Up To Here...and an old violin

I am currently slavishly laboring on a review of the Tragically Hip's debut full-length Up To Here, because I know my dear readers are dying to immerse themselves in my high-minded opinion of this obscure album by this "only known in Canada" band.

So anyway, keep your eyes peeled for that. I hope to have it up sometime this week.

In other news, our kids are wrapping up their school years, which means spring orchestra concerts.
I've always been a fairly emotional sort, but these concerts really turn on my tear faucet. I do my best to cover it up, but it's hard. These kids (not just my kids but all of the kids) are so damned good and they work so hard at perfecting their musical skills.

I'm doubly stirred by the fact my older son is playing my grandfather's old violin. After my grandpa died in 1963, the violin was silenced. I inherited it in the mid-1990s. Though I had it reconditioned to make it playable again, I never did pick it up myself. At best, I bought some time for the violin. With a minimum of tweaking, the violin was ready for my son to play it after he'd outgrown his smaller rental violin. He's been playing his great granddad's [provenance unknown] violin for about four years now. After four decades of silence, this violin is making music again.

Maybe you can understand why I get misty during these concerts.

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