Looks as if I've let this blog fall by the wayside. Been a busy year and even now, I only have time to post a few of them:
- I moved to Carrboro, NC in July. Lovely town, lots of friends already there, and like my 10 years in Durham and spitting distance to Duke, I'm next door to a major university (UNC).
- I have a new band that is getting really busy. We're The KinKsmen. We play Kinks covers, just like my old band in the 90's, the Dedicated Followers did. Mike Nicholson is also in this band as he was then.
- My original music band has sputtered and collapsed. Our last show was in May. Hope to have something going by year's end with some former Hanks, Ruins and Brown Mtn. Lights members. Meltzer-Hart are coming out of hibernation in late September at the Carrboro Music Festival with two members of the KinKsmen to rekindle our electric band.
- Made reverbnation my main band / music link. Visit me at http://www.reverbnation.com/jeffhart
That's all for now. I will try not to be such a stranger.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Yule & Holiday Greetings / Year End Wrap Up
It's been a busy last week or so leading up to Christmas. Some wonderful times with friends (see below) and some frustrating times too (for example, keeping up with the Mark Teixeira free agency saga on what seemed like an hourly basis on a Baltimore Orioles fan blog).
Anyway, a summary of the last few days (pardon the lack of caps, was copied and pasted to a note to friends in another forum).
friday 12/5 - my band (the original band that plays under my name with chris chamis, chad johnson and rocky colavito) played the cave in our last show of 2008. future kings of nowhere, in what appears to be their final gig, played the middle set before us. wonderfully attended show and lots of good feedback that this was maybe our best show ever performance-wise.
friday 12/19 - jeffrey dean foster's annual shalom benefit for an urban ministries type charity in winston-salem at the garage. jeffrey's band (whom some of you saw solo in april when he played with me at broad st.) had his band which includes durham's sara bell. they did about an hour of his tunes and closed with christmas must be tonight by the band and darlene love's big christmas hit from a few years ago.
saturday 12/20 - two christmas parties, one in duke park and one near the chatham / orange county line. at the latter, i played several christmas and 20's / 30's tunes on my new instrument, a ukulele. played till 3am.
monday 12/22 - jim watson's 23rd annual christmas show at the cave. it was so crowded, i remained in the pool room or the little tunnel between that and the main room for most of the show to avoid being trampled. still, a very heartfelt and traditional holiday event from the original red clay ramblers' mandolinist/guitarist which i try to attend each year. everyone is given a sheet of lyrics and all sing along with jim.
tuesday 12/23 - was feeling under the weather by so many late nights and was worried i was coming down with something (even canceled an afternoon guitar lesson - we'll make it up, sorry morgan!), but rallied enough by 9pm to join a jam in raleigh with my old friend mark enloe and new friend chris floyd. was in chris' basement. neither play in bands, but chris has his basement outfitted with a drum kit, a p.a. and a fog machine and strobe lights! was silly good fun. i alternated between bass and guitar and ukulele. we jammed for 2 hours on anything from linus and lucy (from charlie brown christmas), some replacements, oasis and even under the milky way tonight by the church, neil young, pretty in pink by psychodelic furs, run run rudolf by chuck berry.
today - drinking dunkin' donuts coffee, listening to my christmas ipod mix, tuning in an out of "christmas story" on dvd, browsing what my friends are up to on facebook friends, wrapping one more gift and finally going to my parents' place in garner for christmas eve dinner.
christmas day - hanging at tom meltzer's house with some friends and the plan is to watch movies and celtics/lakers at his place and then to the pour house for terry anderson's annual birthday/christmas bash.
happy 2009 ya'll.
Anyway, a summary of the last few days (pardon the lack of caps, was copied and pasted to a note to friends in another forum).
friday 12/5 - my band (the original band that plays under my name with chris chamis, chad johnson and rocky colavito) played the cave in our last show of 2008. future kings of nowhere, in what appears to be their final gig, played the middle set before us. wonderfully attended show and lots of good feedback that this was maybe our best show ever performance-wise.
friday 12/19 - jeffrey dean foster's annual shalom benefit for an urban ministries type charity in winston-salem at the garage. jeffrey's band (whom some of you saw solo in april when he played with me at broad st.) had his band which includes durham's sara bell. they did about an hour of his tunes and closed with christmas must be tonight by the band and darlene love's big christmas hit from a few years ago.
saturday 12/20 - two christmas parties, one in duke park and one near the chatham / orange county line. at the latter, i played several christmas and 20's / 30's tunes on my new instrument, a ukulele. played till 3am.
