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2010 in review

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 68 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 329 posts. There were 207 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 385mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 20th with 145 views. The most popular post that day was Our Year in Photos – 2010.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, netvibes.com, en.wordpress.com, happiness-project.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for monument valley, bratislava, farnsworth house, samuel beckett bridge dublin, and samuel beckett bridge.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Our Year in Photos – 2010 November 2010
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2

Santiago Calatrava’s Dublin Bridges (And More) By Dawn’s Early Light September 2009
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3

Moved by Santiago Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum October 2009
3 comments

4

Monument Valley September 2008

5

Calatrava’s Samuel Beckett Bridge Opens for Traffic December 2009
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We passed 30,000 total views since the blog began.  Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a great 2011.

More to come…

DJB

Old-Time for the New Year

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The coming of the New Year is always a time to look back and look ahead.  I’ve done both the past couple of days as I’ve enjoyed seeing some new video of the “progressive” old-time banjo work of my buddy John Balch.

John and I played together in high school and college under a couple of band names – the best one being The Fiery Gizzard String Band (which we used about 20 years before another band from the area took it up).  The name comes from a beautiful and wild area in the South Cumberland region of Tennessee that I’m pleased to say has recently been saved by my friends at the Land Trust for Tennessee (winners of a 2010 National Trust for Historic Preservation Honor Award).

But I digress.  I’m talking about new style old-time music.

John is a terrific clawhammer banjo player, with two stellar CDs out under his own name.  Clawhammer is known as an old-time style, but John’s music sounds as fresh and current as anything coming out in the acoustic music world today.  Don’t take my word for it.  Bluegrass Unlimited said of John’s second CD HOT Biscuit Jam:

“This is 45 minutes plus of delightful string band music.  John Balch is a clawhammer player, but hold on, this music is as close to newgrass as it is old-time.  Jack Pearson’s mandolin and Shad Cobb’s fiddle don’t go anywhere Balch’s banjo can’t go.  This makes for one fine musical journey.“

A couple of nights ago, John joined the aforementioned Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers, Jack Person Band) and Shad Cobb (I last heard him with the John Cowan Band), along with guitarist extraordinaire David Grier for a “Jack Pearson and Friends” showcase.  They played some of John’s music, including “Wesley” which is captured in the video below.

John is one of those folks I’m honored to have known in my life.   You can listen to his music and marvel at his talent.  If you know that he’s battled multiple sclerosis in recent years, yet continues to play, his music becomes all the more remarkable.

Nothing’s speaks to the past like old-time music.  But the past can be a great foundation for the future.

And with that thought in mind, I’m heading off into 2011.

More to come…

DJB

18 Years, Yet Seems Like Only Yesterday

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Today began a new era.  Today was the first day after Andrew and Claire’s 18th birthday.

The twins were born mid-day on a Sunday.  At the moment of their birth I happened to be singing There Is No Rose in the church choir for the last Sunday in Advent in 1992.  Because we adopted Andrew and Claire, we didn’t know they had been born until the next day after receiving a call from the adoption agency.  Eighteen short years later, Andrew, Candice and I were spending December 20th sitting in the Strathmore Music Center listening to Claire and her high school choir join the Cathedral Choral Society in a wonderful Joy of Christmas concert (blackberry photo at the top…don’t expect to see great detail).  It seemed a fitting bookend:  they came in to song, and they entered “adulthood” singing.

When friends ask how it feels to be the father of 18-year-olds, I don’t offer any profound insights.  I usually say, “It seems like only yesterday…”  or “Time flies….”  The years and the associated memories have been wonderful.  Andrew and Claire are not perfect, but they’re pretty terrific people – who are now really young adults.  (Andrew asked where he could register to vote this morning.)

I couldn’t be prouder of the two of them.  But instead of writing more, I’ll simply post a few of my favorite pictures from the different eras of their lives.

Happy Birthday, Claire and Andrew.  I love you.

Dad

Running Dog Guitar Ought-3

Fretboard Journal: The 20th Issue

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The 20th issue of The Fretboard Journal showed up in my mailbox a couple of weeks ago.  Any time a big package shows up in the mailbox these days, the kids get excited as they wait to hear back on their applications to college.  But I’m the one who shouts for  joy when I see the package that turns out to be my favorite magazine.

I’m glad to see The Fretboard Journal make it to 20 issues, as I wasn’t sure they could sustain this model.  But the editors keep putting out the best guitar porn on the planet, with stories about both players and builders.

Readers who like North Carolina’s Avett Brothers will want to check out this issue.  As always, there are great introductions to builders and players I’ve never heard of (see the Joe Veillette article and his beautiful creations).   I enjoyed a Bobby Long piece about how Dylan’s Gibson J-200 on the front of Nashville Skyline (see photo at the top of the post) inspired a life-long passion.  Paul Mehling, founder of the Hot Club of San Francisco, talks about all things Django.

