Psycho Boss from Hades

dreadnut

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I quit my job today :D :D :D

I got a better offer and I get to escape from a raging egomaniac :twisted:

I came home and played my DV-52 on the deck in the shade of my big tree. Some old Prine, LittleFeat, re-discovered the song "Good Time Charlie's got the Blues". Life is good today :D

I haven't felt this good since the day I got out of the Navy :lol: That day, I sat on the beach in front of the Hotel Del Coronado drinking a cold 6-pack of Coors and watching the USS Ranger steam away...

I think I feel a song coming on 8)
 

Jeff

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Dred,

I know the feeling. Just by chance, the plane that brought me home from Asia landed at McCord AFB, Wa, 50 miles from home.

I remember walking down the ramp onto the asphalt & thinking to myself, Ain't nothing going wrong this day. I can walk home from here.
 

West R Lee

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Congrats I think Dredster,

Funny you should mention that, I had just mentioned to my wife that I don't know how much longer I can hang in there with my job. Problem is, I've still got one to get through college.

Whatcha gonna do with yourself? Besides play Prine?

Good luck to you......all the best. Man, that took cahunas! 8)

West
 

dreadnut

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yeah, life is too short to spend it doing stuff you don't really want to do. I'll still be in sales, construction related, but I got a much better offer and i know my new boss real well, he plays a Guild :D

Ya know, I'd love to just play music but it still doesn't pay enough :(

I have a couple, three paying gigs every month and a bunch of volunteer ones. Me and the boys do music at a local old folks home and they just love it. I'm having discussions with them regarding being a full time minstrel for them at some point in the future, and I've been invited to sit on their "Music Therapy Planning Board" to help figure out where they are going with this. I may not be a degreed music therapist, but you can't argue much with someone who's already doing it, can you? I figure if I'm on the board, I can argue my own case. At least they understand the value of Music Therapy and are interested in pursuing it, they have about a dozen facilities in town.

Last time we were there, the charge nurse said to me "We can't get them to come out of there rooms for anybody else except you guys!" These folks absolutely love the live music, they're all in place and waiting for us when we arrive. We put tambourines and shakers in their hands and they play along with us, its a wonderful thing to see and hear old folks with alzheimers smile and sing. On more than one occasion, I've had an adult child of one of these folks come up to me and say "my mom or dad rarely talks anymore, but boy do they sing when you play!" They may not know what day it is, but those old songs are deeply rooted in their memory.

Some pay can't be measured in dollars 8)
 

Mr. P ~

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The people that I know that do the old folks homes regularly seem to get as much out of it as the old folks do.

:)
 

West R Lee

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Dred,

Now you are blowing me away.

About 2 months ago, we moved my mother into an assisted living center. My father died about 13 years ago, and after having been married to him for 46 years, my mother had always been kind of lost since his death. Her memory had been failing her badly the past couple of years. I have a brother and 2 sisters, and after much discussion, my siblings and I decided to move her out of the home she had lived in since 1964, to assisted living. Mother fought the move tooth and nail and it broke my heart when she would grab my arm crying and begging me not to leave her there.

Mother's opinion of the move, and the place we had placed her was very negative. Then one evening she called me and invited me over to the assisted living center for a thing called a music night. I couldn't make it that night because of a prior commitment, but afterwards mother just went on and on about this music. It turns out that one of the nurses there plays the acoustic, along with some of her friends, and they play for the folks that live in the center. Not only was mother excited about the live music, but she suggested that I bring a guitar to the next get together (monthly), and play and sing for her and her new neighbors. I had kind of put the idea on the back burner, but you've given me reason to reconsider. I think that is the type of audience that would appreciate you no matter how good (or in my case, bad) you are, and the fact that you simply have something to offer to break the bordom of the routine. I may just have to pack up the D25 and JF30 for the next "music night"! Don't think I'll get into any "Needle and the Damage Done" or "Illegal Smile" with that group though. Although I'm sure my audience wouldn't have a clue as to what I was singing about.

BTW, mother's opinion of her new environment has changed as she now understands that someone must be there to ensure that she eats properly, is medicated on time and has someone always there to check in on her. She has also developed friendships with a couple of ladies who knock on her door each evening to invite her to walk the grounds with them.