monday 12/22 - jim watson's 23rd annual christmas show at the cave. it was so crowded, i remained in the pool room or the little tunnel between that and the main room for most of the show to avoid being trampled. still, a very heartfelt and traditional holiday event from the original red clay ramblers' mandolinist/guitarist which i try to attend each year. everyone is given a sheet of lyrics and all sing along with jim.
tuesday 12/23 - was feeling under the weather by so many late nights and was worried i was coming down with something (even canceled an afternoon guitar lesson - we'll make it up, sorry morgan!), but rallied enough by 9pm to join a jam in raleigh with my old friend mark enloe and new friend chris floyd. was in chris' basement. neither play in bands, but chris has his basement outfitted with a drum kit, a p.a. and a fog machine and strobe lights! was silly good fun. i alternated between bass and guitar and ukulele. we jammed for 2 hours on anything from linus and lucy (from charlie brown christmas), some replacements, oasis and even under the milky way tonight by the church, neil young, pretty in pink by psychodelic furs, run run rudolf by chuck berry.
today - drinking dunkin' donuts coffee, listening to my christmas ipod mix, tuning in an out of "christmas story" on dvd, browsing what my friends are up to on facebook friends, wrapping one more gift and finally going to my parents' place in garner for christmas eve dinner.
christmas day - hanging at tom meltzer's house with some friends and the plan is to watch movies and celtics/lakers at his place and then to the pour house for terry anderson's annual birthday/christmas bash.
happy 2009 ya'll.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thankful
There's so much sadness, war, terror, fear and downright meanness in the world right now. The economy has everyone on edge. It's a wonder we get out of bed every day. But we do. I do think the change in direction we voted for earlier this month will go a long ways toward correcting some wrongs. For that, I am hopeful.
But I just want to take a moment to thank my family, my friends and fellow Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill bloggers for what you all mean to me. I'm so fortunate to be able to play live music with great friends several times a year. I don't make a living at it, but it's my passion (well, one of many) and it pretty much guides my life. I'm very lucky and for this I'm so thankful.
I lost my sweetheart this year, truly one of the great loves of my life, but we're still warm, close friends. I do get sad from time to time and miss the bond we had, but I sincerely treasure every minute when we are together as friends now in this new situation. It's better to have loved ... you know the old saying.
I was just thinking back on the last year and remembering that today is a year since we lost our old friend David Enloe. My thoughts go out to Susan, Mark, Steve and their families. Other close friends have had tragedy and loss in their lives as well and my heart and thoughts and prayers go out to you as well. I won't name them here due to their privacy, but you know who you are and I just want you to know I'm thinking about all of you.
I'm getting ready to go to a party in an hour or so to celebrate some November birthdays (mine is November 1st and we had that great party to combine Halloween with it a few weeks back at Broad St. Cafe). I've been teaching myself ukulele the last few hours and until I started typing this, I had a warm kitty on my lap. Life is good. Sometimes it hurts. The highs and lows are all a part of the deal and it's how we get through it that counts.
Be good to each other. Love one another. And thank you.
But I just want to take a moment to thank my family, my friends and fellow Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill bloggers for what you all mean to me. I'm so fortunate to be able to play live music with great friends several times a year. I don't make a living at it, but it's my passion (well, one of many) and it pretty much guides my life. I'm very lucky and for this I'm so thankful.
I lost my sweetheart this year, truly one of the great loves of my life, but we're still warm, close friends. I do get sad from time to time and miss the bond we had, but I sincerely treasure every minute when we are together as friends now in this new situation. It's better to have loved ... you know the old saying.
I was just thinking back on the last year and remembering that today is a year since we lost our old friend David Enloe. My thoughts go out to Susan, Mark, Steve and their families. Other close friends have had tragedy and loss in their lives as well and my heart and thoughts and prayers go out to you as well. I won't name them here due to their privacy, but you know who you are and I just want you to know I'm thinking about all of you.
I'm getting ready to go to a party in an hour or so to celebrate some November birthdays (mine is November 1st and we had that great party to combine Halloween with it a few weeks back at Broad St. Cafe). I've been teaching myself ukulele the last few hours and until I started typing this, I had a warm kitty on my lap. Life is good. Sometimes it hurts. The highs and lows are all a part of the deal and it's how we get through it that counts.
Be good to each other. Love one another. And thank you.
