GREAT weekend...

A flurry of activity, as usual, but not the usual gotta-get-it-done kinda stuff.

Friday afternoon, my dad drove into town. After a semi-business trip (just enough to make the trip deductible) she decided to head back to Kansas from Jersey via Michigan. Makes perfect sense (?!?!??). Anyway, she pulled unto town Friday about my lunch break. We headed out to National Coney Island for a bite and catching up, since I was working both jobs that day.

After working the Blockbuster evening shift, I went home via AJ's Coffee Shop in Ferndale to catch an old high school friend Amy (Smith) Petty perform for a few minutes. This gal is an absolutely AMAZING talent! Her live version of her song "Broken Record" is positively jaw-dropping. She has a fantastic wit and raport with her audience and a voice so beautiful it'll make you weep. Her style is basicaly modern acoustic folk, a la Indigo Girls, if one were to draw similarities. I could only stay for a couple songs, but I am in awe of her abilities and was pleased to see so many faces from my high school days that I hadn't come across in years. I only wish I had the time to stay and chat with some of them.

Unfortunately, I had a BIIIG day ahead on Saturday. Sonya & Leigh were heading out at the crack of dawn for a breakfast with their garden club and to set up the end-of-the-season festival at the community garden. I was expected to be in Flint at 11:30am for a gig at the Applewood Fall Festival with my quartet, and needed to make some progress on the house before I left, as we had a family birthday party for Courtney on Sunday.

So the morning was a whirlwind of getting the kids up, dressed and fed, living room tidied, cat box cleaned (yeech), meeting with my dad, dropping the kids, and then heading to Flint with my dad in her car. All of this, plus the never-ending construction that ALWAYS seems to be at its worst on Saturday afternoon, meant we got there JUST in time for the gig, but no warm up.

The gig was wonderful, as always. Wonderful weather, beautiful scenery, friendly people, appreciative audiences, and some GREAT cider. We sounded great with our substitute bass, Jack Day. Again, he's no Dave Conrad, but he's by far the best second we could hope for. I have a few pictures (courtesy of Lou's finace, Linda, and my dad) on my Flickr page. I'll have a couple video clips up on my YouTube page soon.

From there, we all headed to the local Red Robin for lunch and had a great time talking barbershop, the financial market, retirement (a foreign word to me), and stuff. It was a great end to a great afternoon. Then my dad drove me home and I headed to Blockbuster for another shift.

The party on Sunday went off without much of a hitch. We just had a simple barbecue in the backyard, and a fire in the fire bowl to let the kids roast their own veggie dogs. All of my close family came: my mom, dad, sister, grandfather, and Courtney's Auntie Leigh. It's a once-every-several-year occurrance to have my mom and dad in the same locale, so it was nice to have the family back together, if briefly. Courtney loved seeing her Nana, Grandma Paula, and Grandpa O, and, cof course, her gifts. She got a Disney Princess Sing-a-long toy from Grandma Paula, a sparkley rainbow rump rope from Grandpa O, and a My Little Pony from Nana. She also got a Bratz doll, but the wife and I aren't keen on that line of toys, so we may convince her to exchange it for something else - maybe another Barbie (not that she needs 10th Barbie, but better that than a Bratz doll).

I was able to meet with my dad for coffee before she left on Monday morning. It was such a joy to see her. Throughout my life, my dad has been my most consistent, honest, and non-judgemental supporter. We can have coversations is few words and know that we both understand. This was a great weekend, and my dad was a huge part of that.

(for those of you confused about my pronoun usage in this entry, my dad is transgendered. Let the curious questions begin...)

Buzy Bee...

This weekend was full again...

Saturday the quartet had a gig in Rochester Hills to sing at a benefit concert for Amy Jamison, the daughter of a fellow barbershopper from the Guardians of Harmony (Macomb Co. Chapter). Amy has been hit with some pretty severe medical problems just as her father was laid off, so medical expenses were catching up with them. It was a great concert, though not hugely well attended. Since it was a free concert, hopefully they managed to pull in some decent donations.

