Good Company

We here at the Blogger household are hosting my parents, George and Ruth Blogger, and my sister Jean Blogger. They drove down from New England last week, arriving on Good Friday.

Jean lives in Maine and is a nurse at a rehab facility near Portland. She also plays bassoon in some Portland-area ensembles, and sings with an a capella group there called Renaissance Voices. I was always in awe of her musical talent growing up; she received a Music Education degree from Western Connecticut State University, and could sing harmony on any Joni Mitchell song. Her bassoon case had a multi-colored design (a la Peter Max) painted on it which I thought was the bomb.

Back in the day, my parents were not “backstage parents;” neither of them were musicians per se, and I wasn't exactly a prodigy. My dad was a public school teacher and “played the phonograph.” My mom sang in the church choir and had some piano skills. She was also a devoted listener to WTIC-FM, which was a commercial classical station. (Yes, there used to be such a thing!) The public schools in Newington, CT were well-endowed with music facilities and faculty, and several of us kids took private lessons. My dad would take me to the Hartford Symphony’s dress rehearsals whenever there was a cello or piano soloist. This is how at an early age I was able to see the likes of Leonard Rose and Andre Watts play. They would take me to concerts also, and even though all I could think about was how bad my feet itched and how asleep I wanted to be, it would never fail that my mom would wake me up with a nudge, saying, “Watch his hands!”

Unfortunately the KSO has no concerts for the duration of their visit, although Jean did get to see my band play on Friday night at the Bistro at the Bijou. It’s sort of a blessing in disguise, for I am more available while they are here (except for when I have students). Mom put together an awesome ham dinner for Easter, and Dad helped explain to me what was going on at the Masters. We will be sorry to see them leave later this week.