Good morning! 8:49 here in the Small City. Looks like a rainy one on the way. My cat is paying rapt attention to something just outside the window. Birds like to land on the air-conditioner, which drives her nuts. Full Predator Mode but she can't act on it. All dressed up and nowhere to go, as the expression goes. Mom was a cat person, so we grew up with felines. And my brother and I both witnessed at an early age what cats do to their fallen prey. Not a pretty picture...
Music news. Looks like a strangely quiet December for this year. I haven't done a traditional New Year's Eve gig in ages, but I have enjoyed many a First Night over the years. And there was an afternoon thing on the 31st at Springfield High School. Mark Russillo used to do a Harmonica Tutorial for the kids, and I'd provide a few guitar chords for him. HIs girlfriend Thea would hold up signs showing the things Mark would talk about in his presentation--sort of a Spokesmodel, if you will. With all those kids running around, it was noisy as all getout, but still fun.
As far as this coming year, I have one gig coming at Robbie's(or whatever replaces it)to make up for the missed date in November. It'll likely be in the Spring or Summer, as we'll still be getting our act together for the next couple months. I had a nice 'gig circuit' going there, with the Nursing/Assisted Living facilities and good old Robbie's. Just enough busyness to keep things interesting.
But what I most look forward to in this next year is getting back some semblance of a social life. That's my first priority. And I hope this doesn't sound too much like a prima donna, but I don't want to do "background music" gigs anymore. The last such event I did was back in September of last year. And it was a bit of an epiphany for me that I had a much better time on the breaks visiting with people than I did playing- largely due to the noise, which made it difficult to hear the other musicians.
What I'd like to do, as far as playing out, is more of a concert setting. The one-hour Nursing Home gigs are just that, as is Robbie's. It doesn't have to be a big crowd--in fact, I'd rather not play for a noisy throng- but they all need to be listening.
This is probably more than enough to read. Thanks as ever for stopping in and wading through all this. Happy Friday to you! For now, I'm outa here. More later. 
PS Today's pic goes back--again--to the 80s. Sebastian's downtown. Me, Jeff Magby and Tim Green. Lots of gigs with Tim in that period, and also(RIP)Darrell Taylor on drums.
PPS Today's tune is from my album Tele-ology, and it's called Boot Scoot. Based on the standard Lover Come Back to Me, only the melody is retrograded(fancy word for backwards)