Vacation Travels

In traveling to and from vacation, here are the albums that me and my son listened to:

The Wall

Moving Pictures

Quadrophenia

The White Album

Smile (recent BeachBoys one)

Pet Sounds

Abbey Road

Sgt Pepper 

OK Computer

Dark Side of the Moon

Station to station 

Living in the material world

More Blood More Tracks

Turn Turn Turn 

Another green world (Eno)

Future days (can) 

Maggot Brain

London calling

circle game (Tom Rush)

hemispheres (Rush)

Vacation, Day 9

Vacation, Day 9

A big guitar day. Recorded my two solos for the Final Concert for my guitar improvisation course. 

        Here is "Summertime":

https://youtu.be/PjUVNxeaOys

         Here is "Autumn Leaves":

https://youtu.be/j-E54nkF2xk

I'm pretty satisfied with both, though I do realize that there's a lot from the course that I can still learn from the parts of the course that I haven't used yet.

I like how these two turned out!

It felt great that a listener of my "Autumn Leaves" said it had  "... much from within."

Another person liked my "Summertime" and said it was like, I think, Wes Montgomery's second phase. I'm not sure what that means (maybe it means Montgomery's more commercial phase), but I'll take it!

Tempted to switch gears completely with piano, but there's so much more I can do with guitar: A course on how to play in the style of Charlie Christian, as stated earlier - the current course material, chord melody material I have, and reading music. 

Vacation, Day 8

Arrived home safely from vacation with the family. I'm still counting these days as my vacation because I do not return back to work until Tuesday.

I now have a gold badge in my guitar improvisation course as a result of performing a solo to "Blue Bossa" successfully using the elements that my instructor was looking for. During the long ride home from our vacation today, I practiced guitar while my wife drove. I reviewed the two songs that I'm hopefully recording tomorrow: "Summertime," and "Autumn Leaves." Tried learning a new lick, also.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully record my final assignment for the course. I'm planning on recording "Summertime" and "Autumn Leaves." More about that will be in a post here tomorrow....

Also during the ride home, I continued to read "Seymour: An Introduction" by J.D. Salinger. Really great stuff. Interesting to me how it ties in with the first part of the book: "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters." The book is renewing an old interest I used to have in poetry, and I may revisit that topic.

Vacation, Day 7

Our last day here. Planning on leaving for home early tomorrow morning. Started reading J.D. Salinger's "Seymour: An Introduction," and I like it. Yesterday, at a used bookstore, I also picked up an old favorite of mine "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. The cashier at the bookstore said that she met someone who had John Kennedy Toole as a teacher.

Vacation, Day 7

Rainy day. My guitar teacher asked me to redo my improvisation for "Blue Bossa." I'm not surprised because I knew I made an error in my original submission. Here is my redo (improvisation only; no melody):

https://youtu.be/sHtaUf-YqMo

Vacation, Day 6

Got my Fitbit steps in. Went to the pool with my oldest and youngest children, and it was fun. Yesterday I ate too much, but kind of made up for that today. 

Vacation, Day 5

Finished J.D. Salinger's "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters," and really liked it. Also made a recording on the beach:

https://youtu.be/URZMaApEKfc

Got to get back to practicing my two jazz tunes.

The kids on the beach:

Vacation, Day 5

Thought I wouldn't do it, but got in my 10,000 Fitbit steps. Really enjoying reading, "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters," by J.D. Salinger. Almost done reading it. 

Vacation, Day 4

The day is almost done. Ended up getting my "Fitbit" steps in when I didn't originally think it was going to happen today. Practiced "Autumn Leaves" for the concert submission. I liked my teacher's final video; he talked about jazzbeing a great way to communicate, and more communication is what the world needs. I'm an artist. Just got back from going on the beach with my son at night. We brought a couple of. chairs and sat for a awhile. Saw the moon, Saturn, and Jupiter. He took a picture and it's shown below. Might end the night with some reading. Goodnight

Vacation, Day 4

Woke up in the wee hours and had too many Oreo cookies. Shoulder really hurt during the night and earlier today. I think that happened because I picked up my youngest child yesterday; she ain't a baby anymore!

Getting ready for my final jazz guitar course submissions: "Summertime," and "Autumn Leaves." I'll be utilizing my friend on saxophone on these tunes. Looking to ustilize melody, comping, and improvising in the performances. Started working on some of this today. 

Had a long talk with my son as we took a long walk on the beach. He'll be attending his sophomore year of college in a few weeks. And he's writing a book! 

Vacation, Day 3

Peace & Love:

Fedora Man:

Son and his mom (my wife):

Vacation, Day 3

Started with a long morning walk, then the beach, some reading of the Salinger book, nap time, dinner, and getting ready for bed soon.

The surprise hit of the summer is that I'm enjoying listening to "The Doors" debut album. I did not like Jim Morrison's drift to self-destruction, but I respect and admire him for living as an artist in his songwriting, poetry, as well as his ability to live life on his own terms and rules.

I've lived a lot of my early life according to the terms and rules of significant others, including not having them angry or disappointed in me, so it's natural for me to admire the man. It still is difficult for me to be myself because I'm not sure who "myself" is after a lot of playing the role of peace maker and an affirmation seeker.

Vacation, Day 3

Vacation, Day 3

Morning walk:

Vacation, Day 2

A good guitar practice day, and a good vacation day.  Napped, had some beach time, napped, read, ate ok, exercised.

Practiced material to get ready for my last assignment of the guitar improvisation course. Enjoyed playing my inexpensive Fender acoustic. 

Reading and enjoying J.D. Salinger's "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters." He is definitely my favorite writer, and "The Catcher in the Rye" is definitely my favorite book. I relate to his characters.

My oldest and my youngest:

Vacation, Day 2

My wife and I went for a walk on the beach; I kept walking after she went back to our place.. Beautiful morning.

Vacation, Day 1