Lou Gehrig Charles

That describes my parents exactly. Even well into young-adulthood, if there was something I really wanted I learned to just save up and buy it myself. Often they'd get mad afterward, saying I should have told them I wanted it so they could get it for me for Christmas... Sure, but it's June! And they'd just look up the item in the store and buy one three rungs further down the pricing ladder instead. I've only been back into playing music for about five years now, but for much of that I was using a $170 Casio CTX-700. Sure, the keys are springy and squeaky but I like many of the sounds it has. Enough so I bought another Casio when it came time for a fully-weighted 88-key board. I keep the old one though for those songs I need a second board on.

I could see Yoko doing this as a cash grab. Heck I'm honestly surprised Paul didn't put together a "historic Beatles reunion" at some point in the last twenty years, just him and Ringo + a bunch of session musicians. But I'm a cynical old bastard.

I am realizing that my problem is I can't hear myself as well as my bandmates can. I need my own monitor.

My keyboard hero is Don Airey, so if I could just play like him.... I wouldn't mind being in the background! 🎹

Like one of those extension arms that can hold a laptop? Or maybe that might be too flimsy....

Southwest Airlines, MDW-ATL from $79 each way....

Ahhh, the pitfalls of "people" photography. Reminds me why I like to take pictures of things OTHER than people! I am one of the official photographers of our car club (bet you didn't know there were clubs for the Pontiac Fiero). Shooting the cars is easy... But when I have to shoot one of the members (or candids of the members at an event) it could not be any more stressful! But I did get a magazine cover photo last year, so that made it fun.

Kind of a clever, more grown-up version of the "Wacky Packages" I loved as a kid!

"That was a wonderful dinner; you must have a terrific stove...." My parents are guilty of doing that first one, years ago when they went to a presentation about someone's trip to Easter Island, or some other fantastic place. The guy had the best photos ever! Fabulous! They waited around to the end and finally got a chance to ask the guy what kind of camera he was using. Turns out, it was a plain old P&S film camera, probably no more than $150. So they bought one.... Special-ordered it too since it was already out of production, and promptly took it on a trip to the Yucatan. As it turns out, their photos were nothing special, and overall were probably worse than the ones they had been getting previously from their Pentax K1000. The P&S had a zoom lens on it that was probably about f4 - f7.1 or thereabouts and required either a very steady hand (or preferably, a tripod) and anything over a super-wide photo had severe camera shake. The automatic flash overexposed anything that happened to get in its way, and their drug-store prints were no match to the crystal-clear Kodachromes the other guy had been showing. I am sure the camera was probably reasonably decent - in the hands of someone with a lot of experience. But for my parents it turned out to be a disappointment.

Probably so, but I draw the line at going shirtless....

Hmmm, some wise advice, thanks! Fortunately we were entirely in the grass..... And no one was in the pool. Still a little cool for that yet!

We played over the weekend and I noticed two band members were barefoot..... I only thought it was noteworthy because I wear shoes all the time unless I am sleeping. And besides, we were outside. Next to a pool. Maybe [b]I[/b] was the strange one? Maybe we'll hire Zandra Rhodes to design some new duds for us for next time.

REO Speedwagon: Love: Back On The Road Again Like: Don't Let Him Go Hate: Can't Fight This Feeling

I just noticed that there must've been a part of the sign that got chopped off, below the work "Motel". The red border doesn't go all the way around. Hmmmm, maybe it said "Vacancy" there or something? Cool selfie! Somehow I managed to miss shooting that sign, although I was all over that corner of the property each night. The little Studebaker mail truck got a lot of attention from me!

I'd like to hear that. Summer Breeze is a favorite of mine! Every time I hear it I flash back to being 8 years old enjoying that last summer before we packed up and moved from our childhood home.

Oh, come ON, Eileen!

A great store, but it's 50:50 whether he hangs up your band's gig poster right-side up or not. On a sad note, Ray's building was demolished last year after being damaged in fires in 2020. The mural on the wall (seen in the movie) was still there (albeit faded) after all that many years.

I was going to say similar. There are two Guitar Centers near me, and the better of the two isn't too bad.... But the other one has a tiny room full of keyboards but last time I was in there I only got one or two of them to work. Maybe they're pilfering the power cords for other rigs? I don't know.... Someone probably took the extension cord over to a different department.

To borrow a phrase from John Belushi: "Fix the intervelometer!"

Suddenly I am left wondering whatever I did with that old picture I had saved of "Murph and the Magictones"...

That's the truth! My teacher admitted he can tell which kids are there against their will; to them the lesson probably feels like it drags on for an eternity! But to me as an adult it is over in a flash.

When I moved up from my cheap Casio keyboard (which indeed was much too springy and light) I first tried a weighted Yamaha which I promptly returned because it felt like a stick in the mud. In it's place I bought another Casio which was weighted but much more playable than that Yamaha. I felt bad returning the Yamaha but I just couldn't jive with its action at all.

I played for a few years at a nursing home where my mother was a resident..... No one there was very particular how well I played and most of them who have heard me are now dead. But playing (as an adult) for the first time for a teacher was mortifying!

Choked on vomit, bizarre gardening accident, spontaneous combustion, etc, etc. Our drummer is pregnant, but that pales in comparison.

How about a P-125? I believe that is the same as what you have now except it has 88 keys. With that said, I bought and promptly returned a P-125 because I didn't like any of the other sounds besides the regular Grand piano sound (not that it has all that many to begin with).