This is a serious topic, really; because a lot of things have to happen for your life to continue on a smart path. If I won the lottery, here’s what I would do:

1. Change all my phone numbers, make them unlisted.
2. Install even more security fixtures and cameras than I already have
3. Hire an attorney and an accountant
4. Set up a blind trust
5. Hire an investment adviser (who would NOT have power of attorney)
6. Have the attorney collect the ticket in the name of the blind trust.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Let’s say just to make it interesting, that it was a Powerball, and I’ve got a few hundred million to play with. Here’s how things would go down:

1. $5 million would go into a low-risk, moderate yield investment to provide for my old age, and my family’s day to day well-being.
2. A moderate trust would be established for the little one, not to make her a trust fund kid, but to ensure a safety net if she needed it.
3. There would be a new Traynor School of Music, Art, and Technology at my daughter’s school. Yes, with our name on the damn building. It would be world class. Their IT department would want for nothing.
4. My entire family would take the time and incur the expenses needed to bring us all to the healthiest and happiest physical and emotional states we could possibly be.
5. If we stayed in this house, it would get some SERIOUS upgrades. It would be as power self-sufficient as we could possibly make it. It would have a GREAT kitchen. It would probably just be a new house on this lot.
6. My next job would be running a world-class recording studio that I’d build. As soon as I learned enough to be a good engineer. So, I’d be apprenticing with the best until I was ready.
7. Once Abby was out of school and able to live on her own, Bonnie and I would travel the country, helping people. Those little bits of boost that can make the difference in people’s lives. Random, secret stuff. Kids that need medical attention, single moms that need home repairs, paying off layaway Secret Santas - real, “rubber-meets-the-road” help. Fun hobby!
8. The Swannanoa Gathering would never have to worry about money again.
9. Some of our friends, the ones who have been there through thick and thin, would have their loads lightened a bit too.
10. I would get one pretty kickass but not ridiculous car. Maybe an Audi R8.

Parts of winning the lottery would suck. I’m sure we would lose friends. Hangers-on and fair weather friends would come out of the woodwork needing things, but we know what’s what, and who’s who… And there is the lesson for the day. Be the friends and ones that are there through thick and thin. Not because someone might win the lottery, but because it’s what you’re supposed to do. And who knows?
 

Everyone's proudest moments usually revolve around marriage or the birth of children; and those moments were certainly the rest of the top 3, but I want to tell you about the most recent proudest moment for me. Pull up a chair, this one takes a while; and there's a fair bit of back story, because it involves a place I go every summer.

The Swannanoa Gathering: A magical place; a place of music, of collaboration, of love, and of truth. The 2016 Gathering was my 12th consecutive, and it was also my best. Wait, what is he talking about? What is the Swannanoa Gathering?

The Swannanoa Gathering is a folk-arts music camp that holds seven curriculums that run over a period of five weeks during the summer at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa NC; just east of Asheville.  It celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The camps begin with Traditional Song Week, then Celtic Week, then Old-Time Week, then Guitar Week and Contemporary Folk Week (these two programs run concurrently), and it closes with Mando & Banjo Week and Fiddle Week (also running concurrently).

I have attended the Guitar Week/Contemporary Folk week duo every year since 2005. Every year that I go, my world is filled with amazing music, incredible camaraderie, and the most intensive learning I’ve ever experienced. A camper can take up to four courses, each of which runs 75 minutes a day for five days. In between the classes and meals are seminars, demonstrations, and exhibits. At Guitar Week, there are several high end custom luthiers displaying their wares; this year we enjoyed the exquisite guitars of John Slobod, Gerald Sheppard, Michael Bashkin, and Dave McCubbin. Dream Guitars of Weaverville brought a vast selection of their renowned inventory as well. At night, both faculties perform concerts, the students perform as well, and the jamming goes on all night long. The slogan of the Gathering is "The worst part about the Gathering is that there are only 24 hours in the day and 3 of them are wasted sleeping!"

My week this year was the most magical of the lot to date; a significant thing because each year I leave thinking “it can’t possible get any better than this!” but then it does. I’d like to relate some of the experiences I had. First, friend and fellow Gatherer Jim Moran messaged me on Facebook for my phone number the day before camp began. That facilitated a conversation and a HUGE opportunity with Grammy® winning songwriter and CMA/ACM Song of the Year honorees Jon Vezner and Don Henry, who asked me to accompany them on bass during their sets at the Contemporary Folk Week faculty concert, even before camp began!

