Saturday, January 31, 2004
A visit with the Jerrell's
I enjoyed visiting with Glenn and Kathie Jerrell today as they stopped by to pick up her new Dusty Strings D500 hammer dulcimer complete with my custom microphone system. Check out the photographs page for a picture of the happy trio.Home Again
My return trip from Houston was a little more eventful than I would have liked. My flight was delayed almost an hour which put me landing with just twenty minutes to spare in catching my shuttle back to Chattanooga. We deplaned at the farthermost gate and I sprinted to the carousel to retrieve my luggage. I plucked it as tumbled down the conveyor belt precisely one minute after the shuttle pulled out. Oh well. I waited another two hours for the next shuttle which carried me the final two hours back home.While hanging out in the airport rotunda a young man who turned out to be a percussionist noticed my trapezoidal case and said he couldn't help asking what it contained. I unzipped the case to my Masterworks Soprano hammer dulcimer and gladly played a few songs right there in the food court. I hope I never stop enjoying seeing the wild surprise of people who've never seen or even heard of this ancient instrument. I also hope he goes home and buys one and introduces it to someone else.
Since returning home I've done quite a bit more work on this web site - none of which you can see yet. The next noticeable change will be in the photographs section. I'm going to thin out some of the older Yanni tour galleries so I'll have room when the tour resumes in a few weeks. I'm also updating the look of the galleries to match the new design.
Thursday night I went to the workshop of my friend Dennis Schreiner where he and Phil Hunt are working on perfecting our lighted hammer design. I also took in a couple of long hikes this week. Check out the Photographs page for new pictures.
It is with sadness and fond memories that I also note the death this week of our nearly thirteen year old Australin Shephard, Tiffy. It was time. She leaves behind great memories of listening to her do her best to talk to us every morning, watching her pursue tenniss balls to the point of exhaustion, and trying to stem her passion about chasing and unfortunately somethimes catching UPS trucks. We'll miss her, but she certainly lived a good dog's life in the best meaning of the words.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
At The Airport
We had a late night after the Houston Salutes celebration and an early start this morning as I had to leave for the airport at 6am. My flight to Atlanta has been delayed for 30 minutes due to fog there, which gives me time to post a couple of pictures from last night on the photographs page.Last night was an absolute blast. Fourty-one of Houston's most famous athletes were on the stage and the program consisted of each one of them being introduced, talking for a moment and then passing the football off to the next celebrity. The football finally ended up in the hands of former President Bush, after which it was announced that it will be the official game ball of next week's Superbowl. There were so many well known athletes that I can't possibly remember them all but the ones that stand out in my mind are Mary Lou Retton, George Foreman, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clements, Andy Petit, Bob McNair, Jeff Bagwell, Slater Martin, Andre Ware, Clyde Drexler, Dan Pastorini, Zena Garrison, Moses Malone, and the man who got the loudest ovation of the night, the legendary Bum Phillips. The strangest image I have from last night is Bum Phillips standing with his arms around Yanni. He's apparently a big fan and during our last song, Santorini, he came over to Yanni while he was still playing. For a moment it looked like Bum was going to join in!
The stage was crowded immediately after the show ended and it was a little difficult to protect and get our gear out of the pressing mass safely. Quite a few of Yanni's biggest fans, including Denise who came to hear me Friday night at Hickory Hollow, got to have their pictures taken with Yanni.
I had a wonderful time and it is an experience I'll never forget. Thank you to Jim Nantz and Houston for putting on what we're told will be the first of many Superbowl Kickoff celebrations.
