OT: How was your 2016 ?

[realtrance]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

 

Best: daughter is getting on with life wonderfully, married (lovely wedding!), good job (I know... oxymoron) and moved into her own home.

 

Worst: got kicked to the curb by a company that promised me (don't they always, though...) I'd have a position for a long time. Not my doing, I was assured; no harm done, goodbye. Never believed them anyway, but just furthered my general distrust of people. Evil is as evil does.

 

Life: still married to the one I love, going on what? I've lost count, we got together in 1978, you do the math. We've supported each other through many small trials and tribulations, and had a pretty good run of it. I gave up on the world in 1980, present events only confirm this was a brilliant decision at that time.

 

Health: eh. Could complain, but I won't. Had my 60th this year, never was sure I'd make it this far. The party wasn't as hearty as it could have been, oh well, it's fine, never liked parties anyways. At the point in my life where I've spent my time on others' needs; now it's time to spend more time on my own. That's a good thing.

 

Gear: it was quite the tempting year! Got a few things, Minilogue, some other stuff. Having lots of fun. Great time to enjoy electronics and music.

[SteveCoscia]

My wife and I were mostly healthy throughout 2016, for which we are thankful. Glad we stayed together through the tough years. At this stage of my life, sharing life with a loving spouse pays big dividends.

 

I am about 10 lbs. overweight and my will power isn't what it used to be. Still, I know that losing that 10 lbs. could add years of better health and mobility. Not giving up on weight loss.

 

My consultancy had a terrific year. Highest gross revenue year since being self-employed in 2001. We got lucky with a huge mid-year assignment which eased cash flow concerns and boosted profitability. It was a fluke. Not sure how to replicate that in 2017.

 

My wife and I were empty-nesters for about a year. Then in September, our 23 year old son moved back in with us after deadbeat roommate issues negatively impacted our son's finances. He now needs to save money and regroup. Glad he loves his job, is safe and happy as he regroups for his next adventure.

 

Musically, I didn't do too much. Practiced piano between the business trips and sometimes I brought my Casio PX-560M with me on the road for hotel room practice. I keep trying to include piano playing in my business blogs so my clients will see that I'm more fun than I look.

 

In 2016, my siblings and I invested more time together to hug, laugh and reminisce. These are important years to stay close - being together is soothing.

 

Looking forward to retirement so I can practice, compose and play more piano.

[churchkeybob]

2016 Has been a good year. As they say Life Happens and it's been happening to our family in different ways all year long.

 

My parents are in their mid 80's are still managing quite well, although my dad has slowed down a lot this year.

 

My daughters (9 and 10) are just a joy at that age.

 

My thirty-nine year old classic car restoration business keeps bringing new customers and my employees get the work done even when I don't feel like working.

 

My wife changed jobs this year to get rid of a one hour commute to and from her old job. Her new job turned into a nightmare with a mean manipulative boss and they let her go a week before Christmas. It really turned out for the best even though we loose her income, the stress of her job was intolerable.

 

I played every Sunday in church and our band really kills it. We also played two concerts this year. One in a band shell and one in our church. We brought our best to the band shell, however we followed a rocken gospel choir that blew the roof off. A hard act to follow. We just couldn't match their magic. We were given a choice of going on first or last and we blew it. Still it was a fun gig.

 

All the best for you all in 2017. ~BOB

[KeyMoe]

Been a pretty good year.

 

Personal - All is well. 26 year old daughter is doing well at her job at PWC here in Dallas and was recently promoted. My job has been extremely busy. Picked up IT responsibility for two other airlines, one in Dayton Ohio and the other in Salsbury Maryland. So a lot more traveling for me in 2017 as I also have teams in Phoenix, Dallas and Tulsa.

 

Equipment - Changing up my live rig as I purchased a Montage and a Mojo 61. Still haven't completely worked them into the show. But so far love them both. Also purchased a Roland diatonic button V-accordion this year that will replace my Roland FR1 accordion. Still adjusting to change in playing style.

