks like my friend Tony will be paying a visit. Anything to escape another Winter in Cleveland! Of course, I'm sure how this is going to work since I have no furniture.
29 August '15 - Well! Almost settled into my new digs. I like it tolerably well. The people in this community seem particularly joy less. I've probably typed this before but there are no hot girls around here! You can see more hot girls at a supermarket in Hialeah in 20 minutes than you can see here in a month. Anyway, I replaced my very old ( November 2001 ) computer this month. It's Windows 10. As expected it's packed with 'bloatware' ( stuff you don't want but was included for a fee paid to Microsoft ). So much of the usual navigation is hidden and replaced by Windows 8 style tiles. It truly has been a learning curve but I'm almost there. I have a new DVD demo and business card.
5 July '15 - I'm pretty well settled into the new digs. However my studio is still in moth balls. There won't be any new backing tracks for a while so I've been dragging out tunes that have been completed though never performed. I have a good many bossas and dance tunes as well as some JT and Sting that have not even been rehearsed yet. There is a new nine song medley that I tried to perform yesterday when the Trio performed for the City of Surfside. I had to burn the medley onto a new disk of backing tracks and apparently it didn't take properly. The disk failed on several tunes and I had to use the old one. We sounded good and had some dancers on this family event. But man was it hot!
2 June '15 - If I have not yet illustrated my inept blogging skills then this posting should do it. I can say only that all the tools I use on a daily basis have been in costly storage! I have relocated. I disconnected my old land line of 28 years and bugged the hell out of Dodge! Not certain what to do with my fax machine? I sold my prized piano and tossed almost all of my furniture. I've been staying in various hotels for a few expensive months. Now I live 30 miles North in Coral Springs. The area seems okay but I haven't seen any hot girls; lots of Asians and East Indians. Also, the folks that live here are not playful... they seem pretty dull. My first day in town I got a ticket for a burned out tail light bulb. I showed the officer new bulbs ready to install but he still wrote me a ticket for $95! So as Walter Cronkite might say... " and that's the way it is."
21 Dec '14 - Happy Holiday! This will likely be my last blog entry for 2014. This month I performed for retiring justice 'Shu'. It was a chilly evening but an awesome sushi buffet. Last week I had to replace my replacement DVD player after only 18 months. I didn't use it that much and found this to be frustrating. After it was unredeemable I took it outside and jumped up and down on it! My excellent roommate has gifted me with a new microwave oven for the Holiday. Thanks! ( I haven't even opened the box yet. ) This cold weather really dries out your skin. Folks can't realize that humidity makes 55 degrees in Miami comparable to 33 degrees elsewhere. The new year may find me moving away from my home of 28 years. Even if I stay I'll need to replace the water heater. If it's not one thing it's ten! But I'm still here, I'm still a singer and I still love performing for you. Even if I won the lottery I wouldn't have it any other way!
26 Oct '14 - So far it's been an interesting month. Last week I had the fortune to perform in a quartet at a little known private luxury resort named 'Little Palm Island'. It's little known to you and I though renowned in circles of the elite. It's pretty high end, pricey and very refined. No media, only key deer wandering around the grounds. You can check out my dedicated page here. Also, last night I performed at The Fish House. There was a late arriving wedding party. They were to celebrate a wedding the next day and were delayed because of a 'smash and grab' robbery. All their clothing and jewelry as well as electronics were robbed from their vehicle in a flash. Their resilience was incredible. Best wishes to Jay and Chris now and always.
05 October '14 - Today is Jessica's birthday... happy birthday! Two months between blog postings is just unacceptable. Last Thursday a flat tire appeared ( again ) on the van. It took me 2 hours in the boiling hot sun to change that tire. Convenience spare my ass! Just as last June, this tire was dry rotted even though the tread was still good. There is a little black cat hangin' around the building. It has no tail. It catches lizards and mice and leaves them on the porch mat. In other news I recently completed a new web design for Sapphire Color Studio in Cashiers, North Carolina. Moreover I've had to disassemble my home studio. The cabling is old and crackles. Some of the internal batteries need to be replaced and some of the display windows display nothing at all. On the other hand the self medication is proceeding apace!
01 July '14 - Here it is the 1st of July. It's 80 degrees at 7 am and the first storm of the season is forming off the coast of central Florida. Last week I had a flat tire. Apparently the tire wasn't punctured merely dry rotted. I availed my self of the chance to clean up my van. There was leaf litter in there greater than the forest floor. The neighbor upstairs is replacing carpet with flooring and making all the attendant sounds. I added hover info overlay to the Pristine Portfolio Page. Much more attractive since I enlarged the images. I also added to WGBR.Net by updating the graphics. Still working on a half dozen tunes for the act.
11 May '14 - Moving along. I added several new programming techniques to my skill set. It's surprising how time consuming it can be to learn these things. If only I wasn't so dim! I had to toss my old point and shoot camera. I used it to take images all over the place including the Caribbean, Europe and plenty of ships at sea. It was a good value. But I just bought a new one today. I actually wound up doing a bit of spring cleaning at the same time and have made a few sizable trips to the Goodwill trailers.
