Christmas
It has been a very buys last two weeks. I haven't had the time to sit, organize my thoughts, and blog. I'm not quite sure where to start. It really has been that busy and my thoughts are a whirlwind.
Two Thursdays ago, I attended Open Mic as usual. It was a good night overall, and I feel as though I did a particularly good job on my Christmas song, Frozen. I also played Endless. After playing I received really wonderful compliments from some people in the audience. One was from, Tom (think), who hosts an open mic in Fultonville at a church once a month. He was quite impressed with Frozen, which made me feel very good. I have to say that it may be one of my most well-written songs as far as the whole package is concerned.
On Friday and Saturday, I did some Christmas shopping and started making my black santa hat (yes, I bought materials and sewed a santa hat for myself -- I can be quite crafty). I wrapped gifts for my family and put them underneath my tree. The doing of these things took up most of the weekend -- except for Sunday when I rested for most of the day.
This past Thursday was the last Caffe Lena open mic of the year 2009 and the last open mic before Christmas. Also, I was hosting it. I have to say, I had been looking forward to hosting this night for quite some time. I was planning on making a warm, holiday edition of open mic. I foresaw musicians sharing Christmas songs with sing-a-longs and telling stories about Christmas traditions. With the termination of my marriage, I was especially looking forward to experiencing a Caffe Lena family (open mic musicians!) Christmas.
I have to say that the night exceeded my expectations and was easily one of the best open mic nights I have ever attended. I really felt very happy to be a part of it. During the night, I listed who played what Christmas songs in order to document the festive parts of the evening:
Maurizio played a folky rendition of White Christmas with Phil Drum and his fabulous version of Little Drummer Boy, which is alway satisfyingly wonderful.
Phil Drum played The Christmas Song and Elvis' Santa Claus is Back in Town.
Wilow played The Christmas Letter by Reba MacEntire (spelling?) and Santa Baby, which was very cute!
Gail Sparlin played an orginal Christmas song. A solemn, bluesy piano number called A Fine Time For Being Blue. She also told a nice story about how her high school choral students sang carols at an upscale restaurant to raise money for a charity. They made 27 dollars when there were upwards of 200 hundred people in the restaurant. The students donated their own money to charity when they discovered how little they made. A nice Christmas-spirit story.
Willie the Moak played a unique version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town in his guitar-string-tapping style/.
Rik Kent played Christmas inspired instrumentals.
Jeffrey T played his original song Christmas or Hanukah and a jazzy version of Sata Claus is Comin' to Town in which Maurizio backed him up on with some lead guitar work.
And I played the last Christmas song of the night: My original Frozen.
Somewhat toward the end of the night, a performer (Samara) played a "proposal song" and upon completion of it, got out an engagement ring, dropped to one knee, and asked her girlfriend to marry her. The girlfriend said, "yes" and I was left with interesting task of getting up on the stage and introducing the next performer.
On Friday, I worked late. Then my mom brought food over and gave me some instructions on cooking the turkey. On Saturday, my brother and his wife came over, as did my mom and a friend of hers. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and rolls. The turkey came out quite good. It was my first time cooking a turkey and I succeeded. I made the comment that it was "on the dry side," but everyone disagreed. (Truthfully, it was a little bit dry, but it wasn't DRY by any means). We opened some gifts and played a card game and visited for a little bit. Then we had ice cream cake for my birthday.
After that, my brother, his wife, and I went to my dad's for spaghetti dinner and games and gifts. We laughed very hard while playing some games (as we often do) and had a great time.
Later that night, I went to my friend's house for a party. He planned a party for those of us that birthdays in December. I had been telling them that I wasn't going to be able to go, due to having Christmas with my family. So, they were very surprised to see me show up.
This morning, I woke up around noon. It has been a lazy Sunday and I've mostly just watched TV, had left-overs for lunch and dinner, and cake and cookies for dessert.
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I wrote a new song!! I'm very happy with it and I can't wait to play it for people. However, I am going to keep under wraps for a while. It's a song that uses spring time as a metaphor and in the song, the sun is out and the snow is melting. So, it doesn't fit with this time of the year. So, I'll see if I'm able to keep myself from playing it out... not sure I'll be able to succeed with that.
