Getting Ready For Christmas

It has been a couple of weeks since the last entry, but things have been quiet.  I was gigless this weekend again but had plenty to do.

Being December it was time to get ready for the Christmas season.  On Saturday we put up the tree and spent the evening admiring it while kicking back and watching a couple of movies.  The first was Superman IV: The Quest For Peace.  I never saw this when it first came out and it was part of the multi-disc set of Superman movies I had so I thought why not.  In my opinion, it was the worst of the bunch.  I found that it had some holes in the plot and they decided to try and use dialogue to explain things after the fact.  Watched some of the deleted scenes and they were a bit better than the movie itself.

The next movie was The American with George Clooney.  Didn’t think much of this movie before watching it, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It is a bit slow but I did not mind, I enjoyed the journey.  In the DVD extras the filmmakers said that they were trying to make it like a modern day western in the tradition of a Sergio Leone (Good, Bad and the Ugly) which can explain the slow pace of this film.  Also the backdrop of a rural town in Italy makes this a spectacular movie to watch for its scenery.

On Sunday it was the Tuneology Christmas recital.  It is good to see the kids you are teaching giving it their best shot and performing in front of an audience.  I also have fun performing with them.  Had two violin students playing jigs and reels and two guitar students that we paired up with drummers.  I played bass and sang.  The event was a success and I am proud of my students’ achievements.  I've included a couple of photos of the event. 

After the recital it was off to the mall to finish my Christmas shopping.  To sum up the experience, parking was horrible, inside too crowded, but luckily I was able to finish my shopping.  The evening was a whole lot better.  Got together with Malcolm (a friend and bass player) and we headed out to Southside Johnny’s for their Sunday night jam.  Malcolm and I have played together on and off for a couple of years and know each other, but we were both surprised on how the house band’s drummer was able to keep up with what we were doing.  Don’t remember his name but I liked his drumming.

My next blog will feature a list of my favourite Christmas albums, stay tuned.  Also check out my gigs page.  I just picked up a date with Tamin’ Thunder along with the next Salty Dog gig for 2012.