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July 8th, 2008

11:16 am - Note on a Napkin I received this note a few nights ago while on stage, and it takes the cake by far for being the cutest fan napkin note of the month: Dear Mrs. Fiddle Player, I can see by your wedding band that you are married, but I wanted to tell you that I still love you. And I really like your shoes. Love, Brian Current Location: Linden, NJ Current Mood: amused

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June 19th, 2008

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April 8th, 2008

06:18 pm - Some days I'm dense The FedEx man knocked on my door and handed me a package. I opened it up, and found a book. I was really puzzled, because I hadn't ordered anything lately, so was this an early birthday present or something? But who would send me an English textbook at a present, unless it was a joke...? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I flipped open the index with butterflies in my stomach, and there on page 272 was my essay! Of course I feel a little silly now, but that's ok. ::shakes head at self while grinning hugely:: Current Mood: amused

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March 10th, 2008

04:01 pm The car that I drove during high school had no CD player. Neither did it have a tape player. So I spent a lot of time listening to NPR and the two Chicago classical music stations. When listening to the classical options, I played a game. When I turned on the radio in the middle of a piece of music, I would earn points for guessing various categories correctly: 5 points for naming the composer 5 points for naming the piece 5 points for naming the soloist (if applicable) 5 points for naming the orchestra 5 points for naming the conductor (these last two are REALLY hard and I almost never got) Obviously the highest score I could achieve was 25, but since I was only playing against myself, the point numbering was pretty arbitrary anyway. Since moving to Nashville, I have been driving the car that I bought that has (gasp!) a CD player! This is wonderful and fun, and I have been enjoying it thoroughly. However, as of late I have gotten back into my NPR/classical habit (which drives Ted nuts) and rediscovered my game. The really enjoyable thing about it is that if I'm trying to figure out all of these components, I listen to the music much closer and really analyze it. ("Grieg? Or Saint-Sans? Could go either way... hmmm... it's a little lighter, gonna go with Grieg. Bingo!!") But really, it's a total crap shoot. I'm wrong at least 50% of the time, if not more. But when I'm right, I feel insanely smug. What is the purpose of this whole exercise? Honestly, I have no idea. It's just fun and silly. And today, I scored a 15. Go me!! Current Mood: dorky Current Music: Mozart Piano Concerto in C

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February 9th, 2008

10:58 pm - Yippy!!! I am officially a published author! I am really excited!! I am also very caffeinated!!! Yippy!!!! http://www.berklee.edu/bt/193/coda.html Current Location: home Current Mood: bouncy

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December 16th, 2007

11:32 am - General catch-all I've been meaning to write about a bunch of stuff for the last month, and just never got around to it. So now I am curled up in a blanket with a cup of coffee, my hubby at his computer joyously killing monsters, (he worked 61 hours this week- I guess he's allowed!) and this seems like as good a time as any. Last month was a good month for taking trips of the non-Mustang Sally variety. Early in the month, I spent several days in Chicago hanging out with my family, and playing coffee shop catch-up with friends. There is no finer feeling than sitting in a Starbucks with three of my best girlfriends and gossiping for hours. (Ted asked what we were planning on doing during our visit, and I said, "Talk about shoes and boys. In that order." And we did.) I also saw Isaac play a show at Martyr's, which was lovely. That kid's crazy, but ya gotta love him. The finishing touch was going to a session at the Celtic Knot in Evanston, which was a total blast. I really miss playing Irish music... The day after Thanksgiving, I flew up to Boston to have some quality Pam (my Berklee roommate) time. The over-arching theme of the trip was hot beverages, with a sub-theme of pie. (I took my coat off and Pam looked at me and said, "You look skinny. Have some pie." Who was I to argue?) What with the whole eating my weight in pie thing, Pam's goal of putting 10 lbs. on me was nearly met. Huzzah! I couldn't resist poking my head into the Berklee string department and saying hi to all my old teachers, most of whom didn't recognize me with short hair. It was truly bizarre to notice how young all the students looked... it's like I'm old or something. (Because of course 25 is ancient.) And now I've been spending my days making Christmas presents, baking cookies, scrupulously avoiding cleaning the bathroom (it's that whole "procrastination through the art of semi-useless tasks" routine), and looking forward to seeing Chicago family and Canadian family in a week! Yay for holidays! Current Mood: chipper Current Music: monsters being slaughtered

