Sunday Singalong: Mother’s Day Edition

When I started brainstorming for this week’s “Sunday Singalong” video, I knew I wanted to do something special for Mother’s Day.  I just wasn’t sure what, exactly.  Then I remembered a song that I wrote for my mom last April on her 50th birthday, and I had a plan.  I chose some of my favorite photos of my mom, and used the song to narrate this slideshow:

I have a lot of people in my life to celebrate today. There’s my mom, of course, but then I also have my stepmom, aunt, grandma, mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and all of the moms and moms-to-be I know (like my sisters and friends). If you’re a mom, I hope you’re doing something nice for yourself – or even better, being spoiled by those who love you. Enjoy your special day!

Have Passport, Will Travel

A Fender Passport 500 Pro, that is, which will hit the road with me for gigs and performances from now on.  I was so excited for it to arrive that I immediately took it out of the box and tried it out.  My new sound system has completely taken over one of our spare bedrooms, as you can see:

The sound is a little overwhelming in this space, but it’s perfect for the bigger venues in which I perform around Springfield. The Passport is quite an upgrade from my little Ibanez amp (which I actually featured as my first-ever Friday Fave).  Here’s my previous set-up:

It looks so very sad in comparison!   But there really is no comparing the sound output of the two systems, not to mention the capabilities of each.  The Passport has an eight-channel mixer, CD-quality .wav and mp3 file playback, and even a port that lets me record my performances with CD quality (.wav) straight to a USB flash drive. How cool is that?  The best part is that the speakers attach to the mixer, which makes it super easy (and surprisingly light!) to transport:

I’ll be posting a few more pics on my Facebook page, so be sure to stop by and check them out.  My next gig just happens to be next weekend, and I can’t wait to put my new sound system to use.  Speaking of, I’d better go rehearse (in my newly converted rehearsal space).  Ciao!