It was a great mix of quartets and choruses. 6 quartets (including us) and 2 choruses (Pontiac-Waterford "Big Chief" chorus & Macomb). InVoice (SAI district 12 champs) finished out the show with a PHOENOMENAL set, doing some old favorites ("South Rampart Street Parade") and some new ones ("When I Fall In Love" with an AWESOME tag). We did well, starting with "When You Wish Upon a Star", a chorus song we've adopted. It has a tricky key change, but we handle it well. From there we went onto my arrangement of "Rainbow Connection" and ended with "Darkness on the Delta". Our strongest songs. We apparently recieved several compliments on "Wish Upon A Star" and suggestions that we take it to contest. We have our October prelims set pretty much decided, but you never know if we'll need a Saturday night set! Next Sunday we're singing at our bass's church, doing a few more religious tunes we've added just for the occasion.

Sunday, we gathered Liam up for his week at summer camp. He's been gone to the cottage with his grandparents for almost 2 weeks, and I already hardly recognize him. He came back for a couple days in between all tanned, sun bleached hair, and I swear 3 inches taller. Where the hell does the time go?! Most of the morning was spent frantically gathering everything for the week...last minute, of course. Trips to the store for odd-and-ends, doing laundry to ensure enough changes of clothes, hunting for sunscreen, choosing his comics for "quiet time", etc. We left about 1/2 hour later than planned, but figured we'd make it on time - until we hit Detroit.

The camp is just west of Saline, so we figured we'd take I-94. BAAAAAD idea! Every major freeway running through Detroit is either closed or reduced to 1 lane, so every major artery through Detroit was basically gridlocked. We ran around in circles on the surface streets of Detroit for an hour, trying to figure out how to get back on the freeway past the construction. Finally we headed through Corktown and caught north I-96. We at the camp about 1/2 late.

Liam was a bit upset he couldn't take his Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robot ring with him, but he managed to relent without much of a scene. No crying or worries about being away from family for the first time, no tearful goodbyes as he passes another milestone on the way to growing up. Just a stupid plastic toy. I'm proud he's not affraid to be away from family, confused why the ring was such a big deal, and a bit dissapointed at the same time that he didn't seem he'd miss us more...but mostly proud.

On the way there, we passed a HUGE field of sunflowers. It was absolutely spectacular. The kids were asleep in the backseat in the way up, but we made sure to stop and snap some pics on the way back home. Unfortunately, all I had on me was my cell phone, so they're not the best quality, but they turned out okay. You can check them out on my Flickr Page. Sonya's going to get a few pics with Liam when she picks him up on Friday.

Today, it's back to work. Tonight, though, I head with Val and her boyfriend to Toledo to see my first live drum corps show in probably 7 years. I'm kind of surprised how excited I am about it. I spent about an hour yesterday planning and gathering my wardrobe. After spelunking the dark recesses of my shed and attic through boxes like an archaeologist exploring the tombs of the Pharohs, I found my tattered corps jacket, a 1993 Velvet Knights t-shirt, and then prepped my mandatory Red Chucks. I just filled my MP3 player with a few choice selections for the drive down as well. Lots of late-80's & early 90's stuff. Ya know, the GOOD years (open for debate).

I've ranted here about my disilusionment with DCI a lot - and it still holds true. However, there's something to be said for the experience of going to a live show - the fans, the electricity in the air, and 60+ horns blowing your hair back with a huge final chord. Plus, seeing as local shows are such a rarity these days, I'm bound to see a ton of folks I probably haven't seen in decades (which is why I need the corps jacket and chucks - to be recognized). :)

So, while I'm a bit dissapointed in myself for bending my principles about supporting DCI in any fashion, when all is said & done, I'm still a drum corps addict. No matter how long you've been out of it (nearly 14 years now), how many other hobbies/obligations/addictions you find to distract you (barbershop harmony, work, family, comics), it's in your blood - calling you back like the salmon of Capistano. I fully expect to leave shaking my head is dismay about a few of the shows I'll see, but I also expect to fully enjoy the experience and even aspects of the corps that'll strike familiar chords (pun intended)....

Or it could be a rain-soaked disaster. We shall see...

Coming up next: D.C. Aye-Yie-Yie!