Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Bliss Is Now 2.0 -- February 9, 2016

I've just returned from the 3rd Best Mardi Gras on the Planet--dedicated with love to our own beloved T. Scot Halpin. Is There a Drummer in the House? was the theme of this year's famed Fat Tuesday celebration at Player's Pub. Fat Tuesday came early this year and just happened to fall on the 8th anniversary of T. Scot Halpin's passing. Joe told me a few months ago that he wanted to theme the 2016 event, "Is There a Drummer in the House?" in honor of Scot's iconic performance with the Who. I have been informed that we now have two Mardi Gras crews in Bloomington now. For years it was just "Monkey Heads" (with bones). Now we have a full on "Skeleton Crew", although I hear there is some inter-mingling. The reason I am so happy is because so many people cared about Scot. I met several people who are still connecting with Scot through his experience playing with The Who! I am so busy and so set in my ways, that I could have easily stayed at home and done my usual things. Now that I'm home, after I went, I am so glad that I showed up. I consciously took a percussion egg to the show, and danced with the rhythm of that egg all night. Scot gave me this egg. Gifts between us were few because neither of us cared that much about material gifts. In the course of our relationship he gave me: First Gift: African Thumb Piano--perfect gift for a non-musician, the egg shaker I played with great enjoyment tonight, a set of three-toned wooden box shakers (warm perfection in three wooden boxes), cow bells (loud), beaded shaker (loud) and bongos (can be loud, can be soft)! I loved his music and loved making music with him. I am gearing up for Memory Blog 2.0. It is a disciple, like all other discipline, except in this case, the discipline has an aspect of visiting a land of sadness. When I was getting near the end of the original memory blog experience, I would be aware that I was dragging myself into a situation that was going to make me really sad. Missing Scot. Now that he has been gone for eight years, I want to conjure him. I want to remember what it was like to be with him. This memorial blog is an indulgence. I can just dive right into the silky, rich waters of a day-to-day that got to be for a long time, for better and for worse. Thank goodness we both survived our marriage.
So off we go into this wonderland of a person.