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The Wrap-up, 2020 Edition. How was your year?


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It sucked.

I totally understand if anyone wants to just boil it down.

Actually, mine was not 100% bad.

Due to my work status as a so-called 'independent contractor', i was able to get a

substantial rescue payout from the Japanese government. It didn't last long, by the time I paid

the debts I accumulated from work being cancelled. Haven't got anything from the U.S. so far.

Plus it will be a tax slam next year.

The production of 'Cinderella', which was supposed to be postponed until 2021, is basically not going to happen.

in October, i decided I couldn't take any more isolation and went to an open mic at one of my favorite clubs.

It was great fun. Before I could stop myself, i was suggesting to the manager that i get a bunch of music friends together and have

a show. i went home thinking, what did I just do? no one's going top come, it's too risky. i have no experience organizing something like thia.

Instead, almost everyone I contacted wanted to perform.

We ended up with nearly four hours of fab performances. That was in November.

\(I must apologize for any typos. I have a VGA monitor and an HDMI graphics card. I can barely read what I"m typing).

Then about three weeks later, i got news that one of the performers tested positive for covid. Frankly, i thought she was being really reckless

during the event-getting way too close to people and leaving her mask off. I was very clear about following guidelines. Even worse, she has preexisting conditions.

She's still in the hospital. i think from the timeline and lack of symptoms from the rest of us, we are basically okay. But it was way too close for comfort.

i have studio time on the 28th, when I'll be working on a song for a film that I'm also acting in, one of my songs, and a voice narration track that I wrote a script for-

hopefully I can use it to get some voice work. No big plans aside from that. Homesickness is at the level of a physical ailment for me these days. i wish I could go back home.

Maybe next Spring.

anyway happy holidays to everyone, have fun and be safe.

Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

Skipsounds on Soundclick:

www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491

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I hope all things turn around for you in 2021, brother.

 

What to report? 2020 didn't start out badly for me. I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary, and turned 65 in January. For my birthday, I got myself a nice new Synth, one that allowed me to start exploring Modular Synthesis, which I'd been curious about, and Novparolo had a bunch of performances lined up, all good things.

 

Beginning of March, we got to meet up with Danzilla and his lovely wife for dinner and Steve Hackett at the Warner Theater in D.C.. By the next weekend, well, we all know what happened next, and it happened to all of us, in different ways, to different degrees, and it ain't over yet.

 

There've been more than a few times when I've thought that I was really finally losing my fucking mind. If you've felt anything like it, I don't need to tell you, and if you haven't, you don't want to hear it . . .

 

Little successes - My wife and I are still alive, and so far, neither of us is sick. Some of our friends and family had gotten Covid, but so far, everyone has recovered. We get tested every couple of weeks, and we got flu shots, just in case. I've gotten a LOT of work done on my back yard flower and beds, put together an album with my bandmate, even though we couldn't really be together to record. We'd also recorded a track for a local album project, benefitting a D.C. food bank, and even managed one safe video shoot, our only performance for the year. I have most of an album's worth of material ready to go, although some of the worst of what I've been feeling comes through in the Music, but better to set it loose in that form, I guess.

 

For now, I'm waiting for Godot, like everyone else. I don't know when Mr. Godot will arrive, or even what form he may take when he does, but his messenger, or messengers, assure us that he will, in fact, arrive, perhaps tomorrow, maybe next week, but until then, we wait, not always patiently, but we wait, nonetheless, and when he comes, I will greet him warmly.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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I am alive and well. Those I love and am close to are mostly doing very well.

 

My upstairs neighbor has become obsessed with vacuuming, it's tempting to want to get her a less noisy vacuum, hers sounds like a yard tractor driving over a field of live chainsaws.

Things are slowly headed in a positive direction. Monday is Winter Solstice, days will start getting longer and warmer.

 

I've been hoping for a bout of severe cold but I doubt we'll get it. Why? Murder hornets are here in Whatcom County and we didn't eradicate them this summer/fall. They multiply rapidly.

Their hives could be compromised or destroyed if it got cold enough. It won't.

 

I am grateful for a safe social outlet like MPN, where certain divisive topics are avoided and we can all share a bit of our lives with others. Peace, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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First, the good things that happened to me. I finally bought a double neck guitar, something that I have wanted for many years. On the few weekends that I was actually able to work, business was great. If the corona virus would have been weak and grossly overrated, this would have been my best year ever. Other than that, this year was horrible.
I rock; therefore, I am.
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The 2020 virus has made it a very tough year to get through for many families in our country. I'll be glad when the ball drops in NYC, even if no one is there to see it, and we start getting back to normal in 2021. I pray the vaccines will put and end to all of these trials and tribulations. My condolences to all of those that have lost friends and family members.

