Jim had a gig on Saturday. He played with Dave Hockett's band at a posh party up in the hills near Temecula. He said it went really well and the house they played at was huge and awesome.
Lindsay and I went to Naked Trucker. We drove down early and met up with Kyle and Arica and had dinner. Chris came later. Again, a fun show. Jill Sobule was a special guest. I enjoyed her a lot. Her songs were intelligently written and she rocked on guitar.
After the show we went to House Of Pie. Gruber (the trucker) and Andy Paley (composer who wrote the Moobeard music and a bunch of other stuff) showed up later with two girls that I had met earlier. We had a fun time with them. Gruber picked up the tab for everyone. Nice. I was hoping I'd be able to talk to Gruber and Andy about the TV's Kyle show but it wasn't the right scene. I'd like to get their input on doing live shows around L.A. Another time. I got home around 4am.
Sunday we practiced the Kyle stuff at Ken's. It was a good rehearsal, very productive. Then Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and I drove to Claremont for open mike. This one wasn't nearly as good as last month. Most of the performers were snoozers. We screwed up a bit. Jim and I flubbed a few times and at one point Kyle forgot the words to the song. This time Kyle didn't play accordion and I played dumbek instead of the uke. That left Jim to carry the song on keyboard. We sounded kinda puny. So, it wasn't the big bang we gave them last time but it was a good learning experience. Next time, more instruments and more practice. They're letting people take 7 minutes to perform now so next time we're going to do 2 songs.
This afternoon I worked on cleaning out the big trailer we now have parked behind the house. It's a 40 foot container van that we're going to use for storage. Dad came out just as I was finishing up for the day. He saw the oil that had been spilled on the ground by out back gate. He said, "Hey, don't let anyone do that again. That's bad!" AAARRGH! I've been bitching about Timio's oil spills for 2 years now and his attitude was always hey, no big deal. Then he'd tell me about how much Timio has done for him. Well, now Timio has moved out and left a ton of crap and numerous oil spills AND a litter of kittens in the barn! Dad said, "Next time you see him here follow him home so we'll know where he lives." Yeah, right.
I'm going for a walk.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Monday, April 17, 2006
New Post!
I seem to be blogging after the weekends lately.
Happy Easter, everybody! On Saturday we had the boys over for dinner and egg dyeing. I left them to it and went out to the studio to work on mosaics. I'm kinda into that right now. I just finished covering a couple styrofoam balls with broken bits of ceramic. They look pretty cool. These are practice pieces. I want to do a table next.
Late Saturday night I played Easter bunny and hid the eggs and put baskets together. Now, earlier I was enjoying a mellow evening doing my little art thing and sipping tequila. But it wasn't THAT much tequila. I hid 21 eggs but they could only find 15 of them. I'm thinking probably some critter got 'em. But I couldn't remember all the hiding spots so we'll never know for sure.
I gave Rory his Easter basket when he went home. Kyle spent the night. It was a little strange setting out 3 Easter baskets on the mantle. It was the first time ever that we had an extra kid (?) for the egg hunt. Yes, we still do egg hunts. I'll be hiding eggs when I'm 80 years old and pushing a walker. This year our egg hunters were ages 15, 21 and 26 (almost 27)!
Sunday afternoon we worked on some more Kyle songs. It's always a pleasure working on these silly, fun songs. Kyle said he talked to some friends in L.A. who might interested in having us open for their band. Cool!
Timio's been moving his stuff out. The back alley is almost clear. We're still waiting to see what he does with the barn yard. I'm betting he'll take his tools and working equipment and leave us with all the crap. At this point I don't care. I'm just happy to see them go. We're working on a new land deal (The first one fell through. No surprise there.) so being able to get back there and clean is a good thing. We can toss with reckless abandon.
And now I'm going to grout a ball.
Happy Easter, everybody! On Saturday we had the boys over for dinner and egg dyeing. I left them to it and went out to the studio to work on mosaics. I'm kinda into that right now. I just finished covering a couple styrofoam balls with broken bits of ceramic. They look pretty cool. These are practice pieces. I want to do a table next.
Late Saturday night I played Easter bunny and hid the eggs and put baskets together. Now, earlier I was enjoying a mellow evening doing my little art thing and sipping tequila. But it wasn't THAT much tequila. I hid 21 eggs but they could only find 15 of them. I'm thinking probably some critter got 'em. But I couldn't remember all the hiding spots so we'll never know for sure.
I gave Rory his Easter basket when he went home. Kyle spent the night. It was a little strange setting out 3 Easter baskets on the mantle. It was the first time ever that we had an extra kid (?) for the egg hunt. Yes, we still do egg hunts. I'll be hiding eggs when I'm 80 years old and pushing a walker. This year our egg hunters were ages 15, 21 and 26 (almost 27)!
Sunday afternoon we worked on some more Kyle songs. It's always a pleasure working on these silly, fun songs. Kyle said he talked to some friends in L.A. who might interested in having us open for their band. Cool!
Timio's been moving his stuff out. The back alley is almost clear. We're still waiting to see what he does with the barn yard. I'm betting he'll take his tools and working equipment and leave us with all the crap. At this point I don't care. I'm just happy to see them go. We're working on a new land deal (The first one fell through. No surprise there.) so being able to get back there and clean is a good thing. We can toss with reckless abandon.
And now I'm going to grout a ball.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Recovering on Monday
Whew! What a weekend!