 

Gigs - Been an average year. Opened for a number of acts this year including Ted Nugent, Styx, Thomas Rhett, Josh Abott and other country acts. Hoping 2017 brings a few more gigs.

 

Still shocked at the number of losses in the musical industry in 2017, Prince, David Bowie, Glenn Fry, George Michael, Maurice White, Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Merle Haggard, Pete Fountain, Buckwheat (Zydeco) Dural, Leon Russell, Bob Wasserman, Juan Gabriel to name a few!

 

Other than that, looking forward to 2017!

 

Happy New Year to all!

[Outkaster]

Not that great in some ways. This last three months I played 3 gigs which is unheard of. A bass player in my band was let go after quitting 3 times...he was a friend and it derailed my gigging schedule as I couldn't find anyone to replace him till just now. I had to let him go as he wasn't playing the music he wanted to but be along for the ride. Anyway the new guy is a better fit so hopefully we will be playing more now. This season has been so slow going forward.

 

Personally I turned 49 and I can see some changes physically but luckily I stay in shape so that's good. Parents are 84 and 86 so it requires some patience sometimes...it's hard to see them get old. I hope for everyone that 2017 is a better year musically as I know it's hard in the trenches out there. Happy New Year.

[Polkahero]

I can't complain about this year. Played the most gigs between several bands and also got established playing a solo piano gig at a nearby facility. I've built up my solo piano repertoire this year so I'm ready to start marketing myself for weddings, cocktail parties, etc. One of my bands is folding up due to a member's health issues so I'm hoping the new year brings new musical opportunities!

 

Gearwise I focused on my bass equipment and was able to find a 1961 Fender Jazz (the holy grail of bass guitars) at an estate sale for cheap. Next month's project is getting it fixed up so I can use it for recording sessions. Bought a new car after driving my last ride for almost 10 years.

 

Personally nothing really new. I live a pretty boring life.

[Dave Bryce]

Thanks to brother GregC for starting this thread, and to everyone for taking the time to post in it. Very cool that we all feel comfortable enough to do so, and really great to be able to get an idea what's going on with everyone.

 

Here's to a brighter 2017 for all.

 

dB

[Bob L]

Musically a very good year. Played a July 4th street party that had three thousand attendees and this was the biggest event I ever played in my life. Our drummer moved to LA (we are in the San Jose area) so we have the challenge of auditioning drummers and replacing him in 2017.

 

I ditched my keyboard amp for a Behringer Powerplay P1. Inexpensive in ear solution but by taking a monitor feed from the PA and using a small mixer for my two keyboards I can now hear my vocals much better (so I tend not to put as much wear and tear on my vocal chords) and my ears are less fatigued at the end of a gig and the next day.

 

I am happy with the my current rig, and no major gear purchases in my future.

 

Took vocal lessons and my range is much improved allowing the band to cover some material we could not before (Maroon 5 in particular).

 

My immediate family is healthy and I am thankful for that.

 

Would like to work through a few books on funk keyboards and jazz so that maybe I can play solo in the future when I am too old for the band thing. Funny that typing all this out has me feeling better about 2016...so my thanks to the creator of this thread!

[eric]

Nice thread - I'm really enjoying reading everyone's updates. Here are a few notes from me.

 

MUSIC

Loved the traditional January visit to NAMM, hanging with cherished forum friends at Redkey Lounge. Also a couple of good hangs separately - Mark's summer MAKCFH, plus a visit to vonnor who wired up my most awesome rig ever to use multi-pin snakes (separate thread on that).

 

I picked up a NS2 EX soon after NAMM, which was an incremental but enjoyable addition to my rig.

 

My band has stayed as busy as I like, with a weekly rehearsal, learning new music monthly, and gigging 3-5x per month. We're like brothers and best friends in the band, which makes it very enjoyable.

 

The band I toured with in the '90s that was regionally famous had an amazing reunion show that was jam-packed with fans singing all the words to our original music. It was incredible.

 

I also added more to my growing vinyl collection and take the time to enjoy listening to albums from start to finish several times per week.

