And The Beat Goes On

Rory Block was excellent at the Cedar on Sunday.
Amazing stuff. I needed something like that to
remind myself just how powerful the Blues is.

It's also a reminder just how dead the Blues is
right now - the Cedar was about 3/4 to 7/8's
full. It puts my struggles in perpective, when
Rory Block doesn't sell out, but you play the
Blues because something inside you keeps
telling you this is your music -that's the way
it's always been, always has been, always
will be.

I'm going to post a link to my 1 act play
"Nobody Cares" on my new home page,
It's about a Blues Harp player, and the
struggle he faces:
http://glennbowen.biz/nobodycares.htm

Casey, the puppy is doing better - she's
not a 100% or anywhere near that, but
she's a lot better. I'm posting as
track #5 on my new home page
a song "Make a Miracle Happen".
it's sort of a votive offering. See #5:
http://glennbowen.biz/index.htm

This is the "new style" I'm woodshedding.
I'm playing the Bodhran (an Irish handheld
drum), while tapping my foot on a sounding
board (a park bench seat actually), while
playing a G harmonica in cross harp (key of
D) on a mouth rack, and singing.

I think this "one man band" style has a lot
of potential. I'd appreciate comments from
other people, because I haven't tried the
"new style" in public yet. my email is
gwbowen@mninter.net
let me know what you think.
later,

Catfish

Casey, the Puppy

Casey, the puppy is now about 13 years old,
and she's not doing very well. I've been
been trying to stay with her as much as
possible, and one thing that is kind of
amazing is how tenacious the desire
is to stay alive is.

You can just see Casey willing herself to
get up and walk around, and get better,
even as she stumbles into things because
she can't see in one eye, and her balance
is not very good (it's a brain tumor, they
think).

She still enjoys some things - vanilla Dairy
Queen's, and cheese, and salmon, and
she's drinking a lot of water - and she does
get up and walk around some, and she
like getting some attention, but not too
much (she just walked up to me to be petted,
and now she's walked away again- thump,
thump)

So hopefully she'll get better, but right now
she's pretty confused. She's not really in
pain - its just tough getting around for her.

Gone Woodshedding

Rory Block is at the Cedar next Fri
(May 12) and Goran Ivanovic on
Sunday-I'm volunteering both
nights. Then Ralph Stanley
on June 3rd, and I bought a ticket
for that one. Open Stage on Wed.
I was going to skip that one, but,
I recently heard of a local harp
player who passed away,
and it was kind of a reminder
that I really do need to get out
and see the live performers more
because other wise you're just
limited to you know what
(the #$%^*& on the radio)
and you're missing the music
and the musicians that really
matter.

Anyways the Wilbur Cole Weekend
jam was a good time, but I was
eventually driven out by the
smoke -I've had a headache for the
last two days, so ouch. [I used to
smoke more than a pack a day].
It's frustrating going home like
that, but when you quit smoking,
secondhand smoke can be a problem
years later ( it gives you a "nic fit",
for days basically), anyways enough
griping - it was a good time.

As you can guess from this completely
aimless blog - nothing major to report
on the CD - I've decided that to get a
good backing track I'm going to have to
learn the rudiments at least of playing
the drums - so I'm going to be
woodshedding on my harp, and
studying the drums and bodrhan
for the next month or so - next
posting in June, unless something
happens.

Later,

Catfish