GUITAR DAD

 
 
Picture
My plan for attracting feathered friends to my backyard with a nifty bird feeder has been thwarted by the local squirrels, whose pesky behavior has my blood boiling. Notice that the feeder is empty now, all of its contents devoured by these vile varmints. Anybody have a pellet gun I can borrow?
 
 
Picture
"Do you get to eat lunch in jail?" my son asked, prompting me to wonder why he's contemplating time behind bars.
 
"Yeah, but it's just water and a slice of bread," I told him. Turns out he was just wondering, a little concerned that detainees might be going hungry.
 
This is just one of the many amusing inquiries and comments my wife and I hear from our kids on a daily basis.
 
"When you're in college, where do you brush your teeth?" my boy asked. On another occasion he wondered, "Can a bee sting you through a napkin?" Good question. Not sure about that one and don't want to find out.
 
My daughter is more declarative than inquisitive. "You forgot to put dessert in my belly," she has said more than once. One of my favorites was, "Dad, my dress is wet from my pee." Once, while luxuriating in a bubble bath, she looked up, smiled and announced: "Ahhh, this is the life."
 
Indeed, this is the life. You little kids crack me up.
 
 
Picture
I was tickled to pick up the Orlando Sentinel this morning and see my "Being There" piece on Chicago published in the Travel & Arts section. I submitted it earlier this year and was notified by the section editor last month that it would be appearing in an upcoming Sunday edition, whose circulation still tops 300,000. Click here to view the piece.
 
 
Coming soon: a documentary on the power, rebellious spirit and endless thrills of the electric guitar, with rock heroes Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White holding court. This should be good. And loud. Hopefully really loud. More details here.
 
 
Picture

Every time I visit Louisville, I wind up liking the place more. It's an unlikely yet agreeable blend of small town/big city, southern/midwestern, traditional/progressive.

My family just spent four nights there, primarily to celebrate the 98th birthday of my wife's grandmother, who has lived most of her days in Louisville. It was a great opportunity to share stories and laughs not only with her but with other relatives in town.

For me, the trip wasn't complete without a fair amount of exploring on my own and, I'll admit, a little bit of getting lost. When time allowed, I ventured out to Bardstown Road, a buzzing and counterculture-ish corridor of thrift shops, restaurants, bookstores and watering holes. Could've spent days hanging out there.

Downtown beckoned, too, and I popped into the 21c Museum Hotel for a look-see at the large-scale contemporary artwork in the lobby. Just around the corner, on revitalized West Main Street, I walked into the stylish Proof on Main, what must be an exceptional restaurant if you trust its abundance of glowing reviews. I soaked up the atmosphere for a few moments then headed back out, my shorts, T-shirt and Chuck Taylors not exactly appropriate attire for such a sophisticated joint.

On another day we all headed to KingFish, a sprawling, laid-back seafood place just north of downtown and perched high atop a bluff overlooking the Ohio River. Yum. This grub hit the spot: fish, shrimp, hushpuppies and fries, all heavily battered and greasy. Good hangover food at an opportune time, I must say. Then we played mini-golf on the KingFish grounds and dipped our feet in the swift, muddy waters of the Ohio.

These moments and many more made for a memorable getaway in a locale that couldn't be more different from our home base of Orlando. Already I'm thinking about what we'll put on the agenda for our next visit to lovely Louisville.

 
 
Picture
If I'm outdoors and the moon is visible, I always stop to take in the otherworldly view. Something about that ghostly orb hovering 240,000 miles in the distance makes me pause and remember I'm just a very minor player in this cosmic circus.

Unless you've been living under a lunar boulder, you know that Monday, July 20, marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing by astronauts. To celebrate this special occasion, let's ponder a few fabulous facts about our astral neighbor, courtesy of National Geographic:

* By measuring the ages of lunar rocks, we know that the moon is about 4.6 billion years old, or about the same age as earth.
 
* The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles and its mass is about one 80th of the earth's mass.

* The rotation of the moon – the time it takes to spin once around on its own axis – takes the same amount of time as the moon takes to complete one orbit of the earth, about 27.3 days. This means the moon's rotation is synchronized in a way that causes the moon to show the same hemisphere, or "face," to the earth at all times. The other hemisphere always faces away from us.

* The moon orbits the earth at an average speed of 2,300 miles an hour.

