I’m so falling down on the job these days blog-wise. Spent a lot of time with my daughter this weekend, which was a lot of fun. We also visited my dad and his fiancee (they just announced their engagement last weekend at Evie’s third birthday party) in Georgetown, which was wonderful. Evie especially had a great time there at the dog park, where despite threatening piles of dog feces, she managed to make it in and out unscathed, and with some very worthwhile ball-catching experience that will serve her well later, I’ms ure.

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p>Leah and I had a great gig on Friday night in Charlottesville. An audience full of strangers can be your best listening crowd, or can turn on you in an instant to become your worst nightmare. Ours was the former, and the fact that so many of them stayed was (I thought) a testament to Leah’s great music, and that we were a lot more “on” than earlier last week at a GMU student union venue. The only dark cloud over the evening was when the friendly but clueless staff of the Mudhouse charged me for my iced coffee — which seemed somewhat insulting to me, given the fact we were playing there for free.

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p>Speaking of which, I haven’t decided my stance on such an issue. (The free show, that is; not the coffee incident, which I think was deplorable. It’s flavored water for pete’s sake.) Does playing for free jeopardize one’s ability to sell one’s music in the marketplace? I am worried it sets a bad precedent. If you’re willing to give something away for free, you mean one of two things:

• You want other people to build on it and improve it, or otherwise create a market with your contribution; or
• You don’t place a very high value on it, and it’s more trouble to charge for it than just give it away.

I guess a combination of the two is possible as well. In essence, I think giving away one’s performance tends to make other people place a very low value on it. In other words, playing for free creates the impression that your music is worth nothing. In a society in which patrons cared for artists directly by contributing to their well-being, perhaps by feeding or housing them (or even remunerating them), that would not be the case. Absent such a system of patronage, one must create the value through other people wanting it (or more of its ilk), and esp. wanting it from oneself. In a free-market economy, the want translates to willingness to pay for the good, in this case the performance or recording. Interesting question… I think Billy Mitchell may have addressed this once in a magazine column, but I’ve since misplaced it.

Leah and I will be performing this evening (5:00-7:00) at George Mason University. Then, to double your weekly pleasure, on Friday we’ll be at the Mudhouse in Charlottesville, VA. Strangely, I’m not even sure yet what kind of venue the GMU gig is, but if you’re in the C’ville area, we hope you will come out and support local music.

So I find out yesterday from a friend of mine that an old bandleader of mine, Danny Blitz, was diagnosed — after a scary episode back in October — with a brain tumor. Apparently it was operable, but after excising the tumor, he had a swelling-related setback. He’s currently recuperating and is making a steady recovery according to the Web page. If you’re one of our fans from way back, you should drop him a line or three of good wishes for a speedy return to full volume. The address is listed at his Web site (link above).

Howard Stern’s problems with the FCC stem from a number of problems in this country:

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p>1. Our elected officials are forgetting that they are public servants and not public masters. If you’ve got 20 million people listening day-in and day-out to your supposedly offensive radio show, that’s enough people to make a good case that you’re not clearly violating public standards of decency.

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p>2. Making the airwaves safe for people with whom you agree doesn’t make for free speech. Making the airwaves safe for people with whom you vehemently disagree does.

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p>3. People have the right to be offended. People do not have the right to NOT be offended. There’s a very big difference, and that’s why the original V-chip switch was invented for radio and TV. Confusingly, it’s usually labeled POWER ON/OFF.

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p>4. Public ownership of anything is generally a bad idea. If broadcasting was purely the realm of private industry instead of government meddling, that would not necessarily mean Stern would stay on the radio. But at least it wouldn’t mean that we’d have to be ashamed of our national hypocrisy while he takes the fall.

Spent most of the day Saturday moving my dad out of our family house which he just sold… therefore, was slightly sore today. But, after a quick but refreshing shower after returning home, I had an acoustic rehearsal (of sorts) with Leah at my house, in preparation for some upcoming tour dates. It kind of devolved at the end into her playing with Evie while I burned a CD for her of some tunes, but I know Evie loved it. I smiled, thinking that when Leah hits it big, Evie will always be able to tell her friends, “She used to tickle me and play ball with me when I was little.”

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p>Also took in The Passion of the Christ this weekend, and it was a simply devastating piece of filmmaking. Mel Gibson’s directing has taken a quantum leap forward; his sense of composition, pacing and emotional impact are more precise and sure-handed than with his bracing debut in Braveheart. I also tend to think, as a non-religious person myself, that the charges of anti-Semitism are quite overblown. A quick refresher in the history of the region during Biblical times does little to discredit the portrayal of events in the film. Gibson’s film goes to great pains to paint everyone involved as accomplices in the death of Jesus of Nazareth — markedly including the audience in a devastating penultimate scene that occurs just before the coda depicting the mythic resurrection of Jesus. Highly recommended, but with scenes of extreme violence that are not appropriate for anyone under 16 in my opinion.

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p>Eleya and I saw a cool show about a BBQ competition on TV and it gave me a real hankering for some. There’s a good BBQ place down the road a bit that I’ve put off trying for one reason or another; maybe this week would be a good time to “pig out.”

I think I’m getting old… last night I couldn’t make it more than halfway through Robert Altman’s big-city epic Nashville. I was really interested but just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I refuse to be one of those people who drinks coffee after dinner to stay awake, so it was off to the Land of Nod.

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p>Also in the “too many minutiae” box this morning… I really need to get both the cars washed. When a gold-colored car starts looking filthy, you’re in big trouble. The excuse that I just took my Honda sedan or Dodge minivan on an offroad Baja excursion seems iffy at best.

Trying to set up some of our servers at our new office… many annoyances today, mostly caused by a lethargic RAID. I’ll get it whipped into shape shortly.

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p>Couldn’t muster the energy to post anything yesterday due to a late night watching the Oscars on Sunday night. I was overjoyed at Peter Jackson & Co.’s sweep of 11 awards for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King… greatly deserved and overdue. To turn out three movies of such scope and quality is an overwhelming achievement. Compare to the relative shallowness of the original Star Wars trilogy, the “middle movie slump” of the Indiana Jones trilogy, and the flaccidity of both the Matrix sequels. PJ has set the bar for future fantasy films as well as blockbusters overall. The key? A story with real dramatic weight, emotional resonance, and a return to tales of good vs. evil without all the pansy hand-wringing relativism and revisionism.