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November 18th, 2007

01:21 pm - The happy keeps on rolling in Wednesday morning, I received a random email from a random lady at a random publishing house, asking if I would be interested in having an essay on folk music I wrote (that she found posted on a website) published in a college text book. In a very calm and collected frame of mind, I said I'd consider her offer. Actually, I jumped up and down yelling and screaming and whooping and hollering. This marks my official induction into the writing world. I am excited. Current Mood: amused

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November 7th, 2007

05:57 pm - Pat on the head I am patting myself on the head because yesterday I wrote the final notes to my second large composition, a two movement piece for strings. I'm calling it Mask. Now that I've done the hard/fun part, I have the dubious pleasure of writing in all the dynamic markings, articulations, tempos, and other memos to my imaginary conductor and performers. I think I'll spare them Mahler-type notes though; the guy was obviously a micro-manager and wrote symphonies with accompanying novellas. When CYSO performed various of his symphonies, we were provided with a German translation key that was 12 pages long! But I digress. Anyway, I can scratch "compose stuff" off my to-do list for a few weeks. Next on the list: "get compositions performed". Hmmm.... Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: in my head

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October 30th, 2007

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09:27 am - Nightmare The other night, I drove myself to a local Mustang Sally show at an outdoor amphitheater. I arrived, only to run into an old Bristol friend, Lindsay of Seeley Court. We hugged, and she told me she was now the manager for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. I asked if she was still playing fiddle, and she said no, not really, she was too busy with CYSO stuff, and if I was ready, I should go talk to the conductor before the concert. "Concert? Conductor?" Says I. "But this is a Mustang Sally show!" And pointed at my outfit as if this should make it obvious. (I was wearing jeans and a funky shirt.) "No," she said, "You're soloing with the orchestra today. You're performing the Mozart G major concerto, and the Saint-Saens B minor concerto." To underscore her statement, as we headed back stage I saw numerous black clad people moving around with symphonic instruments. "But I haven't played the Saint-Saens in five years, and the Mozart in ten!" I cried. "And I'm not dressed up enough to be a soloist!!" "Oh, don't worry about that," Lindsay said airily, "You look fine. And the concertos will come back to you once the introduction starts." Stark terror was coursing through every part of me. And then I realized something that made it even worse. "I DON'T KNOW THE THIRD MOVEMENT TO THE SAINT-SAENS!!!" Lindsay looked at me funny. "So?" She said. "Just make it up." My knees were shaking, my stomach churning, my fingers icy cold and slick with sweat. She pushed me out on stage, in front of the orchestra, and just as the conductor's baton was landing on the down beat... I woke up. And leaped out of bed, grabbed my violin, and played those concertos. And a few others, just to be on the safe side. Never hurts to be prepared, right? Current Mood: relieved Current Music: Saint-Saens and Mozart, of course

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July 25th, 2007

01:49 am - Dance Analysis I love watching people dance at our shows. I find most people tend to fit in to one of a few different groups: the Step-Tappers, who as the name might suggest, like to be on the corner of the dance floor unobtrusively step-tapping away. We have the Line Dancers, who, well, line dance. Sometimes we'll get Swing Dancers or Two-Steppers, who I find very fun to watch. Then we have the very popular Little Kids, the Happy Drunks who often overlap with the Step-Tappers or the Drunken Humpers, who are always a crowd favorite. And then we have the novelty categories. The Spinners tend to be mainly men, though no particular age demographic that I can determine. They just... spin. Mostly on the ball of one foot. We have the Gymnasts, ladies in their 50's who do handstands and cartwheels. I kid you not. And finally, the Interpretive Dancers. ID's can vary in gender and age, though I find them to be predominantly middle-aged males. Dancing can include dramatic arm gestures, slow fluid full body motions, large kicks, grunting, etc. This week, I've decided to create another category: Bernie Dancing. Bernie is a middle-aged dude who has come to our show 3 nights in a row, and each night has reduced us to giggling puddles of jello with his moves. Bernie dancing includes creating hand gestures to mime the words of each song while jumping across the floor very energetically, beating the stage with his hands, pretending to be falling off a cliff and holding on the the edge of the stage as if it were the edge of said cliff... I feel like I'm missing a few more distinctive moves here, but you get the idea. And he keeps it up for HOURS. My favorite moment of tonight was his emphatic telling off of his invisible girlfriend during a song about cheating. I guess I can't complain that my job doesn't let me meet people... Current Location: Put-In-Bay OH Current Mood: contemplative