25 Mar '14 - Nice to be busy! Over the week I was able to perform with my quartet at the THIRD Thursday event for the City of Surfside on Miami Beach. You may know this place from the old TV series '77 Sunset Strip'. It was once a sleepy beach village and now everything goes for a million bucks! We had only just gotten the sound right when it began to mist and then to light sprinkle. The event coordinators shut everything down fearing a deluge. We were all highly disappointed. Though a few days later we ( my trio ) performed at a private event on the Ocean at the St Regis Bal Harbour. Great weather and a nice ambiance. It turns out attorney general Eric Holder and the family were in house, so the traffic was pretty heavy ( he was not part of the gathering ). Anyway when we packed up our gear to leave we discovered the elevator was broken. There was only one and it was in high demand. Eventually they had to call the elevator company. After an hour we wound up carrying our gear down nine steps ( one piece at a time ) and then retrieved our respective vehicles from the valet. Finally out the door and on the road except that now the draw bridge was up!
22 Feb '14 - This s a little late in the year to make a first blog entry! I've been pretty busy writing other bits. I revised and edited my original eBook. It's now been released as a new work: Muster Stations! Are Cruise Ships Right for You? Also, over the past several days my duo combinations performed at the Miami Beach Convention Center for the Miami International Boat Show. Literally all day events. We only performed for 4 hours but the traffic was a study in patience. I now have over forty new jquery programming skills. Yikes! I'm blazing mon! If ever I want the lawn crew to arrive all I need to do is hose off the back porch, Works every time.
13 Dec '13 - Changes be comin'. My upstairs neighbor is dividing the household to embrace a relocation opportunity. We've been neighbors for many years and I was saddened about this news. I seem to have fabricated so many new bits of animations on this site that I can't remember them all... I think the one that stands out is on the 'Contact' page. All of my gig / performance cabling is going south and I'm on the replacement path. My Key of 'A' harmonica doesn't harmonica anymore. Over the weekend I was able to use the old wireless microphone for the first time in so long I can't remember. The Key Largo venue demonstrated a true Florida Keys quality by separately inviting each individual forward to receive a personalized card. A family. Also, if I don't clean out my ride pretty soon I might go unnoticed amid the debris. All in all it appears to be an okay holiday season.
06 November '13 - What a weekend. My trio performed for Hatteras / Cabo yacht builders at The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Private yachts the size of buildings. A tough gig to get to. Parking at the Broward Convention Center, transfer gear to shuttle, place gear back into cart. Then roll to the other side of the marina at Bahia Mar, set up and play. Put gear back onto cart, transfer to shuttle, put gear back on cart and roll to your vehicle. All together 8 different times. The shuttle stops running before we finish and we must hire a taxi. It was hot and humid and sticky all night. Finally got on the road and enjoying some a/c when the longest train in the world sidelines all traffic for 20 minutes. There's more to tell but I'm weary of remembering stuff.
16 September '13 - Played a Private Birthday Bash last night for the star of 'Old Guys Rule' (Mark) at his home. Lucky guy with great friends and a terrific family. The high demand tune was 'The Electric Slide' (I don't play it but I do have an MP3 for break sounds). I placed a new weather widget on the News Page. Not sure if it will stay. It turns out that my Songbird just needed a good cleaning and it remains the excellent instrument I purchased 24 years ago. Lately I've been getting a lot of input from folks who don't want to hear backing tracks and rather prefer just acoustic sounds. I like that idea and maintain several hundred acoustic tunes on the playlist. But you can't escape the reality that it's very difficult to get 'rowdy' all by yourself.
04 August '13 - So off I went to sing on Friday night. I played one tune and that was it! After 24 years it appears that the transducer in my Guild Songbird has gone South. I've looked around for a replacement without much success. The instrument was assembled in the late eighties and there aren't a lot of spare parts around. I've seen a few used models for sale. It may be time to get a replacement. I'm going to try re-soldering some connections later today.
19 July '13 - New and improved design elements. I placed hover overlays on the Social Media links. I also changed the color of the preview pane. Last week I started an inspiration to design a page for a wine tasting and consulting company. The site is still incomplete. Tonight I'm playing at The Fish House in South Miami.
8 Jul '13 - Three months and no posting. I seem to be getting worse at this instead of better. I finally got the web audio player to work properly (Yahoo) and then the company discontinued the interface! I found a new player but it took me days to work it out. I did perform at the Ritz-Carlton on Lauderdale beach July 4th. The traffic was a nightmare but the gig went flawlessly. Check out some new images on my Photo Page.
15 Apr '13 - Two months and no posting. Honestly I suck at this blogging stuff. I've been busily improving my web design skills. So far this year I've added around 20 new JQuery techniques to my capabilities. New landing pages for One Busy Guy and Flute Factor and The Fish House. Countdown timers, floating menus, corner peels and a good deal of animations. If you haven't taken the chance to mouse around this site you may not notice all the improvements.
19 Feb '13 - Over the weekend I performed at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Day one I performed along with my good friend and percussionist Carlos Planas. The next day Carlos went in for minor surgery and we wish him a speedy recovery. On day two I did my solo act and it was very humid, then it rained all day and the tent flooded inside. On day three I was able to perform with the worlds best player of the flute (Meryl Tanenger) and the power went out. On the last day I did my solo again and the temperature dropped into the forties. All in all an eventful gig!
06 February '13 - Happy New Year! Never realized that it has been nearly three months since my last update. Each morning I receive updated posts from some of my facebook friends. I'm astonished that someone can put that much effort into such a pursuit. At any rate I've been busily updating all my web designs to Google Chrome and Firefox compliance. I truly never noticed that Internet Explorer was losing so much market share that it is no longer the dominant browser. I upgraded the Pristine Webs design page to reflect some of the new JQuery code I've been leaning and have also created a new web site for a client of old.
