Two weeks ago, I was in Costa Rica with some of my colleagues as part of McKesson's VAR Achievement Club. We were only there for a handful of days, but it was great fun, and I managed to ride a zipline high over the rain forest canopy, go scuba diving to forty feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean... and get sunburned. Go figure.
I took my newly-purchased Kona K2 with me on the trip. I'd never brought a guitar along on a flight, and part of me was admittedly nervous about it getting lost or damaged, but once we'd arrived at the hotel and I opened the hard case, I saw that everything was fine, though there was a Notice of Baggage Inspection from the TSA inside. Guess they wanted to be sure it was really a guitar and not a sniper rifle... On the way home, the guitar again arrived intact, but the case took a bit of damage. Oh, well; that's why one uses a hard case.
I didn't play the acoustic/electric as much as I could have while in Costa Rica, and I didn't end up playing for anyone else, but I did play, and I did start writing a new song, "Burning in the Sun," which I recently finished. I'm fairly certain that this was the first time I wrote music and lyrics together at the same time, and it was a good experience, although I was a bit rusty at first, not having written a song in, well, too long now. I hadn't consciously intended to give it a Brazilian rhythm and feel, but it seems I managed to do that. Not that you can tell from the lyrics... but I'm probably going to record it soon, as I've already got the lyrics and the guitar part figured out, so you should be able to hear it within the next few weeks.
You can probably hear it at Make Music New York, too. Yes, I'm taking part again this year, and yes, I think I'll be comfortable enough with "Burning in the Sun" by then to play it. I did procrastinate a bit on applying for a space and time to perform, getting in just under the wire; I'll be back at Duane Park this June 21st (a Tuesday this year; blecch), but not until 4 PM. If you can come out, please do!
I've recently seen two musical productions featuring two friends, and both were science fiction-based and a lot of fun! My colleague Nicole was in the St. Anne Stages' production of "Bill & Ted Save Broadway," at the Fair Lawn Community Center in NJ; it took the characters from the late '80s movie and revisited them a few decades later, as a not-dead Rufus calls upon them once more, this time to help save Broadway from flagging sales and declining patronage. They grabbed performers (and songs) from Broadway musicals past and present, and the show was done incredibly well. My friend and fellow singer/songwriter Tatiana Moroz was in "Europa" at New York's Kraine Theater, and the musical featured a number of well-meaning (and some not-so-well-meaning) misfits on Jupiter's moon; while I went solely to support Tatiana, the rest of the cast was incredible, too, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Television's guitarist Richard Lloyd was in it as well! I'm not generally a big fan of musicals (though I loved "The Who's 'Tommy'" and "The Phantom of the Opera"), but I'm glad I got to see these two.
In just under a month, Pam will be coming back to New Jersey for another long weekend. My friends Susan and Brett are getting married, and Pam and I will be attending the wedding, along with my friends Barbara and Stephanie (Susan's sister) and her girlfriend Nicol. It was kind of a sudden thing, but I'm glad it worked out; I'm looking forward to seeing Pam again sooner than expected, and to taking her to the wedding. :-)
Lastly, the Web site has finally gotten something of a tune-up. All the old Vitriol and Being... columns are posted now, the FAQs are back up (and those of you who can't understand why I have a "Gallery... of Death!" and a "'Blog... of Death!" can get answers there), and I've even put the x Walks into a Bar page up again (I love those jokes). Oh, and speaking of the Gallery..., all the Costa Rica pics, and some from "Europa," are there now, too. Enjoy! Or don't.
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