Saturday we were supposed to ride the bus to go to Paige's last drumline show. When we got to Ramona there were a lot of parents there who decided to go along on the bus. That worked out well for us because we really needed the day to work around here and get ready for Lindsay's birthday party. We decided we'd go to the show (it was in Rancho Cucamonga) and then come home and work on the house. Turns out the bus never showed up but there were enough parents there to take the kids to the competition.
Jim, Lindsay and I got there just before Ramona went on. I was glad Lindsay got to see the show. The kids did really well. They had added some more movements to their choreography which made their routine much more interesting. They came in 3rd.
Friday and Saturday we spent most of our time cleaning and working on party food. I was so wiped out. That was a lot of work! Sunday morning we hit the ground running. More cooking, more cleaning. We piled everything into the truck and the van and took it over to Ken's. I ended up having to make another trip to the store and to home but mostly we had everything together. But I can't help getting totally scattered. Too tired, brain no work.
The kids actually showed up early (!). No time to decorate. Sherri had some leis that we hung up around the yard. Instant festiveness. Ken and Sherri had taken Jessica out to brunch (it was her birthday, too) and showed up just before the guests
arrived. John and Joe came a little later. After a while we all went into the studio and played the 4 Kyle songs that we practiced. The crowd went wild.
We barbecued mass quantities. I got way too much food. We had ribs, chicken, killer beans, salad, artichoke dip with bread, chips, salsa and fruit. Carrot cake, chocolate cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Brought most of it home. It's ok, I love leftover party food. After dinner we played the songs again. Then we threw everything into the cars and brought it all home and continued the party here. Pinata time!
Jeez! I think Lindsay and Kyle bought a kevlar pinata. It weighed a ton, totally stuffed full. I thought it would break under its own weight. After beating it with a wimpy plastic wiffle bat we switched to a wooden one and finally got it bashed to bits. Way too much candy.
The kids stayed until 11:30. Everyone had a great time. Lindsay has a good group of friends and I enjoyed being with them. Today I didn't do ANYTHING. Well, I did go up Mt. Rubidoux. I HAD to after eating all those bad carbs yesterday (yes, I fell off the wagon). Tomorrow, back to normal.
Ha!
Saturday we were supposed to ride the bus to go to Paige's last drumline show. When we got to Ramona there were a lot of parents there who decided to go along on the bus. That worked out well for us because we really needed the day to work around here and get ready for Lindsay's birthday party. We decided we'd go to the show (it was in Rancho Cucamonga) and then come home and work on the house. Turns out the bus never showed up but there were enough parents there to take the kids to the competition.
Jim, Lindsay and I got there just before Ramona went on. I was glad Lindsay got to see the show. The kids did really well. They had added some more movements to their choreography which made their routine much more interesting. They came in 3rd.
Friday and Saturday we spent most of our time cleaning and working on party food. I was so wiped out. That was a lot of work! Sunday morning we hit the ground running. More cooking, more cleaning. We piled everything into the truck and the van and took it over to Ken's. I ended up having to make another trip to the store and to home but mostly we had everything together. But I can't help getting totally scattered. Too tired, brain no work.
The kids actually showed up early (!). No time to decorate. Sherri had some leis that we hung up around the yard. Instant festiveness. Ken and Sherri had taken Jessica out to brunch (it was her birthday, too) and showed up just before the guests
arrived. John and Joe came a little later. After a while we all went into the studio and played the 4 Kyle songs that we practiced. The crowd went wild.
We barbecued mass quantities. I got way too much food. We had ribs, chicken, killer beans, salad, artichoke dip with bread, chips, salsa and fruit. Carrot cake, chocolate cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Brought most of it home. It's ok, I love leftover party food. After dinner we played the songs again. Then we threw everything into the cars and brought it all home and continued the party here. Pinata time!
Jeez! I think Lindsay and Kyle bought a kevlar pinata. It weighed a ton, totally stuffed full. I thought it would break under its own weight. After beating it with a wimpy plastic wiffle bat we switched to a wooden one and finally got it bashed to bits. Way too much candy.
The kids stayed until 11:30. Everyone had a great time. Lindsay has a good group of friends and I enjoyed being with them. Today I didn't do ANYTHING. Well, I did go up Mt. Rubidoux. I HAD to after eating all those bad carbs yesterday (yes, I fell off the wagon). Tomorrow, back to normal.
Ha!
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The weekends
It's getting to be a regular thing here. Rory and Kyle come over, I'll make a big dinner and we'll do some pleasant hanging out. Watch a movie, play music, draw, whatever. Kyle spends a night or two. I'm enjoying these weekends with the boys here.
We had some good rehearsals this weekend. On Saturday Jim and I went over some songs with Kyle. On Sunday we practiced for the first time with the rest of the band at Ken's. It was great!!!! The songs came together fast. We're going to play them at Lindsay's birthday party next weekend. We're doing Why Not?, Lindsay Is Totally Centered, Arica, and Beaverduck.
I'm encouraged. This weekend made me feel like we really could get this thing off the ground. We's makin' a show!
We had some good rehearsals this weekend. On Saturday Jim and I went over some songs with Kyle. On Sunday we practiced for the first time with the rest of the band at Ken's. It was great!!!! The songs came together fast. We're going to play them at Lindsay's birthday party next weekend. We're doing Why Not?, Lindsay Is Totally Centered, Arica, and Beaverduck.
I'm encouraged. This weekend made me feel like we really could get this thing off the ground. We's makin' a show!
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