Christmas Phone Call

     I was driving home from a performance in downtown LA. It was Christmas Eve and traffic was brutal. Instead of letting the situation get me down I tuned into a radio station that was playing Christmas music. As I sang my heart out the red brake lights became Christmas lights and I revelled in the holiday spirit. I had my Bluetooth in my ear, anticipating a phone call from my then girlfriend. As the current song came to an end I realized my Bluetooth was connected to a call. I embarrassedly asked, "Hello?" On the other end was Mom. She said, "I'm just calling to wish you Merry Christmas."
     "How long have you been listening?" I asked.
     "I heard most of the last song."
     "Why didn't you say anything?"
     "I was just enjoying listening." 

I Feel Fine Enough, I Guess...

Me with Ed Robertson, lead singer of Barenaked Ladies

     Last weekend was both extremely fun and extremely emotional. I got to see two of my favorite bands, Rascal Flatts and Barenaked Ladies, in concert. Sunday was also what would have been Mom's 83rd birthday. All things considered, I couldn't have asked for a more appropriate series of events to occur Saturday and Sunday.
     A little lot of back story for everyone: My mom passed away last April 1st. I was at a show choir competition, minutes from going on stage with Esperanza High School's show choir, when I got the news. Thankfully I was playing that set with two of my best friends in the show choir musician's circle, Danny and Stephen. A few weeks before, Danny and I had discussed how one of our favorite moments in the show was playing the verses of "Life Is A Highway", a song made popular by Rascal Flatts. After I told Danny and Stephen what happened, they gave their condolences then Danny said something along the lines of, "Let's go rock this!" We hit the stage and, fighting back tears, tore into the set. As soon as we hit the first verse of "Life Is A Highway" Danny shot me a huge grin which put a smile on my face. We were in the groove. It was then that I realized the first line of that verse is, "Life's like a road that you travel on, it's one day here and the next day gone." At that moment I chose "Life Is A Highway" to be the song I will forever associate with Mom. She'd rather have that than some sappy song, I'm sure. After the performance Stephen hung out with me for at least an hour and we just talked. I will always be thankful to Danny and Stephen for that day.
     The next day I had another performance with Esperanza's group at another show choir festival. Again Danny and I had our musical moment during "Life Is A Highway." After the set the groups director, Michael Fenton, came up to me, explained that he told the students about Mom, and that the performance was dedicated to her. If there had been any question about "Life Is A Highway" being Mom's song, that answered it.
     One day, while listening to "Pinch Me" by the Barenaked Ladies, I was struck by the line, "I feel fine enough I guess, considering everything's a mess." That summed up perfectly how I had been feeling since April 1. This past summer I had the pleasure of seeing Barenaked Ladies in San Diego with two of my good friends, Ken and Lisa. Lisa's father had passed away less than a year before Mom did so she and I had spent a lot of time talking and crying about our losses. When that line came up in "Pinch Me", we looked at each other with a knowing look while singing the line. Another memory I will carry with me forever.
     Fast forward to last weekend. My friends Ken, Christina, Heather, and I secured our tickets for the Barenaked Ladies show the week before. At the time I didn't realize the concert fell on Mom's birthday. Our original plan for Saturday was to go check out Route 66 in San Bernardino. A Beatles tribute band was playing and it sounded like fun. Saturday morning I got a text message from Heather that said, "Rascal Flatts is playing tonight. Call me!" After a few phone calls our plans were upgraded from tribute band to Rascal Flatts. I don't know if any of them realized it at the time, but, getting the see Rascal Flatts sing "Life Is A Highway" with my friends was an incredible moment for me. Sunday was the Barenaked Ladies concert with the same group of friends. Again they performed "Pinch Me" and again I realized I am "...fine enough I guess, considering everything's a mess." After the concert Heather and I hung out backstage and got a chance to meet the band. While posing for a picture with lead singer Ed Robertson I told him about how I associated a line from "Pinch Me" with Mom and that it was her birthday. He gave me a slight squeeze on my shoulder and a smile.
     Good friends, Rascal Flatts, Barenaked Ladies, and Mom's birthday: What an incredible weekend!

A New Project

As you may know, one of my hobbies is photography. I was doing a photo a day blog for a while but life got busy. I recently realized I don't have any of my pictures on display at my house. I would like your thoughts on what pictures I should print and display. I know they aren't all winners and feel I'm too close to them to decide. Please check out my photo blog and tell me which ones are your favorites. Either comment on this blog or leave a comment on the photo entry. Facebookers can comment on this post. All help would be greatly appreciated. Here's a link to my web album that has all the pics in one spot: Bill's Pics The pic in this blog happens to be one of my favorites.

Quick Thoughts on Nashville

I can't think of anything that would have made this trip better. Some highlights:
1. Getting to play at the Grand Old Opry three times, and getting to stand on the original piece of stage from the Ryman Auditorium (the original Opry).
2. The groups I played for winning in both their divisions. The Los Alamitos group, Soundtrax, came in first in the women's division. SoundFX came in first in the prelims and also came in first in the finals. The kids were awfully excited.
3. Getting to experience the Nashville honkytonk scene. Walking down Broadway and hearing great live music coming from every bar on the street was an amazing experience. One I'd like to do again.
4. Going to Tootsie's, where Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson used to sneak to between sets at the Opry for a quick drink. It's said that many a great song was written on a bar napkin in this place.
More on Nashville later. Now it's time to get some breakfast in preparation for the long day of travel back to California ahead.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A Small Revelation Today

Today, after playing at the Grand Old Opry for the second straight day, the guitarist in the group I'm playing with and I were discussing what an amazing opportunity we have been granted over the last few days. Many people only ever dream of playing at the Grand Old Opry. We have had that honor the last two days. He continued by pointing out that the Opry is one of very few concert halls in "that" category in the world. We named a few other, perhaps the other top hall being Carnegie Hall. In my life I have been blessed with the privilege of performing in both of these historic buildings. I have shared the same stage as many of the world's greatest and most famous musicians ever. For that I am humbled and grateful.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Blog I Can't Seem to Write

For months I've been wanting to write a blog about my break up with Sarah. Every time I start to collect my thoughts and put them down, I am bombarded with thoughts that stop me from doing so. I've gotten over the first one which was: I don't want people knowing how I really feel. I've talked to many friends about the break up and am comfortable in my feelings toward it. Other times my brain just shuts done as if to say, "Don't do this." I'm not sure exactly why it keeps doing that to me. Perhaps the biggest reason I haven't written anything yet is because I'm afraid that she might read the blog and think I'm trying to manipulate her emotions. That is one thing I definitely want to avoid doing, again. So until the day comes when I'm ready to put my emotions about this into words, continue reading my other stuff.

Not So Helpful Cue

The past few days I've had the pleasure of playing the show, Rent, at Fullerton College. The bass book is one of the best written, and difficult, parts I've ever played. One of the thoughtful things added to the parts were vocal cues after long periods of rests. It makes it a lot easier than actually counting 100+ measures. There was only one problem: one of the vocal cues came during a section where two of the cast are singing, "I should tell you," repeatedly to each other. Of course that's what the vocal cue was. Not so helpful on that one. I guess I actually have to count rests.