Watch This Whale

There’s this 5th grade field trip my oldest son will be involved with – a whale watch – and  really don’t want to get into the levels of crazy when it comes to the necessary fundraising for such nonsense… suffice it to say there are some crazy assed 30-40 something bitches parenting my son’s so-called peers.

Flamethrowers on the cafeteria stage and middle-aged narcissism aside, there was a totally swell concert/silent auction last week. There were great kid acts, mixed adults and students doing singing and dancing numbers, and a certain dude rocked the acoustic mic for a bit, ending with his 10 year old on trumpet and harmonies. Holy moley, it was rockin’ good stuff. I mean, the detuned Taylor after a 20  minute set resulting in a broken string certain made me wonder about the best 8 string guitar option, but all in all, it was a amazing moment – no doubt.

Pinned

Back when I got that futon in Boston, I had a visit from my Mom, Grandma and Aunt. They were the little trio of ladies that would come up from time to time. They were all 5 feet ad under, so they’d sleep sideways on the futon. All three of them on the mattress. It was kind of hilarious, but really pretty practical. I had another, much smaller and crappier futon I would usually have folded up as a chair that I’d use when they visited.

The first time they visited, when I wasn’t paying attention, my Grandma pinned a Sainte Anne de Beaupre medal to the mattress. Some people wear a St Christopher Necklace. Grandma went with the French Canadian hunk of wood from a cross that didn’t burn. And that was supposed to keep me safe. What with my dirty little rock and roll lifestyle and all…

Strings that last forever

I was never a big fan of high end strings. At least. not until I bought my Taylor 214. Like all Taylors, it came with elixir strings. And man, I love me them things. I will say this – if you want strings that last like three times longer than the norm, try these guys. But go with the nanoweb ones if possible. The original, polyweb strings feel a little heavy and gunky. So yeah. Go with the nanowebs. I can’t feel the difference between those and plain strings, but man… they just seem to last forever with a ring a ding ding.

Take a deep one…

One fo my favorite topics, particularly when talking about singing, is breathing. I’ve said it many times, but the reality is that most people don’t know how to breathe. Hepa home filter or not, do you really know how to breathe? Let’s take a look. Stand up, put your palms on your belly and take a deep breath. Do your hands press in or move away?

Here’s the thing – if you take a deep breath, your lungs and related internal workings should expand. But in my experience, most people “taking a deep breath” actually compress their lungs and suck it in. Not so good. Certainly not so “expansive.” Can you dig it?