Monday, January 26, 2004
Television
I've gotten a couple of emails this afternoon from folks inquiring as to whether this event is being televised or not. To the best of my knowledge it is not.OK - just as I was typing this George Veras and Jim Nantz walked by and I learned it is definitely not going to be televised. George told me to have anyone interested in seeing pictures, and possibly video from the event to send an email to monica@verastv.com and ask to be put on the Houston Salutes electronic press release. Oh, and I just had my picture taken with Jim Nantz
Pictures from Houston
I just posted a few pictures from Houston. Check them out on the photographs page.Sound Check in Houston
Every waking moment has been occupied for the last couple of days and I just found 30 free minutes before we do our sound check here in Houston at Reliant Arena. This is going to be a fun show to be involved in and it is even better knowing that the proceeds will go to build a youth shelter.At the end of our rehearsal yesterday Jim Nantz, of CBS Sports, told us he had chill bumps after hearing our performance and invited us all to a party after the show tonight. He also said that this was the first time the Superbowl has had an opening celebration and this one is proving to be so successful that it will most likely be a permanent event.
I've been too busy with Houston activities to respond to a question Kathie posted in the guest book. She asked, "So what makes a Jerry Read Smith dulcimer something that you hope to get? What qualities of the sound make it attractive?" she was responding to a previous journal note, and this is exactly how I want to use the guestbook - as a forum. (maybe I should just call it a forum, hmmmmm)
Bear with me while I sidestep answering her question for a moment.
We should always tread lightly when offering advice on an instrument purchase, especially when asked, "What is the best hammer dulcimer?" Even though I may not like the question, it is perfectly legitimate for someone just beginning, but I wince when I hear a brand name quickly tossed out as the definitive answer. I hope to write a lengthy post at some point about what believe people should consider when buying hammer dulcimers.
I prefaced my answer to Kathie's question because I'm about to talk about a specific brand and the reasons I want one, reasons which won't necessarily apply to anyone else.
I've seen and played dozens of brands and say without hesitating that Jerry Read Smith of Song of the Wood makes the best looking hammer dulcimers I've ever seen. He puts hours into giving each instrument a look that is distinctively his own. This of course means he's a low volume builder, so his instruments are rather hard to come by. He's constantly trying to out do himself rather than focus on turning out as many dulcimers as he can. This is how Jerry keeps his interest up. I would describe their tone as sweet and airy and best played with a gentle attack. They have a balanced sound throughout their range but are not necessarily very loud. Another way I would describe their sound is that I would choose to record a ballad or classical piece on one of Jerry's instruments as opposed to a fiddle or old-time tune.
Kathy, I hope this answers your question. - Dan
Saturday, January 24, 2004
At The Hotel
I just updated the Photographs page with pictures from last night's gig at Hickory Hollow.It's exciting to see everyone again from the Yanni tour. We spent so much time together that it feels like a family reunion. This will be the largest audience before which we've ever performed. I'm told Reliant stadium holds around 80 thousand people and should be full for our performance Monday night. We were also told both president Bush's, senior and junior, along with their wives will be in attendance. Good gig eh?
I make it a practice to call Angie when I check into my hotel room and tell her about the accomodations, which are always quite nice. It is customary for there to be a basket of food in the room which the hotel wants you to freely partake of at exhorbitant prices. I generally start the description by telling Angie what the price tag is on the bottle of water in the basket. Tap water tastes great when the only other option is a $5.95 bottle of Evian, which is the cost in this room. The nicer the room, the higher the cost of the bottle. I've decided to track the prices on this tour just for fun.
Hickory Hollow
I had a great time playing at Hickory Hollow last night. A couple of highlights included playing an impromptu duet with Magging Sansone and seeing a fan I met on the last Yanni tour, Denise Gonzalea-Pineda, who has been very ill, but is now recovering nicely.I took quite a few pictures that I’ll post this evening after I get to my hotel room. I’m now on my way to have lunch with participants in a Houston Area Acoustic Music Society workshop.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Safely on the ground in Houston
Our plane touched ground safely around 2:30. I'm at the home of Chuck and Peggy Carter now. She's an excellent dulcimer player, her web site is http://www.peggycarter.com.I'm going to post a couple of pictures on the photographs page in a moment - one I took for fun from the plane window and another of Chuck and me standing behind the instrument I'll play tonight. It belongs to Peggy and was buitly by Jerry Read Smith in Black Mountain North Carolina. Hopefully, Jerry's going to build one for me later this year.
