Fiddler in the Pit

As if our lives weren't busy enough - last week I spent 5 days in my old stomping grounds - the orchestra pit at FHS.

Me in the pit with Mandolin and my trusty Ibanez Pat Metheny Hollow Body

The director asked me last December if I knew how to play Mandolin, as they would be putting on "Fiddler on the Roof" this year and the book was for Mandolin & Guitar. Thinking I could pull the old studio guitarist's trick of tuning the instrument like a guitar and wailing away, I said "sure"!

After the music arrived and I a student loaned me a mandolin, I realized I had made a big mistake. Given the tuning and string gauges, I couldn't tune the thing like a guitar. Yikes - what to do now? After trying to learn all the chords from scratch (ok if you're playing 3 chord country songs, but not for a broadway book), I visited my favorite guitar store in Omaha (Russo's) and asked for help. My old buddy Ned looked at me like I was an idiot and said "Hey - it's just like playing a guitar upside down".

At first I didn't follow him, but then I saw what he meant. The guitar is tuned (from thickest string to thinnest) E - A - D - G - B -E. The Mandolin is tuned (from thickest to thinnest) G - D - A - E, each string being in pairs. If you ignore the last 2 stings on the guitar, it is the same notes reversed.

So, with this newfound knowledge, I sheepishly went back home and started to try and think "upside down". This made things a lot easier (until I started looking at the single -note lines).

If I'd been really smart, I'd have found a left handed mandolin, and played it backwards, so that it was playing it like a guitar forwards (yes - your head should be spinning about now). But there wasn't time to find left handed mandolins - not even with Ebay.

Pretending to read a D7b9 chord.

So, long story short, after about 5 weeks of practice, I got the point where I could fool most of the people most of the time. It was really interesting - even during production week, I found new voicings for various chords and played things differently as the week progressed.

I actually got to the point of enjoying playing the thing, but not enough to keep me from posting it on Ebay tonight. I also have a newfound respect for Chris Thiele of NickelCreek.

Lesson learned: Next time I get asked to play an instrument that I don't really play - go to the music store first, pick the thing up and try and tune it to a guitar. If you can't - say no or plan on some time for woodshedding . . . .

;-)

Only Visiting This Planet - Larry Norman (1947-2008)

Yesterday was a very sad day for Christian Music. After struggling with health issues for more than a decade, Larry Norman died yesterday (February 24) in Salem, Oregon.

For those of you who are of the younger generation, Larry was to Contemporary Christian Music what Elvis was to Rock and Roll. If you asked the average CCM fan today what the first Christian Rock album was, they would not have the slighest idea. However, back in 1968, a young 21 year old created a groundbreaking album called "Upon This Rock" on the Capitol label, which was probably a decade ahead of its time. "Upon This Rock" is often referred to as the "Sgt. Pepper's" of Christian Music.

Most CCM critics and reviewers regard Larry's "Only Visiting This Planet" as the best, or one of the top 3 Christian albums of all time.

I was a huge fan of Larry's in my younger years and saw him in concert 5 times, once driving with some friends to Norman, Oklahoma to the "Boomer Theater" to see him. When I bought his albums via mail order in late high school/early college, Larry's dad would write nice personal notes on the packaging when he sent things to me.

Many people also are not aware that a mini rock opera written by Larry during his days with the band "People!" is credited by many as the inspiration for Pete Townshend's writing of "Tommy". (The Who was on tour with People! and saw their performances night after night in the late 60's).

My personal favorites of Larry's are:

• Nightmare (from So Long Ago the Garden) - [one of the best Christian lyrics ever written]
• Reader's Digest (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• The Great American Novel (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• I Am the Six O'Clock News (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• The Outlaw (from Only Visiting This Planet)
• Forget Your Hexagram (from Upon This Rock)
• I Don't Believe In Miracles (from Upon This Rock)
• Unlucky Blues (from Something New Under the Son)

For those in our youth group, we listened to "In Another Land" while setting up for the Valentine's day banquet a few weeks ago. Kind of ironic, isn't it.

