crap, how long has it been?

I'm supposed to be updating this thing, aren't I? Whoops.

Sadly, there isn't much to report. I'm starting to get some phone calls, though, so it looks like word is circulating that I'm back in town. And I almost have a student or two, lacking only a place to teach them. I look forward to the opportunity to twist a few more young minds down the path of bitterness and cynicism, because I believe in preparing our nation's youth for the real world. Or I would, except that I hate children. If I get any particularly ambitious ones I can tell them all about how soul-crushing great it is to be destitute a freelance musician.

I see Cincinnati has joined the ranks of not declaring a winner. I don't know if this is a relatively new phenomenon or if it's always been this way, but these days I find myself more surprised when someone actually wins an audition. Maybe there's just something wrong with Ohio. Besides the fact that it's Ohio, I mean.

Some people get upset when this happens, presumably because they feel like they and everyone else has just wasted a lot of money for nothing. Some people view it as a positive thing, because it means they have another shot. I view the whole thing with detatched amusement. Is the audition process flawed and dysfunctional? Of course it is. Pretty much everything that involves musicians is dysfunctional in some way (if someone can show me an exception to this, please do). We, after all, are arteeeeeests, and we must suffer for our art or it totally doesn't count. Most of the suffering is self-inflicted, of course.

And so, in the spirit of inflicting suffering, I give you this.

Oh, Jack. Never change.

Clearly he is a man ahead of his time. Or far, far behind it. Regardless, his legacy will live on.

Now that everyone is several IQ points lower, I'll remedy it as best I can with some random awesomeness.

Yes it is a ukulele and it is brilliant.


EDIT: The first Saturday in November is National Drunken Writing Night. The rules are here (the post claims it's the 4th, but apparently it's supposed to be a Saturday, which is the 3rd).