Texas Bound
I’m about to board Continental flight 1821 to Houston after traveling packed like a sardine this morning in a shuttle van from Chattanooga to Atlanta. I hope to catch a little shut eye during the flight this afternoon as I’ve been burning the midnight oil for the past few nights working on this website.I appreciate the help my friend gave me last night in adding ‘Blogger Power’ to this web site. My goals in this project included building a clean, easily modifiable CSS based site with low maintenance blogging and archiving.
I keep tossing around the word CSS and blogging as if everyone is familiar with these terms. A simple explanation is that CSS, which stands for cascading style sheets, are a powerful way to format web site content. With CSS you define a style sheet who’s format cascades throughout all the web content to which it refers. I can now for instance change the font for the ‘Related Links’ header to the left and it will change on all pages. Before switching to CSS I would have had to change it manually on every page.
The word ‘blogging’ refers to maintaining a web log, or journal. Blogging is an easy and popular way for people who enjoy writing to get published instantly. ‘Blogger’ is a web based program that allows writers to update their blogs via any web browser or email client. Blogger automatically posts the update to your website and builds the archives too! There are other blogging programs out there but I highly recommend Blogger. I started using Blogger back when it was a fee based service. When they switched to a free service, and were later bought by Google, they sent me a cool hooded sweatshirt as a way of saying thanks for being a pioneer.
I was beginning to think that in order to use Blogger’s power I’d have to limit what I wanted to do with CSS convinced me that we could figure it out.
They're calling my row - gotta go.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
On the stage
We are on the stage waiting for the dignitaries to take their seats. I took a photo of Yanni with president Bush sr. a few minutes ago. One of the sound guys told me that right after I left that pres. Bush was looking for me to take more pictures. I was apparently the only one there with a camera!Guestbook Pieces Returned
I was able to go back through my old email confirmations of guest book entries and reconstruct the missing messages I mentioned a few journal posts back.Thank you all for the birthday greetings both in the guest book and via email. I look forward to seeing everyone when we hit the road again in March, and a few of you at Houston this weekend. If you’re in Houston this Friday, don’t forget to come down the the Hickory Hollow Barbecue Restaurant this friday evening. See the journal enty from January 17 for details.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
The end of a long day
Here it is folks. The rollout of the CSS based danlandrum.com. It's your turn now to click around and help me find anything that is broken. I have a few more links to add but for the most part everything should be working now that was working on the old site. I'll add new features in the coming days. I stopped working long enough for a hike just before sunset. I posted a couple of pictures on the Photographs page. Good night - DanOh, I almost forgot. I need to push the limits of the guest book to see if it is generating extra pages properly. Please sign in, even it is just to say hello.
Wide Awake
I got so focused working on the upcoming changes to this web site yesterday that my brain was unable to shut down. I awoke this morning dreaming of cascading style sheets and compliant blog posts. Don't worry if you don't know what I'm talking about - I apparently don't either, but I know this stuff is important.After unsuccessfully trying to go back to sleep I rolled over for a quick peek at the clock, hoping it would inform me that it was nearly time to get up anyway. It wasn't. I quietly slipped out of bed and forced the coffee maker into action at 4:40am. I know, many of you do this every day, but hey, I'm supposed to be a musician.
The coffee tastes great and it's back to work on the web site. Thanks to those wishing me birthday greetings on the guest book page. If you didn't read my post from last night, you should know I accidentally deleted almost all the guest book entries yesterday while working an update.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
More Changes
I've discovered some issues with the current frames design of my web site. Thanks again to those of you sending me reports. Major changes are just around the corner and in working on the new site I deleted almost all of your guest book entries. Sorry. Sign back in and say hello!We drove to Missouri over the weekend to visit my mother who is having a few medical problems.
Yesterday, which happened to my birthday we drove back to Tennessee. I'm now 43 and back home practicing, working on the web site and getting ready for my trip to Houston Friday.
