This Still Isn't Easy

Well, either the inspiration train has already rolled on by, or I'm not taking nearly enough initiative when it comes to producing any type of content on this blog.  I think I've about formulated (in my head, at least) what this particular project will look like, but I'm not quite sure yet how it is going to play out.  I don't suspect I'll have much time to become an authority on mandolins, or be so involved in the field that people will really be coming here to find out all the latest and greatest news that concerns mandolins and them that play'em.

What I think I will do is try my best to be a good mandolin student over the next weeks, and try to make use of the various resources on the web, using this blog as a recording hub for my activity.  I've also started an account on Twitter, so that I can be followed at (or follow from) KyleGerber1.  I still feel a bit silly about the Twitter thing, and haven't allowed myself to refer to my own actions as "tweeting," but I definitely see how the entire system can be quite useful (for any number of reasons).

The learning curve could be quite steep, as I'm going to try to post video of myself learning some tunes, and reflecting on the process.  This is, of course, keeping in my mind that I have my regular rehearsals to make, and a MA program to survive. . . but if I can't make time for the mando, well, there's just not much hope.

I already know that this has fallen short of the "remotely-interesting-spectrum," so I'll wrap up with a final thought that has nothing to with mandolins except that my mandolin playing is central to the story.  My sister and I were informed today by a local radio DJ that he would be kicking off his show this Sunday morning from our band's debut cd, Rescue Junction.  I tried to play it pretty cool, but there's something about hearing that one of the quintessential radio programs of your youth - it really was - will be featuring your contribution to the music world.  I'm still a bit flabbergasted.

In class today we were discussing various definitions, forms and genres of autobiography, questioning how various media influence, inform, and enable interaction among people.  The professor mentioned what it was like to interact (on a social networking platform) with someone she really admired, and who is ranked at a more prestigious level of scholarship; the platform of course, was pretty much the fundamental element of this interaction.  I had to think of how our cd, as a medium, has opened up new "levels" to us as well, as we now converse with a DJ hero of our youth not as listeners (though we still are) but as performing artists.  This interaction is almost solely and entirely dependant on the medium of the cd, as I knew it would be.  This is not unlike my professor interacting with a "big shot" thanks to the nature and media of the interaction.  Most of my life I, that is, the many features that make up "me,"have no business interacting with that other person. . . except for that part of my life that is measured, informed, and critically handled at the level of direct interaction with certain people.  No part of my autobiography belongs on the radio, oop, except for that part where my mandolin playing and the sound of our band seems to be completely appropriate and well-timed for the studio.

That was way too long.  I'll try to keep them shorter.  I need to sleep on what I've said.

Be sure to tune in to Joyful Country this Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m., CKWR 98.5 (Kitchener/Waterloo) to hear the debut of Rescue Junction on the local airwaves.

Getting the Ol' Ball Rolling - oops, that's not a mandolin metaphor

I don't think I should be surprised that in staying engrossed in the world of academia I find myself thrust back into the world of blogging.  After all, a degree in English implies a writer's bent to say the least, and in this wild web-wide world one of the best ways to hone those writing chops is to do it online.  So here I am.

Either fortunately or unfortunately, this is not my first blog.  Perhaps some day I'll have the courage or lack of self-preservation to post a link to at least two other blogs that may reveal more of me than is warranted. Perhaps.  But for now, I think I'll just occupy myself with trying to maintain a relatively consistent presence here without resorting to useless drivel about my drive into work that morning.  Unless of course the drive/ride into work that particular morning is noteworthy in any way.

The terrible pun on noteworthy leads me to my next point (which judging by the clock ought to be my last one), which is that I will be turning this blog on a mandocentric axis.  I don't think mandocentric is really word, but I've spent the last four years of life watching as professional writers crank out words that are highly imaginative additions to the lexicon.  Sitting down at an exercise a while ago, trying to come up with a first page for my autobiography - it was a class assignment, I promise - I realized how hard it would be to come at a telling of my life from just one angle.  This difficulty is consistent with much self life writing, as I've been reading over the last week.  So I picked one.  I'm going to try to present myself on this blog through my experience of being a mandolin player.  It seems specific enough that I just may be able to interest a few readers who are interested in musings on the mandolin and a life that is lived around one.  Perhaps it is too specific, and dull, and maybe I'll drop the idea altogether, but I think it's a good place to start.