A Renewed Introduction

Three months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to the Hillsdale Collegian about my old college house, The Beat.

One week ago, while playing jazz for a wine club, I was informed by the owner that she finally was able to spell my name after searching for it online and being directed to a short blog post about only writing happily while drunk.

Two and two together later, I found the old link, and after a few Gmail searches, found all the old passwords. I had had no idea this blog still existed - some seventy-odd posts still exist (now all drafts), most of them categorical examples of why single, bitter, shy, and prolific shouldn't exist in the same body.

I've left my last post standing, and I'll filter out the less bitter posts and bring them back. Three to four years later, I've a wife, a child, a good deal more debt, and a good deal less bitterness. And, now that my wife has a new job which places me more in the position of homemaker than provider, I've more time to write the four years of entertaining stories I've collected.

Enjoy!

-nate

(I should mention I've quit smoking. But not coffee.)

Signing Off

Given that the only posts I sit down to write (then delete, nine times out of ten) are depressing and bitter, and that I can only seem to post happy thoughts when drunk, I'm going to discontinue blogging. (As if I were so into it before that I'd post more than, say, once a month).

Later

-nate

Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, and Oh My God

I saw Chris Thile and Mike Marshall perform everything from Bulgarian bar dances to Bach tonight. It was a worthwhile two hours, to say the least.

Thile is one of the most entertaining musicians to watch, if and often only for his facial expressions, which run from quizzical to happy to contorted to sticking his tongue in between pursed lips. The top question of the night was this:

"Do you think he makes those faces when making love to a person" (as opposed to the mandolin)?

I don't know...is he single?

"At present, yes."

I might know why.

I've seen Chris before, but not Marshall, who spent half the night playing the guitar as well as he plays the mandolin - effortlessly. Musicians like these are always a sign of how far I have to go.

In some ways, however, I've more than mastered being a musician. I'm thinking here of the verbal parrying that went on between Thile and the audience.

Thile: "This song is one of our true collaborative efforts. By which I mean we didn't hit each other."

Marshall: "No, in this one, we alternated choosing notes."

Thile: "Damn you, man! Why did you choose the F? F is a sucky note. It's soulless, really. Not worthwhile at all."

Marshall: "Ah, come on...where would D minor be without it?"

Thile: "A lot happier."

Eleven people laughed, including myself.

Thile: "We think we're funny, I'm sorry...too much time spent in a bus talking to each other."

Marshall: "It gets really strange after a few hours. 'Dang! I love the sound of the suitcases vibrating off the engine!'"

Thile: "Let's make a song out of that! I am the next Schoenberg!"

Six people laughed, including me, and I thought to myself, that joke would make more sense if he'd said "I am the next Philip Glass!" And that's when I realized what a dork I was. Am.

The more I read about Thile, the more I realize why he is where he is. He's a "hoss," as this website attests. And though getting to where I want to be as a musician is quite difficult, being a hoss is quite easy - you simply take away anything you do that isn't hoss-like.

I am therefore going to practice. Please go watch Thile. Or Marshall. Preferably both.

(I should note that Chris and Mike played a cover of The Strokes - Juicebox - for the encore. Highly recommended.)