It's supposed
to be a big deal, a milestone, the "You did it!"
moment.
I haven't
decided if I agree with all that - ask me when I'm
eighty. At that time, my youngest son will be half my
age, and still twenty years younger than I am
now.
(I'll give you
a minute to work through that.)
I vividly
remember fifty - when my oldest son was half my age -
because my wife planned a surprise party that entailed
getting me booked on a faux engagement an hour out of
town, so she would have time to fill our small house
with over 40 people. (No, I didn't perform. The
manager apologized for the "double-booking," fed me a
steak and sent me on my way.) Back in Columbus, those
attending the party strategically parked away from the
house so as to not draw attention to it. When I
arrived, I backed the trailer up the driveway, walked
in the house and… well, you get the picture. It
was a great evening and one I'll remember
forever.
It's been over
a decade since that night.
FAMILY
A Feeling of
Completeness
Lonnacontinues
to work at Greenleaf Job Training Services. She still
works four-day weeks, albeit, very long days. She
continues to be her parents' primary caregiver,
handling their financials, grocery shopping, doctors'
appointments, etc. How she holds up through all of it
is beyond me.
Adamis still
living in LA. He's going on acting auditions and
working on wrapping up his ten-year project, "The
Journey." From what I've seen, it will be a great
story to tell. He does video editing to keep afloat
financially and also has a roommate, who rents out the
garage/apartment, which obviously helps with the
monthly expenses.
Kenny
is doing well. He and Amy
have been together for over three years and currently
have an apartment together. Both are working - Kenny
as a diesel truck mechanic for Hill Distributing and
Amy at Advance Auto Parts. They seem to be very
content.
My Dad,
Bill
(sitting
here with two of his grandsons, Billy
& Nick),
finally sold the house he and mom lived in together,
which certainly took a huge financial burden off his
shoulders. He seems to be handling living alone okay.
He's renting a large condo not even five minutes from
where he used to live, so he's still close to my
youngest brother and my sister. His health is good.
He'll be eighty years old in January,
2011.
WORK
Good
Fortune Continues
During the last
three years at American Commerce Insurance - now
MAPFRE Insurance - I've worked with many very nice
people. In fact, I haven't found one "difficult"
person in the entire building of 175 - and I've
encountered all of them at one time or
another.
Late last year,
I was offered a position with Marketing. This is the
team that makes the operation run and I feel very
blessed to be on it. I'm using my skills as a graphics
/ web designer far more than ever before (thank you
Adam for the push to learn the programs) and I feel
like I'm really contributing to the country-wide
effort to bring MAPFRE Insurance to all fifty states.
Working with very skilled and highly motivated people
I continue to grow in my new position and I'm learning
a great deal. Although MAPFRE is a 25+ billion dollar
company, it does not have the big corporation "feel"
of many large companies. People across the enterprise
are friendly, polite and very
appreciative.
BLOG
A
Passion on Hold
Rants &
Observations has been sidelined for now. As much as I
love to write, I haven't had the "think time" needed
to stay fully engaged. I will someday go back to
writing again, but I can't say when that will happen.
Until then, there's plenty of material to browse
through. Click here
to go to the site.
This brings me
to the reason I started the blog…
POLITICS
Change
is never easy but always inevitable, and ultimately
for the better.
Unlike many who
have become disenchanted with our President, I for one
will be wholeheartedly voting for him again in 2012.
For those who don't understand why, please stop
watching cable news shows (all of them) and read both
of his books. While you're at it, try reading news
from legitimate sources like Reuters, The Associated
Press, Newsweek, Time, The Washington Post, The Wall
Street Journal and The New York Times. (They are all
online.) You will then understand that we have the
smartest, most knowledgeable man holding the office in
my lifetime.
Any
president attempting major social change in a diverse
country like ours will always be met with strong
opposition from all ends of the political spectrum.
While those unhappy with President Obama are screaming
that he's not being politically smart or is doing the
wrong thing with this or that issue, he's slowly
correcting the course of this ship we call America,
much like Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson and
Clinton did before him. All of them were demonized by
their political opposition, but history proved the
opposition wrong and history will once again prove the
current detractors wrong. This president has been
working hard from day one. Here's
a list of all the legislation he has signed into law
since he's been in office.
