Favorite Musical Instruments

Talking to a friend of mine recently and we were both bemusing all the gear that we had lost, sold, or had come up missing throughout our musical life. That sparked a challenge to list all of the keyboards and synthesizers I had owned and here is that result:

1) Roland JX-3P - This was my very first musical purchase as an adult. I had played acoustic pianos, B3 organs and Rhodes electric pianos but this was the first musical gear that I personally owned. The JX-3P was Roland's very first synth with midi (simple notes on and off but still . . . ), backed up to a cassette tape and had six voice polyphony. I used this keyboard for four years until it, along with my PA System, Ross 4-Track Recorder, and more was stolen by the manager of our band. A story for another time. 

2) Kurzweil K250 - great piano and string sounds. (A favorite of Stevie Wonder) This didn't have the analog pads and gritty sounds that the JX-3P possessed but it was still a great synth.

3) Roland JV-80 - This quickly become my favorite synth. Great sounds, tons of polyphony (for the time), and the key action was awesome! This synth was also easy to program and worked out well to be a controller of other rack mount synths. This keyboard could sound like a guitar, electric guitar, piano, strings and analog pads. 61 key wonder!

Show Me The Way

 Best Christian song by a secular band ever . . . 

The Sweet Spot

It was a stormy night in Arkansas (I'll bet your mind is already racing toward clues and mysteries . . .) and I was on my way home from work. I was thinking that there are definitely benefits to living six minutes from work but one of the downsides is the lack of time to decompress. My longest commute in my work life was from Rome, Georgia to Chattanooga, TN which was almost two hours on I-75, with good weather and traffic. But there was also a back way home that wove through the mountains, added about thirty minutes to my drive, but offered some amazing views, especially at sunset.

I remember jamming out to Three Dog Night, Genesis, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens and more as the musical soundtrack combined with the rolling North Georgia mountains. But there were other moments, listening to teaching from Tony Evans, Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindoll on Christian radio. And then finally there was the silence afforded during this journey . . .

I Admit It's Not Normal . . .

When I turned 20 I made some pretty big decisions about my life. For instance, I resolved not to date any girl more than 5 times thus reducing the likelihood of becoming ensnared during the prime of my life. Also, after a year and half of college I decided that money held greater appeal than knowledge (I never said these were smart decisions . . . ) and turned my full attention to my job. I had already moved out years earlier so along with this new found direction I decided to reward myself with a new car.

My first car was a 1974 Chevy Nova, not a bad car, a little slow, (also it was painted yellow) but my main gripe was that lately it had made up it's mind that it would decide when to turn off its engine. I used to time the starting point when I turned off the engine and then the final gasps which culminated in a lot of smoke and noise a few minutes later. It was six years old, on the verge of costing me more than it was worth and the decision seemed pretty clear to me. That, combined with the fact that I was a young executive on the move made this an easy decision. It was time to go car shopping!