24 November '12 - It's a pain on the arse! I have been working to make this site and all the other web designs cross browser compatible. So far I can only get pages to work properly in Internet Explorer and Chrome. Code that works well in Chrome is slow in IE. Some say that Internet Explorer is nearly a dead browser. I think most of the code works okay in Firefox but the page elements fall out of alignment. Did you know there are around 60 different browsers? I can't even think about Safari and Opera!
24 September '12 - I created a new page with images of the many ships one encounters in exotic ports of call. All the photos were snapped by yours truly. It was a real pain to assemble all these graphics but you're worth it!
22 September '12 - Well my reputation as One Busy Guy is still secure! Writing that first eBook was quite an adventure. I struggled with spelling and phrasing and grammar for some 26K words. I was happy to have it finished and published and then realized it wasn't enough. There is much more to me than a mere person who has worked on ships at sea! I really needed another book to present other more interesting bits about an unconventional life experience that includes scuba diving, windsurfing, hiking through the rainforest and of course my Andy Rooney style observations. That's why I created a second eBook entitled: 'Incites and Outtakes - A Book of Books -' Yeah.
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31 Dec '11 - Happy New Year. On Thursday last week I performed in a trio for the Orange bowl committee at the Fontainbleau Hilton on Miami Beach. It was a real pretty night apart from the cigar smoke and the very strong wasabi! Last week I also received a call from a man in Holland who hired me to play only five songs at a restaurant on South Beach. I guess he found my web page on line. I played that job and was very delighted to meet he and his SO. South Beach was maddening. There were more police on the street than streetlights and the traffic was jammed. Here's wishing all of us a better year than 2011.
04 Sept '11 - It all started three days ago when the disposal stopped disposing. The elbow was blocked up so I took it out, cleaned it and replaced it. Then the flush handle in one bathroom broke off inside the tank and I had to use paper clips on the pull chain temporarily. Then I went out to exercise and discovered my van was gone. It was like one of those troubling dreams where you can't find the usual stuff. At any rate it turned out to be the towing company for our community. They said the 'hang tag' was not on the rear view mirror so they towed the vehicle. It was obviously an error (and perhaps a new guy) but it still happened. The vehicle was returned later in the morning without even a 'sorry about that'. Apparently it doesn't matter that I have been parking in the same space for more than 20 years without incident. The only thing that has changed is the towing company. Somehow I think that will soon be changing again as well. But that's not all. The job I was to do that evening was double booked but I didn't know until I got there (about an hour drive south in rush hour traffic). It was really annoying and an issue where it doesn't help to get upset. While I was there a screw fell out from my sun glasses frame. Naturally it was impossible to locate. So on the next day I did my workout routine without incident, installed a new flush handle, and visited an optical store. It was all accomplished using my 'un-towed' vehicle. And people wonder why I love beer?
18 Aug '11 - Well a month has passed and not much has changed. I made a number of mods to the web site including a modestly Spam proof contact page. I'd like to improve the image gallery as well but no inspiration yet. I did make a little story of my scuba diving experience. I think it can be a lot more fun so I'll keep adding to it. I did obtain a new web maintenance agreement this week so that's something. The past several months I've been doing a great 90 minute daily routine around the neighborhood. It passes around and between five lakes. Sometimes I jog but mostly I walk. After thirty plus years of jogging the joints are much worse for the wear. Last February I made a little movie about it but the resolution wasn't very good though I did save it onto the hard drive. This date happens to be the very day and month that this blog first began in 2006 (see the bottom).
19 Jul '11 - Times are definitely changing. My Sunday afternoon sets have been cancelled presumably for the slow summer months though I think it will be a lot longer. Yesterday a huge bolt of lightening struck the lakeside bank opposite my kitchen and ignited not only a palm tree but the dried reeds as well. The whole house filled with the smell of smoke. I spent the weekend detailing the van. I even applied Armorall to the interior! Talk about boredom.
11 July '11 - Man is it hot outside. The dog days of summer arrive in the hottest months and are so named because Sirius the Dog star pairs with the sun at this time. Played a private birthday bash on the Galt Ocean Mile last Saturday. It was big fun with flowing food and drink as well as lots of dancers. I don't think I'm eating enough. My weekly gig has been cancelled because of the slow off season and now I'm flopping like a trout on deck.
15 June '11 - I guess I'm settling into the mid month rhythm of blogging. The last few days I've been experimenting with a new and modest HD video camera. The files are huge and somewhat unwieldy on this old computer. None the less I did manage to post three new HD videos (of short duration) on the video page. It's challenging to find a reasonable venue for recording; a place without too much crowd noise. I now have a new roommate. We'll see how that goes. My thrilling interview in Boston has not yet yielded a response and so far is rather disappointing. Sunday is Father's Day. As always I hope to hear from my own daughter.
17 May '11 - I think this is a record for ignoring my blog; nearly two months. What have I been doing you ask? Well, I've added a number of new tunes to my act including 'Easy' and 'Sweat'. I've managed to rid myself of a very sloppy roommate. Within 6 days there were already fewer ants on the counter. Nice enough person but clueless when it came to tending a household. They couldn't even work the sponge! I took a day trip to Boston. It reminded me of how much I like living in South Florida. Boston was enjoying a misty rain at 51 degrees and it was clear, sunny and 81 here in Miami. I updated the web site of artist Laura John. If you haven't viewed her work before then do so now.
25 Mar '11 - Well I received something of an offer to join the Independence of the Seas for a few weeks as a replacement act. It sails from Southampton, United Kingdom. I was tempted to go for it but started thinking about all the hassle involved with traveling and time zones and converting bucks to the British Pound and Euros and finally gave up on the idea. Either you work on ships or you work on land, the two don't blend all that well. It's too bad though, I've never visited Gibraltar!
