I didn't think I'd be performing solo today.

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I had fun with my students this morning. My 9-year-old piano student was a "pill," and wanted to bang on the drums and talk about neurons, rather than play piano. I gave in and talked axons and dendrites with him (yes, he's one of those boys who is slightly what we used to call Asperger's). Finally he gave in and we got some piano playing done. He has already made it through the "sharp scales" and is working on the "flat scales now." My 8-year-old piano student showed me her "composition" today, which she had forgotten to bring to our last few lessons. I had "transcribed" it for her. We played it together and then wrote a harmony part for her left hand. That's her "challenge" for this week: play both hands together. Yes, I got my big smile and a hug. Heh. I have an innocent teenage boy who wants to learn Hendrix. We've been working on it for about three lessons. I told him, "It's OK to have a bit of attitude. And Hendrix had attitude in his playing." I'll write about him another time. Between lessons, the "Lessons Assistant Lead" told me that Guitar Center was having an Open Mic today in the early afternoon. I had no clue. Of course I said yes when he asked if I wanted to play. There were only about ten people in the audience, and I did two early John Prine songs. I chose not to use a microphone or guitar amplification. The songs I did were Christmas in Prison and Paradise. It went well, and I got to introduce the music of John Prine to a small group of Californians, most of whom do not know his music. I'll attach Bonnie Raitt's version of Prine's Angel From Montgomery. It was her success with this song that really put John Prine on the map outside of the Midwest. If you give it a listen, I hope you enjoy it. It's interesting in that it's written from the perspective of a woman. But it's written by a man.