News, October 2009 Hu! Finally I have some time to bring you up to date. In terms of career advancement is all the same as ever, but for me it is a rollercoaster of emotions.
First, let me give you a little background. My father has become more days before 80 years old, and he has some health problems - in the 40 years he contracted polio, and about nine years before he has - twice - broke his kneecap. After he recovered from these injuries, he was the first able to walk with two walking sticks, but now he wears a brace on his right leg, and he can never again stand on your own or go (he can stand without a brace, but it is more secure that he wear them). Over the last several years, he has Parkinson's disease and osteoporosis and symptoms, especially in the last eighteen Years, developed signs of dementia. He is now so far that one must constantly be with him. As my mother and I appear at the 9-clock mass at St. Augustine - it as a choir member and organist I - had prompted her that my brother visited us, to watch over him. But my brother was not always ready, and so my mother found it increasingly difficult to justify that they remain in the choir. Since then, she has decided to leave the choir, so that they can even watch over my father.
My mother also has characters atrial fibrillation, a type of something irregular heartbeat, and given all these factors it is unwilling to me between the churches of St. Augustine and driving around St. Elizabeth, not only for the Sunday morning masses, but also for the choir practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, because she feels uncomfortable with the idea to leave my father alone for too long at home.
Meanwhile in St. Augustine we have had some kind Pastorumbildung, with the result that Father Richard Siok the Basilica of St. Patrick has been promoted, and that Father Paul Shepherd in the Church of Holy Redeemer has entered. While Father Richard has been sent to take off, he told me that the group that played the 10.30-Clock-mass, would not return in September, and so he gave me the job organist plotted for this mass. Weia has
the even left my heart, heavier than the universe times and twice to weigh his double, because that would have meant that I lead the 11-clock mass at St. Elizabeth have had where I since the previous seven years, worked with the choir and I love the work. That's obviously not been a decision I had to make immediately. My mother, however, thought that I should take the organist job for the 10.30-Clock-mass, particularly because of the health situation of my father, because, as St. Augustine is a fifteen minutes walk from our house, I will go there for the 9-Clock-mass could and could remain for the 10.30-Clock Fair, especially in winter when we can get huge snowfalls.
top of that, if I would have made St. Elizabeth, would this mean that I would make sure that St. Augustine would pay me enough to offset the money that I would be lost without the 11-Clock-mass work St. Elizabeth since I paid for the rehearsals. I have to wait but do to Father Paul would come in, because I knew that although he could have at this point to the financial figures of the community a first glance, it would not be so much a position to say " Yes, we the budget to give Jamie the wage increase, which he wants, " as he would have to be until it's financial figures would look deeper and the numbers behind
see the numbers would not only the one-year overviews. I have met him in the middle of August to discuss the situation, but he told me later that he is not willing to give me the pay raise. In fact, I have returned to the starting point, but I do not care - did Father Don told me later that he would be hard to find someone who could enter my body at St. Elizabeth.
the middle of September, I am left almost became finally able
St. Augustine instead to have. Apparently after a meeting of the Finance Committee of the community, Father Paul, a meeting of all musical ambassador and two members of the Finance Committee convened at which he announced that he wants all music ambassadors are beginning to do their work as volunteers because, for the community wants to save money. The idea has appeal to the people who now play for the 10.30-Clock-mass, and our choir director for the 9-Clock-mass, I do not. Lastly, the money that I earn at St. Augustine, about 40% of my annual income, and if I would leave, would also have to leave the choir - the choir members have the difficulty, together to stay, has left since Bob Boulanger. And if
they would leave, would some of the parishioners that mass or even left out community - they try this show again because the music they like, as they can because it get the mass in their lesson plans. And therefore a part of the community income would be lost. So Father Paul agrees to forego my salary, and therefore my job is secure. Again, I reiterate that no pay increase is involved, but it is better than no payment.
now has turned Hotter than Ice back in the studio with a new guitarist, a new bassist, and a new singer. It runs but slowly, because our bass player seems to be a classic example of the old proverb: ". Use it or lose it" He plays bass in his native Ghana, but moved out when he come here to Canada, he was not allowed to bring his bass here and therefore he has become so rusty that it is difficult to learn the bass voices from the gut. I hope he will not take too much more time to fall back into routine.
I do not know if he will stay with us or not, but I think that I must help prepare the band, if he decides to leave us. In this sense, I have a five-string bass guitar Squier Affinity bought in the last two weeks. I'm not really a
total beginner - I've had since elementary years, "bass" lines with the old B & S Grange played acoustic guitar - but I'm not Mark King and Jaco Pastorius. So I'm starting to learn some of Baßmethoden
dmanlamius.com , and even something as simple as the way in which it plays a major scale starts, I attach a light on what is possible on the bass.
the personal level are my friend
Ralf Waldvogel and I co-administrators of Kira Fans Online, the official fan site of
Kira . When he and I started in February, the idea to plan, had been another fan site on MySpace, but you had written a long time no updates for it, and in this time, Kira
changed the publisher, got a promotion from initiative music, and started their
your plan island tour - all these things should be on the MySpace fan page with it, but were not. Moreover, as Kira a gig on 21 February played, which coincided with the response rates (the German equivalent of the Grammy Awards and the Junos), there was a low turnout because of this accident, and that Ralf has given the idea that Kira's fan site to help promote future gigs. The "Kira Fans Online" concept started with a
German-English website, a MySpace page and a forums page, and then, as a result of Kira's Tours was recently in China, has been expanded to provide a Chinese version of the website
(卡拉 歌迷 在线) and a voice page
Street (a Chinese equivalent of MySpace) to contain.
I too am in the last several months not only with my music in a hurry. January, the aforementioned Bob Boulanger, who runs a business, which publishes directories firm, which are in relation to the recycling industry, cause I data for a 15,000-record-company database manual conversion - a process that lasted two months. I have also run a month-long billing project for my brother just that the sorting and blame the bills and invoices which go as far as late back in 2003, and the vote of the bank statements which go as far as late back in 2006 , involved.
So all in all, it's a busy time. Now that I carried out the work for my brother, it calms down. But within two months will begin the Christmas season, and it is me again hectic, but stay tuned in a musical art!
