A Really Good Old Time

Had a great time last night at friend and fellow Mound City Slicker Bob’s house. For the last couple of years, Bob and his wife Andrea have opened their house once a week for what is advertised as a band practice for the Slickers, but is really an old-time jam session for the band and friends and a great opportunity to spend time with a lot of good musicians and good folks.

I don’t know why, but last night both felt and sounded so good! The bunch of us hit a groove that we sometimes don’t get to. The fiddles were playing remarkably well together and the rhythm section was darned good and tight. My shoulder and arm were acting up, so I didn’t play as much as usual -- maybe why we sounded better! -- and got to listen without being quite so much in the thick of the playing. I was really impressed with the two banjo players: above mentioned Bob and Dan’l, who plays with me in the Hot Baloney Boys. Both of them were playing some terrific licks and supporting what the fiddles were doing. It made me smile a lot to hear it.

Another unusually nice thing about the evening was that Jesse, who plays Irish accordion and played with the band in an early incarnation, had a night off from his usual Morris Team playing and stopped by. It’s always good to see Jesse and his presence prompted us to play a half-dozen or so tunes that we haven’t visited in too long a time; “Far From Home”, “Flowers of Edinborough”, “Temperance Reel”, “Genevieve’s Waltz”. All good tunes that we ought to play more often. Good to be reminded of them.

As fiddler David said a few weeks ago, “I just feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t play old-time music.”

Where I've Been & An Arm/Shoulder Update

Okay. Right off the bat, I'll say I pretty well stink at keeping current on this blog thing. No question. I get busy with other stuff and I forget to write anything here for weeks on end. That's life. Hopefully when I do post something, it's at least mildly interesting reading.

Since the last time I wrote here, I took a weekend trip up to Chicago with Amy, our daughter China, and her boyfriend/partner/whatever-the-heck-you-call-a-guy-you've-been-living-with-for-something-like-five-years, Tom. We had a great time. Saw the sights, took in a show at Second City, ate great food, and generally enjoyed ourselves a whole bunch. I'll post belated pictures here soon.

Last week, Amy and I took off for Memphis and further south for a few days. Again, a great time. We stayed downtown in Memphis about two blocks from Beale Street. Spent a day at the Memphis Zoo, which isn't as good as St. Louis' zoo, but is darned nice. They have some outstanding displays. They also have a pair of giant pandas that we stared at for a long time. You always hear how cute these creatures are, and the pictures seem to confirm it. But there's just nothing like standing a few feet away from a panda and watching it play. No wonder people are working so hard to save them from extinction.

We also toured Graceland. If you're in Memphis, you have to do it. And let me tell you: it's everything you would imagine it to be. I walked through the mansion and grounds with a constant mix of feelings of awe, irony, sorrow, and thinking "this guy was just nuts". The jungle room alone is worth the trip.

Had barbecue at the Rendevous. I don't know if it's the best slab of ribs I've ever eaten, but it was as close as counts.

We also drove down to Clarksdale, MS and visited the Delta Blues Museum. Pretty cool stuff. I spent a lot of time drooling over the guitars in the display cases. Amy liiked all of the flashy suits and dresses they had from blues notables. Then we drove around the delta for a couple of hours. It's beautiful country. And seeing a lot of the old farm houses, falling-down barns and shacks against the trees and green fields was like stepping into a time machine. Of course, there's some crushing poverty, too in that part of the rural south, and we saw that, too.

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Wow. This is getting longer than I'd expected. So, wrapping up....

I haven't been playing the fiddle much lately. I wrote in an earlier post that I have a messed up left shoulder. Well, it's gotten worse in the last couple of weeks. I don't know if I was being too aggressive with the exercises from my physical therapist, or if it's just a continuum that the injury has to go through on it's way to recovery. But it's quite a bit worse. Fortunately, playing the mandolin and uke are still doable for short periods of time. So, I'm not losing my mind completely.

I'll be seeing a new orthopedic surgeon next week to talk about new treatment strategies and will let you all know what happens with that. I'm hoping that he'll recommend a cortizone shot or two and I'll be well on my way. We'll see. I'm also thinking about acupuncture as a possibility. But, I'm keeping as positive an attitude as possible and am sure this is going to be fine soon.