Google Maps "Street View" has made it to my area! The much-dreaded Google feature has arrived here, as I found out when playing around with the Google Maps feature on an event posting I did in MySpace and I zoomed into the Cafe address I had added. I saw the Street View snapshot, and sure enough, there it was! Not only that, but I backed out my view of the whole city, and lo and behold, every street in Glens Falls had been "street view" snapshotted...
I moved down to Saratoga. Same thing. People on the sidewalks, your car driving around. Ballston Spa, same thing. For the heck of it, I panned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. Nope. Not even any streets around there. Yeah, I guess driving slow in a van taking panoramic pictures is not the best thing right now...
I wonder how one gets a job driving around with a GPS and camera snaking through every street in their city?

Slowly, slowly slowly my last few songs are being polished off for my upcoming CD project. After my PC crashed, I've finally got it back to where I can send some rough tracks of the final tunes to my producer (and friend) Phil Henry...

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and whatever holiday happiness you wish each other, I wish for you!
I was at a holiday party the other night with friends. They had a tiny little tree near the table, and during dinner it was lit and shining over my left shoulder. I glanced back and a familiar sight centered in my vision; a deep-red glass ornament slightly tinged with age, with a white snowy image of a church, stars in the sky, and the words "Silent Night" hanging in the air.
It was so familiar because this image from my youth is stamped into my mind as one of the ornaments from a collection of ornaments bought at a "Grants" department store when I was 5 or 6 years old, and used year after year by my parents until I was well into my teens. Once I was old enough to help decorate the tree, I was taught to take special care with certain glass ornaments and choosing their location - not too close together, not too sparse. The thin cardboard boxes of ornaments in their divider slots included this design, in three different colors. What made it unique and unmistakable was the special typeface that spelled "Silent Night". The oversized "S" and "N", and the low and squat design of the other letters is something only found on these ornaments. Unboxing these ornaments each year was like revisiting an old friend, and would always bring back the memory of the Christmas before; complete with what gifts we received, what we ate, and even the arguments I had with my siblings. When I expressed my surprise at finding this long-lost artifact of my Christmases past, my host said it was given to her by her parents. She was raised in Buffalo, NY.
And so at the time it probably was just so much mass-produced department store merchandise. Cheap and unremarkable, the fact that it has lasted so long while being so fragile is due to the care of the generations that carefully removed it at the end of each year, packed it safely in a box to sleep until the next Christmas, and then gingerly hung it the following year to add to the traditions of their holiday.
It seems the same with any tradition. If we were to throw away all of our ornaments at the end of each season and update them with new ones next year, where would our traditions come from? But certain simple things become traditions solely because we care for them and keep them and consider them valuable. Something as simple as an ornament, the same ornament that thousands of households contained, can become a memory and even represent a tradition, simply because we cared for it, and it remained while other things faded away.

Makin' it easier

Trying anything to make it effortless to blog during or after a gig. How about this - blogging from my phone. Whaddya think?

Hey, folks!
I've been in a heads-down-work mode for weeks! I'm trying to finish songs for the new CD. They're getting there. Now, I'm breakin' out... some new tunes!
BENEFIT show alert!!
This Thursday (11/29) I'm going to be performing with a group of other musicians at Ben and Jerry's in Rutland, VT for a benefit for the music program at West Rutland school. A portion of the proceeds of all ice cream and beverage sales during the music will go to the school. So, tell your friends or maybe take the 40 minute ride yourself for some Vermont fresh ice cream from 6 -9pm While I'm there, I plan to try out a few tunes I've just finished, along with my "old" tunes (that's SO 2005!) and I'll be backing up other performers - Phil Henry among them!
Check Ben and Jerry's fun website and the "Scoop Shop" locator to find out exactly how to get there! 170 S. Main Street, Rutland, VT. (802) 775-1134
~G!

I'm currently in the studio with Phil Henry at the helm, recording tracks for a new project. It doesn't have a name quite yet, though I have tossed around a couple of ideas.
I'm really excited, the tracks so far sound great, thanks to some solid rhythm and bass from DJ Jeffords and Nick Koopmann. Our next sessions will bring together Doug Johnson (formerly of Franklin McCare Trio, and a Nancy Walker backup artist) and Kevin Maul (Robin and Linda Williams, No Outlet, The Burns Sisters). What a treat...

Finally, a new web page - a new blog posting!