Tag Archive: guitar


DSA Booth at Arlington Guitar Show (re-post)

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November 2, 2015

[Re-posted from DSA blog]
Bobby Montgomery at DSA BoothThe second special event of October was the DSA booth at the Arlington Guitar Show on Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, the 18th. Bobby Montgomery set up the table on Saturday – and worked all day both days, God bless him! I joined him shortly thereafter – after waiting in line to park. I helped with the booth until about 12:30.

I was watching the booth when Bobby stepped out for a bit. I looked at my phone and saw a notification from Facebook. It was one of those “what you were doing last year” posts that Facebook does, with a picture from a year ago. It was the picture I took of Bobby behind the booth last year at the guitar show. It looked similar to the picture above, but I think the table looked better this year.

After a couple of hours I had to leave in order to host the DSA Showcase at the Farmers Branch Manske Library. I don’t know if any volunteers showed up to help Bobby after I left. I didn’t have a chance to browse the booths before I left. I did do one thing, but that is a different post.

On Sunday, Bobby and I opened the booth again with a little help from my son, Cameron. Then I had the chance to wander around and drool at the guitars, amps, and accessories. Among the wandering and drooling, I stopped at the Guitars for Vets booth. I met George Jordan, head of the Dallas Chapter.

George told me how the program worked. They give each vet ten guitar lessons. If the vet completes all ten lessons and shows interest, they give him a guitar. When I told him I was with the Dallas Songwriters, he got excited. They were trying to come up with something, after giving the vet the guitar, to keep the interest and effectiveness going.

I told him the DSA would be happy to support them in any way we could. We have worked with many veterans over the years. If music and playing guitar can help them maintain, then surely songwriting would help. Without a doubt, they have stories to tell. For several years, Dallas Songwriters distributed a cd entitled Songs from the Soul of Service: A Collection of Songs written by U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. Surely telling those stories through song – or even spoken word over guitar – would be comforting in nature. I will be contacting George soon. Stay tuned for future development.

Dickey Johnson and Michael Brandenberger arrived at the booth before I left in time to get Cameron back home to go to work. We talked to quite a few people at the booth over the two days. We have two pages of names and emails to enter into the mailing list and into a drawing for a chance to win a free year’s membership. If you are on that list, you should receive an email from me before too long.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

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The Hammond Organ

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September 30, 2015

Hammond Organ

Cyndy and I went over to my Aunt Marie’s house a couple of weeks ago to help Dad take care of her possessions. Dad told us that anything we wanted for sentimental reasons and were going to keep, we could have. There was nothing I could think of that I actually wanted. I knew there were a few types of things I would like to keep just because they were hers. But I knew I would “know it when I see it.”

After my father first told me we were going to have to move Marie to an assisted living facility, I began thinking about the past – see previous post. When I was in junior high (not middle school – just saying) and high school, we would alternate between our house, Marie and Pick’s, or Jack and Juanita’s. When we were at Marie and Pick’s, it wasn’t long before I would start messing with her organ. She would come over and sit by me and help me play something that didn’t sound like zoo animals on the warpath.

But I thought the organ was really cool. The adults would be having a conversation that I was not invited to join. I would just sit at the organ and move the slides around and step on the pedals like I knew what I was doing. When Marie had the chance, she would slide onto the bench beside me and teach me a little something about playing the organ – before having to return to hostess duties.

Cyndy and I arrived at Marie’s where Dad was working to clear things out. We walked around the house. Some of the kitchen stuff we wanted. I spent time putting aside things we can sell online and make money for ourselves and the estate. Marie had so much that it was a little overwhelming.

I walked into another room and was rendered speechless. Against the wall was Marie’s Hammond organ.

“I’ll be damned,” I said out loud to myself, “she still has it.”

The organ is now in our living room. It needs a serious “tune-up,” as it were. I look forward to being able to play the organ (a little). Until then, I look forward to seeing her and playing my songs for her again – even though she may not recognize me.

Peace be with you.

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Flying to LA for ASCAP Conference

Filed under: Communications, Current events, Family, Music, Songwriting, writing — Leave a comment
May 7, 2015

Loews Hollywood Hotel

I had the pleasure of attending the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) conference in LA last week at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. Things are just now getting back to normal enough that I can post about the trip and the conference. Our middle son, Cameron, went with me. The conference began on Wednesday evening with badge pick-up and opening networking reception. Cameron and I flew out on American Airlines from DFW Tuesday morning so I could show him a few things and see some sights.

We were all in our seats and ready to go at the departure time of 9:05. I was enjoying the fact that I had walked my guitar on without any problem and it was safely resting in the overhead bin. The plane had been started. We’re all thinking “here we go” and getting ready, when the pilot comes on the speakers.

“ Ladies and gentlemen, we have some liquid on the side of the plane. It’s probably just fluid that leaked when it was filled up, but we called the mechanics and they’re here to check on it so hopefully we’ll be taking off shortly.”

After a very pregnant pause, he came back on to tell us we would be changing planes. After we had all left the plane, we were sent to another gate. After we got there – some of us anyway – it was not long before they found us another plane. However, this was a considerably smaller plane. Cameron and I thought that some people would not be able to get on the plane, but there were empty seats on the plane when we took off. Some people, I’m sure, made other arrangements if they had connecting flights in LA.

The flight left without any further delays or problems. When we arrived in LA, we were just about to come in on the runway when the pilot suddenly jerked the nose up and hit the gas. We shot up and then headed out over the ocean. It wasn’t my first flight there so I was pretty sure I knew what he was doing.

Then he made a hard banking left. People were beginning to wonder if he was going to take us into the water. But he finally got turned around and told us that the air traffic controllers had switched runways on us at the last minute and we were circling around to try to land again. Which we actually did, thank God. We arrived at LAX almost exactly two hours late.

