SWEET - The Station Agent

Oh, man, I loved this film. Poignant and funny, and the performances were amazing. Peter Dinklage was stunning in a subdued performance. Patricia Clarkson was wonderful, turning in a gritty, sad performance. Bobby Canavale was brilliant as Joe The Hot Dog Vendor. Cafe Con Leche, baby. I don't want to reveal too much of the story, because it's much better to just let it unfold, but basically it's about several lonely people who end up being drawn together. Wonderful film, and by a first time director, no less.

SWEET - The Incredibles

Went to see The Incredibles yesterday with the family. Pixar does it again. A little darker than their usual fare, but very enjoyable. Kinda cool to see them using midlife crisis as a theme for an animated film. Needless to say, the computer animation was stunning, and the script was excellent, providing just the right amount of laughs for this film. Toy Story and Finding Nemo were more upbeat, so demanded more hilarity, while this was a little bit darker story line. I highly recommend it.

SWEET - Analog Kid

Man, I love my iPod. It's been really cool hearing a lot of songs I haven't listened to in a long time. In my youth, there always seemed to be an abundance of time to play guitar and just listen to records. Yes, records - those big, vinyl discs with the incredible packaging. I really miss being able to study the album cover art up close in a large format, and having the lyrics available in one place, rather than having to thumb through a booklet.

One of the tunes I heard the other day was Analog Kid by Rush. It reminded me of being a kid, but it also made me think that I was, and still am, very much like the protagonist in the song: a hopeless romantic and dreamer. This may help explain why I am so restless and sad much of the time. As a child and teenager, although I was dealing with a lot in my life, I always seemed to be able to put the struggles aside and enjoy the simple beauty of nature, or be awestruck at some of humankind's achievements. I still have that spark, but there isn't enough time in my life to reflect on the things I see, hear, and feel like there was before the onset of adulthood.

I often feel like adulthood was thrust upon me long before I was ready, as I suspect it is for many. I graduated high school at seventeen, and although I couldn't wait to be done with high school, I wasn't ready for college, either. I had been accepted at Berklee College of Music in Boston, but my parents couldn't afford it and I didn't know at the time how easy student loans were to get. As a result, I ended up going to University of Lowell and flunking out after a semester. I didn't really want to be there, and I found a bunch of new musicians to jam with, so I spent most of my time doing that rather than studying. Bad idea.

After that debacle, I had to start working for a living, and that's when things started to go south. That's a story for another day. I guess the idea is that once you start to get locked into the working/spending model, you lose most most of your free time. Well, between that and girls, that is...

Anyway, here's a quote from the song that really seems to fit:


Too many hands on my time
Too many feelings
Too many things on my mind
When I leave I don't know what I'm hoping to find
And when I leave I don't know what I'm leaving behind

SWEET - Ibanez Daytripper

I picked up an Ibanez Daytripper this weekend. This is a "travel" guitar, sort of a scaled-down acoustic with a pickup and EQ built in. I haven't had a lot of time to practice lately, since I have a very long commute and my son's hockey season started recently. I take jazz lessons once a week, and if I don't practice, I don't get much out of it.

I bought the Daytripper so I could bring it to work and practice in the morning. I get in between 6:00 and 6:30 so I can beat the traffic, and this allows me a solid half hour to play before I knuckle down to work. Kinda nice, because I share an office and my office mate doesn't come in until later, and there aren't too many other people around at that time of the day. I just shut the door and go for it. Just in a few days of playing, I'm feeling better and getting a lot more from my lesson this week. I am working on "God Bless The Child" by Billie Holiday this week. What a lovely song.

My teacher, Jay Ford, is the owner of Music Maker School in Acton, MA. He is an amazing teacher, a great guy, and a fantastic player. I feel like such a dunce going in there, but he always gets me cheered up by getting back to basics and providing simple, thoughtful advice on how to get past any difficulty I encounter. He is truly the man.

The Daytripper is a nice little unit. It doesn't sound great unplugged, but it doesn't sound bad either. Plugged into and amp, it sounds pretty nice. The action is pretty good, could be just a touch lower, but I'm not complaining. The cutaway body affords a nice reach to the upper frets. I tried the Martin Backpacker and was surprised at how lousy it sounded, how difficult it was to play, and how neck-heavy it was. It looked awesome, though. The Ibanez I got has a killer electric blue woodgrain finish, so it even looks cool. I highly recommend it.