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Dec. 22, 2010
Lighted deer, Led
Zep’s unreleased Christmas album and ‘Inoke’
Hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to
bounce around a few topics in this column. Besides, it’s the
holidays, so I might as well add to the festivity frenzy. There’s
no point in trying to contain Christmas spirit, is there? So
here’s what I’ve been doing to get into the Christmas spirit. And
you know what? I think it’s working. And I hope some rubs off on
you.
n
First, if you’ve visited Mosier recently,
you may have noticed a bunch of Christmas decorations next to 10
Speed East. The city council sets up a light display there every
year, but this year, when all the lighted metal-wire deer and
greeting signs were set up, nothing worked.
Not one bulb.
So, kinda like the Grinch, I gathered up
these unwieldy items and headed up the hill to my shop with a
promise to bring them back to life.
After what seemed like an eternity of
mind-numbing work, I replaced close to 200 bulbs. Of course, the
“old” bulbs (which were probably made in the exact same factory as
the “new” bulbs) had to be swapped out of each little holder,
because the new one wouldn’t fit in the old one.
As soon as I got these fixed, I was
informed that the Lighted Penguin display in front of City Hall
was burned out.
I sighed, I installed new batteries in my
portable bulb-tester and headed down the hill.
n
My holiday wouldn’t be complete without
some music, and this year I was lucky to attend the United Way
Holiday Benefit Concert, with Aaron Meyer and his band, on Dec.
12.
And, I’ve got to say, this single show was
perhaps the best musical event I’ve seen in Hood River County. The
only problem? We’ll have to wait an entire year for another one.
During the entire show, I was transfixed.
Time? I lost track of it. I had to laugh. At one point, Meyer’s
violin and band tore into Led Zep’s “Kashmir,” AND IT STILL
FELT LIKE A CHRISTMAS SONG.
n
The last few years, there’s a name that
keeps popping up in my music column right around Christmas time,
and this year I was reminded of him when I saw the advertisement
in the paper. But all the information said was “Musical
Entertainer Inoke.”
Now, I know from past years that “Inoke,”
aka Inoke Baravilala, is a guitarist. But really, what else did I
know about him?
Answer, not much. But when I dug a little
deeper, I just got a feeling that there was a lot more to his
story.
It turns out Inoke has been playing
guitar, all over the world, for over 40 years, and I think his
interview is one of the most interesting ones so far. So, if
you’re a musician looking for some inspiration, or just someone
looking for some more holiday spirit, Inoke will be in town on
Christmas Eve.
Happy Holidays everyone!
n
Read the interview with Inoke
here:
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