Performing "Ballad of Slowiks" at a family reunion is a trip

This Father's Day weekend my family had a reunion. Since I'm the youngest of 12, reunions are major productions, so I was very glad when our sister Liz asked if I'd perform the song I wrote about the family.

I wrote "Ballad of Slowiks" back in 1994 and it always gets a good reaction when I perform it. Like so much else I do musically it's evolved over time, and the musical evolution has accelerated since I began performing solo about two years ago.

I've come a long way as a performer since 2011. Prior to then I almost always performed in band, as bassist. A couple years ago when I started playing my songs on acoustic guitar in front of people I would have major butterflies before performing. Now I'm able to get up in front of family--the toughest audience there is in my

opinion--and perform without forgetting words, messing up the instrumentation or being too emotionally vested in the subject matter to perform well. You've got to be relaxed enough to get the timing right and appreciate the humor in a song like "Ballad of Slowiks."

So the performance was fine and I had great fun providing the evening's entertainment. Our daughter Hannah was kind enough to film the performance and did a great job--I'm very proud of her artistic abilities. The family gave a great ovation. The link above is to the video of the performance. I hope you check it out.

As I follow-up to the most recent post, I've decided to set the guitar aside for a bit, and not practice for a couple weeks. I'm trying to give the index finger on my left hand a chance to heal. It's had an open sore for four months or so, and maybe constant guitar playing is preventing it from healing. I might still do the Wednesday night open mic at Tribes Mokena but nothing more, and even then I might take off a week or two. So I may not be posting quite as frequently, as I may not be out having as many musical adventures to write about :)

Cheers until next time.