Hardware store snow globe

I tuned today at the Sierra II Center, where I used to do Gilbert & Sullivan shows. Much has changed. They have remodeled a lot of the building (including beautiful new rest rooms) and removed the pay phone (above). 

The mission style elevator at the Sutter Club, where I played last night... for a bunch of rich white people. 

I added more dinosaurs to the tableau on top of the register at Espresso Metro. 

I got these sweets from a Persian customer. They are packed in flour. 

My first ding on my Prius: I scraped the cheesy plastic hubcap on the curb. 

I finally went to Wishing Well and got some plastic dinosaurs. Tomorrow: add them to the cash register at Espresso Metro. 

Persian appetizers at my customer's house. 

I played this piano with Ron at the airport again today. No one we knew showed up. 

While I was tuning Mike McMullen's piano, he served me tea — the real deal, hand-carried back from Ireland, served in Irish crockery. 

 
Brady couldn't get all the members of her band Parlor Jam in the same room for a photo so she hired me to make this composite drawing. 

That is not cinéma vérité

This customer (name withheld) has the greatest signature I've ever seen. 

John Skinner at Christmas tree lighting

I played with John Skinner at the lighting of the Christmas tree next to the Hard Rock Cafe. The a capella group the EdLos also performed; Mayor Fargo arrived to flip the switch on the tree. We all dressed warmly but it wasn't that cold.

This wine has a very Monty Python-ish label. 

For Thanksgiving, Jennifer made the best pot roast ever. (Rachel doesn't like turkey.) 

This is a picture of Rachel from her trip to Europe this summer.

Today the gym was closed so I decided my exercise would be to ride Jennifer's bicycle to the coffeehouse. No one has ridden that bike for at least six months!

Smells like sixth grade

One of my customers has this mask made with real peacock feathers. 

I was playing in the lobby of Terminal A at the Sacramento International Airport when Rachel came in! So we had a one-of-a-kind reunion. Jennifer was there to drive her home.
I was playing with Ron Davis who played trombone, trumpet, and saxaphone. Near the end a guy came by with his trumpet and played with us, beautifully, he turned out to be Skip Martin, who has played with Kool and the Gang for many year. I reminded him that I played a job with him 18 years ago! 

Connie Mockenhaupt

I tuned at the Stage Nine store in Folsom. They sell show biz collectibles including signed photos. They also have a stage in the back where they are performing Call Me on a Sunday. I told the owner (Connie, above) that I saw one of my first professional musicals in a storefront theater like this one — Jacques Brel, at the Painted Bride in Philadelphia.
“No kidding!” she said, “We're going to be doing Jacques Brel!”
Her story is interesting. She played bassoon professionally (including the Sacramento Symphony) until she “got tired of making reeds.” Then she worked at the Natomas Performing Arts School. She's directed many shows and we talked about Peter Pan and Sweet Charity in some detail. 

This is from a display at the Cranston's Hardware building in Woodland (now a bookstore). 

This dolly belongs to the workmen at Espresso Metro. 

Playing with Sister Swing at the Harvest Festival

Click on the image to see the photo album.

The cats fighting

This collection of toy guns belongs to the son of one of my customers. 

My new Prius! I bought it from Greg Wong, who I know from the City College tennis courts and Riverside Athletic Club. 

Nothing sets off the Sacramento fall colors like a skateboard ramp.

Patrick Grizzell has this copy of Duchamp's Bicycle Wheel made by William Wiley. 

At a rehearsal for Junkyard Burlesque, the band I just joined. Pat Grizzell, at left, is the main singer/songwriter. I knew him twenty years ago at Suttertown News as a poet/editor/bookstore manager; it turns out he is a fine songwriter and visual artist too. He still lives in the same house where he grew up.
I think this band is going to get jobs. The material is really good, and Brady McKay, the other singer/songwriter just out of the picture on the right, has lots of experience promoting her bands.
My first job with them is at Bella Bru in Carmichael on Saturday.