I was sent a pair of tracks to learn, and in the course of rehearsing with these lovable lunatics; the call grew to four songs, including the song that won the aforementioned awards for them; “Where’ve You Been”? The other three songs were newer tracks on upcoming releases from the pair. During one of the rehearsals, a young lady entered the room and started singing a third harmony part. Against our collective judgement <kidding>, she was drafted into service for the show too. Who would it be but Grammy® winning country (and now folk) artist Kathy Mattea! (She and Vezner are married, as it happens).

During one of our rehearsals, Jon asked his friend, Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award winner and folk songwriting icon Tom Paxton to come and listen to one of the new tunes we were working on. As the song is magnificent, Tom was understandably moved. When Jon and I sat down for sound check on Wednesday the day of the show, Paxton was onstage, saw me, and pointed me out and asked if I wanted to play bass for him and his accompanist Robin Bullock for their set too!

The night of the show, it got several notches better. The entire faculty got together for a show-closing Tom Paxton number, and I played for that too. An amazing lineup of people singing to a warm, engaged, and extremely appreciative crowd. The group included Robin Bullock, Danny Ellis, Amy Speace, 14-time Boston Music Award winner Ellis Paul, Swannanoa Gathering founder Jim Magill, the mighty and ineffable Cliff Eberhardt, Independent Music Award, Americana Music Association Award, GLAMA award winner and Grammy® nominee Mary Gauthier, Kennedy Center Artist-in-Residence Pete Kennedy, the aforementioned Tom Paxton, Don Henry, Kathy Mattea, and Jon Vezner; Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers, Grammy® winner and Kennedy Center Artists-in-Residence Al Petteway & Amy White, Louise Mosrie, Ray Chesna, and two-time Grammy® winner and 10-time nominee Janis Ian!

The concert was filmed by PBS and is being edited down to a 90-minute presentation that will air on PBS stations throughout North Carolina, and will be on PBS.org for worldwide consumption very soon after you read this...

The next day in one of my classes, I was asked “Was that the best night of your life or what?” I replied “Well, I’m 51 years old. I have a wife and a 12 year old daughter, both of whom I love more than anything. But yes, that was the best night of my life!
==========
Links:

• Swannanoa Gathering website
• AshevilleCitizen-Times article on the Gathering (with pictures)

Media:

WLOS TV (Asheville ABC affiliate) news item on the Gathering, (story and video) - lots of great footage, I’m in it briefly a couple of times -

This one is simple and powerful. It was 1970 and I was nearly six. We were watching TV, and the above came on:

This began a one-sided love affair that spanned decades. That voice, that beautiful, resonant, otherworldly voice. The woman attached to it became a fixation for me that persists to a certain extent to this day. Her untimely and unbelievably premature death in 1983 from a heart attack and dehydration stemming from years of suffering from anorexia nervosa was a total shock to me. Back then, anorexia was even more misunderstood than it is now. I wish I’d known her. I wish I could have shown her the truth. I wish I could have helped her.

But yeah, I had it BAD for Karen Carpenter. She was the first. The beauty she brought into the world with her singing (and her formidable drumming skill) can never be replaced. 

I've moved on to many other celebrity crushes over the years, but there is and was only one Karen... 

Well, I’m not quite sure what to do with this one. It doesn’t explicitly mention piercings or tattoos that *I* have; and good thing; because I have neither. So I guess I’ll talk about how I feel about them on other people.
This is an area of my life where my opinions run more toward the, shall we say, “traditional”. I have to admit that I’m neither a big fan of tattoos, nor of piercings. I guess it’s mostly that I don’t understand them. I think that I don’t actually *object* to them; I just wouldn’t partake myself.

I think that pierced ears look good on women. One or two in the ear lobe. Once you get past that, you start to lose me. I don’t understand these people that look like they fell down a flight of stairs while carrying a tackle box. I also don’t understand the folks that have to make a hole in their ear lobe the size of a hula hoop.
 
