Some Blues, and Catching Up....

I had quite the post-vacation crash last month, and haven't been keeping up with the blogging thing. So some quick notes just to catch up a bit... I'll have a couple of different posts here in rapid (but "correctly" reverse-chronological order) succession.

Most recently first, Buster and I put on the Blues suits (well, the concert-going version, no ties or hats!) this past weekend to see B.B. King again in Lowell, MA Saturday night. As many times as I've seen B.B. over the past 25 years these were about the best seats I think I've ever had, fourth row center, courtesy of early ticket sales through the B.B. King Fan Club. We had a great time. Buster wasn't sure he wanted to go again, he enjoyed seeing B last year in Springfield but three hours in a concert is still a lot for a ten-year-old. But he ended up going and enjoyed it much more than he'd expected.

A few other photos from the show are here.

The highlight was when Buster went up towards the stage to take a couple of pictures of B (that alas came out a bit blurry as they were without flash and we're still getting used to the new camera)... as he walked up B saw him, stopped playing for a moment and tossed Buster his guitar pick! The pick itself, a personalized BB pick, isn't that unusual as he tosses them out to the crowd by the handful after the show, but this one was personally tossed right to Buster and during the performance. very nice!

And also very nice: when deciding what to do with it Buster decided he would like it if I used the pick when playing my guitar... as long as we were both clear that it was still his pick! Ah, gotta love it! So yup, I'm using it now to practice.

What, you didn't know I played guitar? Well, saying I play guitar is at the least a gross exaggeration, but yeah, I've been trying to teach myself a bit and indeed, just two weeks ago I bought myself a "real" guitar instead of the $90 beginner's rig I've been messing around with. The new one was still under $200 but I'm mighty happy with it, a similar style to B.B's own "Lucille", though a much cheaper manufacturer of course... An Oscar Schmidt/Washburn OE30 "Delta King". But sounds and plays much better than my first one, a much cooler sound and of course doesn't hurt that it's pretty!

Lastly, though the pictures of the BB concert were pretty blurry, I did at least get a decent (if brief, about a minute) video clip from the show!