The gift of music...

Thirty years ago today, my Mom and Dad gave me this piano for my birthday. At the time... and maybe even still today... they have no idea how special it is to me.

It is living and breathing in my eyes.
It helped me... and is still helping me discover myself.

Over the years it has been my comforter, my friend, my confidant and the single most creative catalyst in my life... especially in my formative years.

If I hadn't received it as a present... I may have never discovered my passion for music.

While I'm not a concert pianist; and you won't see me playing keys in a band; or, find me accompanying myself at a gig... this piano helps to fill my soul in ways that I may never be able to explain.

So... just in case you missed it the first 1,000 times I said it,
Thank you, Dad & Mom
... for lugging this big, giant diamond-in-the-rough out of a basement in Crofton, NE
... for putting sweat and tears into making it so beautiful
... for giving me the gift of music that is so much a part of who I am today.

Buffaloberry pie

My favorite pie in the entire universe is: buffalo berry pie.

What the heck is a buffalo berry? Well... it's a wild currant-like berry that grows on a silvery tree / bush in my parent's pasture in Nebraska. The berries are very rich and almost nutty in flavor... and they make excellent jam and pie.

When I was home over Christmas, my Mom gave me a couple of canned quarts (Thanks, Mom!). I've been saving them for this week... last night, I made a buffalo berry pie with one of the quarts as a birthday present to myself. (Thursday is my birthday! Whoohooooo!)

It turned out pretty good... and I've decided I'm going to eat a piece of pie for breakfast every day this week until it is gone. I figure, it's fruit... bread... no different than eating a Danish or something, right?!

Heh.

Anyway... here are pics of the event.

Yummmmmmmyyyyyy.

Tasted so good, John and I went online and ordered ten buffalo berry bushes / trees (if you click, you'll have to scroll down to see the description) to plant along the west site of our yard.

Whoohooooo.

Once they're planted and grow a couple years, we'll have buffalo berries of our very own to pick and can.

I see more buffalo berry pies and jam in our future!

Pearl... the "landlord"

OK... don't try this at home (video link)...unless you want your toddler to start swearing like a sailor.

Thanks to Lem for showing this vid to everyone in the cabedgepatch... be prepare to laugh in amazement.

bbbwwwaaahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa.

Tim is THE coolest cat in Nashville

Not only did he paint a beautiful painting for his favorite person... but he also used a secret painting technique to ask the one he loves a very important question.

Hint: She said YES.

CONGRATULATIONS TIM AND AMANDA!

Earth Day Celebration

Hey friends... just wanted to encourage everyone to attend:

Nashville Earth Day Celebration
Centennial Park
Saturday, 4/21
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

There will be all kinds of cool booths, kids stuff and tons of great music on the main stage:

2:00 p.m. TRADOC Rock
2:45 p.m. Adrienne Young & Little Sadie
3:40 p.m. Jen Foster
4:45 p.m. Gabe Dixon Band
5:45 p.m. Rodney Crowell and Lee Roy Parnell

Of course... I'll be there supportin' my favorite drummer and the boys.

The weather forecast looks like it's gonna be sunny in the high 70s, too.
**dancing**

Hope to see you there!

GO NOW!

There's a line... but it is worth the wait.
I had the Cherry Garcia.
Yummmmmmmmmm...
(Connie... I reserved several tastes just for you and pretended you were there.)
It's not too late... they're open 'til eight.
**wink**

Google map to London

Have you done this?
1. Go to Google Maps
2. Click "get directions"
3. Put "New York, NY" in the "from" field.
4. Put "London, UK" in the "to" field.
5. Scroll down and look at the instructions to get from NYC to London (# 23).
6. Laugh.

Ambush in the cave o' crunk

Friday... there was an all out dart-gun war in the cave-o-crunk at cabedge.

It's been pretty crazy around here... it wasn't a matter of if... but when someone finally snapped.

I think Blake was shooting with his Nerf gun in one hand and his camera in the other when he grabbed this dramatic video of the final ambush before the end of the day.

Don't try this at home folks...



Intense.
Dude.

creative weekend

Spent the weekend painting... so I just thought I'd share.

Made the "squares" playing with some canvas tape I had... It looks good from a distance, but there are a few imperfections that I'm not groovin' on... so I may paint over it and try it again.

I painted another painting similar to this a while back that I really like. So, I thought I'd try to create something new but better than before. I'm really happy with how this one turned out.

And here, I painted over a canvas where I'd tried to paint some flowers a couple months ago. Because I like to use a lot of paint... love the texture... when I painted over the old painting, you can see the texture through the background. So, now I'm torn. Not sure I want to add any more to what I did here because I can see the grass and the flower texture and I kinda like it... but it is hard to see.

I'm starting to get more paintings than I have walls. Have been considering displaying a few in a coffee shop somewhere to see if anyone would want to buy one. What do you think?

