piano farewell

This really hit home – a CBC story about what to do with old pianos. Last year we gave away my late mum's prized possession. The instrument was one of few luxuries she allowed herself. She played, and my brother and I took lessons. My elderly parents left it behind when they downsized. We bought an electric and my mother’s sat unused. When it was time to move, taking it to our new house was out of the question, so we put it online for free. Even at zero dollars, it wasn’t an easy sell. After a lot of messages and phone calls a guy took it for his mother-in-law to play religious songs. As he left, he handed me some fundamentalist nonsense which I was happy to take because he took the piano. There's no lesson here really. There will still be a market for high end pianos in concert halls and such but, when it comes to people's living rooms, technology rules. By the way, I checked today. There are about two dozen free pianos listed on Facebook Marketplace in my hometown of Calgary.

dan hicks & his hot licks

The late Howard Hesseman wasn’t a radio deejay, but he played one on TV – on 70s-80s sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Turns out Dr. Johnny Fever had quite a record collection in real life. It’s for sale on ebay. While scrolling through I noticed he and I have similar taste which brings me to Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks. Hesseman’s estate is selling Where’s the Money, a Hicks album I recently rediscovered that perfectly captures the band’s oddball jump rhythm energy, with signature vocals from the Lickettes. I first encountered their peculiar mish mash of jazz, cowboy folk, swing, infused with oddball comedy, when I was a teen. How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away is a favourite. Hicks broke up the band just as they gained some success. He died in 2016 and their music has faded into obscurity. Too bad. You can stream them on Spotify. You can also find their LPs and CDs cheap at your local record shop. .       

truth and reconciliation and music

When it comes to truth and reconciliation, you can help Indigenous youth at-risk through ArtsCan Circle. Its a great way to support music education for kids. My connection to ArtsCan is through my friend Mike Stevens. He inspired its creation. Mike is the best harmonica player in the world – specialty is bluegrass and blues. He lives in Sarnia, Ontario but it all started when he visited Gander NF 20 years ago, on his way to perform in Europe. He was introduced to some kids who were sniffing gasoline. He played music for them, gave them harmonicas, and vowed to return to give them music lessons. He did, and it resulted two decades of music education for thousands of kids in dozens of Indigenous communities across North America. Mike tells the story in a TedX talk. There’s also a film documentary A Walk in My Dream. You can donate money here or musical instruments here.

flying v guitar prep

Flying V guitar session No. 4. My kit is closer to being a guitar. Kevin, of New Vintage Custom Guitars, said the next step is to mock-up the guitar to make sure everything fits. Before that, the new pickguard needed to be cut. That was all Kev. He’s highly skilled around band and scroll saws. He traced it and expertly cut it out, plus other bits, from the tortoise shell material. It’s multi-ply plastic. No tortoise was harmed. We then mounted most of the parts and drilled holes where the strings will pass through the body. It all fits together. Perfect. It almost looks like the guitar it’s going to be, except for the colour. After a couple of weeks off, the painting will begin.  

my aussie tenor

I have never been to Jupiter Creek, Australia, but I own the guitar, a tenor guitar. I bought it about 10 years ago on Ebay. One of the attractions was the large Australian penny embedded in the body. I’ve always been intrigued by tenors – four strings, sometimes tuned like the high four of a six-string but there are many tunings. Vintage ones are expensive and rare, like the Gibson played by Neko Case. The one I bought was relatively cheap. I recently had it cleaned and set up. It plays like a charm. I finally learned its origin story. It was handmade by Rob Dick which makes me love it even more. If memory serves, the seller said it was the first tenor Rob made. I wish I could ask him.