downhome with les

Today's banjo update: My guitar-picking has improved (see below), but still no banjo.

So yesterday I made the 13-hour drive back to Massachusetts from visiting the Lesfam in Ohio. Leaving family behind is usually hard, even after all these years. Sure, there are visits that go badly, but they are few, and I inevitably end up driving away faced with 700 miles of highway to contemplate what it might be like to move back there. To enjoy my niece and nephews as they grow, to take care of my aging parents, to have a real adult relationship with the Lesis and the Lesbro. What would it be like to have them all so mixed up in my life?

If you don't count the misery of the Lesdad's hospitalization (the daily 4-hour car rides to and from the hospital, the watching him writhe in pain, the facing his alcoholism as he de-toxes while recovering from having his chest cracked open), if you forget that I had to keep checking in with high-priority stuff from work, this wasn't such a bad visit home.

I got to bond with my 16-year-old nephew Cody over guitar-playing. And while he isn't obsessed (yet) with learning to play the banjo, he has thought about it. Cody has been taking guitar lessons for a few years now and shows some actual talent (as opposed to yours truly). The grand finale of our picking together was the opportunity to sit with my cousin Mary and her husband Bob. They have been playing for decades and were generous enough to let us play with them, even giving us pointers, new chords, and encouragement.

Hey, check out the link to your right for Helltrain Records. One of my new adventures with the LesShuffle is the discovery of podcasts (see? there's hope for the technologically hopeless). I'm listening to Mr. B's show on Helltrain Radio. I highly recommend that you subscribe to this good time. I'll be searching for more cool podcasts out there playing roots, old time, bluegrass, and any other thing I think just sounds good.

The LesShuffle is currently charging, awaiting its maiden voyage. Wish us luck!