Twisty, Curvy Roads

 The pandemic has cut down on opportunities to perform in front of a live audience. So many of us are looking at ways to do virtual performances. This began when Dusty Dickerson sent me a piano track that he had recorded. I added a clarinet part and to fill it out, sang a scat chorus, and a couple of vocal choruses. For images, I did a search for "Sweet Georgia Brown" and used album covers from the many, many musicians who have recorded this great old song.

Listen to this article read aloud: Your browser does not support the audio element. Without question, the coronavirus epidemic is a formational event. Long after this epidemic has passed, the changes that it is forcing in our foundation institutions will remain. Businesses, government policies and procedures, churches, and schools will be may never again be the same as they were before this epidemic. That is not always a bad thing! One change from the pandemic is that the schools are being brought (kicking and screaming perhaps) into the digital age. Although some schools are well along the way, many educators fall back on the same techniques and skills that they learned when they were the student many years ago. Today's students are often savvier than their teachers when it comes to computers and media. They have been brought up on well-prepared TV and video since they were toddlers.  Preparing a lesson has always been time-intensive ...

Listen to this article read aloud: Your browser does not support the audio element.   My dog, Max, is an accommodating companion, but he does have a few personality quirks. He loves to go for rides with me and has staked his claim on "shotgun".  He likes my truck so much that sometimes he will not get out after we get back to the house. He will sit in his seat and refuse to move. If I go to the other side and open his door, he will hop right out. Another of Max's quirks involve doors. If I go through a door, Max waits until I close the door and then reopen it before he will follow me into the room. The only exception is when I leave the house through the front door. In that case, Max rushes through the door as soon as it is open enough for him to squeeze through. He only does this at the front door. If I leave through the back door he follows his routine and waits for me to close the door and then reopen it before he will fol...

Listen to this article read aloud: Your browser does not support the audio element. My sock drawer is filled to overflowing. Each morning I stand before the open drawer vainly searching for a pair of matching socks. Clearly, some malevolent magician is sneaking into my room nightly and using my socks to practice making things disappear. What else could possibly explain a full sock drawer without a single matching sock? Of course, with the faith of a true believer, I never discard a sock simply because it has no mate. "Waste Not, Want Not" was firmly impressed into my thought patterns by parents and grandparents who survived the Great Depression of 1929. I simply know that the missing socks will return to my sock drawer some day, and I dutifully retain the singles in anticipation of the day that the errant mates will return, reuniting in the true love that matching socks must surely bear for their mates! In the meantime, I will we...

Listen to this article read aloud: Your browser does not support the audio element.   I like Trump a lot! When he first won the GOP nomination I was not certain that he was the best choice. After seeing how things have played since, I am convinced that Donald Trump is absolutely the best person alive today for the job. His practical experience and positive attitude more than compensate for any personality quirk that some may find annoying. My concept of government is simple: individuals come together and form a government so they can combine resources and accomplish things together that they could not accomplish as separate individuals. A proper "government" is a synergism that multiplies the resources and efforts of individuals.  However, when the government steps into issues that can be handled perfectly well by the individual, then the government has gone too far. In other words, the best government is the smallest and least i...

Every presidential campaign needs a good song and for Biden/Harris this song is the perfect fit! Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho It's off to vote we go! Vote once or twice Or even thrice, Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho! We're sure to win, 'Cause you can mail 'em in. No ID check We'll stack the deck, Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho! Be sure to Wear your mask, Or we'll take you to task. We'll burn your town And all around, Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho It's off to vote we go! Vote once or twice Or even thrice, Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho!  

Listen to this article read aloud: Your browser does not support the audio element. A friend's Facebook post about Salisbury Steak got me to thinking about my old friend, Vic Williams. Vic was several years older than me. He was a very talented musician, arranger, and junior high band director. Vic was also a lover of the New Mexico and Colorado mountains. We made many backpacking trips together into the Pecos Wilderness near Santa Fe and the Weminuche Wilderness at the very top of the Rio Grande. It was always a treat to travel with Vic. He knew so much of the history of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado and he was also a consummate storyteller. Vic's tales made the long West Texas highway through the most desolate stretches of the "Staked Plains" come alive with Indians, conquistadores, and old-time Texas Rangers! The formal photograph of Vic that you see here is not the way that I remember him. When I think of Vic, he ha...