Rob Lifford

As I recall (from countless other attempts to quit smoking), the second day is always harder than the first. Much harder. I’ve been up for about an hour and my recollection is definitely true. Dunno if I’ll make it through today. Here we go again…

In better news, just got a call from Rich, who plays a mean bass in Ty Hager‘s band, saying there might be a one-tune recording session for me some night this week. Always happy to get in a little more work on the mandolin. I really should put away all the small sums of cash I make playing mando to buy a really good one. It’ll only take two or three decades, I guess.

Trying to quit smoking again, as of this morning. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Urge to kill… rising…

It really could’ve been worse; I kept real busy at work today and made a (somewhat) triumphant return to the health club this evening. The distraction and the exercise definitely help.

I’ve got a sore throat and shredded fingertips this morning, but it was worth it: went to a pickin’ party in Hyde Park last night for my local bluegrass hero (happy birthday Mike). Played a lot of bass, a few really nice guitars, and really freaked out over our host’s amazing Gilchrist A-style mandolin. Could not believe how well it played, and of course it sounded fantastic. Too bad they’re going for about 20 grand on eBay (or so I hear… but I think I’ll go have a look right now)…

Paging my motivation… paging my motivation…

I’ve got a nice long list of chores to do, and I’ve made some headway, but every now and then the webobsession just creeps in. I spent the last hour or two setting up greasyelbow.com and zzanginc.com just the way I like ’em. The Lazy Fingers pages and mp3s now live over on the Zzang site so I’ll have more room here at greasy elbow for pictures and other tomfoolery.

OK, better get myself moving.

The Ty Hager gig went great. Not that we brought in a ton of people, because we sure didn’t, but we actually played well. Not that we haven’t played well before, but tonight things were clicking in a way they hadn’t at the last few shows. Damn, that’s gratifying. It reminded me why I play music in the first place. Hallelujah for that.

Finally finished a freelance project that had been keeping me real busy – about a week’s worth of ten-hour days. I suppose I did a pretty good job. Tonight, I’ve got another gig with Ty Hager, the first in what will be a weekly engagement at the Hideout on Congress Ave. This weekend? Working on the house, I suppose. Maybe forging ahead on more job applications or something. Or getting a good head start on the next technical manual that I’ll be producing for my buddy Jamie’s company.

OK, I’m almost awake enough now to go pour myself some coffee.