Playing By Ear as a way of life
June 21st was the Japanese Cultural Fair here in Santa Cruz. We got together with Kevin to play a few Tsugaru pieces on stage. Here, Kevin kicked it off the set with a rousing Aiya Bushi. Complete with both major and minor versions!
After, Luke and I came up on stage to play the folk song Yasaburo Bushi while Kevin…got jiggy with it.
When somebody ever says, “I will leave the matter in your . . . capable hands.” You can bet for certain that they think you will screw up “the matter” and will immediately tattle to the boss afterwards in hopes of getting a promotion.
I always thought of myself as a saint…
—Luke [taken totally out of context but humorous all the same]
We don’t typically keep soda in the house—mainly because if we did, we’d always drink it! (And that would take the specialness out of it.) However, we keep a few bottles in the cellar (along with our Tequila reserves) for special occasions.
At a recent excursion to Costco, we found they had Coca Cola. Yeah, big duh. No, this was special. What made us look twice was the glass bottles. Upon closer inspection, we saw it said “Product of Mexico” and in the ingredients, there was sugar rather than corn syrup. We decided to pick up a box to see what the difference was. Here we witness Luke taking the first sip.
A few weeks ago was the Greek music, food and art festival at the Greek Orthodox Church. We used to go every year to get their delicious Loukamathes, otherwise known as honey puffs (or as we call them, Greek balls). … Continue reading ‘Loukamathes’
Last year in January, Masahiro Nitta came over from Japan. Since Nitta is a big fusion aficionado, Kevin Kmetz (The once-local shamisen player) brought him over to work out a few Bluegrass songs to play at the Cayuga Vault. Phyllis (Luke’s old girlfriend) Annie [what's with the Phyllis stuff? —Luke] joined in on the fiddle, bringing out a full ensemble.
On most sunny mornings, we all go to the beach to do Yoga, Tai Chi or Karate, a jump in the water and finally a cocoa/croissant (to get our Mayan/French Culinary Fusion fix) breakfast at The Wall* (on which the sun shines providing a warm surface for a toasty backside)
On most sunny mornings, we all go to the beach to do Yoga, Tai Chi or Karate, a jump in the water and finally a cocoa/croissant (to get our Mayan/French Culinary Fusion fix) breakfast at The Wall (on which the sun shines providing a warm surface for a toasty backside)
We’re shooting some instructional videos to put on our website. Here’s Kyle taking a stab at a video:
Brothers Kyle and Luke, and parents Leslie ("Mama") and Carl ("Papa"). This is our family blog.
This has been our main project for over seven years: helping folks to learn to play music.
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