 

FAMILY/HEALTH

This was a way better year for us in terms of family health - my wife battled stage 1 breast cancer from the tail end of 2014 into early 2016, with lots of very difficult treatment, multiple surgeries, etc. Most all of that is behind us. In the past two years both kids also had some health issues (torn ACL, thyroid tumor), but nothing in 2016. The sign of it being a good year health-wise was having a surplus of flexible spending left over that I'm trying to burn through at the end of the year. That's the first time we've had this happen.

 

My twin daughters are in their second year of college, both doing really well. They have tremendous work ethic, both holding down nearly full time jobs during the summer break and holidays. One daughter is in nursing school and is a volunteer EMS provider, plus works as a nurse's care partner in the transplant wing of a local hospital. The other daughter is going with either PT or pre-med for undergrad, does a lot of philanthropic volunteerism and works for a small local business managing food carts and events related to this.

 

My own health is just ok. During my wife's sickness, I fell a bit off the grid of personal fitness and gained a few pounds that are hard to lose. I continue training for 1-2 half marathons per year, but I'm not as fast as I was 2-3 years ago. Partly due to weight gain and partly due to not working as hard at it. I had a nagging knee problem as well. I hope to fix all of this in 2017.

 

WORK

I have a great day job at a fintech company that treats me well. I enjoy the work I do and have some really talented people as peers. I get to do some traveling, which sometimes enables me to meet up with forum members in different geographies.

 

In 2017, I'm looking forward to getting more healthy, continuing to see my family be healthy, spending lots of time with my kids and extended family, and keeping the musical activity at a similar clip. Hoping that the original band might have a few more reunion shows as well.

 

I look forward to 2017 NAMM in January and reconnecting with all my forum friends. Hopefully we'll have some other get-togethers this coming year.

 

Happy New Year!

[Lindaru]

I love reading about you all. Kind of like sitting with you and having a

 

Family and financial: Hubby's knee situation is irreparable as both of his knee replacements have gone south and they later discovered that he is allergic to any artificial things they could put in him, so no repair screws, putty or new replacements will help and may make him worse. With the dreaded mountain winter coming on, how were we going to get enough wood to keep the house warm?

 

Through the generosity of some K.C. members here and others around us, we have enough wood to see us through at least into March. We should be solvent enough after that to buy more wood (adjustments being made to disability income from the V.A.)

 

We went in May 2016 to see grand-son (now five years old) and new born grand-daughter in Seattle, Washington. October oldest step-daughter in Pennsylvania got married and is now expecting their first child. Plans are to go be with her shortly after the baby is born for a visit.

 

Projects: No new gear, software up-grades to existing apps, continuing on with comedy shows as usual. Merged with a spiritualist network August 1st and am now part of their on line e-zine, a web site administrator and doing the occasional pod-cast through them. Moved from Daily Motion video platform to Vid.me on December 9th. I have had more views on this platform in the short time I have been there than I ever did from 2011 to 2015 on You Tube or the year and a half on Daily Motion. I am contributing to the success of VidBitFuture which will be opening their video sharing platform on February 19th. A lot of changes in 2016 but all new and adventurous, and all beneficial for me.

 

Health: Around this time last year, I was suffering some severe M.S. symptoms. I seem to not be having as rough a time this year and have even managed to come up with some pretty wild dance moves ("Up Town Funk"), so trying to keep limber and strong. I do not really have an over weight issue but more of a toning issue. Seems the older I get, the harder it is to get that smooth toned look, especially in my thighs and stomach. I dress to compensate.

 

*LOL*

 

 

[Shamanczarek]

I think I went all year without buying any gear. I did have a few vintage Keyboards repaired which was fairly expensive.

 

Musically the highlight of the year was getting to play three New York shows with Robby Krieger of The Doors in September. On one show we did a set of Doors songs with Danny Seraphine of Chicago on drums, Tommy Thayer of KISS on guitar, as well as Robby's son Waylon on vocals. Chris Berman from ESPN, who came to my show last night in Hartford CT, was guest vocalist on Light My Fire. The other two shows were with Robby's band of outstanding musicians. Now have a top level management agency behind one of my bands so I will be playing some great venues in 2017.

