My Guitar Arrangement of some Irish tunes

Here's me playing one of my arrangements for guitar of the Leitrim Jig and A Fig for a Kiss. I know I said I'd put some fiddling up first but this just happened. Please tell me what you think, I'm hungry for feedback. Enjoy!

Another Inspirational Blog (and Musician)

I found a new blog through YouTube recently. It's currently top on my list of blogs and/or musicians that inspire me and show me what I'd like to do with my blog and with my music. This fellow at oldtime-smith.blogspot.com keeps a log of his blacksmithing, gardening and musical (oldtime fiddling!) activities.

Aside from enjoying his numerous YouTube videos which document his fiddle playing, I also get a really good feel when I think that he's writing and posting videos about the things that he enjoys above all else. This is one of the things that the internet is most valuable for.

Above all, this inspires me to document some of the things that are important to me, so hopefully there'll be some fiddle videos up here soon! I hope some of you at least are curious to hear me scrapin' away...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed at Ash Tree

McCarthy's apocalyptic, dark novel was recently reviewed at Ash Tree. The review was thoughtful and intelligent, but I couldn't help but notice that my reaction to the book was superficially similar (the reader is often shocked and horrified) but ultimately quite different. While quite unpleasant, I see The Road as a deeply valid and troubling reaction to life in current times.

I guess it's true that McCarthy has a lot of dark themes, but the sense I get is that he's writing about this stuff because he can't do otherwise. You also have to admit that the "dark side" is very present in current American politics, not to mention in other parts of the world strongly affected by our politics (for example Iraq). To try to avoid horrifying things in our current world is both hopeless and unintelligent.

What I'm trying to say is, The Road is not just a novel with "horror movie" themes. It has more to tell us, and we shouldn't avoid it because of it's darkness. It was in any case a quite unpleasant read, though in my opinion a required one. Please read the review and tell me what you think!

The Busking Experiment (1)

So, for me, busking (translation: playing music on the street for money) is a big mystery. You see a guy out on the street playing his guitar or squeezing his accordion and you don't know if he's (1) a professional musician out slumming, (2) a bum desperate for a buck or (3) the traveling type who's just out for a good time. I would fall somewhere between (2) and (3). But the biggest mystery is, how much money can that guy actually make busking? You see a few coins in his guitar case; has he put them there himself? Has he already culled out the big bills?

The mystery springs from the numerous unknowns involved. The busker thinks to himself, how good am I? Are people actually listening to me? If I were better at my instrument, would I necessarily make more money or is it basically arbitrary because people only give you their spare change anyway?

These questions arose from my two first busking attempts last week at a Munich subway stop. In roughly one and a half hours over two days, I made ca. €7.50. I was playing Irish tunes on my fiddle, at a spot where the acoustics were good and the foot traffic was considerable. Both times someone stopped to talk to me and give me their contact information, both musicians. Both times kids dropped some of their parents' money into my fiddle case and then waved at me when they moved on. At other times I felt like the pigeons were my best listeners and all they were contributing were droppings, and by that I don't mean money that you drop.

Rather than answering any queries or clearing up any mysteries, my own forays into busking only created more question marks, along with a desire to count the meager change in my fiddle case for the tenth time. Hopefully some insight will come my way: Can you make good money busking? Is there a wrong and a right way to busk? Is it too frustrating in the long run or will I be able to learn to enjoy it? I'll let you know tomorrow, right now I'm off to the subway stop...