Man, Tina is going to town on this RBS project I’ve handed to her. Check it out. She’s doing test designs and stain colors on scrap wood for this thing. Honestly, I figured she’d just whip out some nifty little design, draw it out, stain, and bam – we’re done. But no, such is not the case. She’s being meticulous about every detail. Witness the use of the bone folder if you don’t believe me. Feel free to leave her a comment if you like. I’m sure she’d enjoy hearing from you.

Today we also have a first for you here, kids. It’s personal video! Well, it’s not my personal video, but I’m actually in it, part of it. In addition, this is, if not the first, then one of the first blogs containing much about my musical pursuits. I play with a band regularly, and while I’ve been working with the same band for over ten years now, it occurred to me a few months ago that I have some good friends with whom I’ve fallen out of touch musically. Some of these guys are people with whom I formed my first band in college. I thought it no coincidence that, not long after I arrived at this conclusion, one member of that group of friends came to me and essentially said, “I have a line on this gig with these other friends of ours. Do you want to do it?”

Have I ever told you about how I don’t believe in coincidences? I don’t. I think stuff happens for a reason. I think I got the opportunity to rejoin my friends and play with some new folks right at the exact time that I was ready to embrace the opportunity. It was a little unnerving, because I’ve been used to playing with the same guys for so long. New stuff, even old new stuff, can be kind of scary. I spent twelve hours total driving to practice with these guys so that we could do the best job possible. Still, the big day arrives, and you’re a little nervous. Even if it’s just a house party, you’re a little nervous. Will the show set sail, moving gallantly into open waters, waves crashing at its bow as it triumphantly makes its maiden voyage, or will it get about eight feet from the pier, suddenly begin taking on water, and moments later present only the mast above the waterline?

I’m happy to say that she fared well, and an excellent time was had by all. The inside joke on the song’s title comes from the last name of one of the attendees. The guitarist wrote this song especially to mock him, which is what musicians do to people they like. It’s a bit of cheese, but then the whole point was to have fun with it. I’m lucky I have friends who ask me to be part of things like this. It was big fun.