Catching up on Grey's

I just discovered that Grey's Anatomy is in syndication on Lifetime.

**yesssss**

Only recently, I discovered Grey's... so now I'll get to watch some of the earlier episodes to help me catch up.

Nice.

sat in with Jonell last night

I ventured out to see Pat Buchanan (7:30) and Jonell Mosser (9:30) at Third last night.

First, Pat Buchanan and the band (Tom Bukovac, Greg Morrow, Allison Prestwood) were kickin' bootay. They play again the second week of May if you want to catch them.

And then, Jonell and her band (Reese Wynans, Steve Mackie, Bob Brit, Craig Krampf) were also on fire when they took the stage. Jonell pulled me up to sing backgrounds on "the woke-up" song. It was a blast... love, love, love Jonell. If you haven't had a chance to experience her show, go!

Photographer Belinda Gentry was there to capture the moment so I thought I'd share it with ya'. (Thanks Belinda!)

Guess it is better than the middle finger.

Thanks to Gingersnap, I now know that I am an index finger... better than the middle one, right? Is this a good thing?

Now... What Finger Are You?

You Are the Index Finger

You are ambitious, driven, and capable. You aren't afraid to take responsibility for your actions - or place the blame on whoever deserves it. You are honest, free thinking, and objective. You see things in your own way - and you aren't afraid to let everyone know about it. You get along well with: The Thumb Stay away from: The Ring Finger

What Finger Are You?

Johnny Cash's House

While we're sad for the family of Johnny Cash and the Gibb family (current owners) that the house and all those memories are gone... at least physically gone....

John and I were talking about it this morning, and we can't help but think that maybe no one else was supposed to live there.

How convenient?!

There is a Ben & Jerry's just up the street from work.

And next Tuesday (April 17) is free cone day at Ben & Jerry's from Noon - 8.

WhooHOOHooHOOOOOooooo.

Mark your calendar.

Run with the world

Have you seen this?

Go to the products section at Nike+ to check it out.

Basically, you need Nike+ ready shoes, the Nike+ software and an iPod Nano. You sync up your shoes with your Nano... it keeps track of your miles, calories, etc... and when you sync your Nano, you can actually compete / challenge / communicate with other Nike+ participants all over the world. It even talks to you when you run / walk. Nice.

Amazing concept.

Wish I'd have thought of it!

Now I want it.

Uggghhh.

Another insidious timewaster

Thanks to Mike for sending this my way.

I feel it is my duty to pass it along to YOU.

Amazing Maze

See if you can get all the way through without touching the sides of the maze. I can almost do it... but not quite.

Good luck!

Can you spot a fake smile?

This test is pretty interesting... I guessed correctly on 16 out of 20.

How did you do?

Tuesday FUN!

Come out to 12th & Porter's lounge tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 9 for:

Blue Mother Tupelo (Ricky & Micol Davis)
Johnny Microwave (Steve C & Cat Miller)
Karleen, Lala & Me
(with Steve C rockin' on guitar)

It will be FUN.
Promise.
**wink**
See you there!

I was so wrong about The Donald.

Well... the best I can figure...
Vince and The Donald saw my post and knew the jig was up.

So, Vince fell on the sword and lost.
**wink**

Or, The Donald chickened out... couldn't part with is bad hair... and Vince had to take a dive.
**wink**

Or, Vince was really the one who wanted to have new hair and used it as a way to make tons of money and get lots of attention for himself and his buddy, The Donald.
**wink**

Can't believe I wasted space on my blog for this.
Heh.

Saturday night at Tin Pan South

Went to see two Tin Pan South shows on Saturday night.

At 7, it was Chuck Cannon, Chuck Jones, Matt Scannell, Randy Houser in-the-round at the Mercy Lounge.

Great show. Not great lighting... so my pics didn't really turn out. I've posted only two of that show in my Tin Pan South set on Flickr. One of the four hit writers... and the other of Richard Marx sitting in on one of Matt's rounds.

Despite questionable lighting, I did get a little snippet of Matt and Richard singing on "everything you want" at the Mercy Lounge:


Then I was off to 3rd & Lindsley to see Jeff and the guys (Steve C - pic to the left; Jeff and Tommy Mac below to the right; Not pictured Tom Hambridge and Rusty Golden) You can see more pics of them performing at my Tin Pan South set on Flickr.

It was a great show, as usual. During the song "Gone" (cut by Montgomery Gentry) Steele usually busts into "want a whole lotta love" by Zeppelin. Saturday was no exception and it's pretty amazing really... so I taped it to share with my friend Karleen (who loves Jeff and Zeppelin... and couldn't be at the show).

I was sitting right in line with the main speakers, so the sound is a little distorted... but you'll get the drift. I captured a minute or so of it...until the memory of my camera ran out! Enjoy.



I love NASHVILLE!