General Music Chat

Fellow and Sister Musicians~

Thought you'd like to see this post I just received from a friend, especially since it's 9/11 today.


Thank you for all the recent feedback I got regarding
carrying instruments on airplanes. I appreciate all
of you who shared your experiences. I thought it
might be helpful to feed back a little bit of what I
learned:

First off, all of the research I did indicates that it
*is* indeed standard policy to allow guitars (and
smaller instruments) as one of your carry on pieces,
space permitting. Space permitting is the key phrase.
On large jets I was able to *easily* put my guitar in
the overhead bin each time. Those bins are huge. On
smaller planes, when it was jam full, I handed the
guitar to a dude planeside and watched him put it
below, then I retrieved it from him when I deplaned.
("De plane! De plane!") On a smaller plane, when it
was not full, they let me put it in the seat next to
me, and gave me a seatbelt extender to strap him in.
(And I was advised that some musicians, the well
heeled kind I imagine, routinely buy an extra seat for
this purpose.) There is also the slim possibility of
a vertical storage closet if not full. Everyting went
smoothly.

But there are no guarantees in life, and you want to
be prepared. Just in case someone is having a bad day
and wants to take it out on you by being
mean/illogical/unhelpful, make sure you use a quality
hard case, protect/pad the neck of your instrument
well, loosen the strings, label the case carefully
inside and out, and be firm but nice to the airline
people. And get to the gate early so there are no
surprises and you are not stressing people out.

Leslie Green also gave me a copy of a letter from 2003
from the TSA stating it *is* their official policy to
allow instruments as carryon. This could be helpful
with someone who doesn't know the rules. If you want
a copy I can make one for you.

Jeff Smith shared some interesting links:
http://www.win.net/mainstring/carryon.html
http://www.win.net/mainstring/newman.html
http://www.indie-music.com/cont/flyingcomments.htm
And he also recommended Calton cases, which are
expensive but indestructible.

Happy flying, safe traveling to all.

Karl

__________________________________________________

I was surprised how accomodating the airlines could be with musical instruments. I took my wire strung harp on two international flights and both times they allowed me to put it on the floor of the wardrobe closet at the front of the section. They were so nice about it, even occassionally checking on her and letting me know that all was well.

Of course this was before Sep. 2001, so my next travel date with the harp I'm taking a lot more precautions. After putting in a few calls I found out all you have to do is make sure the size and weight limits are not exceeded, and if it must go into cargo they can provide if its a delicate piece.

To be honest I had a much worse time getting a full sized claymore I purchased in Scotland, back home. THAT is a whoooole other story....

So, did you contact Mitch?

I got "the works" at an airport a few years ago because my cat and I like to rough it up. There were scratch marks on the tops of my hands and the airport officials thought this was a little odd, so all of my suitcases were searched.
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
I was CRACKING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was going to start talking using an Arabic accent, but I didn't want to push my luck too far.

I guess we're all MJ'd out, eh?

Yes I did! He was a very cool guy, giving me all sorts of info on Branson and the theater scene there. I'm going to start scoping out the Beacon and see what kind of buzz the stage shows are causing this season, and go from there. He recommended January, because thats when alot of the producers are looking for talent for upcoming productions.

Thank you so much for the tip, ChaCha!

Also, I listened to your piano playing on your My Space. Is that for real? How do your fingers move that fast? If that's for real, you are WAY better than the old guy from Austria with the cheesy colored moving waterfalls. Half of his music is pre-recordied and then he simply does a lot of runs on the pianos like he's a Liberace wannabe. YOUR show would blow him away!

Oh man, I'd be scared to death to perform my own piano music in public. I am an accomplished player but it took me forever to get them recorded. Simply put, I compose stuff that is way too difficult for me to master. I'd prefer watching other performers tackle it!

In fact it would be a huge rush.

Well, you could do like Wolfgang (or whatever that Austrian's name is). Prerecord the most difficult parts and then play chopstix live! Instead of cheesy swaying colored waterfalls in the background behind you, you could have people throwing bananas at the audience! How's that for a good, clean fun family entertainment show? And like the Haygoods, you could sport an Afro-wig and impersonate Michael Jackson while playing with your wrists handcuffed behind you! HELL! I'll buy a ticket to that show! In fact, I'LL BE YOUR AGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me in an afro and handcuffs. Good Lord, that's gotta be illegal in 39 states.

You're right! It sounds a little kinky!!!!!!

You'll have to post the pictures on MYSPACE!!!

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

BTW, did you see Jerry Springer on Dancing With The Stars tonight? He received one of the lowest scores, but I hope they keep him for many weeks just for the comedy factor. I think Jerry Springer is like MJ as far as the comedy factor.
"Three men went into a bar, a priest, a rabbi, and Jerry Springer . . . ."

Also, BTW, I want to hear more about your pagan religion. What exactly does it entail? What are some of the beliefs?
chacha

Also, BTW, I want to hear more about your pagan religion. What exactly does it entail? What are some of the beliefs?
chacha

Well I'm a Witch...that puts me under the umbrella classification of "Paganism", but only one of soooo many paths under that term. I guess I would be the closest to Wicca, which you may or may not have heard about, but since I practice solitarily I am not aligned with any "church" per se.