15 Mar '11 - My new little ruby red hard drive crashed a few days ago. It had 171G of data on it. Most of it is backed up elsewhere... I think? Anyway I spent a week with tech support who wanted to send me an improved cable... no difference. So finally this morning I mailed it back with an RMA. We'll see. No matter how much you pay or how little it's worth; warranties and insurance companies both determine their liability and then try to weasel out of it.
16 Feb '11 - I performed on the Biscayne Lady for the first time last evening. A very nice charter party boat. It was for a meeting of the Millipore group, about 150 people. A hassle to haul my gear up the 2nd deck but a terrific group. The only rub was the guy who ran the operation. He told me to hook up to the ship audio system with a cable that was bad. Every time the cable moved the signal would either spike or crash.
9 February '11 - The weather is amazing! Yesterday I toured around the shoreline and snapped a few short videos of the many birds that frequent our lake in the Winter months. It turned out okay and I'm thinking about posting it on You Tube. For whatever reason my van keeps stalling and now the catalytic converter light is glowing. I hate this van. Moreover I'm canceling my agent friendly site 'Branchfactors.Net'. I kept it for two years and really haven't noticed any kind of benefit.
27 January '11 - Last night I played for State Farm at the Fontainebleau Resort on Miami Beach. Really beautiful place. Expensive. I had to valet my van (I hate that). Very congested. An international group of 5000 programming and television executives were having a convention. I only played 90 minutes for a small crowd but I struggled for the first thirty to remember how I did stuff. This was my first gig since leaving the Explorer of the Seas last November. It's like they say: "Use it or lose it."
1 January '11 - I guess most people have a happy new year. Even if it isn't so happy they never mention it. This year I intend to lose a few things that have outlived their sentiment. I've been saving a bottle of Moet in the fridge for several years and I don't know why it's still there. So last night I carried it over to my neighbors and we popped it for the new year... one down.
I0 Nov '10 - Well I'm back. I flew into St. Thomas last Monday for an over night to meet the Explorer of the Seas and a visit to St. Kitts then on to Bayonne, NJ. It was the last half of a 10 days voyage. The AA flight was delayed 3 hours and 50 minutes. Did you know that the airport in St. Thomas closes at night? The temperature in New Jersey was half that of St. Thomas so I had trouble packing. In St. Kitts there were guys walking around with armfuls of little monkeys for photo ops. On the return flight it was the day for the New York Marathon (very heavy traffic) and the onset of Daylight Savings Time. It was a whirlwind trip but great fun. My crowds in the Crown and Kettle pub were magnificent.
18 Oct '10 - I've been working for two weeks on the creation of a DVD. Since I bought the little camera two years ago I've managed to collect quite a bit of video from my travels and even some of me entertaining as well as some large crowds. Now I'm done editing but can't get it off the computer. It processes up to 96% and then stops working. This calls for some creative maneuvering and a lot of data swapping. But it got done when by some fluke the whole operation was saved to a DVD folder that I was later able to burn using different software. It's the kind of thing that makes us remember why we are not fond of computers.
1 Oct '10 - Yesterday I posted new audio samples on this site. They were all recorded at home while wearing headphones. One thing I had forgotten about the wearing of headphones while you sing is that you don't really sing out strong. You tend to subconsciously balance the mix in your head and in doing so leave the power out of your voice. But I did get to post new audio page designs even if some of the samples have to be redone. In the future I'm going to make an effort at recording new samples as soon as I return from a contract. I have a tendency to avoid music for a few weeks while I work on household stuff. That's a bad thing. The more you sing the stronger your voice gets so you should (and my voice teachers would always say: "Never should on yourself.") make demo recordings while your singing chops are up instead of trying to do so after they've cooled.
23 Sept '10 - Well, it's impossible not to remember the great amount of rainfall that South Florida receives in September. It's been poring rain outside for an hour... and an hour yesterday... and the day before and so forth. It's annoying. The parking lot is flooded. I've been working to update my circumstance. In Madrid they made me gate check my little trolley and I had to get a new one. Iberia airlines has poor even non-existent baggage remedies. I expanded my hard drive capacity and also my cable television subscription. There were the routine updates to web sites I maintain, but the big effort for me was promotional material. I designed and printed a new two sided brochure and have been working to record new sound clips for the on-line demo pages. That means designing a new web interface as well. Even as the rain falls I'm waiting for a new disk of software to arrive that will enable me to make better edits in those recordings.
6 September `10 - I like to make the most of my time. To paraphrase the words of Jimmy Carter: "I can sleep until 9 and be rested, or I can get up at 6 and be President." Making the most of your time is essential when you're stranded on a ship at sea. There is always a temptation to eat, sleep or drink too much. I managed to read a few books and write for my blogspot. This past contract was in the Mediterranean and so presented entirely new vistas to capture. I felt the harbor in Naples was disastrously polluted and decided to collate little videos about water that I've been collecting from my travels. Also, as part of my blog, I've assembled some images of the ship as seen by crew members. This particular ship is the Voyager of the Seas but could easily be from any number of vessels.
