2015/03/23
"I have nothing to say, I'm saying it." --John Cage

No, that's not true. There's a bunch to say I just haven't found the time or the energy to really devote to my thoughts because ZOMGSCHANGE! And not bad change, mind you - just change. And that requires adjustment time.

Long story short: I've started teaching childrens' classes. First it was classes for ages 3 to 5. And now I'm adding on classes for infants to age 5! They're fun classes but the scheduling part of life has simply upended my sense of routine for the moment. That should calm down in a couple months as things settle down.

I've also started playing with the Austin Civic Orchestra. I auditioned before their Shostakovich 5 concert but, while they let me in, they didn't have room. #majorsadface It's a fun group and the caliber of musicianship is higher than any community orchestra I've played with in a while. I'm looking forward to further concerts!

*WHEW* It's slightly surreal to think back over my life course. And I hope to put thoughts to ASCII at some point.

2014/09/08
Well a few months ago Peter surprised me by buying me a clarinet. Since I can only put serious work into one (well, two at most) instruments at a time, I returned the violin. I miss it. But I think I can take the clarinet further. It's been an interesting process - have a teacher again and everything. Working a lot on tone and articulation. It's basics but VITAL basics!

Michael West's UH-DOR-A-BLE 5 year old son, Zephyr, got inspired by both my mohawk and a friend's drawing of my mohawk and did his own (see left). I think he NAILED it! So cute! ⇨ ⇨

2014/03/11
Whoops. Time got away from me again. Not a whole lot to report at the moment. I have been doing some website tweaks:

• Removed the google calendar plugin. Am now using my own code to process that bugger. (Sorry. It was UUUUUUGLEEEEEE) Update 2015/03/23: Google Calendar got all sorts of borked up. Removed. Update II 2015/03/23: fixed and re-added!
• Cut down the banner image. It was just too tall and functionless - now it's just a page element.
• Moved the "connect" icon row from the top of the page to the top of the navbar. (However it's not appearing right on Firefox and I cannot for the life of me figure out why...)
• Fixed the blog layout to match my site. THAT was a migraine and a half. (Though not as big a migraine as coding the calendar!)

Oh, and I started teaching myself violin. I started violin in 5th grade before switching to bass. I've picked it up from time to time since then but never with much dedication. With the hearing problems, this might become an outlet.

2012/10/28
I should probably mention that I live in Austin, TX now. Been here 3 months! Yeah, I'm so on top of that whole "updating" thing, ain't I...

2012/03/15
After years of work, a relocation from Nashville to Maryland, and even a child, Michael's second album is FINALLY done! W00T!!!

(In fact it's been so long that I don't honestly remember what all I did on the album... *blush*)

Also - I joined soundcloud.com. It's gonna replace what I used to use soundlick.com for: a staging ground for works in progress. While I love soundclick, they just haven't kept up with internet technologies. Soundcloud's widgets (like ReverbNation's) embed well and just allow me to share ideas easier.

So... sorry, soundlick. It's been good but... #itsnotyouitsme #noreally

2012/02/19
A minor update, really, but one I spent a completely inverse amount of time working on. The ReverbNation-powered player that loads there under "Check It Out" now disappears when you click "open in floating window". Yay!

I know I, myself, hate it when it takes extra long for the thing to load - especially if you switch pages and it needs to reload. So now, if you open it, it will stay collapsed on subsequent pages until you close the external player! W00T!

2012/02/07
After much of the usual blood, sweat, tears, whiskey, cigarettes, and beers, my dear pal Jason Kraley (AKA Still Inertia) FINALLY released his latest album Invested a couple months ago. I'm featured on several tracks as guitarist, vocalist, and - of all things - flautist! Go check it out at CDBaby and order your copy NOW!

Well it's not really *NEW* news... but since I never remember to update my website it may as well be. But the Philadelphia Museum of Art has used a couple of my tracks! One was in combination with their associate membership drive (sadly the video has been taken down since). The other was a video montage from their "Art After 5" series.

Oh... and clearly this version of the site is new! YAAAAAY!