South Bend

South Bend (mp3) (pdf)

Well, it's been a month since my last posting here, and what a month it's been.

A few days after my previous posting I boarded the Amtrak Empire Builder (two days out of Seattle (!), headed for Chicago) in order the catch the Capitol Limited into Union Station, Washington D.C. I met up there with my Contratopia friends and proceeded to have a wonderful, nearly carefree, weekend playing for dances at Glen Echo Park and the smaller Ballroom Blum in Adelphi, MD.

We all knew that COVID-19 was on it's way but we figured, correctly it turned out, that we were ahead of the curve. We had good crowds at Glen Echo for both the Friday Night Contra dance and the Sunday Waltz Time couples dance. We didn't, however, know how close we were cutting it and how rapidly things would change. Luckily none of us picked up any virus symptoms on our flights and train rides and, so far, all of our group have remained healthy here in Iowa and Minnesota.

Being an older guy I have been pretty darn careful these last few weeks and, again, so far, I am in excellent health. However, keeping up my self-imposed once a week tune schedule has taken a back seat to adapting to the new reality. Finally today I got around to recording a new tune for this blog.

I always write a few tunes when I have the chance to spend the night in an Amtrak sleeper car. Today's tune was written around the time we stopped in South Bend on the way to D.C. It was dark by that time but I always love looking out my little window and watching the people boarding and leaving the train at the station stops. This tune was written in D but, after returning home, it became a tune in C major. Finally, last week sometime it found its way down to G major and that's how you'll see and hear it today.

In any event, I hope you enjoy the tune. Most of the musicians I know are out of work these days. If you have any favorite musicians (or artists of any kind) and you can afford to help them out please consider purchasing something from them or sign up for an online lesson. Above all stay safe and help keep others safe by trying not to become a virus carrier.