 

My health has been good except for the aches and pains in both shoulders due to arthritis. I took a couple of cortisone shots and they helped quite a bit. My picking hand also has some pain in the thumb and my fretting hand gets some tremors now and then. I can't complain and just keep trying to do what I can on my guitar...speaking of which, I did manage to get my favorite guitar modded with 2 new 57 Gibson Gold Humbuckers, 4 Gibson audio taper 500k pots and 4 gold speed nobs, a new Switchcraft 3 way switch, and had the floating bridge pinned. It now plays and sounds just the way I want it to. I also got me a new Fender Deluxe Tone Master amp to play it through and now have the sound I've been craving for (for many years). So like I said, I can't complain...

 

I'm wishing all our MPN Forumites a Merry Christmas and/or a Happy Holidays! :2thu:

Take care, Larryz
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Besides the incident i mentioned, a family member-on my cousin's side, not directly related to me-was lost to covid.

He was a well-known community figure in the Chicago area,, with a highly rated BBQ restaurant.

Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

Skipsounds on Soundclick:

www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491

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Everything went well for us this year, considering the covid crisis. We did well financially, and we did well health wise. Of course we put a stop to our travel plans via airplane, and we stayed at home a big bunch. Yesterday we did a trip to Payson Az.123 miles and 2 hours on the road each way. We brought a bunch of clothing and blankets that my wifey collected for the homeless up there to The Unity Church for a giveaway to the homeless folks. It was an easy trip up and back and the preacher prayed on us to have a safe trip home, which we did.

 

No major complaints about 2020 here.

(And we still have a few rolls of toilet paper stash awaiting the great anticipated TP shortage of 2021 :laugh::thu::cheers:)

 

And I want to wish everyone here (from every faith) a happy and healthy holiday season to all of you and to your families as well.

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Throughout much of the year my life has felt largely unaffected. I tend to stay home, self isolating a lot of the time anyway. Biggest drag has been the cessation of live gigs, meaning I've had no Kronos touring this year at all. And almost no studio work. I've been able to do remote mixing & mastering here, but no live sessions. The consequence is loss of about 2/3rds of my annual income. My house is paid off, & I have income from Social Security, a pension plan, & a life insurance payout, so I'm not on the street, but it's a lot tighter than usual. But mainly I miss being able to go out for meals, being able to go into any stores, going to any gatherings, getting together with family & friends. So, that's 2020. I'm not sick & for that I'm grateful. A whole lot of people are in desperate circumstances & I'm very sorry to see my country utterly failing to address the calamity which is upon us. I look forward to 2021 seeing the emergence from the darkness.
Scott Fraser
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Every time I want to cry about my year I look at all who had it so much worse than me. I could make a list but we all know the numbers. This one I saw yesterday, 7.8 million people fall into poverty since the start of the pandemic. My family, friends and I have survived quite nicely by comparison.
Jenny S.
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I feel guilty answering this... we're fine.

 

I know we're very lucky... I have a bit of "Survivor's Guilt" over that, but other than the two of us not physically going into the office and the kiddo attending school remotely our lives have not been disrupted in any significant way. We're those jerks who've had groceries and things delivered for years for convenience, anyway.

 

I've fallen victim to COVID-G.A.S. and added some items for cheap.

 

No gigs, of course, but that has not bothered me in the slightest... it almost worries me that it has not bothered me in the slightest. It usually involves travel for me, even if just an hour and a half away to New Orleans, and I guess the complications and risks that go along with that make it obviously not worth it. I don't gig for a living so I've passed whatever does get offered on to people who do who are vocally complaining about being broke. Am I playing gigs just to justify all of the gear? The things I miss about plating music - improvisation, the sparks of creativity in working up an arrangement to a song idea - I've missed for a few years, because nobody I know has the time to do things that way anymore and swap demo files that are all pretty much complete except for "insert solo here" or "dress up this bass line." I know younger players who have the time but the difference in years kind of creates a mismatch of influences and preferred styles (not to mention - most importantly - notions of acceptable practice room playing volumes)... but that's not important in the big picture.

 

We've got our health and no real problems. I hope everything works out for everyone everywhere. Here's to a New Year that is a positive one for all!

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We"ve had our ups & downs, like any year. And our ups haven"t been as high as usual.

 

But to be honest, most of our downs have been...inconveniences. On occasion, the inconveniences have come in clumps so as to transform into major headaches, like our Thanksgiving ordeal.*

 

But compared to others" tribulations, it"s been small potatoes, so we"re not really complaining.

 

 

 

* Long story short: cut both of my index fingers (one with unseen mini food-processor blade, one with santoku), kitchen plumbing backed up, power went out twice, the filter on 1 of our 2 fridges sprung a leak, the oven died and the microwave is dying. Replacements for the last 2 will not be replaced until March 2021 due to C19 slowdowns in parts and assembly factories.

Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ

 

My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx

 

http://murphysmusictx.com/

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