Live A Life Of Music....

My great grandfather, who passed before I was born, was a farmer who I understand had little schooling but was very musical. He could play guitar, violin..just about anything handed to him. My hubby can play guitar and has been known to seranade me on occassion. lol I love that both of our sons have filled our lives with music.

After having achieved National Ranking for the UNC youth swim team at the age of 12, in Chapel Hill, NC, Brian decided he had achieved his swim goal and now wanted to begin playing guitar like his father. Mother purchased his first guitar when we arrived in Dallas to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family. It was only a few weeks later when Tom admitted Brian had surpassed his teaching ability and it was time to start paying for guitar lessons. Which we did. Within a few years we were in a suburb of Chicago - Geneva-St. Charles and Brian was in a rock band called The Businessmen. They wrote and recorded their first cd in jr high. In High School he discovered jazz and became the guitarist in the St. Charles High School jazz band. They were very good and his senior year won the right to perform at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsailles, Clark Terry and others. Guitar led to a full ride in school for Brian in jazz performance and then certification from Dallas Sound Labs for Sound Engineering. Now living in Austin, his days are filled with music. He plays, teaches, writes, arranges, and records music. He has played with many of the great jazz legends and already has memories that would last most of us a lifetime. One of the most delightful memories for me was opening my Christmas present this year from him. He and several friends made me my own holiday cd...vocals, guitar, trumpet, trombone, violin, mandolin, drums. It is wonderful!! It is the middle of January and I listen to it at least once a day.

Dave, our youngest, picked up a guitar and started playing by ear when he was in jr high. How can you not read music but produce such beautiful sounds? One day he began playing a classical spanish tune from the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona...which was beautiful! How can you hear something and then play it? I will never understand it. In High School he played in a group called Kingfish. They played at SXSW his senior year in High School which is pretty unheard of. They were too young to get into any of the clubs but we had a great time on 6th street. lol The following May the boys graduated h.s. and each went to separate universities. They still get together during breaks and holidays to play and record. This past year Dave joined a band called Final Club in Denton, Tx. They just finished recording their first cd and have received quite a bit of press and a really nice following. They returned earlier this week from headlining in Brooklyn and playing in NYC. Village Voice, Brooklyn Vegan, as well as several music blogs gave them rave reviews. I laugh at the stories he has told me (like staying in an apartment above a chinese restaurant) and even louder at those I probably havent heard.

Nothing makes me happier than to turn up the music in my house or in the car and hear my boys. Many times I have happy tears streaming down my face while listening and I am sure the other drivers must think I am having a really bad day. Quite the opposite. Our sons are similar in that they both are very creative and artistic and yet very different in the way they communicate their musical talents. Their lives of music fills our lives with love and that is one happy note to end on.

D