Two Thursdays ago, I attended Open Mic as usual. It was a good night overall, and I feel as though I did a particularly good job on my Christmas song, Frozen. I also played Endless. After playing I received really wonderful compliments from some people in the audience. One was from, Tom (think), who hosts an open mic in Fultonville at a church once a month. He was quite impressed with Frozen, which made me feel very good. I have to say that it may be one of my most well-written songs as far as the whole package is concerned.
On Friday and Saturday, I did some Christmas shopping and started making my black santa hat (yes, I bought materials and sewed a santa hat for myself -- I can be quite crafty). I wrapped gifts for my family and put them underneath my tree. The doing of these things took up most of the weekend -- except for Sunday when I rested for most of the day.
This past Thursday was the last Caffe Lena open mic of the year 2009 and the last open mic before Christmas. Also, I was hosting it. I have to say, I had been looking forward to hosting this night for quite some time. I was planning on making a warm, holiday edition of open mic. I foresaw musicians sharing Christmas songs with sing-a-longs and telling stories about Christmas traditions. With the termination of my marriage, I was especially looking forward to experiencing a Caffe Lena family (open mic musicians!) Christmas.
I have to say that the night exceeded my expectations and was easily one of the best open mic nights I have ever attended. I really felt very happy to be a part of it. During the night, I listed who played what Christmas songs in order to document the festive parts of the evening:
Maurizio played a folky rendition of White Christmas with Phil Drum and his fabulous version of Little Drummer Boy, which is alway satisfyingly wonderful.
Phil Drum played The Christmas Song and Elvis' Santa Claus is Back in Town.
Wilow played The Christmas Letter by Reba MacEntire (spelling?) and Santa Baby, which was very cute!
Gail Sparlin played an orginal Christmas song. A solemn, bluesy piano number called A Fine Time For Being Blue. She also told a nice story about how her high school choral students sang carols at an upscale restaurant to raise money for a charity. They made 27 dollars when there were upwards of 200 hundred people in the restaurant. The students donated their own money to charity when they discovered how little they made. A nice Christmas-spirit story.
Willie the Moak played a unique version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town in his guitar-string-tapping style/.
Rik Kent played Christmas inspired instrumentals.
Jeffrey T played his original song Christmas or Hanukah and a jazzy version of Sata Claus is Comin' to Town in which Maurizio backed him up on with some lead guitar work.
And I played the last Christmas song of the night: My original Frozen.
Somewhat toward the end of the night, a performer (Samara) played a "proposal song" and upon completion of it, got out an engagement ring, dropped to one knee, and asked her girlfriend to marry her. The girlfriend said, "yes" and I was left with interesting task of getting up on the stage and introducing the next performer.
On Friday, I worked late. Then my mom brought food over and gave me some instructions on cooking the turkey. On Saturday, my brother and his wife came over, as did my mom and a friend of hers. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and rolls. The turkey came out quite good. It was my first time cooking a turkey and I succeeded. I made the comment that it was "on the dry side," but everyone disagreed. (Truthfully, it was a little bit dry, but it wasn't DRY by any means). We opened some gifts and played a card game and visited for a little bit. Then we had ice cream cake for my birthday.
After that, my brother, his wife, and I went to my dad's for spaghetti dinner and games and gifts. We laughed very hard while playing some games (as we often do) and had a great time.
Later that night, I went to my friend's house for a party. He planned a party for those of us that birthdays in December. I had been telling them that I wasn't going to be able to go, due to having Christmas with my family. So, they were very surprised to see me show up.
This morning, I woke up around noon. It has been a lazy Sunday and I've mostly just watched TV, had left-overs for lunch and dinner, and cake and cookies for dessert.
------
I wrote a new song!! I'm very happy with it and I can't wait to play it for people. However, I am going to keep under wraps for a while. It's a song that uses spring time as a metaphor and in the song, the sun is out and the snow is melting. So, it doesn't fit with this time of the year. So, I'll see if I'm able to keep myself from playing it out... not sure I'll be able to succeed with that.