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Showing posts from 2013

A Beating Heart

I have four kids now.  wow.  it's true.  I guess not many families are going for 3,4,+ kids these days because Elizabeth and I usually get that open jawed "four?!?!" look from people a lot when either we meet someone on the street we haven't talked to in a long time, or just general strangers talking to us about our beautiful kids. ( yes we're blessed with 4 crazily beautiful children and people have convinced us enough that they really really are extraordinarily beautiful to the point where strangers stop us to comment ....I'm not bragging .. this is just fact that we're relaying from our friends. ahem...ok maybe bragging a little.  ). After the fact that we have four kids settles in, many people will ask .. no.. not ask.. comment as if they know something we should but don't....  "So you must be done?"  or .. "so this is it then?" ... and it always makes me laugh when either of us say "probably not... we want more" and

What if a crocodile....

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I loooovvvve silly talking with my kids.  Sometimes they'll say something completely bizarre and I'll go along with it or make up crazy stories that make them hang onto every word I say.   I also love my kids' imagination and seeing how creative they can be.  Never ceases to amaze me.   Waiting for the bus one day... My five year old daughter Sophie out of the blue asked me a question that led to an interesting conversation.   She asked me a silly question ... one that I could have answered with "well that's not possible" ... or "that will never happen" ... sometimes I actually do remember that to them anything still is possible ... they haven't been adultized yet... so she asked me a question and I answered ..she asked another question and I answered... it only lasted a few minutes but it was an awesome few minutes that made us both laugh.   Sophie : DADDY..... What if a crocodile GOT me? Daddy : I'd save you. Sophie : How

First contact - first gigs

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When it comes down to it.. I owe the creation of my musical career to two people:  An old classmate/friend Chris Walsh and Jen Clement of Singing Strings . I had no inkling of desire to play the bass, let alone music.  None.  Zilch.  I wasn't really a music fan.  Though yes I did ask for a Vanilla Ice cassette tape the previous Christmas.   Ahem. Chris though....he wanted to learn the electric bass.  To play with his buddy Tarky Whitlock in a rock band. I knew nothing of the electric bass.   In order for his mother to buy him an electric bass, she convinced him to get lessons from the music teacher. I can't remember whether we were already in the class and I was oblivious before or we were just starting the class but it was grade 9 in October of 1991 and Chris told me about his mother's deal and said "hey.. you should play bass too". I was a follower. So I followed. Now this Birchwood junior high school class wasn't a class full of already studied musicians w

Another bass

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"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols I'm not a big Nietzsche person or pretend that I knew that quote before googling "what would life be like without music" but... I thought it summed it up nicely.  What would life be like without music...it would be a mistake.  It sounds cliche ...but...stop ( collaborate and listen )...for a second...and really do think about it.. music doesn't exist.... BAM!   Think about your day today.  Where did music enter?  Think about the last movie you saw ..imagine it without music.  Think of the last wedding or night out at a club you were at... would people still dance?  It's an interesting thought.. why is music so intertwined with our every day life?  My answer... and even if you don't notice it or even agree with me I think I'm still right... it's wordless emotion.  Most people are historically bad at expressing themselves.  We don't talk any