The Weight

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Last night I made an unexpected trip to the hospital. I received a call yesterday afternoon from my pastor - he said that Rick, one of my good friends and a fellow musician who I’ve been playing with for over 20 years, was going in for 3-way bypass heart surgery that night. For me, and for Rick’s wife Pam, and just about all of Rick’s friends, this was a major shock. Because Rick is one of the healthiest guys we know. He is just 6 months younger than me, but he is in much better shape. He works out regularly, watches what he eats and is generally a pretty active individual. He’s fit, trim, mentally quick and involved in civic and church activities, and last night they split open his chest and repaired 3 arteries, at least one of which was 90% blocked. He actually had chest pains on Monday, then the pain went away so he thought he was OK. But one of his doctors recommended that he go to the hospital for tests, and once the heart surgeons saw the results of Rick’s tests, they took him into surgery right away. I saw him briefly when he came out of surgery, and of course he was totally drugged out, but he looked good and the doctor said the surgery went very well. Emily and I went back tonight, and except for feeling tired (and the dozen or so tubes stuck in his chest/abdomen) he looked and sounded good. And I am praying for a good recovery for him - I know he will not like having to be still and move slow, but that is what’s ahead for him.

It was a bit of a reality check for me - I’m about the same height as Rick and I’m just six months older, but I’m 40 to 50 pounds heavier than he is. I exercise as little as possible, and I eat too much chocolate. Of course, I know that there are other factors that lead to heart attacks, like genetics and stress, but Rick did all the right things and I do a lot of wrong things, yet I wasn’t the one laying in bed with tubes stuck in my gut. I am a member of Weight Watchers, although I tend to have a very difficult time staying under my alloted points or getting the exercise I need. And it’s even harder when I am feeling stressed, which has happened a lot in the past year. But I’m going to keep trying … I’ll stick with Weight Watchers and try to get more exercise, and hopefully Rick won’t have to come and visit me in the hospital.

Rock Show

Note: I've moved my blog to my own web site - the new address is:
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Every year in January I attend a music convention in Anaheim, California called The NAMM Show. It is a convention sponsored by the manufacturers of music products, and music store owners and other music retailers attend to see the latest offerings from the manufacturers. Even though the show is not open to the public, it is very popular among musicians and very well attended, to the tune of several thousand people each of the 4 days that it is open. The NAMM Show is where many manufacturers unveil their latest models/versions, and I find it both interesting and entertaining to walk the aisles and see all of the musical instruments, accessories, software and hardware. And there are usually many famous musicians and celebrities walking the aisles or demonstrating products. Over the years I have seen Joe Satriani, Lisa Loeb (very friendly, posed with me for a photo while Dweezil Zappa watched), Alan Holdsworth, Bob Moog, Michael Manring, Tom Scott (a very nice guy, called a friend over to take a photo of Tom and me), Joe Walsh, Nathan East (another very nice guy), John Hall (president of Rickenbacker Guitars), Gene Simons, Timothy B. Schmidt, and it seems that every year I see Stevie Wonder trying out a new product. A few years ago I was in the Yamaha display room looking at a new digital baby grand piano when I noticed a small crowd moving my way. It was Stevie with his entourage, and he came right to the piano I was standing next to and started playing. I ended up being about 4 feet away from Stevie as he tried out the piano, so I had a nice little private concert. It’s one of the frills of being at the NAMM Show.

This year I knew that a favorite guitarist of mine, a chap by the name of Phil Keaggy, was going to be playing at a special concert called “The Acoustic Cafe” on Friday night, so I went to the display booth of L.R. Baggs, who were one of the sponsors of the concert, and asked for tickets to the show. As the sales rep was giving me tickets he mentioned that Phil was going to be playing at the booth later in the afternoon, so my friends and I got back to the L.R. Baggs booth about 20 minutes before Phil was due to start. Phil was a little late - apparently he didn’t have the proper entrance badge to allow him to bring in his instruments - but when he arrived he set up quickly and played for about 35 minutes. Being that my friends and I were there early, we had front row views - we were about 6-8 feet away from Phil as he played. I’ve seen Phil a few times in concert, but never that close. After he finished, Phil stayed and chatted with many of the guys there and even posed for photos with a few of us. One of my friends was in a wheelchair, and Phil stepped out of the booth and posed with my friend for photo. I noticed that Phil took time to listen to everyone who spoke with him, and considering that he probably gets this kind of demand for his attention everywhere he plays, he was very gracious and patient. When I stepped up for my photo op with him, I mentioned that the first time I saw him play live was with a group called Love Song in 1973, and he responded that he is still in contact with some of the guys from that band because they live near him in Nashville. All in all, Phil was very cool, as you can see.

