Picture Sunday, Almost Kinda
 
Hello to all.  I'm back from the wilds of the Greater DC Area and Clarinetfest, which was held at the University of Maryland.  The University of Maryland, where Mr M and I finally got the lay of the land today, the day we left.  Funny, everything took place between two buildings, but we managed to get turned around many, many times.  Oh, we zany Clarinet players.

I have a feeling you probably don't want a minute by minute rundown of everything that happened, but I'll try to hit the high spots.  On Friday night we got to see a concert by jazz clarinetist Don Byron, who was not only ultra cool, but was also the first clarinetist I saw at the Fest who was better than Mr M.  He also had much better hair and glasses. 

Saturday I went to a talk given by David Krakauer, who's a Klezmer clarinetist.  Now, I gotta tell you, this got me all riled up and, even though my clarinet talent is waning by the second, I really want to try to learn some Klezmer stuff.  I was rapt for most of it.

And speaking of my talent waning by the second....  On Saturday I also got an impromptu clarinet lesson.  Mr M met up with his buddy and sometime clarinet teacher David Neithamer, a very talented musician and a nice guy.  M had been wanting him to listen to me for a little while to cure up some of the ongoing problems I've been having with my playing, and he was nice enough to oblige.  Although I didn't really hold up my end of the bargain. 

See, the bargain was that when David took over, I would be just as whiny and surly and as much of a spitfire as I am to Mr M.  But when the time came, I was on my best behavior.  I just couldn't bring myself to call him an asshole and tell him to fuck off.  I tried, but I just couldn't complete the task.

Anyway, the upshot of the whole lesson ended up being - I have to basically learn how to play all over again.  Well, how to tongue, anyway.  It's just awful, and I honestly don't know if I can do it.  See, I've been tonguing the wrong way for the approximately 34 years I've been playing.  I mean, it was no surprise, I knew I was doing it wrong, I just didn't realize how hard the actual correct technique would be to work on.  But I promised I'd work on it and Mr Neithamer gave me some exercises to be working on.  Oh, my.

Saturday night also included a visit from the DeepFatFriar, and we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant.  It was absolutely scrumptious till I had to duck into the rest room and throw it all back up.  My first puking in a public rest room.  Mark that one down.  After that, we went back to the hotel and talked religion, semantics, and generally had a good time.  Always good to see the Friar.

This morning was all performances, including one by David himself, and it all ended up with the President's Own Marine Band Clarinet Choir.  That was a pretty impressive thing.

Anyway, it was a long trip back home, and I'm worn out, haven't even unpacked yet, and so Picture Sunday is going to have to be postponed.  And yes, I know you're all going to hate me, but I'm postponing it till tomorrow, and I'll stick Acromania somewhere if I get a chance.  I'm tired. 

But soon I'll be recovered and will have lots of Sherman pics ready for The Galerie.  He really got around at Clarinetfest, and was even described as "awesome" by a college student.

Until then, here's what we'll do.  We'll play a rousing game of "Write a Caption for this Picture."  I wanted to take a picture of Mrs M and N, so I took a "regular" one, then decided they needed an "action shot."  So I gave them my clarinet and left them to their own devices.  This is what they came up with.

So...caption this picture.

 

And that's it for me for tonight.  Bet out.