Witchcraft in the modern day is a reconstruction of the few bits of pre-Christian Northern European folk beliefs, with a healthy dose of more modern spirituality thanks to people like Gerald Gardner, Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley and others. It is an earth based religion that focuses very much on personal Deities, spellcraft and self transformation. My tradition is specifically called Baon Sidhe ("Bay-on Shee") in the Celtic American Craft tradition, that draws its base from Scotland. Adherants to it are initiated by coven (which I was) and the lineage is based on teachers, not by blood.

You asked what Pagans believe and that is too large a question to address here, because there are sooo many Pagan paths. Aphroditic (worshippers of Aphrodite), Norse (worshippres of Odin, Thor etc), Stregera (Italian folk craft), Druidisim, the list is huge. The common denominator they have is that they are earth based or connected, non-Christian and mostly polytheistic. Some people include Native American beliefs in this group but I disagree that Native practice is Pagan since paganism comes from Europe (its Latin in its root - "pagani" means those who dwell the countryside, where the "Old Beliefs" clung long after the spread of Christianity).

Anyway if yuo are further interested I can recommend some books for some very broad background to Pagan beliefs and practices....

"Drawing Down The Moon" by Margot Adler (great book)

"Earth Magick" by Dionne Weinstein

"The Golden Bough" by Robert Graves

"The Witches Bible" by Janet and Stewart Farrar (I know these people personally and I highly recommend this book if yuo went to go into Celtic Craft)

"The Spiral Dance" by Starhawk (this is a very standard 'first book' for people just exploring)

good luck!

Well, aren't you the fascinating one?
Can't say I've had a lot of good luck with witches and witchcraft. My ex-mother-in-law was a witch. And as I said before, I was much younger than my ex-husband of ten years. Anyway, the first time I met Jud's mother, she's a charming Southern bell type who never stops smiling and would never say anything inappropriate to your face. In fact, she used the term "Bless Your Heart" so frequently, that one time I asked her, "What about my kidneys, my liver, and my spleen?" She replied, "Oh, yes! Bless them, too!!!" But I could feel the "vibe" of disapproval coming through even though she was "gushing" over me. And that's when she told me that she and her sisters are ALL practicing witches and that they did not like her other son's girlfriend (hint, hint), and so they cooked up some brew and did some other hocus pocus and within two weeks, they had broken up! What a way to start off a friendship with me, eh? She has a mannequin in her house of Jud dressed up as he looked in fifth grade. I believe she prayed, using witchcraft, for 10 years for our marriage to break up and it finally succeeded.

Raven, my off and on again boyfriend, has been studying witchcraft. He is half Native American, so he's into those spiritual practices, also. One of the best benefits of Raven is that he is without family (he was adopted and doesn't keep ties with his adoptive family, which is only a step sister at this point), because after ten years of "Witchy," (that's what she called herself and had a license plate on the front of her Mercedes to prove it), I've had enough of the mother-in-law gig!

Too bad you and your wife don't have any kids. You could apply for "Wife Swap." You're interesting/different enough to be selected to be on that show! I LOVE that show! They would probably switch you with some born again Christian fundamentalist anal retentive who hates music and you'd have to live with her for two weeks! Wouldn't that be fun????Have you seen the show?

Holy Gods, no thanks! Life is perilous enough without me purposely putting myself in the way of pain.

As to your ex mom-in-law, she and her like are asking for (or have already gotten) a BUTTLOAD of bad sh*t coming their way for their misuse of Craft. In reading what you said they did, that's the definition of "black magick" that is, power over others for your own benefit. That's a big no no to the basic law that every Witch I know follows - it's called the Rede, and one of it's main points is to "first, harm none" and all acts have to be in accordance with free will, which means you do not impose your spellcraft on others against their will. If I may be so bold, I doubt they were real Witches because every one I've met (and thats hundreds over the years, especially after the huge annual conferences called "Covenent of The Goddess" gatherings) have had an understanding that when you practice to do harm, you are only laying the plans to do harm to yourself. THREEFOLD. So as you can see, it's very much stupid ass behavior to practice "black magick".

"All that you do comes back on you, Three fold." Who in their right mind would want misery/pain/misfortune times three inflicted on themselves?

Well, once again, I sincerely thank you for being my "therapist."
It's been really TOUGH trying to process 10 years of my life that left me almost crippled and I also almost lost my house. (I never told you that part before.) My house had been in my husband's name exclusively and we had actually been divorced years before, but I TRUSTED HIM so much. When things started getting weird in Youngstown, I wondered what would happen to my house. He tried to evict me from my house when he impregnated the librarian. My mother bailed me out and paid him $96,000.00 to rebuy a house I had had for almost ten years before he even existed in my life. The cruelty he directed toward me in the end was beyond belief. All the many people who were our joint friends stuck by me through the whole nightmare except for three single loser men who don't have girlfriends or wives and always advised him to get someone younger than me. It was such a betrayal of trust. But Witchy had always wanted her son to marry someone his own age and make babies. Well, she finally got her wish (although the new wife is eight years older than him.) I do think she also wished the car accident on me. I think she was praying for a "break" between Jud and me and the break was strange--BOTH OF US were in car accidents on the highway on that particular day!!!! HOW STRANGE! Both on the same exact day!
Jud was not injured, however, but his van was seriously smashed. And this isn't even all of the story.