The concert that night was very good - alot of very good players. One of the guys playing was Fred Eaglesmith, who is from Canada, has a nice-sounding band, and is pretty funny. Phil played with his looping pedal and sounded good, even though the mix wasn’t great. He broke a string during one song, but someone handed him a guitar and he carried on playing while his guitar was being restrung. John Mayer was set to play right afterwards, and as he was getting a very poorly-executed introduction by someone from Martin Guitars, a guy in the row directly in front of me yelled, or maybe it was more of a scream, something about John being “the best”, and for a moment I though I was at a sports event and sitting in the face-paint section. Anyway, John came out, solo, and I left after 2 ½ songs (not being a big fan of John, or of face painting). It was a good day - I hope Phil felt the same.

She’s A Beauty

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Another movie that is a favorite of mine is Drop Dead Gorgeous. It is a film done in comedy documentary style, or mockumentary, very much like Best In Show or This Is Spinal Tap (two more of my favorite films). The story is set in a small Minnesota town and follows the events surrounding several local contestants of a nationally-sponsored beauty pageant. A well-written script with a lot of good actresses - Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Mindy Sterling, Brittany Murphy and Amy Adams, as well as a hilarious performance by Will Sasso. It is a very funny and well done movie, but apparently it didn’t do well at the box office because these days you can find the DVD in close-out bins at places like Wal-Mart. And that’s a shame, given the quality of this movie. If you happen to find this one in your local close-out bin, I recommend that you pick up a copy. If you enjoyed any of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, I believe you’ll like this movie as well.

When I Paint My Masterpiece

Note: I've moved my blog to my own web site - the new address is:
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My wife Emily is talented in many ways, and being an artist is one of those ways. She loves to paint watercolors, and I think that she is very good at it. She has a personal blog where she sometimes posts photos of her watercolor paintings, but today she decided to create a blog dedicated to her artwork, called Art Endeavors. Each post is a brief description of one of her paintings along with a small photo.

When I met Emily, she was very shy about letting anyone see her paintings. Before we were married she lived in a small townhouse down the street from me, and in her garage she had a little desk set up where she painted. I was visiting one day and we went into the garage to look for something. I noticed the watercolors on the desk and complemented her on her painting. She immediately stepped in between me and the desk and began turning over her paintings so I couldn’t see them. So for her to put up this new blog, publishing her paintings to the world, is evidence of the freedom she now feels. And I think that her freedom is reflected in her art. And I am proud of her.

Dizzy

Note: I've moved my blog to my own web site - the new address is:
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My new year hasn’t started off quite the way I would have liked. The week of Christmas I had a head cold - no big deal, just a lot of blowing my nose and mainly that tired feeling you get when your body is fighting off an infection. So I spent that week working for a few hours, then sleeping most of the afternoon, then getting up to eat, then going back to bed - repeat for about 5 days. By the weekend before New Year’s I could tell that my cold was clearing up and I was feeling better - except I started to notice that when I blew my nose, I felt a little dizzy. On New Year’s Day I woke up dizzy, without any nose blowing, and by evening I was feeling dizzy even when I was simply sitting down on the couch. The next day I was so dizzy I couldn’t walk straight, so my daughter Rachel drove me to my doctor’s office. I discovered that it is not uncommon to have symptoms of vertigo after a cold - I guess the cold virus can get into your inner ear system and wreak havoc with your equilibrium. It surprised me, though, because never in my life have I had any problems with dizziness - for example, I have always been able to ride and enjoy roller-coasters without any side effects, and I don’t get seasick or carsick. I used to do my own car repairs, and never got dizzy all those times I banged my head on miscellaneous auto body parts, so I am a bit surprised now to experience a level of dizziness that incapacitates me. My friend Mark says that now I know what it’s like for him trying to ride “Space Mountain” at Disneyland, although I still don’t see that as a good reason to ride “It’s A Small World”. Anyway, this morning I am a bit less dizzy, so I’m hoping that I’ll be feeling normal by Monday.