Today I went to the American Martial Arts Institute in Bear, Delaware and had my first lesson. I am the proud owner of a new black gi, and I’m motivated to really do this right. I feel pretty good, and nobody died.

Thanks to Al Katerinsky for being so inspiring at Confluence, and Keith DeCandido, for talking so positively about martial arts. ( Read more... )

Janis Ian with special guest Diana Jones
at World Café Live at The Queen, Wilmington, DE
24 April 2013

This was our second visit to WCF-the first was earlier this month to see my guitar teacher Chuck Kuzminski play as of The Company, performing Pink Floyd’s The Wall a few weeks ago.

Instead of just a few scattered tables, for this performance ( Read more... )

Saturday night we traveled down to Port Washington, New York to see Blue Oyster Cult perform their first all acoustic show ever. Wearing black shirts and blazers, they looked liked a jazz band, but they sounded like anything but.

The current lineup of Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, Richie Castellano, Jules Radino and Kasim Sulton were joined by ( Read more... )

If you’ve been following my guitar saga, I did end up ordering my dream guitar to replace my deceased [and ancient] folk guitar-an Ovation Celebrity CC059 acoustic-electric. It arrived Wednesday, spent a day getting checked out by Chuck (CKuz Guitars, my excellent local expert), and is an almost constant distraction from the work I should be doing.
( Read more... )

My folk guitar has died. Not the One True Death-the nut(?) at the top of the fretboard has broken badly enough to make playing it a truly frustrating experience. It has a few other minor issues, and I decided it was time to replace it. So this past Monday it went to my local guitar expert (Chuck), and I set him to the task of finding me a suitable ( Read more... )

Sunday found me getting up early (but not early enough--Mike was already gone!) and heading back to the Faerie Festival. We wanted to grab some Clam Chowder (the group not the soup!) before the PACE (Potomac Area Cat Enthusiasts) Club Meeting at 2pm. I stopped in Newark and picked up Mike at work (he wanted to get in some extra hours) and we headed ( Read more... )

Tonight. Ted Nugent. Magic City Music Hall in Johnson City. Very interesting ( Read more... )