Live From Here in Austin, Texas

It had been years since I had listened to Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Two years ago, when they announced that Keillor was retiring I found that a little sad. PHC was a calming presence in a chaotic world. How anachronistic, a radio variety show in a digital world? It gave me a sense of peace to think these types of shows still existed. With Keillor retiring I assumed the show would come to an end. But I was excited when I heard they had named a successor to Keillor. Chris Thile would be taking over the reins of Prairie Home Companion.

Chris Thile is one of my favorite musicians. Mandolin of all things, but how he plays that thing is unbelievable. I first came across him almost twenty years ago when I saw him with Nickel Creek on Austin City Limits. Thile, Sara and Sean Watkins blew my mind. I could not fathom their virtuosity. As the years went by, Thile had various solo projects and eventually formed a new band called Punch Brothers although Nickel Creek gets back to together every once in awhile.

Since Thile took over Prairie Home Companion, my son and I have been avid listeners. We try to listen every Saturday evening at 5 pm. It's one of our rituals. It's a nice way to end the week. Often we have to stream the show on Sunday if we miss it on Saturday. I've been surprised how much my eleven year old son took to it. Our appreciation exploded even more in October when Thile played our Song Request of the week that we sent in via twitter and mentioned my name on the broadcast.

For Christmas, my wife surprised me and my son with tickets to a live broadcast of the show, which is now called Live From Here with Chris Thile. The show occasionally leaves it's Minnesota home base of the Fitgerald Theater in St. Paul and tours the country. This past weekend they were in Austin, Texas. And we got to go!

Chris Thile and gang, performed at the Bass Concert Hall on the UT campus. It's a great venue and the acoustics were fantastic. Thile and the show are even better in person. Their special guests were Snarky Puppies, Shovels and Rope, and Pete Holmes. The regular radio players were all top notch as usual. So cool to see them in person. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. We left inspired and elated.

We had a great time traveling to Austin and catching the show. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Austin is one of my favorite towns and seeing Live From Here is something we will cherish for a very long time.

2018

I made some resolutions for 2018. Already some need to be adjusted.

5 minutes of foreign language study every day via the DuoLingo app. Right now doing French since we're going to Paris later this year. Will go back to Spanish when we get back from France.

10 minutes of meditation daily (yes, a lifesaver. Every day at lunch)

Read 12 books (got one down now on my second)

See 12 movies at the theater. (nothing yet)

Write 12 Poems (got two under my belt already for January)

40 sit ups a day. Yeah, have already missed a few days. But have been pretty consistent.

20 push ups a day. Yeah, this one has been a struggle to do every day.

Bike/run/walk 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Was doing pretty good until the temps got into single digits. But have been riding the bike pretty regularily.

Play a musical instrument one time a week. (Yes on the guitar, no on the trumpet so far in 2018)

Listen to a record on the turntable once a week. (Yep, so far so good)

Watch 12 pre-1970 movies. (got one down...an old Bogart movie, Across the Pacific)

Write 25 pages on the novel. (Yeah, got to get on this)

Give blood 3 times this year. (not eligible until Feb since I gave in December)

Back

I seem to start a lot of posts with the following sentence...

"I haven't blogged in awhile..."

And sometimes I wonder why I actually continue to post. I know my audience is very small. I probably blog for narcissistic reasons. I do find it cathartic, occasionally.

I am starting 2018 in a good place. Literally. I finally moved to my new permanent classroom. After two years, construction is done at my fine academic institution. It was very traumatic to move from my old home of 16 years to a temporary purgatory on the first floor of a new building right by an outside door that was constantly slamming with hundreds of people passing by every period. The room was sterile and clean with no personality and since I knew I was only there for two semesters I did little to add character to it.

But in late December the great move happened. And two weeks ago my classes began meeting in my new home space. And it's quite a space. It's upstairs and in a corner hall which no one visits unless they actually have a class there. I have four large windows that overlook the universe of Texas. It's a much quieter space. And now I have been able to add art and world maps to the walls. It's looking like home.

I have discovered I have greater motivation and work more efficiently when I enjoy my workspace. I'm getting a lot more done and feel a lot better about my place in the world. This could be my room for the next ten years. This gives me peace. Of course, I'm well aware of how worlds can be turned upside down in a moment. But I'm enjoying the room while I can.