I purposely did
not include Reagan because although he was a very
popular president, his domestic policies hurt our
country. George Bush Sr. is a very likeable man, but
was strapped to his predecessor's policies and
therefore ineffective as president. His son's election
was the unfortunate result of an intentionally
misinformed electorate and a Supreme Court that should
never have injected itself into our electoral
process.
Okay. Rant
over.
MUSIC
Here's
where many of the "firsts" are for
2010.
(1)
I'm in a true rock group for the first time in my
life.
(2)
Nearly
all of the music we perform is material I have
never
before
played with a band or as a solo
artist.
(3)
The
overwhelming response by those who hear us for the
first time is way
beyond
anything I've ever experienced before with a local
band.
(4)
We are experiencing exponential favor - from being
asked to play at high level
private
functions to being one of only 6 bands selected from
nearly 100
to
perform at a Talent Showcase for over 1000 people -
all in just
the
first few months of performances.
(5)
The
level of compassion, acceptance and understanding
among the members is
unparalleled.
Note that some of us have been involved in this
project since
November,
2008. All of us have been involved for nearly a year
and
there
seems to be as much excitement now as there was
when
we
first put the band together.
(6)
Another family member is part of the "entourage." My
youngest son, Kenny,
is now
working with the band to load, unload, set up and tear
down
equipment.
He and one of his long-time friends are our
official
roadies.
Their contribution means a lot to us "aging"
rockers.
You can't have
a great band without people of great character and
talent. I'll leave the talent portion for observers to
discuss. As for their character, allow me to introduce
five musicians whose character and personalities are
second-to-none:
Kenny
Neff brings
direct, concise but understated thinking to the band.
He is a plumber by trade (over 30 years in the
business). He played music many years ago then gave it
up for nearly 15 years to pursue another passion:
competition body building. Through those years his
love for music started to resurface and that passion
became strong enough to again get involved in putting
another band together. He and the original drummer
approached me in November, 2008. Through all of the
auditions and changes, Kenny's conviction to stick
with it until we had the right combination of talent
and personalities never diminished and to this day,
he'll tell you that his best days are when we're
gigging and his second best days are when we're
rehearsing.
Steve
Sayre is
originally from Zanesville, Ohio. He's been in
Columbus for over 15 years, playing in a variety of
groups until he joined the band. He works as the
manager of a multi-million dollar parts department at
Lane Aviation. He originally auditioned with the group
in March, 2010. The decision to not go with him had
nothing to do with his talent or his character. We
simply went with someone we felt more familiar with.
As fate would have it, that drummer decided to bow out
in July and we immediately asked Steve if he was still
interested. "I never lost interest," he said, stating
that he had been "following the band's progress…"
since his audition. His instinct to keep an eye on us
was a good one. His personality and wit were a perfect
fit from day one.
Paul
Bernard's
contribution to the group is multi-faceted. He's the
motivator - always pushing to learn more material, to
get the best gigs, to be the best we can be. Paul owns
Bernard Company, an ultra high-end clothing business
that he has operated for over 20 years. His
no-nonsense approach to that business made him the
best candidate for booking our gigs and he's doing
stellar work. He's high energy and high on this band.
On a personal level, you would be hard pressed to find
anyone with a better sense of humor.
Jonathan
Garcia hails
from Los Angeles, California. He's been in Columbus
for over seven years. He owned a Karaoke company for
several years in California and Ohio and now works for
W.C. National Mailing Corporation. His congenial
warmth and subtly-stated humor make him very easy to
work with. Sometimes exhausted from a long work day,
he will come to rehearsals and still sing with the
energy of a live performance. He is the rare
combination of giftedness and humility, always putting
the welfare of others before himself.