* The airless lunar surface bakes in the sun at up to 243 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks at a time (the lunar day lasts about a month). Then, for an equal period, the same spot is in the dark and cools to about -272 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
* The moon is covered in rocky rubble created by constant bombardment by meteoroids, asteroids and comets.

Amazing, huh? Now go out there and take a good, long look at that beautiful moon.
 
 
Picture
When I first picked up a Taylor acoustic guitar one fine day in 1989, I immediately fell for its easy playability, great tone and simple good looks. Spending an afternoon at Sam Moss Guitars in Winston-Salem, N.C., I played one Taylor after another. Each was as awesome as the next. The consistency was astounding.
 
Days after unearthing this enchantingly perfect line of guitars, I made the investment in a beautiful Taylor 615, a "jumbo" model. I now celebrate 20 years with this superb specimen (pictured to the right). Like a family member, this guitar has remained a central part of my life ever since. I've dragged it to countless gigs and taken it on beach trips and carried it on airplanes. A few beers have even spilled onto its delightful contours.

In fact, my 615 has taken more than its share of beatings. I remember strumming quite assertively at one show, hitting the instrument pretty hard, and seeing tiny flecks of its wood taking flight from beside the pick guard.
Picture
At that point, I decided to give my beloved 615 a breather and buy a second Taylor, this time a 314ce, a remarkable and amazingly practical instrument. I now celebrate 10 years with this guitar (pictured to the left).
 
Just this week I learned of yet another important Taylor anniversary. I saw in the guitar maker's newsletter, Wood & Steel, that the California-based company is celebrating its 35th year. What a coincidental trio of milestones!

Over the years my Taylors have enriched my life enormously, being at the receiving end of my musical inspiration as well as frequently serving as the inspiration themselves. Just picking up a Taylor makes you feel tuneful, artful, peaceful. Meanwhile, Taylor Guitars keeps innovating, introducing new acoustic and electric models every year and establishing better ways to build instruments and improve playability and tone. What started as a small exclusive guitar maker in 1974 is now renowned the world over for its consistently exceptional instruments.
 
It is true that memories fade with age. But I recall nearly every detail of my experience 20 years ago playing a Taylor for the first time. Those types of transformational moments leave deep and lasting impressions.
 
 
Picture
Picture
Over-the-top special effects. Earth-shaking explosions. Fireballs from hell. Bad robots annihilating good ones, and vice versa. And in the middle of all this mayhem: the sultry Megan Fox.

My son and I just returned from seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, an exhilarating and often dizzying film of epic crash-and-burn proportions. "This is like the best movie I have ever seen in my entire life," declared my little boy. Glad he was impressed. It wasn't my favorite. It could've been edited in half and nothing would be lost. But did I mention that it featured the sultry Megan Fox?
 
Word Art 07/03/2009
 
Picture

I just stumbled onto wordle.net and created a so-called "word cloud" using text from my blog. The process went to my site, grabbed all the words on the screen and jumbled them into a randomized image. Pretty cool, huh?

 
 
Picture
We were comfortably installed at the oceanfront Hilton on Singer Island. It was just 9 p.m. and my wife and kids had drifted off to sleep. Guitar Dad sensed the opportunity for some quality alone time so headed down to the beachfront bar.
 
It was a quiet evening, just a few souls still lingering. The bar was already closed and I took a seat in a dark spot on the deck, with a wide view of the ocean, sky and surrounding resorts and condos. Bob Marley sang ruefully from the outdoor speakers, "I don't want to wait in vain for your love." Stars twinkled in the heavens as the lights from distant boats and cruise ships flickered on the horizon. An occasional jet descended along the coastline in preparation for landing at Palm Beach International Airport.
 
For an hour and a half, absolute relaxation took over.
 
Our long weekend on Singer Island turned out to be memorable for lots of reasons. The kids got their first chance to really swim in the ocean (under dad's attentive supervision). We took walks on the beach, built sand castles, skipped seashells along the water's edge. When a steady drizzle began to fall, we drove by the mammoth residential compounds of Palm Beach and tooled down tony Worth Avenue (looking a bit out of place in our minivan). We ate well, discovering a wealth of delightful dining at The Gardens Mall in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. I'm not much of a mall guy, but that place is awesome I must say.
 
After two nights away, we returned home sandy, salty and sunburned. But everyone seemed refreshed. Gotta love vacations, even if they're short and sweet.