As far as tattoos go, I think it’s the permanence that bothers me. I TOTALLY respect it as an art form, and I’ve seen some truly magnificent looking tattoos. That said, I could never remotely imagine permanently altering my body in such an outward form. The curmudgeon in me sees a dude with 70% coverage and 19 facial piercings and says “This guy never wants to make more than $8.50 an hour”. Sounds mean, but that’s how it feels to me. I know, super-judgey.
​
So yeah, I’m totally dork-ass old fashioned on this one. Stupid. Not sure what I can do about it. Educate me. What is the value, what is the merit? What makes it worth permanently changing your body? Tell me in the comments!

Let me entertainnn youuuuu...

This is my favorite old photo of myself. I like it because it freaks out everyone who sees it who has known me less than 25 years. See, I used to have hair. a LOT of it. Stop laughing. It's true! I started losing it in my mid 20s, so most of my current friends only know me as that short, fat, bald guy. But I used to be MUCH more svelte, and much hairier. THis picture was taken when I was 15, a sophomore in high school. The dog is Sir Fudgeship of Watervale, or "Fudgie". Bless him; he was cute but super neurotic. Anyway, here it is!

Oh, man, this one is HARD. There are just too many! How to narrow it down?? Well, I suppose if I just stream-of-consciousness it; I might do OK. Filter OFF, and here we go…

1. Chocolate - in so many forms. But let’s stay hardcore here, and talk about actual chocolate; as opposed to chocolate flavored dessert foods (those may come later). My top contenders are M&Ms (plain, peanut, almond, mint, and cherry), and Godiva dark chocolate with raspberry puree bars. And Hershey Kisses, the original. And Reese’s peanut butter cups. And peppermint bark at Christmas time. By the way, white chocolate is not chocolate, so shut up. J OK, I’ll stop now.
2. Steak - Yes… there is almost nothing better than a well-prepared steak. I like my meat lean, so when I go out, I’ll try to find the leanest cuts. They are sometimes not the tenderest, except for Filet Mignon; which I’d order more but it’s so expensive per ounce. Anyway, a well-prepared steak to me is flame broiled to JUST on the rare side of medium, a warm pink center; with pepper seasoning and a butter finish, with Himalayan sea salt ground over it. Sometimes, melted bleu or gorgonzola cheese over the top is nice. And yeah, sorry, I like A1 with my steaks most of the time. If it’s a perfect and tender cut, I’ll forego, but it’s an exciting flavor additive and it really works well with tougher cuts.
3. Ice cream - Dipping (see what I did there?) back into the chocolate well; but yeah, I like lots more flavors too. Ice cream is designed by the gods. Deep chocolates are my favorite, of course, but I also love mint ice cream, fruity sherbets, lots of flavors. And while the creamier, deeper ice creams are best (Haagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry, Godiva, Publix Premium, etc.). I also like the super-cheap store brands with lots of air whipped into them. A different experience but sometimes just as fun.
4. Spaghetti & Meatballs - Mmmmm, pasta and red sauce. Really, the whole pasta family is great, but nothing tops a nice Bolognese with savory meatballs included in it too. Yeah, meat. The best Bolognese in the Western Hemisphere is at The Fig in Asheville NC by the way. Best Penna Ala Vodka is at Bowled in St. Petersburg. But a good old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs will win me over every time. The sauce needs to be balanced – not too acidic, not too sweet, not too salty. It can explode with spices though, oregano, basil, thyme, and garlic… The meatballs need to be evenly textured, not too much filler, flavorful, and NO GREEN PEPPERS!!!
5. Bread - One of the finest smells in the whole world is freshly baking bread. I like breads of all varieties (EXCEPT RYE, BLEAUGHHHH!). I’d fly to NY to have fresh Italian bread from Columbus Bakery in Syracuse. The bread at Longhorn. Potato rolls. Mmmmmm…. Make sure there’s lots of good butter… Plugra if you can.
6. Cheeseburgers - Oh, now here we go. Again, nice and lean, on a heady brioche bun. Sometimes I’m a purist, American cheese and ketchup only, other times I’ll have the full salad on there; and sometimes, a blackened bacon, egg, and bleu cheese burger is what you need. Nothing beats at home on the grill, but Square One, The Hangar, and The Burg restaurant all do magnificent burgers.
7. Curried chicken - Mmmmm… LOVE me some curried chicken over rice. Especially the milder-spiced but very savory varieties like butter chicken. (There’s a place in Brooklyn that the butter chicken made me cry is was so good…) In this town, my favorite is Clay Oven on 9th St. North. That said, my wife’s curries are just dreamy too…
8. Peanut butter - Simple, elegant. We’re a Peter Pan house. It is the saltiest of the majors, and the most balanced. I can eat straight peanut butter sandwiches with no jelly, or anything. But a Fluffernutter is another great thing. Peanut butter is great on Cheez-It crackers, Ritz, Goldfish, saltines, Town House, what have you.
9. Cereal - I’m a cereal junkie. I love healthy cereals like Raisin Bran and Wheaties, and I love crap cereals too; the Monster cereals, chocolate Lucky Charms, and Kaboom (REMEMBER KABOOM, 70s CHILDREN???), and middle of the road ones like Rice Chex and Special K Red Berries… I can really OD on cereal if I’m not careful.
10. Cheese - Let’s round this out with the delight of the world, CHEEEEEESE! I’m a big Cheddar buff, the sharper the better. Cabot has a 3-year old Cheddar that is sold exclusively at Costco that is mind-bendingly sharp and flavorful. Melty, yummy, creamy cheeeeeese… Even Velveeta is good in the right places… Bleu cheese is to die for too… Melt some over potato chips and sprinkle chives on it… Yes….

