Music is Life

On Wednesday I was turned onto folk musician and duclimer player Claudia Schmidt, and I enjoyed viewing the YouTube videos of her performing. Of course I checked out her website, her wonderful and long history as a folk and jazz musician, and her long list of CD's to choose from. I had never heard of her before, and I was thrilled to find this dragon's treasure of folk/jazz goodness.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out her calendar. Sometimes you come across something really cool only to find the band or musician moved on a few years ago and has never been heard from again. Not so with Claudia! In fact, I saw that should would be playing locally on Thursday night! I immediately contacted my sister and invited her out to dinner and Claudia's show at the 318 Cafe in Excelsior. Talk about serendipity!!

We got there an hour before the show so we could get settled and get something to eat. The food was very good, with all kinds of yummy options on the small menu. I officially love Guac with tortilla chips, as an example. And they even had a couple of my favorite Surly Beers to choose from! I chose Bender for the evening, and it was definitely a good choice.

When Claudia got on stage in front of a crowd of about 50 of us, the mood in the room turned to joy. She really puts on a great show, and I've signed up for her update list. She mentioned that she has a new album coming out this Spring that she recorded with Sally Rogers, the first album they've done together in 22 years. I picked up their "While We Live" and I have yet to find time to listen to it. Maybe Saturday when I'm cleaning the house will be good.

Something fun to look forward to while doing drudge work anyway. It will be a good way to start the weekend, I think.

Dulcimer Jones

Dulcimer Jones, I've got a dulcimer Jones, I've got a dulcimer Jones oh Baby Oo-oo-oo!

It's true. I just dropped off my dulcimer to have the 1 1/2 fret added two hours ago, and I'm already missing it terribly. When I decided it was time to add that little option, I figured I would just use the cardboard dulcimer my friend gave to me. It's a backup! Yay! I wouldn't be completely without my dulcimer. The strings were ancient and nearly black, so a couple of weeks ago I got a new set. Melody and middle string went in without any trouble. This was my first time changing strings, and it was going very well indeed. Then, when I was tightening the bass string I was overconfident. I tightened it too much too fast and *SNAP* no more bass string. No problem, I said to myself, I'll just pick up a new bass string when I drop off my dulcimer for the addition of the fret.

So I left my dulcimer behind, confident in the knowledge that I would be able to play my back-up cardboard dulcimer tonight once I added that pesky bass string. It didn't go so well, in fact, the tiny flat head nail the loop end of the string goes in got pushed in so I can't get the loop on. Oh yes, I did try and pry it up with my fingernail, then a utility knife blade, even trying to grip it with the wire cutters, all with no success.

A two string dulcimer is not going to meet the needs of my heart, longing after it's dulcimer. Now I understand how people can have more than one dulcimer, and why I really would like to have a back-up one at this point as well. Hopefully I'll get the nail pulled and a new one put in it's place within the next couple of days. Until then, I'll be missing my sweet Mary Ann...big time.