23
August '10 - What can I say. I spent the last 8 weeks tooling around the
Mediterranean as the guitarist on board the Voyager of the Seas. The
itinerary was pretty amazing but the traveling was exhausting. We
visited Spain (Barcelona), Italy (Naples and
12 June '10 - Since returning from the 'Bahamas Celebration' I've managed to create 8 new sequences. Some are for the Irish clients so often on board ships. Making a sequence and moving it through the processes of balancing and data transference is a lengthy ordeal. Yesterday I noticed that my patch bay has given up. I've had it 20 years but I think it was a momentary power interruption. In Florida the household electricity goes out for a moment almost every day. Now I'm looking at the task of removing the gear and trying to repair it. And I did repair it. Happy!
2 June '10 - I should change my web name
to one traveling guy! I'm still somewhat shocked
3 May '10 - Well I've only just returned
from my big adventure on (of all things) the 'Adventure of the Seas'. I
got up at 5:30 am to fly into Barbados on a Tuesday and endured the 'white knuckle' taxi
ride through the streets of Bridgetown to the harbor where my ship was
awaitin'. Then after only a 20 minute walk dragging my gear in the very hot
sun, and a 35 minute wait (also in the very hot sun) while someone
figures
out what to do with me, I join the vessel. It was a short I never intended to make so much of cruise ships. I started this web site as a kind of on-line brochure and it just ballooned into the 300 meg behemoth it is today. I suppose the most honest way to treat it is to be genuine and so I post the bits and pieces of a career that takes me along with it.
28 March '10 - Well, today was to have been the day I join the Liberty of the Seas. That's not going to happen. I've heard rumors about this ship. Some entertainers refuse to return there, something about arrogant management. It certainly would have been convenient for me since the vessel sails from Miami. One trouble with these 7 days voyages is that the ship comes into port only on Sunday. At least in Miami most stores are open every day but in places like [ Port Canaveral ] the stores are closed. I told lots of friends and guests I would be appearing on the Liberty at this time and I hope they won't be disappointed.
4
March
'10
-
It
must
be
time
for
a
new
blog
installment.
Needless
to
say
I've
given
up
the
wireless
life
and
will
have
to
be
content
with
cables.
Since
returning
home
I've
added
14
new
1 February '10 - Back at last! I notice a musty scent in my studio and discover a quantity of mold under the throw rug. It's a mystery... how did the water get inside? Still working on that. I had to replace the hard drive on my studio computer. Then I tried hooking up with a wireless router. It's a LinkSys model (WRT54GL) that was well reviewed. I think it's weak and will likely return it. Who needs a wireless router if you have to stay near the antennae for reception. I mean weak like 20 feet away there is no signal.
5 January '10 - A
week of the New Year has already passed. I actually got to celebrate NYE
twice. Apparently
the British and Scot New Year is celebrated 5 hours earlier (
28 December '09 - Spending the holidays on a ship at sea. It's an interesting non-denominational experience. We have a huge tree, Santa came to visit, we wrapped gifts for the hundreds of children and enjoyed an updated crew menu in the Windjammer cafe (it was closed to guests). There was caroling. So many children. Thanksgiving week there were 1400 children on board. Christmas and New years saw more than 1100 per voyage. The ship is filled to capacity. Whenever there are lots of kids the lounges are slow. No changes have been made to my schedule. Yesterday I had to sit-in at passenger drill for a Russian Ice Cast member who had returned home in an emergency. It turned out she was back before the drill began and there were two of us. I actually had to change my crew number to hers. Now I'm hoping to change back.
13 December '09 - Once again I've surpassed any previous level of incompetent blogging. Needless to say I've been busy participating in life instead of recording the events. I've been away on contract and without web posting access for the most part. I've also come to realize that when crewmembers complain about the ship they are actually complaining about not being at home. The holidays are only a constant if you are still at 'home for the holidays'. I'm suffering from a noticeable lack of media. No public radio or TV... it's the worst. Instead, I have weekly brow beatings from the Musical Director! I have my car in the port but I have no where to go. I miss my pillow and my coffee maker and my TV. Luckily I have a good house sitter and I've been looking around for a suitable reward. So far I have read my fourth book and am well into my fifth. I've written thousands of words about this ship experience. Each day I write a little bit about what it's like to be here and some of my logs will become rants on Sensible Soup. I have plenty of photos and videos. For some reason I have expanded my DVD collection.
30 August '09 - Well it's good to be at home! Again I'm not so good with the blogging thing and will try to do better. The last few weeks I spent trying to bring my house into the 21st Century. While I was on contract America went all digital. My old laptop worked as always on the ship but it was a relic. When I got back it crashed hard and I thought it was a goner. It took a week to get it rebooted and working again but I don't trust it to travel. It
was
an
interesting
contract.
The
crew
of
a
large
ship
used
to
be
more
my
own
age.
I
used
to
be
thinner
too
but
not
anymore!
I
went
through
some
of
the I also began a new web project for a lovely woman who does nail designs and manicures. Naturally I know nothing of this issue but I think the design of the web turned out okay. See it here.
25 July '09 - Well, I decided
to return to Royal Caribbean and have spent the last several weeks on
their vessel Explorer of the Seas. It was pretty much as I remembered
it. One new item was the traveling to New Jersey. It was essential to
slim down my gear and luggage.
It
was
still
$180
in
baggage
fees.
I've made a
16 May '09 - Last week I started to work on a new web design. Each design improves your skills a bit more. This particular design is for a company that does institutional fire and security alarm installations. Needless to say I know squat about the business of security! I know a lot more now for sure.
26
March
'09
-
I've
decided
that
it's
better
for
me
to
post
a
blog
to
a
location
other
than
One
Busy
Guy.