OK I should stop. It wasn't hard at all. SO many more things didn’t make the cut, but I can’t write all night. Plus, now I’m hungry again. See you in the kitchen!

​Geez, let the narcissism continue, huh? Okay no problem. Three personality traits I’m proud of:

1. Humor - I think I can bring the funny in many different forms. I love writing humorous essays. Maybe I should start a blog. Nah, that would be too “meta”. I remember lots of movie and TV moments that I can whip out on a moment’s notice. ‘Scuse me while I whip this out… (SEE??) I’m fast on my feet, and that allows me to always have a ripe, sarcastic comeback when people get snotty, or simply feed me a good straight line.
2. Integrity - I’m very much one of those guys that if I say I’ll do it, I’ll do it. If I’m working for you, I’m working and giving you my best. I’m a straight shooter. I place a high premium on saying what I mean and meaning what I say. Without stooping too far into cliché, what you see is what you get.
3. Helpfulness -– If you read my 20 Things post a few days back, you learned that I’m very convenience driven. The sort of yin to that yang is that I enjoy helping people. I’m always that guy, fixing the computer, workin’ the Photoshop, hanging the lights, a drum lesson here or there, tutoring in something, whatever it is. It makes me feel good to make people feel good. The look on someone’s face when you’ve done something for them that they can’t do for themselves is really nice.

 
I was gonna talk about intelligence, but that’s more of a physical attribute than a personality trait; it’s not learned… But there you have it. Have a great night!

Ha! You'll love this. My guilty pleasure is 70s bubblegum pop music! The Partridge Family, Bobby Sherman, the schlockier the better! Mostly, this is because I'm a HUGE fan of The Wrecking Crew; the tribe of top studio musicians in LA that were on pretty much EVERYTHING from the mid 60s to the mid 80s. Later Beach Boys, Cher, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, The Partridge Family, post-Detroit Jackson 5,  Carpenters, The Monkees, the 'Crew was the band you heard on all of those recordings and many more!

I admire the Crew's versatility. I became a fan because growing up, when I listened to a lot of this music, my sister liked it because she had a crush on David Cassidy; but *I* liked it because I realized quickly that a lot of this music sounded the same, like it was done by the same people behind the curtain. There was a "signature sound" for it. Turns out I was right. Between the Crew and the Ron Hicklin Singers; they WERE on everything I was listening to.. I felt like some sort of detective that I figured it out, and then Denny Tedesco put out the documentary movie, and it just tied it all together for me. 

What's your guilty pleasure? Tell me in the comments!!

Interesting choice, this one. I have a pretty vivid one. It’s justr a brief flash, but I was VERY young, less than 2 years old. I was standing in the driveway of my house, crying because I thought I had been left alone; I couldn’t see Mommy. She was there, but you know, being a toddler and all (and those of you know me know that I’m pretty much a dingbat); what do I know? J But it was such a vivid scare that the memory is indelible. The garage door was open, and I remember seeing this poster on the wall at the top of the steps by the entrance into the house that my Mom had made as a running joke for my Dad's football buddies. It said "Sandy's Place" and was like a menu....