Tom
Shields
prefers staying out of the limelight, but certainly
does not go unnoticed. He brings a common sense
approach to the band. Tom is the Franklin County
Municipal Court's Jury Commissioner and has worked for
the county for 30 years. His calm demeanor and firm
grasp of the realities of life make him a glove fit
for our group. He came to the band in January, 2009
and has never once questioned his decision to stay. He
truly loves music and performing, and although he's
not fond of drawing attention to himself, has been
known to - on rare occasions - join Paul, Jonathan and
Kenny at the front of the stage.
As for
me,
I can't overstate how thrilled I am to be a part of
this great group of people. As all of you know, music
has been the saving grace throughout my life and to
still be involved in the industry after over forty
years is exhilarating.
It cannot go
without saying that the significant others' of each of
the members are also exemplary and in full support of
this project. They have actually named themselves the
"Powerline Princesses." In fact, all of us have often
socialized outside of band functions and have
thoroughly enjoyed each others' company. Here, most of
us were in attendance for a concert by Kansas in
July.
I must say a
special thank you to Lonna
for being so patient with all the rehearsals being
held at our house. It's not easy putting up with all
that "noise" twice a week - not to mention unloading
equipment back into the rehearsal room at 2:00 or
3:00am after a gig, while she's trying to
sleep.
My
60th Birthday
A
Three Day Celebration
The day before
(Thanksgiving) we all went to David's
(my youngest brother) home for a wonderful meal and
Lonna baked a cake for me. Fortunately, she did not
attempt to place sixty candles on it.
On my birthday,
Adam and I recorded one of his tunes from beginning to
end in the studio - all the instruments and vocal
tracks and even finished a rough mix. This was in the
midst of a trip to Nick's
(my other younger brother) home so Adam could see his
cousin Andrea, who is a big fan. He videotaped the day
and put a 15 minute version of the 52 minute video on
YouTube.
On December
5th, I completed the mix which you can listen to
here.
The following
day, Lonna arranged for the four of us plus Amy to go
to dinner. It was a great evening beginning with hors
d'oeuvres and wine at home then a superb meal at Brio
Tuscan Grill.
A
Christmas Family Portrait
The
Best of Intentions
"Go get your
tri-pod. honey. I'd like to get a picture of the four
of us."
"The four of
us? You mean with the dog and cat?"
"Yeah.
"
"Did you think this through? " I asked, knowing the
answer.
"No, but you're
a smart guy. You'll figure it out."
"I'm not so
sure that's a ringing endorsement."
Koal (the cat)
was sleeping comfortably in front of the fireplace,
but needed to be moved in order for me to set up the
tri-pod. His irritation was beginning. Kelso (the dog)
was so shocked that he was allowed on the furniture
that the first time he got up there and cuddled up
next to Lonna, he looked at me and jumped down,
assuming he was going to be scolded.
Finally, Lonna
and Kelso are in place and Koal is watching from the
sidelines. I set the timer, scoop him up in my usual
manner, only faster, and sit down next to them. He's
tolerating these rapid movements, but is not
happy.
As we gather
ourselves, preparing for the camera to make the usual
click, I notice the timer's light is not flashing. No
picture. In my haste to grab Koal, I pushed the on/off
button.
Trying again, I
set the timer and then go to scoop up Koal who is just
out of view in the kitchen. The camera takes the
picture with Lonna and Kelso in place. No Koal. No me.
I set the timer for 2 seconds instead of
10.
By now, our
usually very calm and loving, people-friendly cat is
justifiably irritated, especially since this process
started with me waking him from a blissful nap in
front of his favorite winter spot. Kelso, on the other
hand, is enjoying every minute with a look of absolute
contentment from his newly-allowed perch next to Lonna
on the love seat. It's as if he's thinking, "I
won."
With the
camera's timer set correctly, I make a third attempt
at this "Family Portrait." I'm
able to scoop up the cat one more time, keeping him on
my lap with a near death-grip on his shoulders and
neck. He's no longer irritated. He is now officially
pissed off. As I quickly put a not-so-natural smile on
my face, Koal voices and illustrates his disdain for
being held against his will. His outburst attracts
Kelso's attention (who suddenly looks a bit concerned)
which forces Lonna to get a firm grip on him and an
"oh-oh" look on her face as the picture is
taken.