I
can't
seem
to
keep
it
up
very
6 January '09 - Wow! It's been two months since I got back to this little writing project. It's something of a task because you aren't writing to anyone in particular. It's more like a broad set of remarks that doesn't give away too many details but is still significant! For the 2nd time in 30 years I was off on NYE. Many of my friends were working as side men for other acts. My favorite flute player performed at the Versacci Mansion on South Beach. Last week I did perform at the newly re-furbished Fountaine Bleau hotel on Miami Beach for the Orange Bowl Committee. I'm in the process of re-designing my home studio. It's just too congested. I may have to sell a few things to make space. I have already sold my beloved old truck and my classical guitar. The truck needed a lot of work and the guitar hasn't been played in 7 years. You can still hear the guitar on several of my recordings. Try this link for a fun read: shoe nightmare.
4 November '08 - I write this as the last of campaign '08 launches into the voting booth. As is nearly everyone, I'm weary of the constant talking points that don't fully address our questions. Maybe we can finally put the current administration behind us. The current climate has decimated my local musical community. So I've been busily perfecting other skills. Got a new 22" monitor and have been working on my photoshop skills. I did play at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show last weekend. Mixed feelings. Any one boat is likely worth more than I will earn in a lifetime. Then again, at least I can love my work.
1 October '08 - Well we just finished having some big rain here in Miami. We started the year with Lake Okeechobee down by 10 feet and that loss has been eradicated. I recently opened a You Tube channel and have been peppering the site with video links. As soon as the sun returns I'll be making a greet video for the landing page. Over the weekend I performed in a trio at the Hyatt in downtown Miami with a new pan player. We had to start at 9:30 am on a Sunday! It was nice to be singing.
25 August '08 - I've heard that Labor Day weekend is the peak of Hurricane season, just as Groundhog's Day is the middle point of Winter. I agree. There have been many significant storms in the three weeks surrounding Labor Day including Fay and Andrew. One year my house got burgled during a storm threat while I was on the Majesty of the Seas. This is the strangest August yet. Between Hurricane season, the Beijing Olympics and the Presidential Campaigning there is nothing for we solo musicians. So we troop on. I've been tweaking my programming skills by learning PHP and MySQL. I've also placed a few modifications in the HTML code of the sites I maintain. I know that there is little inspiration to be found by how clean is my house. If the house is cluttered and dusty it means I'm so busy being creative there is no time left for cleaning. Otherwise a spotless house means there is nothing else to do!
07 July '08 - It seems I've fallen into a 'once a month' blog thing. I suppose that's better than nothing at all! It is now just after the July 4th holiday. In past years my neighborhood would ring with ethnic celebrations of all sorts. Music would blast long into the night. Families and businesses and companies would host picnics and dinners and pool parties. This year is different in many ways. Firstly, it rained pretty well all weekend rather crippling any fireworks display. But I think there's more. We're a sad nation. America is waging an on-going war inside a sovereign nation who was not our enemy. The borrowed money has seriously undermined the value of our good old greenbacks. The national debt has skyrocketed. Fuel prices have gone astronomical with no end... ever. Companies downsize for survival; jobs are lost. It seems like plenty of Americans have confronted a very real holiday's end.
06 June '08 - It's official... I am a lousy blogger! Sometimes I have nothing to write and then suddenly too much to say. The entire months of April and May as well have slipped between my fingers. I performed for terrific dates at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami, a quartet at the Marriott Harbor Beach and a private bash for Celebrity Cruise Lines. I even survived befouled drains only to revisit an old knee injury. Perhaps most importantly I'm still here. It was great to hear from a few CD owners who looked on line for me.
29 Mar '08 - Well I decided it was time to add video to the old pages. Most of the gigs in Europe require videos for audition purposes. I was horrified to see how things have changed photographically... not the camera but the subject! As Jon Lithgow is noted to say in the Quote Pages: "Time sneaks up on you like a bug on a windshield". Still I must persevere. Business is still way off. People who suffer in this crappy economy don't use a lot of live music. Once again I'm making preparations to rejoin the ships. I suppose the best recent news is that I was able to unblock the disposal!
09 Mar '08 - I first placed onebusyguy.com on line in
1999. It was a shabby production of hokey clip-art and flannel. In time
I learned to use tables and various adornments like floating objects and
tool tips. Safe to say that things have improved immensely! One day I
undertook to create a site for a friend. I had no intention of charging
for the work though I later gave in for a modest fee. Since then I've
had the privilege of designing
11
separate sites
29 Dec '07 - One shouldn't wait too long to update a blog. So many things happen that you can't really address lucidly. At any rate it's almost New Years Eve. This is a traditionally busy time for Musician's but not this year. I will be performing at a private residence on NYE in a trio with flute and keys, but it's a long drive. We did the same work last year and it turned into a shoe nightmare for me. People often say that the first few minutes of the New Year set into motion all the succeeding moments. For more on this see the NYE Page. Well that might actually be correct. As the year ends these are some new tasks that have drawn my pursuit: I'm upgrading my cell phone, the old flip phone won't stay closed. I'm trying to learn new sequencing software (Cakewalk). I have a new tenant (Carl). I'm reading 'Deception Point' from Dan Brown and have been enjoying 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' on DVD. I plan to launch an 'agent friendly' web site that has been designed (no last name, no contact information) as soon as I think of a domain name. And we say goodbye to 2007!