Your post may have made a big difference here Dred. That's a good thing you're doing there. God bless you.
Thanks,
West
 

Jeff

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Didn't want o confess my amature status as a performer but the only live gig I've done was an Senior facility. Played an old folks a couple times.

The Redhead is an Occupational Therapist & these places are her career. The activities director with her current employer was a pretty good campfire performer & was puttin on an hour or an hour & a half every Tuesday. He & Red talked me into sitting in a couple times. Was just getting interesting when he got a better offer & moved on. I don't have Cahunas big enough to try it solo.

Learn to accept the environment & you see some really cool old people.

Red's always coming home & telling me about Andy, or Old Bill or another these old codger's passin thru the place somehow showing up with an old Gibson & he's pretty darn good. Doesn't take long & they're wheelin him down to the Rec Hall once a week to play for as long as he's able. Couple a gigs & long about showtime the rooms start to empty out a bit,
wheelchair & walker traffic picks up noticeable in the halls. It is interesting that these are the guys that usually get better & go home.

Hanging around the double doors to the rec hall where the traffic gets congested is tremendously interesting. It's best to stay back out of the traffic pattern.

The clockwork upstairs on lots of these old folks is ticking just fine.

My parents are on the preicpice. John Prine's "Hello In There" says it much better.
 

dreadnut

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all I can say is "go for it" you guys. Solo or group, they'll love it. The important thing is that you go and engage the folks in some music, as we all know its great therapy for the mind and soul.

In fact, recent studies have shown that your body responds to singing like a physical workout.
 

Mr. P ~

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Jeff, Don't worry about your amature status, the old folks don't really care.

In the mid 80's when I was taking lessons, my instructor talked me and about 8 other students to go with him to do Christmas Carols at a local retirement home. Most of us were C,D, & G guys and none of us had practiced the songs. So here the 10 of us go down the halls door to door flailing our guitars while the poor instructor tried to sing over the din.

Ha, ha, it was pitiful, but the residents mostly loved it. There a few that frowned and slammed the door, but they would have slammed the door on the Pope too!

I regretted not having practiced enough to help sing, but that was the only regret I ever had about that deal.

Will do that again one day.
 

Mr. P ~

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Ok, E, F, & A too!!!!

[IMG:60:44]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/MrP_at_Large/ROTFL.gif[/img]



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West R Lee

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Where in the heck do you get those great big smiley face guys? :? I love those guys.

West
 

coastie99

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Jeff.

If I wuz you, I'd be less worried about my amature status, and more worried about the status of my armature !

All power to you guys giving those olds so much pleasure.
Could be that there's no scientific evidence about the therapeutic power of music, but I do believe that exposure to music, and inter-action with domestic animals is good for all of us.

I know very well that if I come home in a grotty mood, a quick blues-fix will see me right, and as I've mentioned elsewhere, if somebody's pissed me off, all I need to do is shout my way through "Positively 4th Street" and "Like A Rolling Stone" with the Zimmerman, and everything will be tickety-boo again.

Oh dear ! Great opportunity here for a comedian re. "inter-action with domestic animals" !!!!
 

West R Lee

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Yes, I was just getting ready to jump all over that one Coastie, but you disarmed me with your acknowledgement at the end of your post :lol: ! Nice save.

Oh well, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities. Lord knows I've given all of you plenty.

West
 

West R Lee

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BTW Coastman, they say they practice a lot of that "Animal Husbandry" just north of me in Arkansas.

West
 

Mr. P ~

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West R Lee said:
Where in the heck do you get those great big smiley face guys? :? I love those guys.

West

The wife was in a fancy Kenny Chesney forum for a couple of years, then a bunch of the girls got mad at the forum managers and started their own forum and it had these things. I love them too!

Here is a good one I haven't found a good use for here since there are not girls here.


[IMG:80:80]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34/MrP_at_Large/Coupleinthebed.gif[/img].
 

West R Lee

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Oh, I assure you that there are a few of us here that can find a place to stick those! :evil: How do I get them? My wife thinks they're the coolest thing.

West
 
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