Fancy Pants

I have a brother in law who's a piano player.  No, seriously...a fancy pants piano player.  I realize the technical term is 'classical performer' or 'classical pianist'.  He is that too, for sure.  But mostly I like to call him a fancy pants piano player.  He just had a really fancy pants performance last night at the school where he teaches in the Twin Cities.  It's a very well known and respected school of music.   It was one of those 'gala' type events....full of pretty people, pretty clothes and lovely music.  Rockstar and I were all set to go and then we had car trouble.  HUGE BUMMER!  I know we'll get other chances to see and hear Fancy Pants play, but still...it was disappointing. 

My Rockstar Hubby is the older brother of Fancy Pants, and the music gene decided to skip over him and land on Fancy Pants.  Sometimes I find it funny that they're even brothers.  Well, there's actually three brothers.  Fabio, the oldest.  (I call him Fabio because he's been in the entertainment industry for a long time and has acted in TV, commercials, film etc)  He's not cheesy at all like Fabio .....I just think it's funny.  Don't you? The music gene did land on him too.  Not in the same ways maybe, but he definitely got a good dose of it.   So Fabio is the oldest brother, then my Rockstar Hubby, and the baby brother is Fancy Pants.  (there are 2 sisters in the mingle...Mitzy and Muffy) but more on them another time.

Growing up on the farm Rockstar remembers many, many hours of piano being practiced in the dining room of their home.  When I say many hours, I mean MANY.  Fancy Pants was only 11 when Rockstar and I started dating, but even then he was pretty focused.  It was just a normal thing to talk above the piano, listen to the TV with the volume blaring, and take the phone into the bathroom when it rang so you could hear. 

Someone wrote on Fancy Pant's facebook wall this morning about his performance last night.  (Lots of people did...stellar reviews)  She commented on how her 4th grade piano recital kept coming to mind...how her skirt was stuck in her tights....FUNNY!!  Got me thinking of my piano recital days too.  The one time I got a piece of candy cane stuck in my tooth right before I was to play 'Dance of the Christmas Elves'. The whole time I played I could hardly concentrate as my tongue kept trying to dislodge the big piece of peppermint in my tooth.  I remember sweaty palms, the nervousness of knowing everyone was watching you.  How my fingers would feel kind of stiff and cold....like I couldn't move them to play the song.  I'll bet a million dollars Fancy Pants did not have cold, stiff fingers, and that he did NOT have a candy cane before his performance...although I do have it on record that he diligently makes sure his fly is zipped before walking on stage.  Good strategy.

I took piano lessons for 10, maybe 12 years.  My youngest daughter is taking lessons now that we finally have a piano in our home.  I'm glad my parents gave me the opportunity to learn.  I'm thinking I might even want to take a refresher lesson or two...I think I'd enjoy playing for fun every now and again.  I'll never be Fancy Pants...that's for sure...but I'll also never have to worry about getting my skirt stuck in my tights, and I won't chew on a candy cane before I play. I might check my fly though.  Seriously that's good thinking. 

A Family that Plays (music) Together...

One of my most favorite memories as a child was lying in bed at night and hearing my mom make popcorn in the kitchen and listening to my dad play guitar.  As the popcorn smell drifted upstairs I'd hear my dad tuning up for some golden oldies.  The Beatles were really big in our house.  In fact, I consider myself a "Beatle Baby" as I'm sure John, Paul, George and Ringo serenaded me from the ol' turntable as my mom rocked me to sleep.  As the corn popped, and my mouth watered, my parents would usually break into some kind of song.  He'd start by warming up  his guitar with a little ditty I loved called "Alice's Restaurant."  And then, at some point they always seemed to sing "Brown Eyed Girl."  Mom, would be melting butter and singing harmony from the kitchen..... "Do you remember when.... we used to sing...Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la- dee-da- la-dee-da...brown eyed girl"  I usually sang along quietly,  trying to match my moms notes.  I liked that we were both harmonizing with dad, it was kind of  like my own little secret.   I remember thinking if the song were "Blue Eyed Girl" it could have been about me.  I still pretended it was anyway. 

I took piano lessons for many years, played in the marching band, sang in various choirs and singing groups. One of my younger brothers took up piano and guitar too.  I wonder how many hours we spent on our big upright?  It was my Grandma's piano and the one my dad learned to play on too.  Every now and then dad would come in and plop down on the bench beside me and I knew it was time to get serious.  It was CHOPSTICKS time!!!  Sometimes I would play the top, and sometimes the bottom...but the goal of our chopsticks duet was not to make beautiful music... nope, it was to see who could be clever enough to mess up the other persons rhythm.  For a long time I was the underdog, but over the years was able to trip up good old dad a few times too.  This past Christmas our Gracie and her PaPa had their first "Chopsticks Showdown" I tried downloading a short 35 second video of them,  but for some reason blogger wasn't allowing me to.  Suffice it to say Gracie will be the underdog for a while too...but PaPa better watch out because she's feisty!

As I watched my dad and daughter duke it out on the keyboard it brought back so many fond memories of our little den with the big piano on Channing Ave.  I love that my kids will now have some of the same memories too.  Our son Dboy,  has followed in his PaPa and Uncle's footsteps and become a pretty darn good guitar player.  I'm thinking it sure would be fun to have "Alice's Restaurant" played in our house too.  We'll have to get Pa Pa workin' on that next.



This is by far and away one of my favorite Christmas pictures from this past year.  Dboy on guitar, PaPa rockin the bass, and Gracie tickling the ivories with some "Joy to the World" and "Deck the Halls."  It made me really glad that I grew up in a house with lots of music. And even more glad that my kids are too. Oh, and I saved the best for last....sometimes my parents would let me and my brothers come downstairs and join them for popcorn.  Even on a school night!!  Now that really was music to our ears.