Dan
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Flight of the Bumblebee
Dulcimer players - check out my guest book for a link to a training video.Dan
The Superbowl and Supperbowl
I've got a couple of great gigs coming up in the next several days. I'll be in Houston Friday the 23 through Tuesday the 27th. On Friday night I'll be playing at an event sponsored by the Houston Area Acoustic Music Society. It is called Acoustic Showcase and is held at Hickory Hollow Barbecue Restaurant, 101 Heights Blvd. in the Houston "Heights" an old historic district just west of downtown. I'll take my turn on stage along with other musicians and I'm told you're likely to hear dulcimers, autoharps, fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins, etc. The music starts at 7:00pm and ends at 10:00 with a rousing jam session open to all members and visitors who play acoustic instruments.I'll be doing a 15 to 20 minute set sometime during the evening. I hope to meet some of you there so come, eat and be merry.
Oh yeah, while in Houston I'll also join Yanni and the rest of the band at as we perform at the Houston Salutes Superbowl week kickoff party Monday the 26th. I'm told the VIP tables are going for a hundred grand each so I'm glad I'm getting in free!
Dan
Friday, January 16, 2004
A little progress and a great day for a walk
The past several days have been very satisfying. I didn't finish the hymns CD project but I made reasonable progress. I also spent a lot of time working on new material including Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee," Grieg's "In The Hall of the Mountain King," and "Spring."Several years ago I learned "Flight of the Bumblebee" on my D600 but it wasn't really feasible to play it up to speed without skipping some of the best parts. I know a couple of other players that play this piece but they also skip certain parts and jazz it up to cover. There's nothing wrong with that, but this song stands on its own as a solo piece when it flies, just like a bumblebee.
The weather forecast is calling for a wet weekend so I decided to get a hike in this afternoon. I posted pictures from today's Signal Point hike on the Photographs page.
Monday, January 12, 2004
More Pictures Posted
After what I hope will be a quick interview with a newspaper reporter this morning I plan to sequester myself in the studio. I'll be focusing on recording the final tracks for my CD of Hymns with Hannah Pratt. Two more days should complete that project. After that, I'll hammer away at the 'Hammer On!' CD.I posted several more collections of pictures over the past few days and I finally reversed the order on the Photographs index. The newest pics are at the top.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Pictures from Northern Indiana
I made it safely through a snow and ice storm and arrived at the home of Glen and Kathie Jerrell Sunday evening as the temperature fell to single digits. On Monday I played for a packed room of Middle Schoolers at Knox Middle school. They were a blast and I received a stack of thank you letters from them this afternoon. They were unanimously glad I came to play but even happier that I got them out of class for an hour!This morning I played in the band room at John Glenn High School. What a great group of intelligent teens. Thank you to Dan Fortlander for letting me spread my hammer dulcimer evangelism to his students.
Tonight I'm doing a community concert sponsored by the John Glenn Arts Council. Thank you to Glen and Kathie Jerrell for giving me a warm place to stay while in chilly northern Indiana.
After the concert tonight I plan to drive to Nashville, where on Wednesday, my dulcimer will be packed and loaded on a truck headed for Los Angeles. There it will be loaded into trucks along with the rest of the Yanni Ethnicity show and then all of that driven to Houston for the Superbowl event at which we're playing later this month.
I just posted new pictures which you can view by clicking the Photographs link to the left and then scrolling to the bottom of the page. I think I'll reverse the order of these pics when I get back to Chattanooga tomorrow night.
Friday, January 02, 2004
New songs with Randy and Mark
Randy Clepper, Mark Wade and I are busy hammering out new material at Randy's house again today. We're collaborating with the fourth member of our band 'Hammer On!', Bob McMurray via phone.The following is a short video in which Randy and I are figuring out new parts to some audio we'd previously recorded. Mark is clowning, as usual. The song is called "Falling Water," as is named after Falling Water Falls on Signal Mountain.
Here's the movie.