Larry was also eloquent in interviews, magaine articles and in liner notes. I'll close with my favorite sections of Larry's liner notes to "In Another Land"

"today there was no bomb scare . . . just the reality that something exploded long before we knew it, and now we are living in the fallout. all of us are crippled and mutated from the radiation of that moment, but from the outward appearance we look normal, at least to each other. the earth is a dying planet, man a dying race. there are strange things in the sky at night. some people say that it is help from other planets, but i fear that it is evil let loose, vaporizing and streaking across the universe.

funny sad place we've turned this world into, the courts free killers on technicalities, people are starving and we burn and bury food because the economy would fluctuate if we fed them, women seem to be trying to rule the world now that the children have proven themelves incapable of establishing love and world peace; only a few generations ago women started dressing like men and now men are starting to dress like women, the world sems to be crumbling and yet people are eating and drinking and living unnaturally as though there were no right and wrong, as though their lives will never end.

Some people say there is no God, others say that we are all God. sometimes i look out over the city late at night and all the lights look like diamonds and rubies on a black jewelers cloth, all set in straight little rows and sprinkled on the hillsides - and i wonder how we have ever fallen so far. and then i look up in the sky with its far superior jewels; i look up and find myself waiting. and smiling." - Larry Norman, September 1975

Here, there be music . . . . soon . . . . .

Well, we're finally close to finishing our "music room" which we've been working on (or should I say not working on very much) for the last 14 months. Over the weekend, the boys and I got all of the insulation in place.

To those we've mentioned the project to, I've included some pictures, and will offer some explanations as well. This should help some of you who've expressed an interest in doing the same.

The picture above shows the southwest corner of the room. The funny looking insulation is called "Sound Attenuation Fire Blankets". They are made of a wood by-product and have much greater sound dampening characteristics than normal insulation. In addition, as their name implies, they are VERY fire-resistant. They are however, murder to work with. They are very itchy and smell like sheep when you first put them up.

Here is a picture of the stuff, up close and personal:



We placed this stuff on of the inward facing walls between the ceiling joists. You'll also notice some steel strips in the first picture. These are RC (Resiliant Channel). They are tacked on the studs and the drywall is attached to it, and either not attached to the studs at all, or attached only at the points where the Resiliant Channel intersects with the drywall. This reduces contact points where sound can be transferred to the wall. (BTW - the first picture does not have all of hte RC in place).

We also placed R-24 fiberglass insulation below the Fire Attenuation Sound Blankets in the ceiling (going the opposite direction) to provide extra sound insulation. Because the ceiling had to be lowered, we put this right above the new ceiling (which is what you see in the picture). This also creates an acoustic "dead space" between the R-24 layer and the Fire Attenuation Sound Blankets in the ceiling joists.

Our next step is to get the drywallers in to finish the drywalling, then we paint. Our plan is to do at least two of the walls in EVH's "Frankenstrat" design. The other walls may be a Beatles wall or a music/instrument brand logo wall.

We'll keep ya posted and provide pictures when it's all done.

We're on a Mission from God . . . .

Yikes! Has it really been 2 months since our last blog. I gotta free up my schedule . . . .

Anyway, the big news of the last month or so is that Josh & I will be heading to Cambodia sometime near the end of July/beginning of August. Our youth group will be sending a group of students (with adult sponsors - not sure which group I fit in better with . . . ) to a youth camp in Cambodia. The goal is to help teach the kids in the camp to speak English.

The reason for this is not so that they can understand the words of the latest Brittany Spears song, but so that they can get out of poverty. Children who learn English have many more job and educational opportunities, which help to bring them (and their families) out of the cycle of poverty that many are entrenched in. In the process, I'm sure we'll maximize our opportunites to share the gospel.

Tonight I spent some time on Google, trying to find some resouces for learning Khmer (the language spoken in Cambodia). Hopefully, in the next six months, I'll learn to say the really important things like "Where are the Doughnuts" and "Man - that's a cool sitar solo!" - you know, the things you just can't get by without.

That's it for now. Hopefully I won't be so delinquent with my next posts!

(And hopefully John Belushi will forgive my demented sense of humor . . . )

A Different Way to Spend Halloween . . . .

Well, the Howard family (and friends) didn't have a "normal" Halloween this year. Instead, we took the kids and 3 friends to see 3 Christian bands at a church in Omaha. The concert was a fundraiser for the church to send a missions group to Malawi, Africa.

