Van Morrison "Moondance"

Drunken.  Angry.  Flute solo.

Well, there are 4 words that you rarely find together.

Which is why I was so confused at 3 in the morning last Saturday night.

We were staying at my Mother-In-Law's house, in Brewster.  I was dreaming, but I was hearing music.  At some point it occurred to me, that it wasn't a dream.  Then it occurred to me that it wasn't the TV---I had shut that off as I was falling asleep.  And it wasn't coming from a stereo inside the house.

And it wasn't a recording.

No, someone was outside of my Mother-In-Law's house, playing the flute.

Now, I can't prove that this person was angry.  Or drunk.  But based on the fierceness of the playing, as well as the number of missed notes, I feel reasonably certain about both.

Details in the light of morning were further convincing.

Apparently, without going into unnecessary detail here, my Mother-In-Law's next door neighbor is going through some very hard times.  And this was not the first time he had come out to his own porch in the middle of the night to exorcise his demons via his flute---in this case, loudly enough that it woke up all 6 of the adults that were sleeping in various parts of my Mother-In-Law's house.

Because of my half-asleep state, coupled with the I'm-wicked-annoyed-but-this-is-ridiculously-hilarious infectious laughing from my wife, I couldn't quite pick out what he was playing, though the tunes seemed familiar.

But somewhere, 30-plus minutes into the performance, he did launch into "Moondance."  I recognized that one.  Though it is pretty funny to hear only the flute part.  I can only imagine that he had learned it as part of a band.  So he wasn't playing a "solo" per se, he was just playing a "part," sans the rest of the band (thankfully, sans the rest of the band, given the hour).

And if you think this story is hilarious, know that, as part of his personal troubles, the mystery-flautist is soon moving---perhaps to you're neighborhood!

PS.  More than one person asked if my Mother-In-Law lived next door to Ron Burgundy.


Hear the song on Youtube.

What I think of, when I hear the flute . . .

See it on Youtube.

Well, she's not angry.

Hear it on Youtube.

Joe Bonamassa "Quarryman's Lament"

Sometime, I should probably write a whole week's worth of entries about songs that have been ruined for me, by something having nothing to do with the song itself.

When I first played Joe Bonamassa's "Quarryman's Lament" for Laurel and Barbara and other friends on the mvyradio staff, well they all raved.

Maybe it is a good track, but unfortunately, I can't take any song with a flute solo seriously. Not since seeing this scene from "Anchorman."

Now listen to Joe Bonamassa, and try to not just laugh at how pretentious the flute sounds.