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July 14th, 2007

03:38 pm - Put-In-Bay, take 1 Summer is officially here. The days are long and balmy, my shorts are cowering in the back of my drawer begging not to be woken from their nine months of peaceful slumber, and Mustang Sally is back in Put-In-Bay OH. How these three things relate I really have no idea. We’ve had yet more personnel changes. Alex (guitar) and Amanda (bass) have left, (long story, ask me if you really want to know) and for the moment we have two very talented guys (!!??!!) who were nice enough to help us out until we find the right girls to fill the positions. The funniest part of all of this is, not many people have even noticed! All I keep hearing from people in the audience is, “Wow, you girls are great!” I’m not sure how Mark and Ladd feel about that, but I’m amused. But overall, life at PIB remains the same as I remember it. Mayflies, check. Fudge shop, check. Westside Steve crooning Irish songs to me every time I walk by, check. It’s very comforting to know that no matter how much Mustang may change, there are still some constants in the universe. Current Location: Put-In-Bay Ohio Current Mood: happy Current Music: Jimmy Buffet outside my window

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June 21st, 2007

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04:39 pm - I made a happy! Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that I have a solo album, after goofing around with the idea for five years or so. It has several trad. Irish, Scottish, and old time tunes, some tunes I wrote in the tradition of Irish tunes, and some stuff I wrote that doesn't sound like it belongs in the same room as the other stuff. (Which is ok, I told those tunes that they're special and I love them just as much as their siblings.) Ok ok okok, I can't take it any more: I'm so excited!!!!!!!!! YIPPY!!!!!!!!! There. My inner five-year-old is satisfied. Current Location: Nashville Current Mood: ecstatic

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June 3rd, 2007

11:07 am - Pork Chop and Co. Ah, the glamorous life of the road: little sleep, few showers, bumpy rides... I know I've moaned and groaned about all this before, I'll spare you the recap. Let me just say that the past few weeks have been particularly hard for whatever reason, and I can't wait for some "good" gigs to show up. I know they're out there... However, this weekend wasn't totally a bust. We met a 400 pound man named Pork Chop. He came out on the dance floor, dropped his pant around his ankles, got down on all fours and humped the floor. Life, though strange, is still good. Current Location: Nashville Current Mood: giggly

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April 26th, 2007

06:17 pm - What the...??? I got the strangest phone call today. The vet that I take Susie to called, and said she was returning my call from last night about Susie's puppies. "Puppies??" Says I. "Susie is a cat." The vet says yes, she figured that out when she pulled up Susie's chart, but that the phone message was very distraught because the cat had puppies, and I supposedly wanted my money back for the spay I'd had done on Susie. "Well you're in luck," I said. "She didn't have puppies." "She shouldn't be having anything!!" The vet replied very emphatically. I assured her no kittens were in the picture either, I was very happy with her spay job, and was she quite sure I was the only Sarah Wilfong in the data base with a pet named Susie and this phone number? Because this is pretty weird. She assured me that I was the only one in the system, and we agreed it must have been a prank call. That begs the question of who knows which vet I take my cat to and had the free time to carry out such a bizarre prank. Time to grill the roomies... It did make me laugh though. Current Location: Home Current Mood: confused Current Music: Three Dog Night

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March 27th, 2007

04:50 pm - Buried treasure My Mom recently brought me a big tub of my old papers to sort through, a task I undertook this afternoon in an effort to procrastinate going to the post office. (Which I successfully avoided, thank you very much!) In this tub, I found at least 6 different literary efforts I had written and illustrated (on construction paper, mostly,) from the ages of 3-8. These were all very funny, and, I'm sad to say, rather lacking in the genius department. However, the find of the day was a children's book I wrote and illustrated when I was 11 about a family of home-schooled sisters. (Well, they say write what you know, right?) This book was special, because I had tucked all the pages into plastic sleeves, and used fancy letter stickers to make the title look more professional. It was also accompanied by my first query letter to a publisher, and let me tell you, that was a hoot. Along side the query letter was, you guessed it, my first rejection letter! It was extremely sweet, and written in such a way as to satisfy my 11-year-old desire to be professional and to be taken seriously. I just found this very amusing and felt compelled to write about it. Current Mood: nostalgic

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