18 Nov '07 - Happy Birthday Jeff! Even if I don't have the chance to tell you in person. Well let's see, it's been a few weeks since my last posting. No one can say that I talk too much! I played private gatherings at the Pier Top (Hyatt Pier 66). A revolving facility high above the intracoastal waterway in Ft. Lauderdale, and a private charter cruise (in a trio) on board the Sun Dream. There was a devil of a time getting all the gear onto the 2nd deck (no elevator). I also played two private homes for family celebrations. Mostly I've been trying to convert all my existing midi files to an IBM compatible format. More difficult than it seems AND additional programming skills to learn. It seems everything to be done means I sit in one place and hunch. Technology changes and mine is slowly being outmoded (they don't make this stuff anymore). This morning I watched as a demolition crew brought down the Sheraton Bal Harbour to make way for a new St. Regis Hotel. I performed pool side there 5 days weekly for a couple years. My gear has outlived the hotel.
22 Oct '07 - Well I had to toss in the towel. In the Fall of 2002 (19 Oct) I tried to flesh out this grand vision of an on-line radio station I named WGBR.Net. It was an abbreviation for 'The Gallery Broadcast Page'. I had several guests including comedians, local musicians and even one Cruise Ship Captain. But alas I couldn't get enough participation. It's an awful lot of work to write movie reviews, conduct interviews, do travel news and of course all the other minutiae associated with web programming. I took the site down but I still own the name and have parked it on the server for One Busy Guy. But I didn't give up yet!
11 Oct '07 - Farewell to a dear friend, Mr. Don Cohen. For those who know little of South Florida, or it's formerly burgeoning local music scene, Don was 'the great uniter'. A decent, honest promoter and manager who labored more for the music than for the profit. Don initiated several local events that went on to become institutions including The Musician's Exchange and the Riverwalk Blues Festival. Last night (Wednesday 10 Oct '07) hundreds of local musicians gathered at the former Hollywood Playhouse to celebrate a life. The evening was a mix of music and eulogy, and it was very well done. The list of performers was extensive. Performers who came together and likely were first introduced to each other through Don. Good bye my friend and thanks. As you would conclude each phone conversation: "Peace Brother."
05 Sept '07 - Happy end of Summer to you! It has been stiflingly hot this Summer in Miami. It's always very hot but this year seems to be extreme. It's 'I can't breath' heat. On Monday I performed in a pan trio at the local Mardi Gras Casino. It was outside in the Veranda area. A large stage with some intriguing lights. I'm posting a photo of the stage area if it turns out. What is there about casinos that attract so many beautiful woman? Maybe I've been single so long that it's now the only thing I notice. Though it was the same on Royal Caribbean... and that was when you could still smoke tobacco at the tables.
12 July '07 - Well, the July 4th week was really busy for yours truly. It rained a lot here in Florida and many feared fireworks would be cancelled. I performed at the St. Regis hotel on Lauderdale beach. It was the shiniest place I have ever seen! Then my friend Jim became ill and I had to sit in for him. He's better now and just in time. I love to sing but too much singing is a bad thing. I've been trying to keep up this blog for about one year now. I confess that I see no reason why anyone would want to read this drivel! There really is nothing much to say of interest. I'm painting my house (inside)... do you care? Legal holidays disrupt my blockbuster movie membership... any interest? Another brother has gone, now we're down to three... that interests me.
2 June '07 - Well it's the first day of hurricane season. I guess we're going from drought to flooding winds in a single step. Already I'm getting cancellations. Nothing more fearsome than standing outside with $10k worth of gear when the rain threatens!
21 May '07 - What a busy weekend it was. I performed for a private retirement party on Friday night. It was a totally first class operation in South Miami. On Saturday afternoon I had a terrible job at a condo conversion site. It was hot and empty and I didn't like it at all. Saturday night found me back at a local restaurant a few miles from home. And lastly I was rained out from a second day at the condo conversion. Big rain. Over the curb and up to the rocker panel rain. It's the way of things in Hurricane season which seems to be arriving a bit early. Anyway, I was so whipped I turned in at 7pm. Just livin' the life.
13 May '07 - Happy Mother's Day I say! I keep forgetting to update this page. If you wait too long between updates there is so much to say you don't know where to start. The past few weeks I've been performing in the busiest restaurant ever. It must have great food but I haven't tried eating there just yet. Inside or outside I've made great tips. I reckon it's been a progressive few weeks. I always say that you have to work on every facet of your life each day. What ever you ignore becomes a bigger issue. I finally got both air conditioners to work properly and I even repaired the rear wiper blades. The only thing I don't know how to do is get rid of the ducks. We have Muscovy ducks all over the place. It's too bad there aren't aggressive because then humans would do away with them.
14 April '07 - Okay I admit it! Just when you think you're beyond all that, a sneaking teenage style crush plops itself into your day. Suddenly the routine activities take on a new sheen. You start examining the old bod and discover you're crusty on the ends and soft in the middle... like a pancake on a too hot griddle. There's a reason single guys are single. They just aren't that good with relationships. On the other hand; What relationship? You're the only one who knows. But will it always be like that? Who wants to be rejected? On the other hand you're not so good with relationships. Besides, most people have someone already.
23 Mar '07 - I notice it's more than a little demanding to keep up a blog... I just do my best. It's been a pretty adventuresome time. In the past two weeks I've done my solo act twice and have appeared in a duo, two trios and a quartet. I was beat! I forgot to put the carafe under the coffeemaker.. messy. I'm better now. I crafted a web test page that the intended never purchased. I guess it's become a spare design. I designed a web site for my homeowners association long ago and now it appears I may be the newly elected president. I can always tell how inspired I am by how neat the house... no inspiration neat house, plenty inspiration trashy house.
