Every time I go back home to visit my nephews, it seems they manage to shock and surprise me with how much they've grown up and changed since my  last  visit. For some reason, meal time, is the common time to do this. Once on a visit home, I was feeding Ethan (then 3 years old) a snack of cheese and crackers. Midway through, with his mouth stuffed full, he said something like,  "Aunt Beff, can I have more cheezwilmows?"  I had no idea what he meant, so I asked him to repeat it. "More cheezwilmows?" he asked again. Finally I had to get his mother in the next room to translate. She laughed and explained, "He's saying, 'Can I have more cheese, little mouse?'" It seems whenever his mother puts cheese on his plate, she says, "Here's some cheese, little mouse!" He learned to make it all one word.  Ethan shocked me again more recently when he was having trouble getting the ranch dressing bottle open.  He struggled for a minute and...

Overheard in the waiting room of a family-owned Italian hair salon in Northern New Jersey: A young, pregnant woman sat in chair reading last month's  People  magazine with her mother next to her. "You pick a name yet?" her mother asked in her heavy Italian accent, referring to her daughter's unborn child.  "I told you already, ma. We like Shane," the daughter replied with out glancing up. " Shama?!  You a gonna name my only garan-sun Shama? Like, 'I'm ashama you?'" The daughter gave her an exasperated look, "No ma. SHAY-NNNN." The mother threw her hands up, "I a no understand." In what seemed like a rehearsed response, the daughter explained, "Ma, no Italian name goes with the last name of Shroeder. We just want something that sounds American and goes together. Anyways, everything worked out with our first one. You didn't like  her  name and now you love it." Then the daughter looked at me, a p...

"Showers of Blessing"  Daniel W. Whittle, James McGranahan There shall be showers of blessing: This is the promise of love. There shall be seasons refreshing, sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. There shall be showers of blessing; O that today they might fall. Now as to God we're confessing, Now as on Jesus we call! Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need. Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.

I thought I'd share part of another nearly complete track from my album that I'm working hard on with Modern Vintage Recordings.  It is HARD to do background vocals! Since I've written these songs myself, I've only heard the melody in my head for  so  long, that it's difficult to hear new harmonies. Thank goodness for Jason Cummings who has harmonies oozing out his ears and has arranged most of these.  This video was taken directly after we finished background vocals for "How I Say Goodbye." Definitely the most upbeat and country sounding track on the album. Actually more like "ho-down" sounding. But it's a fun song. Enjoy! (And keep in mind, the track is far from being refined, mixed, and mastered).  Here are posts as I chronicle my album recording with Modern Vintage Recordings: 1 .  Optimistic Gamble 2.  Sophie's Choice 3.  Pre-Production Meeting Two 4.  Redeemed 5.  To Accordion or not to Accordion, that is the Question 6.  ...

A high school girl told a story in ballet class as she laced up her point shoes:  She said that a few days ago at school, she suddenly thought of her mom and decided to send her a random text message that said, "I love you." Then she put her phone in her bag, concentrating on her class and not giving the text another thought.  About halfway through the class, they were disrupted by a knock on the door. It was the front office secretary who said that the girl had an urgent phone call in the office. Worried, she grabbed her book bag and made her way to the office. As she walked, she took out her cell phone to see if she had missed anything. Sure enough she had several text messages from her mom that read,  "Why, what happened?" "What's wrong?!" "WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" The poor woman had thought the absolute worst when she read her daughter's seemingly random note of sentiment. When the girl got to the office phone, she calmed her frantic ...

One day, the 7-year old Intermediate Ballet class I play piano for, had a substitute teacher. Though the little girls didn't realize it, they were quite privileged to have  this  instructor. A famous Russian ballerina who now taught the professional dancers that made up the ballet company. Immediately I could sense this would be a different class than the girls were used to, for this teacher was disciplined and focused and was used to nothing less than the full attention and hard work from her students, no matter what their age.  From my seat behind the piano, I watched the girl's faces as they struggled to understand the higher-level of combinations from their new teacher. I saw some grow frustrated, confused, and some gave up. But for as much as these girls were not used to their new teacher, their new teacher was not used to the inexperienced girls, and continued her class as if she were teaching her skilled adult company.  In the middle of the class, the i...

I was invited to play at Soule Restaurant in Brooklyn for their weekly "Jazz Night." The evening consisted of me playing and/or singing for 3 hours during the dinner rush. It had been a while since I performed for that long. My favorite kind of gig though, is playing my little keyboard off in a corner somewhere while people are half paying attention to me/half eating their supper. It's just such a relaxed atmosphere where I have the freedom to choose whatever I feeling like playing or singing.  This is a video of "Bei Mir Bist Du Shon." I played this about an hour into my set and it was the first number that people applauded for, which caught me off guard at the end of the song! It was a great evening and I ended up having a lot of support from friends who came out for the occasion. That was such a comfort to me since Eddie (my faithful fan) couldn't make it that night. Enjoy the video!