[steve campito]

Thank God 2016 was a good year. Played many high paying gigs and bought some new toys. More important than that, I am thankful that everyone in my family, eg. kids, grandkids etc. are all healthy and doing well. May 2017 be equally good to all of us as well as friends.

[Dave Bryce]

 

dB

[Rusty Mike]

Work was just a "meh" year. I work for a big company that had at least 4 rounds of layoffs here in the US. I was not personally impacted by it, but I did have to let go three of my team members. It's disturbing to me, and I'm struggling to figure out how to stay vital in this company until I can retire in 3-5 years.

 

My wife has been advancing through her job. She was named an administrator for the high school she works at, and has been taking some classes to work her way up the salary guide. The final payoff for that will be this February. We've been fortunate to see her salary increase significantly in the past 15 months.

 

Son #1 was married in September. Both he and his wife (who we absolutely adore) work as mechanical engineers and are doing very well for themselves. The wedding was most certainly the highlight of the year for us. Son #2 is back in school in NYC after diverting his attention to a school in Canada that did not work out. He's much happier here.

 

Musically, it's been mostly fun, with one exception. In March, I agreed to join a "working" band, lining up to do about 2-3 gigs a month. After three months of rehearsals and a few gigs, I decided it wasn't for me. There were many reasons, but it mostly came down to not enjoying the paid musician experience. I did not agree with the BL's decisions, style, or complete lack of compromise, but it was more about not really wanting to work that much. I'm at a point in my life now where I want to play out of enjoyment, and not because it's a job. They keep asking me to come back because they haven't found a replacement yet (going on four months), but I keep turning them down. I don't want to set a precedent.

 

The other groups (two big bands, a fusion group and a loose collective of pickup combo players) are a lot of fun. One of the big bands played my son's wedding (without me, of course), and it simply blew everyone away! The fusion group has a hard time getting schedules coordinated, and rehearsals seem to be cancelled due to illness or other emergencies, but it is the most challenging and rewarding of the groups to play with. We are hoping to pick up more in 2017.

 

I've been less focused on equipment and GAS this year, and more focused on playing what I have and just improving at piano. I started lessons again several months ago, which has been just a great thing to do. I'm having a lot of fun with that. I did pick up a Nord Stage 2EX as an update to my Electro 3HP, but the Electro hasn't left the stable yet. I did recently sell my Kurzweil PC361. I don't see new purchases on the horizon for quite a while. I really just want to focus on playing and getting better.

 

I'm hoping for a enjoyable and less turbulent 2017.

[allan_evett]

It was a better-than-okay year. Not getting rich, as a self-employed musician / teacher, but somehow was able to make a few sell-offs / gear upgrades this year. What helped was clearing out a closet or two's worth of unused gear and accessories. Having a spouse who works full-time adds some stability to the economic picture as well. Though looking toward her retirement in 10 - 12 years has us asking more than a few questions.. Though neither of us are 'triathletes', we try to keep moving, stretch and stay active, work out when we can.. I'm fortunate to have a lady who's grounded, and is still curious about life. We do a lot of short trips and exploring together.

 

My mom's health is a big issue. She's in advanced-assisted living (all but nursing home) about 10 miles from us. Had another major fall last week - with a couple of sprains. 2013's stroke continues to have long reaching impact.

 

I landed a new, church gig this past fall. After serving in various capacities over the past 30 years, this is my first, sole director position for a church arts program. It's a heavy-duty, but fun gig; get to work with a handful of great people. I've been doing less club work since late fall, but I've lost patience with a lot of that scene. Plus I still teach two nights a week. Gigging just seems to be getting weirder since returning to the midwest. One bright note is that a few of music people at the church are interested in playing for some of the local clubs / fests in SW Michigan, and have some connections to do so. The male vocalist / guitarist has turned out to be quite riveting when covering blues-gospel and americana tunes, and we landed a monster bassist this past fall. So it looks like a new act started to happen while I wasn't looking.