1 Feb '07 - I don't think there has ever been a slower start to any year. Even my friends wonder what's up? This is supposed to be a great time for local business since the Super Bowl is in town this weekend. I've been spending my time 're-tooling' my web design. In the past few months I've been busy designing webs for others and it was a good experience to imagine their navigation. I got to thinking I should do that for myself, especially if I want more traffic.
21 Jan '07 - If there is one constant in the music business it's that the first two weeks of January are really quiet. It's a good time for vacation 'cause no one will miss you! The recent web I've been designing has gone into double overtime. The company guy responsible for supplying information sent very little and most of it wrong. It doesn't have to be so troublesome. Either you want the web or you don't. This is a thing we can control. In fact we can control most things if we pay attention. Yesterday I went outside to start the truck and discovered a dead battery. It discharged completely because I left on the headlights. This is something that can be controlled if I was paying attention.
31 Dec '06 - Happy New Year's Eve! Tonight I'm playing for a private home in West Palm Beach in a trio. Ever since I stopped working ships I've done fewer dates as a soloist and more in combos. It's always better to be busy so I'm not complaining. Lately I've been working up several web sites. It's like you never know when to stop constructing. Nothing is ever perfect. At least with a painting or a sculpture there comes a time of completion. Electronic publishing means that nothing is ever done and can be easily updated or corrected. Years end always drops new tasks into your lap; bookkeeping, taxes, clearing away the holidays... stuff like that. I'm not really certain I like this whole blog stuff but I am trying. It's just one more thing to do. Let's see how it goes over the next few months.
4 Nov '06 - Well it's November. High Temps in the mid to upper 80's, low's in the low 70's... great weather. Last night I played a wedding rehearsal up in Jupiter. It was a grueling drive but a fun gig. 176 miles round trip! Although we were inside at the Carlin Civic center, the beach weather was still 'in your 'face'. I'm always amazed at the number of friends and family that show up at these events... something like 100 people. I doubt I could fill my own living room in a similar celebration. Note to self: remember people like to give speeches at these things so set up another mic.
19 Oct '06 - Did you know that the wearing of long hair is a time honored tradition among men? Check out photos of men throughout history. In fact it wasn't until WWI that sailors were required to go with a 'crew' cut. Ever notice that the people without hair make the long hair rules? It seems the more men shave their heads the greater predominance of male pattern baldness. Most of my years saw the wearing of hair pretty short. It's more work to maintain but gives you greater flexibility in appearance. Anyway I'm being pressured to cut off my hair. Apparently some suits can't tell if you're the performer or the lawn crew. I think the long haired men should be left alone, go after the tats and windowpanes instead!
25 Sept '06 - Finally it's Fall! Floridians love fall because the utility bill starts to drop. Work picks up as well. Which is good cause it's always dead as hell in the Summer. I guess if you live up north the utility bill increases. No one wants to brave a possible hurricane and so work plummets. A hurricane can really knock the fun out of your day! I seem to have brought a nasty germ back with me when returning home from New York a few weeks past. Sneezing, coughing, aches and pains... it's a good thing I didn't have that much to do. I did play for a great private party last Saturday in Light House Point. A beautiful night on the water with a Sushi buffet and cold beer. It was great! I did my best not to look sickly. I have also designed a new business card and I'm scouting for a print shop.
10 Sept '06 - What a week! The hurricane fizzled out (that's good), gas prices dropped a bit (that's good), some work got cancelled (that's bad) and my older brother Dave passed away at age 62. I spent the last week commiserating with the remainder of my family in upstate NY. It was amazing to witness the hundreds of well wishers who came to see him! Dad used to say he had a "...marryin', buryin' and graduation suit". Those seem to be the only times we ever get together. There are always the well intended promises to stay closer but they seem to evaporate in a very short while. Anyway, we love Dave. Dave is gone.
29 August '06 - Welcome to hurricane season! All the pundits have predicted a dreadful summer based on the experiences of last years horrific ordeal. I'm happy to say that things seem to be very much better than anticipated. You may think that's a good thing and yes it is. On the other hand all the state, local and federal agencies have made extensive improvements to their storm preparedness regimen. It appears they're desperate to test these improved systems. This means that the first storm of the season (Ernesto) gets the royal treatment. Media has pretty much terrified everyone (especially the elderly) with grim possibilities. The storm isn't slated to make landfall until 2 am Wednesday and already fuel stations are pumped dry. Water has disappeared from store shelves, work is cancelled and much more. They've even trotted out the hero of hurricane Andrew, one Bryan Norcross. Oh yeah, one more thing... Ernesto is not even a hurricane. It's a tropical storm.
21 August '06 - It's not healthy to be idle. Whenever I'm not busy performing I get busy learning. I'm working on a new medley of Caribbean rhythms. I recently used the new wireless mic and noticed how sensitive it is to interference. I've also been busy posting a new web site for a friend (Lynn Ellis). It's really been raining a great deal but we've had a surprising lack of hurricanes. South Florida isn't for everyone but I like it!
18 August '06 - Welcome to the first edition of my new blog. Everyone is blogging these days. I can't imagine that I'll have something to say that has not been said before, but I'm giving it a try. There's nothing so slow as August in South Florida... unless you consider September and October! It's a good time to take a vacation. Most musician's try to do studio work in the 'off season'. Lately I've done a few performances at the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Miami. It's great to meet a nice bunch of people who want to learn marketable skills instead of complaining about a lack of opportunities. Hats off to you guys, I'll sing for you anytime!
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