Cameron and I had a reservation for our GO Shuttle two hours earlier, so it didn’t take long to get on a shuttle. After the obligatory run back around through the airport to check for more passengers, we were on our way to the hotel. We checked in at the hotel and put our stuff in the room. Then we went to get something to eat before I played at Pig ‘n’ Whistle on Hollywood Blvd….

Peace be with you.

 

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The Pissed Off Goose Imitating Johnny Mathis

Filed under: Current events, Family, Music, Songwriting, Stuttering, writing — Leave a comment
December 19, 2014

Dan at Angelas 12-15-'14 I played Monday night at Angela’s at the Crosswalk in downtown Plano. I had a cold for several days previous. But I felt fairly well – although not completely. While my sons, Cameron and J.D., and I were driving to Angela’s, I developed a tickle in my throat. Which is not all that uncommon. Especially if one is playing and singing all the time during the constantly changing weather of a Texas winter.

Which is when I usually get a cold – when the weather changes. Some people think I mean literally every time the weather changes. But that is not what I – or people like me – mean. We mean certain times when the weather changes. In my case, I mean when the weather changes like it has recently – hot then cold, warm then cold, hot then cold. If the temperature had gotten down to freezing or lower, I would have been screwed.

As it was, I thought I was getting off kind of easy this year – while knocking on wood and crossing my fingers. I was drinking plenty of water before my time to play and took my water with me when my time came. Unfortunately the stage area is just inside the front door and the front of the restaurant is all glass. There was a draft with people walking in and out the door.

The crowd was rather loud, so I was singing and playing louder trying to hear myself. The situation made me sweat, as the cold and the tickle were on my mind as well. But, except for the tickle, I felt fine. When we got home, the tickle faded a bit. I didn’t feel too bad when I went to bed.

When I woke up, my nose was stopped up, my mouth was dry and I had a “jaw ache.” I took some head medicine and went to church to take pictures of the troops coming to pick up the toys we had collected for soldiers’ children. If I talked too much, I sounded like a pissed off goose. So naturally, I kept on talking . All three boys still live at home, so not talking is seldom an option.

As the afternoon turned into evening, I began to sound like a pissed off goose trying to imitate Johnny Mathis. I don’t stutter as much as I used to. But I still don’t appreciate jokes about it. Yet that doesn’t mean I cannot see the humor if it is by me at myself. And sounding like a pissed off goose that is imitating Johnny Mathis and stutters – even I have to think that is vaguely humorous.

Which is why I do not try Dragon software with which the computer follows your vocal commands. I cannot imagine what it would look like if I stuttered. I have tried to imagine, but I really don’t want to know. It would pain me to think that all these years of public speaking and mental adjustment was all for anything close to naught. I usually don’t have a problem when I have a guitar in my hand, but carrying a guitar around and whipping it out when I talk would be more than a little awkward. While waiting around in a fast food place, it would really suck.

But I seriously digress. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I did writing it – not as much as I did living it, which was minimal. However, I would like to say that when I played my set, I did really well. Then things went south. So, looking back on it now, I leave you with these words of wisdom.

If we cannot find humor in ourselves, we are not looking hard enough. And try to stay away from drafts.

Peace be with you.

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Sweet Misery and Dealing with Mistakes

Filed under: Music, writing — Leave a comment
April 14, 2014

Dan and Dirk Cyndy and I were in the folk club when we were in high school. It was where we first became friends, actually. As you would imagine, we played folk music, usually some of the most popular songs at the time. We would play at malls during the holidays and perform in an assembly for the entire school. We also held “coffee house” shows a couple of times a year. They were shows in one of the portable buildings in the evening so parents could attend.

The pictures are from my senior annual and is from one of the coffee houses. I am on the left and Dirk Hardy is on the right. The stage was a riser from the gym or the auditorium. When I thought about writing this post, I knew about the picture of me, but I didn’t remember that Dirk’s picture was next to mine. And this post is as much about him as it is me.

The song I was playing when the picture was taken was Okie from Muskogee, with a couple of alternate phrasings thrown in. The guitar was the one I bought with the insurance after our house burned. I may still have the shirt in a box somewhere. I know I wore it several years after Cyndy and I were married in ‘92.

When Dirk got up to do his song, he sat on the stool you can see to the right of him. He settled in the stool and leaned toward the mic. He started to talk, but, unfortunately, the back legs of the stool slipped off the back of the riser. The stool, Dirk, and his guitar fell off the stage – pretty much in that order.

Dirk was holding his guitar up above him until he figured out how to get up without scratching his guitar. When he got back up on the riser, he opted for standing up. The song he played was Sweet Misery. It happened so perfectly it seemed almost staged – even to me and I was in the show. But I knew Dirk wouldn’t take a chance on scratching his guitar on purpose.

I’ve never forgotten that incident – it is actually the only thing I remember about the evening. Except, of course, for the song I played. But the shows we did with the folk club taught me a few things about live shows.

When you are playing a live show, you have to see it as an adventure. “It’s all part of the show.” And you have to treat it that way. “Go with the flow,” as we used to say. There are always forgotten lyrics, missed licks, and stumbles. But if you act like it was part of the show, few people will remember.

While I said that the shows taught me a few things, I did not say they all sunk in at the time. I played shows for several years in which I would screw up a verse of a song and actually apologize to the audience when the song was over. Fortunately, I didn’t screw up too much, but I kept apologizing, until it finally dawned on me that the audience probably had no idea that I made a mistake.

If you don’t act like you screwed up a song, chances are the audience will never know it. Particularly if they have never heard the song. If they have heard the song, they’ll just think it’s your current spin on it.

Peace be with you.

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