But my eyes really popped out when I saw that Bela Fleck had a feature in the Winter FJ. Bela has redefined the banjo throughout his career, and the article covers all the major elements of his work.  He talks about learning from Tony Trischka, his time with New Grass Revival, and his more recent projects.  There’s a great section on his main instrument — fondly named old Number One.

Banjo jokes aside (What do you call it when the accordion lands on top of the banjo in the dumpster?  Perfect Pitch.) Bela has shown how this instrument can rightly claim its historic place in American music in the 21st century.  The video below neatly demonstrates how bluegrass banjo has evolved.  On the Steve Martin tune, The Crow, Martin begins with a standard Earl Scruggs-style send-off.  Then at about the 1:30 mark, Trischka demonstrates the more melodic style that he and Bill Keith pioneered in the 60s.  Finally, at about 2:08, Bela jumps in and shows where he’s taken both of those styles in his own unique brand of music.   Take a read through The Fretboard Journal, take a listen to the video, and enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

A Celtic Yule

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On a blustery, cold evening in suburban Washington, a full crowd was warmed by the 11th annual Celtic Yule concert of Robin Bullock and Amy White & Al Petteway.  Hosted by the Institute of Musical Traditions (or IMT), this annual concert is like much of the holiday musical scene – familiar yet welcome.

Bullock has a wonderful tone coming out of his Taylor guitar and sounds better with age.  The second half opened with his haunting In the Bleak Midwinter/The First Noel/It Came Upon a Midnight Clear medley.   His solo mandolin pieces exploring the Bach unaccompanied violin and cello suites are a new (for me) part of his show, and they demonstrate his impressive chops.  The Cello Suite #4 is technically demanding (the E-Flat major transposes into B-Flat major on the mandolin), but Bullock made it sing on his beautiful Gibson A-style mandolin from the 1920s.  Check out the video below of Bullock playing solo guitar, and then imagine that it sounds twice as good live.

Al Petteway and Amy White played holiday tunes (including a beautiful The Holly and the Ivy) but also promoted their new album High in the Blue Ridge. They opened with The Drovers’ Road, an evocative piece celebrating the switchback roads of the North Carolina mountains.

All in all, a satisfying and enjoyable holiday evening.

More to come…

DJB

Music of the Season

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Among the treasures of Washington are the musical offerings at local churches and synagogues throughout the city and at all times of the year.  Today, the Madrigal Singers from Andrew’s high school sang a Music of the Seasons concert at St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square – the “Church of the Presidents” across from the White House.

It was a beautiful 30 minute concert that was captured live on the Episcopal Church website.  Click on the link and you can see the entire concert which begins with O come, O come, Emmanuel, moves through Riu, riu, chiu and includes beautiful music by Holst and Parsons.  The mood shifts with the Thomas Dorsey Precious Lord, take my hand and the moving spiritual Ride on, King Jesus.  The Christmas Song and It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas round out the set.

Although I didn’t know it when I arrived for today’s concert, Andrew had a few solos.  I wouldn’t be the proud father if I didn’t point out that you can hear him kick off Riu (at about the 5:10 mark), sing a solo in Holst’s Lullay my Liking (at about 17:20), and then really get into Ride On, King Jesus (at about 27:07).  But really, you should listen to the entire video.  Andrew’s classmates – including Nelson, Caroline, Nick, Izzi, Anjolie, Katie, and others – have terrific solo turns as well.  Enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

Our year in photos – 2010

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With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I’m continuing my tradition of posting photos from throughout the past 12 months on More to Come…

The Browns have so much to be thankful for this year: the love of family, our health, an exciting curiosity about life today and what’s next for each of us, good friends, and so many opportunities.  These pictures give just a glimpse of what we’ve experienced in 2010.

To read the caption, simply place your cursor over the picture and it will magically appear.  At the top of the post is a photo of the four of us at the lake at Mohonk Mountain House this past August, where we spent a wonderful weekend unwinding in the midst of a two-week trip to look at colleges.

Thanksgiving blessings to you.  I hope you enjoy the photographs.

More to come…

DJB

2010 was the year of the college tours, the acquisition of a new guitar, and much, much more.

Image: Resting in the midst of the college tours at Mohonk Mountain House.

Images in Black and White

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I’ve always loved black-and-white photography.

In college I learned my way around a dark room and can still remember the thrill of seeing a photo appear on a blank piece of paper submerged in a tray of chemicals.

So naturally, I was overjoyed when our daughter Claire – then a freshman in high school – expressed interest in learning old-style black-and-white photography.