Friday, November 07, 2008
This Is What Change Looks Like
County by county across the U.S. of A. (click for full map - courtesy of Huffington Post)
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Halloween '08
Thanks for all the friends who came out Friday at Broad St. Cafe to help celebrate Halloween and my birthday at midnight with 3 of my bands plus Tom Meltzer and Holden Richards. Somehow I always end up booking 2 or more of my bands at such things and don't get to mingle as much as I'd like. But I suppose in these days of scarce gigs and a faltering economy and less disposable income, I just reach for whatever I can. Anyway, thanks again.
Jeff "Veritek" Hart
photo by Lisa Logan.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
My Silent Partner
I'm not sure how this new nickname came about for my kitty Gypsy, but it seemed to fit sometime last week when I was hanging out at my girlfriend's house. She really bonded with the kitty and vice versa, so whenever she felt like the time was right, she and I would come and stay for a few days. At some point, the girlfriend's allergies would dictate that it's time for Gypsy to go home, but by and large a wonderful time was had by all. Gypsy seemed to reserve her most playful moods for those visits. It brought real joy to see those two play and cut up together. It looked like the beginnings of a really happy family.
I don't know what I'd do without so many good friends. Some of them even have blogs (see my sidebar to the right with their links) that have been written like this one in recent days by my friend The Reluctant Bachelor - talk about timely wisdom. Though I wasn't married to this incredibly wonderful gal that has left me with the blues, the message is the same. I hope I can keep this nugget of wisdom in mind in the coming weeks and months. Maybe she will see it too and it will be of some comfort to her as well. I know I felt that way about her.
Fall is just around the corner. Football season is here. It is easily my most favorite time of year. She and I were just talking about how we agree on that. It's cooler, the fall colors are greatly anticipated and even the early darkness seems a little more exciting to me. It may just be the change in seasons which I love. But Autumn is also about the dying of the leaves, and I guess there's a little something that just died in me. I'm not sure. I am definitely not quite my usually chipper self right now.
I know the memory of countless heartwarming & close times will live on in my heart and hers and there's the mutual hope that our friendship will endure. She really was my best friend, we both said that often in the last few months when things were less than rosy.
Only time and perspective will tell. And that's it really, isn't it? Time. "Time changes everything" as Bob Wills once sang. Maybe her heart will change. Maybe mine will and I'll never be able to go back to that place where we were. But as I said as recently as this week (we both loved to watch football games), I'm the guy you want holding the football when you are down by 6 and the clock is running out with no time-outs.
But back to my silent partner. She's been here from the start. My ex-girlfriend from 8 years ago, a truly wonderful human herself, said Gypsy should come live with me when we split up. She was so wise in knowing I'd need some company in the lonely months ahead. Now that the months have become many years, Gypsy's been the one daily constant in my life since then. She's seen several potential big-time / not-so-big-time romances come and go. She's sat and listened to me work out songs about what went wrong or how happy I was or just trying to work out life's big questions. She's always there with a nuzzle and a warm hug when I pick her up in my arms like a baby. I'm so thankful for her right now.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Summer Catch Up
Been almost 3 months. Much going on.
Personal:
Laura and I are spending a lot of time together. Couldn't be happier. My kitty Gypsy really loves her and I think the feeling is mutual, so we try to get us all together whenever we can. We are again on her office softball team for the fall league (fall starts early around here in softball terms). Our first game was Sunday August 10. We split at double header with "The Duke Docs" in the Durham Co-Ed league. We went to Washington in June for the Orioles vs. The Nats at their new stadium. I may post a few pics later or link 'em here. We are planning to see Squeeze in DC in a few weeks and catch another Orioles game, this time at Camden Yards vs. The Yankees (Evil Empire).
Music:
Some endings and some beginnings and some re-sets. Young Neil and the Damage Done played the Pour House with fill-in drummer Will Batey in June and that went great. Skillet Gilmore (Patty Hurst Shifter, Whiskeytown, Vibe Killers) filled in at the Festival for the Eno River. Another good high energy gig. The need for fill-in drummers was due to a parting of the ways with our buddy Jim McPhail. He's gone on to greener pastures with another local party band. We wish him well. Since he was also in my original band (playing under just my name), we've sought our the services of former H-Bombs, Secret Service and Backbeat drummer Chris Chamis. We're delighted he's on board with me, Rocky and Chad. Also, on the new beginnings front, FJ Ventre, Tom Meltzer and Gary Miller and I have a indie-pop / power pop cover band in the wings. For now, we're known as The Hasbros. In the endings file, I left Amps Do Furnish a Room in May. The strain of all that extra work and a chaotic after work life led me to trim back and retire. We do plan to play Marquee Moon live again sometime this summer, but for now I've abandoned the 2008 project. We'll revisit it next year.
