Here’s a pic from Christmas 1975 (when I was 2) and a pic from 2005.
1975: Here’s a pic of my Mom, Dad, me at 2, and my Mom’s dad and mom.
2005: Here’s a pic of my Mom, sister, wife, kids, and Dad.
Interestingly, these pics were taken in the same house at virtually the same spot! Who knew?
Edison Theater at Wash U has a special “ovations for young people” series a few times a semester where they have some artist that plays on Friday night do a Saturday morning matinee for kids. Last semester we went to a performance by Buddhist monks that was awesome.
Anyhow this morning we went to a concert in this series by Turtle Island String Quartet, a jazz string quartet I’ve been following for maybe a decade. It was great, as expected, and the kids seemed to enjoy it, too.
They opened with a Brubeck tune (can’t remember which), then Mark, the cellist, did a lengthy intro and each member talked about how they got into music and their instrument. There were several breaks where they talked about how traditional classic music differed from rock/jazz music (beats on 1/3 vs the backbeat on 2/4).
Some of the stuff they played (what I can remember): jazz classics like “Stolen Moments”, and “Green Dolphin St”, an original “Skylife” from the first violinist, funky stuff like “Who Do You Think You Are?” by Tower of Power, couple pieces from Stephan Grappeli/Django Reinhardt – “Minor Blues” and something else I can’t remember.
They also did a section where they built up a “jazz sound” starting with the cellist, working through rhythm to simulate drums and guitar/piano, to soloing that was a Charlie Parker tune, can’t remember which.
The kids generally did well. These concerts are about 1/3 kids anyways and only an hour so they’re kind of geared to that. Ella was great except that she had to go to the bathroom halfway through. When she got back she said to me quite loudly “Daddy I pee-ed!” Given that we were in the second row and they were playing, that probably was not good concert etiquette. Truman was pretty good but real antsy and spent most of the time squirming in my lap, standing, or the chair but at least didn’t really affect anyone else’s experience (other than patting the nice guy in front of us on the back :).
If the idea of a jazz string quartet sounds cool to you, then you definitely check out Turtle Island as they are a lot of fun to listen to or watch.
I put up some new pictures of the kids at Gymboree today.
I asked Ella what she dreams about tonight and she smiled real big and said “candy”. Then after a second of thought, “and cake and fruit”. Maybe we’re not feeding her enough.
It was great to see my sister Shannon in town over the holidays. Due to living out of the country in Japan, it was the first time she had met Truman at all and only the second time she’d seen Ella. They had a good time with her and I think my explanation to Ella of how Shannon was my sister just like she was Truman’s sister blew her mind.
Here’s a pic of Shannon and the kids while she was in town.
While I was getting Ella dressed last night she held up her finger and we had this conversation:
Ella: I’m saving this.
Dad: For what?
Ella: My kiki (what she calls her blankie)
Dad: What is it?
Ella: Snot!
Dad: (realization dawns) That’s pretty gross Ella.
