My Three Cents Worth

Last one graduated. What a milestone. Pictures HERE.

Once again I am involved with the cast recording of a Jon R. O’Brien’s original play. This year it is Pendragon being presented by Branch River Theatre.

This is a very talented cast, every one of whom has put in long hours and suffered through various maladies to get this production on stage. Jon will be the first to admit his songs are not the easiest in the world to learn and memorize and they cast, and the band has done a fantastic job.

Wednesday we all got together at the theater in Marlborough and recorded the songs, mostly in one take. Everyone was professional and took direction really well.  It was a simple recording done primarily through one channel; having to record 15 songs in one night would have been a logistical nightmare if done in a more complex way. Dave Teubner of Keene Online also did a recording at the same time.  Between the two of us, we should have something that is serviceable.

At every recording there is one song that gets to me. In Merlin it was Cindy Linnell singing All of My Days .

This year it was Rochelle Gandour singing Verily Verily.  It is very much from the heart. I let Rochelle listen to her track during a break. I eyes flew open wide and she said “I sound like that?? That is not the voice I hear in my head!!”

I don’t know what she is listening to, but her voice sounded great to the rest of us who are not in her head.

To the Cast:  more songs are coming. It takes almost an hour to master one song, so patience is a virtue.  Besides, I am of the school that we are most critical of ourselves when listening to recordings of our voice or playing, so I don’t want to prejudice any of you before the show is over. Trust me, you will ultimately be happy with what you have accomplished.

Rochelle, on the other hand, will just have to deal! I think the song came out nicely. Listen to it HERE.

Kaeleigh had her final prom this past Saturday. She looked beautiful and she and Joe made a handsome couple.  I don’t know how much more of this little-girl-growing-up stuff I can take…

ConVal Prom 2009

Kaeleigh turned me on to this song, from the movie Once, called Falling Slowly . I concocted it using my Kurzweil , my MR 8 recorder and Dawn’s Xmas gift, the harmonizer to add unison voice. I am just getting over a bit of a cold so I am not thrilled with the vocals, but it did allow me to get down to a low Cat Stevens baritone. A better version is coming soon.

Falling Slowly

Greatest American Former-Idol and Greatest American Hero

High school classmate Jeff and Dirty Road-houser, Patrick

(click on the photos to make them bigger)

Ski being interviewed on WCAP.  Nice shut out to Dawn and and me! HERE

Kaeleigh got her wheels.

I was driving through Madbury and passed and old-time garage and saw that he had a bunch of cars for sale in my price range.  I saw this little Dodge Neon Expresso parked there with an attractive sticker price. I took it for a ride and negotiated the sale with Tim, the garage owner. The final price ended up including a new water pump, thermostat and timing belt, as well as rear brakes and an inspection sticker.

The car reminded me of Ben’s first new car, spoiler and all. But, of course, you don’t get something for nothing.  The car has power-NOTHING; it is old school.  The radio sounds like those old transistors with a 9-volt battery that really only picked up AM stations. The headlight lenses are faded out and need refurbishment or replacement. The old engine will probably burn some oil, but I will take great pleasure in knowing that Kaeleigh will have to get under the hood every now and again to check the oil: eeeeyyyyyeewwwwwwww!

Most interesting, though, is the fact that the car was previously owned by a fry cook at Newicks Seafood Restaurant in Dover, NH. The cloth seats have taken on the aroma of its former owner. Thank God for Febreze and those little Yankee Candle car scent hangers. Maybe they have a Tartar Sauce scented candle.

Other than that, the car is perfect! Kaeleigh said it just hit her last night that she no longer has to coordinate with her mother for the car, and she can come and go as she pleases. And in our trip from Madbury to Antrim it appears we got 45 mpg. Can’t beat that!

Taking a break from spying in Center Barnstead the other day, Waltzing Matilda got out at the local elementary school and climbed a snowbank just to get this ironic photo.

I thought it was interesting that the dog on the sign looked like an Australian Terror; wonder if they were expecting her.

Another week of “Lasts” for Kaeleigh, her mother and me.  Add her brothers to that list, too; they attended the events.

First was her final Pops Concert at ConVal High School.  It was well done and enjoyable.  They were under the gun to get all their rehearsals in after their Christmas Concert was delayed due to the ice storms.

We had an excellent table right up front, and then the inevitable happened: the largest boy in the school plays bass guitar and has the largest music stand, he he was set up right in front of Kaeleigh.  I had to move around several times just to get pictures.

Saturday was her final cheer leading competition in Manchester.  All of us who watched thought they were terrific, though the girls themselves thought they did terribly. In they end, they ended up with third place in a very competitive division.

They photos can be viewed HERE.  The You Tube of the competition is HERE.