Cup of Coffee

November 9, 2023: Rock Star

28 Comments

I've had guitars lying around the house for years hoping the kids would pick one up to no success. Randomly, I picked one up and showed Pete a simplish song from the mid-90s, and to my shock, he hasn't stopped playing guitar for the past couple days. I'm hoping I've created a monster.

28 thoughts on “November 9, 2023: Rock Star”

  1. Glendale lost to the Peoria Javelinas 2-1 in 10 innings. Kala'i Rosario was 1-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Ben Ethridge struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning. Malik Barrington struck out two, walked one, and gave up an unearned run in one inning.

    1. I got my first real six string/bought it at the five-and-dime/Played it until my fingers bled.

      1. Standing in the rain, with his head hung low
        Couldn't get a ticket, it was a sold out show

      3. Then he took down an old dusty case
        and said, “Go on and pack it up.
        You don't owe me nothing.”
        And then he said, “Good luck.”
        There was something spooky in his voice
        and something strange on his face.
        And when he shut the lid
        I saw my name was on the case.

  3. The jalapeno has a kid-sized guitar that's only ever been played while goofing around with friends.

    However, just over a year ago the peperoncino randomly announced he wanted to play ukulele, and he's still going strong with weekly lessons through Sarah Jane's. (Not to be confused with Sarah Jane's.) He started trombone for school band last month and after a slow start with group lessons from the band teacher, he had his first private lesson on Tuesday and loved it. Music was such a big part of my life, that I'm hopeful this will be something he sticks with through middle school/high school.

    He also likes messing around with Garage Band on my phone and finding various songs on Spotify. I will say that it drives me crazy that he'll listen to, like, half a song and then want to switch to something else. I get that kids these days don't listen to albums, but could we please at least finish the song?!

    3. Aquinas took some online guitar lessons during Covid, and still picks at it from time to time, but most of his effort is on his saxophone now.
      Aristotle has taught herself some solid ukelele, but could almost certainly use lessons. She's picked up the trumpet now too.
      Neitzsche... took a little bit of piano?
      Heidegger literally picked up Aquinas' guitar this week and started strumming it and said she wanted to learn. So maybe she'll be our guitar player.

      RE: Music was such a big part of my life, that I'm hopeful this will be something he sticks with through middle school/high school.

      We had a block schedule in high school, so our band class was a full 80 minutes. Plus we had a lot of music extra cirriculars - I was in Summer Marching Band, Fall Marching Band, Jazz Band 1, Jazz Band 2, and Pep Band. With all of that, we got really good at playing our instruments. Unfortunately we just don't have anything near to that by us now, so even though our kids are playing a fair amount on their own/in school, it's really pretty paltry compared to what was available for me growing up. The upside is that my kids are super impressed when, even though I hardly ever play an instrument any more, I'm able to teach them things about music, since that know-how comes back pretty quickly.

    1. Huh. I wasn’t aware Benetti was looking to leave the South Side. Either his contract was up, or he asked to be let out?

      I assumed retiring Dick was related to the TV contract and wanting to be as flexible with their broadcast as they can given the uncertainty. But I can’t imagine Dick being an obstacle to a professionally produced broadcast, either.

      1. His contract expired. Reading too much into Joe Greenberg's report and the White Sox didn't want him back because he wasn't loyal (enough).

        The team, starting at the top, didn’t like that Benetti was always balancing his Sox schedule with national work covering college football and baseball, among other pursuits. So when he signed a two-year deal before last season, after negotiations that Benetti described as “kind of a pain,” it clarified how many Sox games he could miss.

        Benetti’s relationship with White Sox chief revenue and marketing officer Brooks Boyer suffered as a result of the conflict. It was the Sox, not the Tigers or Benetti himself, that broke the news on X (formerly known as Twitter) with a news release.

        Benetti didn’t always feel like he was getting the proper respect from some people in the organization for the work he did on the air, from selling the rebuild during the lean years, making countless appearances for the organization, to giving the Sox’s brief period of prosperity the emotional heft it deserved. He worked hard on the broadcast and rejuvenated Steve Stone’s broadcasting career after his disjointed partnership with Harrelson.

        Benetti, as people who know him are aware, isn’t shy about voicing his displeasure either.

        1. Considering he grew up a Pale Hosers fan, that’s a pretty significant rupture.

          Pretty petty of the Sox to break the news…but kind of consistent with the organization’s reputation.

  5. My 24 year old son moved back in with us this week. He had spent the past 7-8 months with a buddy who had just bought a house. I have 2 issues with him moving back in. 1) He has way more things than he used to and our entire house is full of his clutter. 2) One of those "things" is a drum set. 2b) He obviously just started to learn how to play the drums.

    1. You are making me feel better about supporting my 29-year old son from afar*.

      *Hopefully, the SAG deal will help accelerate studio acquisitions of scripts soon.

    1. One of my goals in retirement is to learn to play guitar. I have one--it belonged to my Uncle Paul, who played in various bands most of his life. I just haven't had time to learn to play it yet.

    2. Hell yes king. I feel like their shows now have more spectacle than ever, I want a full after-action report.

  8. The Drake Ladies are playing Minnesota on 12/2 and there are row 8 tickets available for $15. It's is very tempting to take the girls.

    Anyone ever been to a game at Williams?

    cc: eschapp and Algonad

    1. I love Williams. Other people hate it. Like most old buildings, just have to look out for obstructed view seats.

  9. I feel so bad for them!

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