\\ behind the bar

i'll jump right in (wasting no time on meandering
introductions or whimsical, romantic jargon)

today i started learning how to play the lap steel.
one of my secret, or not so secret, passions of the
past two years has been country and western music,
and more importantly.. the pedal steel. the lap steel
is played sitting down, much like the pedal steel.
instead of using levers to create other intervals,
one is limited to the chords layed out in an "open
tuning" (like Emajor or Am6C7)

i could have called that my summer passion if i
would have started it in the.. yknow, summer. i
guess that would make it my autumn passion. such a
beautiful, vocal instrument.

music has been a kind mistress, and has granted me
the freedom of being nearly unemployed recently. i
am playing close to 15 shows in the next month and a
bit, and i wouldn't have it any other way. i think
music keeps me grounded and safe from spending too
much time in front of this computer, or other
electronic medias.

julia wakal has come and gone, if you missed her
appearance in victoria it was quite a performance,
she usually tours this area of canada
around july. oh man, i hope i can see her again.

ak