Over the course of the past three years, she’s produced some wonderful pictures.  She has a great eye and has become more adventuresome each year.

Now as she wraps up her work in high school, she’s put together a small gallery of 12 photos from her class.  Click on the link and you’ll see what she’s posted.

And I’ll end below with a photo of Claire’s that’s now on prominent display in her school’s gallery.  This is a picture she took this summer at Mohonk Mountain House which looks like a time piece out of the 1940s. Can you tell…I think she’s great!

More to come…

DJB

Ave Verum Corpus – Music Made for a Cathedral

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Yesterday Andrew and Claire were confirmed in a magnificent service on a beautiful fall day at the National Cathedral.

There’s so much I could cover:  The pageantry.  The three bishops.   The time spent with godparents and their families.  The wonderful discernment process that our Assistant Rector, The Rev. Jered Weber-Johnson, led the twins through over the past two years.  The personal thoughts that ranged from a baptismal service with two infants some 17 years ago to confirmation with two beautiful and talented young adults whom I admire for their thoughtfulness and integrity.

Instead (no surprise) I want to talk about the music.

The Cathedral Singers – comprised of women sopranos and gentlemen in the counter tenor, tenor, and bass roles – were in residence for yesterday’s service.  Their work was beautiful throughout.

But when they sang William Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus, I just closed my eyes and listened to the wonderful melodies that come together in that magnificent piece reverberate around in the acoustics.  When they finished, I turned to Claire’s godfather and said, “There’s no better music for a cathedral.”

So today, Andrew and I were catching a bite to eat and he said, “I’m so glad they sang Ave Verum at the service yesterday.”  I laughed at how our thoughts converged, and then we launched into a five-minute discussion of how we were both singing along with the choir (I had the tenor line covered, while Andrew was channeling his old chorister days and was handling the soprano.)  Andrew said, “that piece has the BEST alto lines” and right in the middle of Montgomery Mall we began singing the alto line we both loved.

Just so you, dear reader, can also hear this wonderful music, I’ve posted a video of the Tallis Scholars’ version of Ave Verum Corpus following the picture of Claire, Andrew, Bishop Eastman, two of Claire’s godparents, Candice and me taken after yesterday’s service.  Enjoy.

More to come…

DJB

Bush, O’Brien and Froggy Bottom

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Two of my favorite musicians – plus one of this era’s best guitar builders – are all featured in the Fall 2010 issue of The Fretboard Journal which landed in my mailbox last week.  Let’s begin with those musicians.

I’ve been listening to New Grass Revival founder Sam Bush (on the right in the picture by Thomas Petillo at the top) since about 1973.  A few years later I began to hear Hot Rize member Tim O’Brien in a number of venues.  Both are multi-instrumentalists who have stretched the boundaries of bluegrass since coming on the scene.

The Fretboard Journal has a laid back yet informative “conversation” between Bush and O’Brien as the cover story of the most recent issue.  The topics are wide-ranging, from playing with jazz pianist Bill Evans at the Blue Note to the night when Bush and Mark O’Connor joined the Hot Rize alter ego band Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers for a set.

When the conversation turned to hearing someone for the first time, my mind went back to the first time I saw Bush and the New Grass Revival.  It was probably around ’72 or ’73 at Nashville’s old Exit/In (which has gone in and out of business numerous times and is now a rock club).  NGR was playing with Vassar Clements that night and I still remember a 20-minute version of Lonesome Fiddle Blues when Sam and Vassar were smokin’ on twin fiddles and strings were breaking right and left.  I thought, “these guys are playing rock music on bluegrass instruments” and that’s pretty much what NGR was about at that time.  The Exit/In was like that.  In a two-three year period while I was in college I saw Doc Watson (for the first time), NGR (two or three times), Buddy Rich (my brother Steve was a big jazz fan), Barefoot Jerry (for a New Year’s Eve show), and Steve Martin twice…and that’s just what I can remember from visits to the Exit/In.

The guitar builder is Michael Millard, who is celebrating 40 years of building Froggy Bottom guitars.  My friend Oakley Pearson has a beautiful Froggy Bottom that he bought several years ago, and I have always loved playing that guitar when we visit Margaret and Oakley over Thanksgiving.

Quite simply, it is a beautifully balanced and easy to play gem!  When Peter Ostroushko visited the Shenandoah Valley to play the Oak Grove Folk Music Festival one year, he borrowed Oakley’s Froggy Bottom and played it for the entire weekend.  In the hands of a master, it sounded sublime…but it sounds very good even when Oakley and I play it!

There’s more to read in this issue of The Fretboard Journal which is par for the course. Check out the web site or – better yet – go to your local bookstore and buy a copy.  Nineteen issues into this magazine, the editors still get it right just about every time.

More to come…

DJB