The Ruins continue to be on hiatus since last year this time. I tried to see if a gig here or there this summer would work, but Eric Midkiff is pretty busy with the young family and Bryan's busy with Great Big Gone. I think there were some health issues too with other Ruins family members. No hurry. No one's going anywhere. We can always pick up where we left off whenever.
Work:
The NC General Assembly chose not to fund the NC Center for Nursing for the coming fiscal year, so since they report to the UNC President, I was charged with the very time consuming job of archiving their documents left behind, totally cleaning out the office (6 people lost their jobs - it was often sad looking at some 17 years of work by these fine public servants), recycling waste paper, coordinating the surplus and clean-up. I spent approximately 60 hours (and a lot of highway miles down I-40 as my office is in Chapel Hill and NCCN was in Raleigh) there since early July doing this. I had help from 3 other people at various times, but mostly was there by my self for about 45 of those 60 odd hours. This was time I wasn't reviewing our end of year inventory and my normal job (purchasing officer), so I've put in some serious hours trying to get caught up. Still not there yet.
Well, I could make this a truly long chapter, but will end now. I will say that the Orioles have been both delightful in their surprising early season and disappointing with the injuries and ineffectiveness of starting pitching. Overall, for a true rebuilding year, there have been some fine moments and it's good to see some young guys getting a chance and rising to the occasion.
Personal:
Laura and I are spending a lot of time together. Couldn't be happier. My kitty Gypsy really loves her and I think the feeling is mutual, so we try to get us all together whenever we can. We are again on her office softball team for the fall league (fall starts early around here in softball terms). Our first game was Sunday August 10. We split at double header with "The Duke Docs" in the Durham Co-Ed league. We went to Washington in June for the Orioles vs. The Nats at their new stadium. I may post a few pics later or link 'em here. We are planning to see Squeeze in DC in a few weeks and catch another Orioles game, this time at Camden Yards vs. The Yankees (Evil Empire).
Music:
Some endings and some beginnings and some re-sets. Young Neil and the Damage Done played the Pour House with fill-in drummer Will Batey in June and that went great. Skillet Gilmore (Patty Hurst Shifter, Whiskeytown, Vibe Killers) filled in at the Festival for the Eno River. Another good high energy gig. The need for fill-in drummers was due to a parting of the ways with our buddy Jim McPhail. He's gone on to greener pastures with another local party band. We wish him well. Since he was also in my original band (playing under just my name), we've sought our the services of former H-Bombs, Secret Service and Backbeat drummer Chris Chamis. We're delighted he's on board with me, Rocky and Chad. Also, on the new beginnings front, FJ Ventre, Tom Meltzer and Gary Miller and I have a indie-pop / power pop cover band in the wings. For now, we're known as The Hasbros. In the endings file, I left Amps Do Furnish a Room in May. The strain of all that extra work and a chaotic after work life led me to trim back and retire. We do plan to play Marquee Moon live again sometime this summer, but for now I've abandoned the 2008 project. We'll revisit it next year.
The Ruins continue to be on hiatus since last year this time. I tried to see if a gig here or there this summer would work, but Eric Midkiff is pretty busy with the young family and Bryan's busy with Great Big Gone. I think there were some health issues too with other Ruins family members. No hurry. No one's going anywhere. We can always pick up where we left off whenever.
Work:
The NC General Assembly chose not to fund the NC Center for Nursing for the coming fiscal year, so since they report to the UNC President, I was charged with the very time consuming job of archiving their documents left behind, totally cleaning out the office (6 people lost their jobs - it was often sad looking at some 17 years of work by these fine public servants), recycling waste paper, coordinating the surplus and clean-up. I spent approximately 60 hours (and a lot of highway miles down I-40 as my office is in Chapel Hill and NCCN was in Raleigh) there since early July doing this. I had help from 3 other people at various times, but mostly was there by my self for about 45 of those 60 odd hours. This was time I wasn't reviewing our end of year inventory and my normal job (purchasing officer), so I've put in some serious hours trying to get caught up. Still not there yet.
Well, I could make this a truly long chapter, but will end now. I will say that the Orioles have been both delightful in their surprising early season and disappointing with the injuries and ineffectiveness of starting pitching. Overall, for a true rebuilding year, there have been some fine moments and it's good to see some young guys getting a chance and rising to the occasion.
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