We're not sure if the holiday affected the outcome, but probably 200 or less people were there, so we were able to get right up to the stage. The night started off with a newer band from Kansas City called Starlit Platoon. They had a good sound and were pretty energetic.

Afterwards, a well-known Lincoln band called Remedy Drive played. This is a band made up of four brothers. I talked to one of them afterwards and they were just signed by Word records and plan to release their first CD next August.

Then came the highlight of the night - our boys' favorite band Pillar played. We were right by Noah (the guitar player) all night, and were able to watch him close up. Unfortunately the combination of low light and smoke from the smoke machines caused our concert photos to turn out really bad.


Afterwards, however, all 4 members of Pillar came out and talked with the audience. We spent probably 15 minutes talking with Noah, who showed us a few of his guitars and talked amps and gear. Rob (the singer) had his wife and new baby with him. Very cool.

I've included some photos of Josh & James with Noah.



And I thought MY hair was wild during my college years . . . . !

Don't let the dreadlocks fool you though. Noah was a SUPER nice guy. Very friendly and humble. We all had a great time, but I was ready for a little ear rest afterwards. I must be getting old . . . . . .

Viva Las Vegas . . .

Well, I'd hoped to have a post about a recent trip to see Steve Vai in Chicago, but I'm still waiting for pictures, so that one will be waaay after the fact.

However, I did have a short business trip to Las Vegas this last week for the annual PFACC conference. We stayed at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort, about 10 miles outside of Las Vegas. Very pretty place. The picture below is a panoramic shot. You may need to view it at full size to get the full effect.

As can be expected, we spent one night experiencing the strip on Las Vegas. We were let off at the Bellagio. After going inside and seeing the sights, we stepped outside and watched the fountains. The picture below is a little grainy as I didn't want to use a flash, but you should get the effect. As hard as we looked, we couldn't find Danny Ocean or any of his friends.

Looking the other direction, you get an idea of how bright the lights are. This replica of the Eiffel tower was pretty awesome.

After checking out the Flamingo pools and some of the strip, I ventured by myself to the Hard Rock Cafe. I found out after I got there that the street that the Hard Rock is on is not as safe as the strip. Needless to say, I took a cab back to the Bellagio.

Come Sail Away . . .

When you think of concerts in Nebraska, Norfolk doesn't usually come to mind. However when our nephew Caleb graduated from college at Norfolk last May, we went to a restaurant that advertised a summer concert series at a local place called Divot's.

Fortunately, we liked a couple of the bands that were appearing on September 2nd, so we headed down for the concert.

The show opened with 38 Special, a southern rock band with a number of 1980's hits.

The men of the family got up close to watch half of 38 Special, then went back for some water and Gatorade and just listened until the headliner.

They were followed by Styx, an "art rock" band whose best known hits spanned the mid 1970's through the 1980's.

This time, mom joined us near the front of the stage. As they started, I caught our first pictures as the sun was still setting. Tommy Shaw was on our side of the stage as they kicked off the concert with "Blue Collar Man". James Young is in the background on the Strat.

As the sun set, the light show was much more fun to watch, however taking clear pictures became a lot more difficult. The band was absolutely fantastic - all the high notes were there for the vocals and guitars were great too! Of course, Josh was impressed by the drummer. If you can see this picture clearly enough, you'll notice that Tommy is playing a clear plastic body guitar (probably a Dan Armstrong). Don't see them too often . . .

The keyboard player even played some Beethoven. Below is one more shot of the band with the light show behind them. I apologize for the graniness, but shooting pictures of fast moving rock starts in dark surroundings is not all that easy . . .

The concert ended with an explosion of confetti. I caught this picture as it began to settle over the audience.

All together, I took about 100 pictures. We had a great time at the concert, and left with our ears ringing a bit. One lady standing by us couldn't believe that our 15 and 13 year old sons knew any of Styx's music. Ironically, the band did a cover of "I am the Walrus" by the Beatles - which the boys also knew and could sing along with.

FYI - I don't think any of us could sing along with any Brittany Spears or Spice Girls songs (and we're proud of it too . . . . )

Catch ya later . . . .