The future of transportation?

The amazing electric Eunicycle

For NPR...I'm Paul Overton, reporting...

I got to hear that phrase for the first time this morning, and I must say, it was pretty cool, in a weird, uncomfortable kind of way. I'm not totally happy with the piece that I produced, but hey, I'm a perfectionist and am never completely happy with anything. The folks at the station are happy with it and that's what's really important. I'll be interested to see if WUNC gets any email or phone calls about it. I'd love to know what listeners (besides my mom) thought about it.

Here's the webcast for those who missed it.

From Steeltown...

Midnight in Pittsburgh. Just concluded our third weekend of teaching and head back to Durham in the morning. I'm ready. The weekend has been nice. Great architecture here. Staying in a huge Arts and Crafts house in Squirrel Hill (where Mr. Rogers lived). I'd totally move here if the sky wasn't grey for 300 days of the year.

Radio, Radio

Here's a rough mix of the piece I've been working on for WUNC for those who have been asking about it.

This is not about being busy...

So, I dropped off the dogs at the dog sitter's house. We love our dog sitter. She is one of the coolest people ever and she loves our dogs as if they were her own. If you don't have dogs, or have never had to board your dogs, you probably don't know how rare that is.

Anyway, as I'm leaving, she says she has something for me and comes out of her studio with a pretty little ukulele. It's a Decca from the 1950s. A Japanese made uke that was mass produced and imported in to the states and it was owned by her father. I was blown away. Ukuleles are one of those things that people just don't get rid of. Especially if they were owned by a family member. So, for her to give me that uke was a big deal and the more I think about it, the more grateful I am for the gesture. It now has a place of honor in my permanent collection and I know that, no matter how many ukes I acquire, this one will stay front and center. Thanks Alex.

Newest Dog...

This is Elena. She needs a home.

Pittsburgh has an "H" in it...

Holy shit. We got snowed in to Denver for two extra days and now I'm battling to catch up. Started working on a radio piece that airs tomorrow at 5am this morning at 6am and just finished uploading it to the FTP site. Too close for comfort. Now I can go do an improv show in Raleigh and then start working on the next radio piece that airs next Wednesday. "Plenty of time", you say. Well, it would be if I wasn't leaving for Pittsburgh on Friday morning and returning on Monday. The Radio thing will all be over next week and things will return to normal for ONE week until we fly to California to run our swing camp. Oh, did I mention that Sharon's parents are coming next week? Enough!

You didn't really want to know that anyway did you?

Cherish your boredom.

Wow...

I've been really falling down on the blog thing of late. No surprise. I've been as busy as squirrel in a pontiac.

Last week we were in Ithaca, NY. For upstate NY, it's a cool place but, honestly, I do not understand how those people make it through winter without killing themselves. It's just miserable and grey most of the time. While we we're there we were able to do some quality hang time with our hippie, musician friends, had some decent Thai food, and drank lots of Yerba Mate at the cafe that is run by a cult. The coolest part of the trip was that we got to work with little kids on Friday. Our friend teaches at a rural gradeschool in Mecklenberg and she's been teaching the kids about the Harlem renaissance and jazz, so dances of the era fit right in with the curriculum. The kids were great. Especially the kindergateners. They were bananas in that really fun kind of five year old way.

This morning we are headed to Denver to teach for the weekend. Two planes each way. Grr. Bad enough that I have to get on a plane. Worse that I have to change planes. All to do something that I really don't want to. I have a ton of stuff to get done here at home and, honestly, this job is just a distraction.

Next week we're in Pittsburg and after that Oakland for our swing festival. Glamorous right? No. There is little gypsy left in me. I'm ready to sit in Durham for awhile.