June 23, 2009:
I used to blog. I updated it every day for a couple of years and I was at 150 to 200 visitors per day when it got hacked and turned into a not suitable for anyone site. Maybe my difficulties updating this site have to do with me still getting over my blog hangover. If you want to successfully blog, you've got to put in a lot of work. So I did. When the blog got hacked I was getting pretty burned out anyway. I don't spend much time online these days. At some point I'm going to make a mural out of all my invitations to join Facebook I have not responded to.
It seems as though I am done working on our new house for the time being. It's more or less insulated, caulked, sealed and painted (except for this one spot behind the radiator in the guest bedroom that's impossible to reach, but no one will see that). That means that I am now back into music fullish time. I've been working on some new music to record, I just finished the revisions for the next printing of my book, I am orchestrating a movie score I wrote and I am actively seeking students. And I am also realizing that at some point I am going to have to lug the air conditioner from the basement up to our bedroom.
January 13, 2009:
HOUSE STUFF: On October 17th we closed on a house. I mentioned this in my last update. Unfortunately, I was so wiped out from working on said house when I published my last update, I wiped out all of my previous updates. Oh well. The important stuff is on my bio page. Anyway, the house wasn’t officially a “fixer-upper,” but perhaps it was the next rung up on the ladder. A “mender-acrosser.” So I have been doing all of that stuff that they show on those “renovate your own home” tv shows except for the roof and plumbing, but with a lot more cussing and hitting my thumb with the hammer and dropping the screwdriver while standing on the ladder. But now I am done. Done as much as I can be as a homeowner. That is to say, I'll never be done, but I can pretend I am if I only look at one tiny part of the house.
PROFESSIONAL STUFF: I am now back at the piano. I got some pretty cool news about my piano, which is now free again after better than five years in storage. Aart Markenstein, my new piano technician, wrote me and said, "Based on my research it appears that based on the serial number 3529, your Chickering was made in 1838. Wow. In fact, during the years 1830 to 1841, Jonas Chickering had a partner in his piano company named John Mackay. John Mackay was a sea captain who often traveled to South America and would bring back fine Rosewood to make the pianos. Mackay was lost at sea in 1841. Congratulations - Looks like you have one of these fine rosewood beauties." Pretty cool. Aart is great. I've known a lot of piano technicians in my time and he's darned near the top of the heap. Check him out on my links page. I see Sophia for my first lesson in a while next week and I am getting back in shape to resume teaching fullish time. I have also begun to compose again. I seem to be heading in a modern classical direction, so you probably won’t see me on MTV. Sorry. I have gotten ten or twelve rejections of my latest manuscript, but a couple of literary agents still have it, and I am aware that many books (Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) got rejected roughly a jillion times before they were picked up, so I’ll keep at it.
DOG STUFF: We adopted a dog from Jersey City's Liberty Humane Society. He's a Pit Bull/Hound. We asked which dog had been there the longest, and it was Nico (NEE-ko). We love having him around and he’s been great with the other dogs in our extended family. He also has a fantastic amount of patience, and he doesn’t mind parading around the house with our three-year-old niece Kira half riding him like a pony and half draped around his neck like a scarf. He also likes to lie under my bench when I play the piano, which is quite cool.
October 29, 2008: My studies with Sophia Rosoff, the Mr. Miyagi of piano teachers, continue. She is amazing. In other news, during this time of uncertainty and unrest and other things that start with "un," my lovely wife Beth and I have purchased a house. We are using local contractors to do some sprucing up before we move in. We're using Karl Mueller's Painting, Karl Mueller's Wood Flooring, Karl Mueller's Sheetrocking and Karl Mueller's Carpet Removers. This means, of course, that at the end of each day I get home and my fingers are bloody, bruised, splintered and lacerated. So the last thing I feel like doing is playing the piano. But, with every drop of spackle, I get closer to that magical hour when I have my very own piano in my very own piano room. And the old joke about hammering your thumb? I actually did it for the first time a couple of days ago. It really smarts.