Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thank You!
Thank you to all of you who came out to a Bossy Frog Band show this summer! It was a great, amazing, fun and hot summer of shows. I appreciate all of your support.
This summer had some great new venues as well as visits to old friends. We introduced the all new Bossy Frog character into some of our shows - thank you Jill and Nicole. Muddy joined a couple of shows on harmonica and bass. Alice and Joe continued to be a joy to work with.
I loved visiting some new places: Heermance Library, Marlboro Library, Philmont Library, Claverack Library, Fort Tryon Park Trust, Norwalk Parks and Rec Fireworks, Stamford Parks and Rec Camp, Linden Free Library, Jawanio Summer Camp, Camp Venture, and Buckley Day Camp.
And of course it was great seeing all of my friends at Harrison Library, NYC Parks Dept at Riverside Park, JCC Staten Island, Briarcliff Parks and Rec Camp, JCC Washington Township, Nyack Farmer's Market, Springfield Gardens Birch School, West Harrison Library, Greenwich YWCA Camp, Darien Youth Commision, Tappan Library, New England Country Day School, Nyack YMCA, Haverstraw Kings and Daughter's Library and more!
I am going to take a week or two to recover, recreate and refresh! I look forward to seeing y'all in September and beyond!
Have a great rest of the summer,
Jeffrey
Posted by bossyfrog on 08/22 at 05:39 AMCurrent Event • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
8th Annual Musical Saw Festival This Saturday!
Looking for something to do this Saturday? Something unique, unusual and musical? Well, I have the event for you! The 8th Annual NYC Musical Saw Festival. Yes, “musical saw”….
On Monday nights I often venture down to OD’s in Nyack to play some banjo with whoever shows up for the Monday night jam. And George, a saw player, is often there. He plays a saw – yes, the thing that one uses to cut wood. But he hits it with a mallet and bends the saw to make different sounds – musical sounds. It’s quite amazing – both George and his saw. Last night he informed me that the 8th Annual Musical Saw Festival is happening this Saturday!!!!
So for $10, you can check out a whole lotta saws in Astoria, NY this Saturday at 2pm.
www.musicalsawfestival.org
Saturday August 7th, 2010 2pm
Hellenic Cultural Center
27-09 Crescent St.
(at Newtown Ave)
Astoria, NY
Admission $10
Posted by bossyfrog on 08/03 at 08:58 AMCurrent Event • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I Love Craigslist
I Love Craigslist…..
As a 21st century parent, I love Craigslist! When I was 13, I got a pen and pencil set for my bar mitzvah present. I loved that pen and pencil set. I still have that pen and pencil set. To be honest, I do more emailing these days than writing with pens and pencils, but…I love that pen and pencil set.
Kids today have so many things. My kids are tweens and early teens so their gadgets are very shiny and do extraordinary things. They have ipods, cell phones, computers, portable video gaming systems….. And yes, they do have pens and pencils and books and bicycles. But they also have these amazing gadgets.
It’s hard to keep up with the latest “thing to have”. Ipads really threw a wrench into the works. That’s where a I drew the line. But a computer for my middle schooler was hard to say no to. Afterall, it is part of their education. And I do want them to have the best opportunities to succeed.
The quandary I faced, though, was that my daughter really wanted a macbook laptop – which is great but costs a pretty penny. As a parent I faced the age old dilemma – I want to set appropriate limits and not spoil my children but I also want them to be happy and have all the tools necessary to succeed at their disposal. And I didn’t want to seem cheap. I do have many more banjos and guitars than I actually need…. Oy!
But in this age of vanishing resources and limited funds I decided to explore the world of “used” or better yet, “preowned” computers. Afterall, I did purchase a “preowned” truck for me to cart my musical equipment around. I scoured craigslist daily for great deals on clean and functional computers. I found a great app for my phone that sends me up-to-the-second listings for macbooks in my area. Well, it’ll send you up-to-the-minute listings for anything you set it to. I also have it set to send me up-to-the-minute listings for banjos.
I set up a “meet” with a macbook in Englewood Cliffs for a great deal on a practically new machine. I drove the 30 minutes to the official craigslist exchange location – Starbucks. I sat waiting. I called the computer seller’s cellphone. No answer. 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes passed and no word. Finally, realizing I had been stiffed, I left dejected and resigned to possibly having to shell out the big bucks. Ahh, the pitfalls of craigslist – the “no show”.
NO! I must persevere and find the “prized” used macbook. Afterall, my daughter is not launching a satellite – she mainly needs the machine for email, word processing, power points, itunes, some video editing and Skyping her friends. There’s gotta be a machine out there for her, right?
Just when I was ready to give up and refinance my house to get her the latest technological advance I saw “the listing”. A 2 year old macbook in great shape at a great price in a nearby town. This was too good to be true. I emailed for photos. The photos looked good. I emailed suggesting a slightly lower price. The seller agreed. I emailed with a meetup location and time. The seller said yes and provided his cellphone number.
Everything was in place. But would he show? Would the computer work? Were there to be any last minutes snafus?
We met, the computer worked great, he had all the discs to show he was the “real” owner, we did the deal and voila, I have recycled a laptop! My daughter is happy, I fell like I won the lottery and order has been restored to the universe. NOTE: I did scour the machine for any "un-kid friendly" files, songs, photos..... It's a clean machine!
I still have my bar mitzvah pen and pencil set. I doubt my daughter will still have that laptop when she’s my age. That’s too bad. It is nice to have an object to remember the occasion by. But she is delighted right now Skyping, emailing and listening to her music. And so am I.
Posted by bossyfrog on 07/20 at 08:55 AMParenting • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Stay Cool and Make A Puzzle
In the midst of this heat wave I have re-discovered an age-old analog fun family activity. It does not use electricity. It does not involve sugar. You can do it at home alone or with your family. PUZZLES! Big colorful puzzles with millions of pieces! (Actually I started with the 500 piece puzzles).
My wife picked up a puzzle at Target on a lark. It was a 500 piece puzzle. I curiously looked at the box as she spread the pieces out across the table. As I picked up a piece my mind became a little dizzy. What do I do? Is there a strategy to this? What’s the first step?
I decided to make the border first and the fill in from there. But I’m sure there are many approaches.
Well, over several days I fell into a zen-like mode of relaxation as I scouted the pieces. I looked forward to getting home just so I could sit down and work on the puzzle. I would sneak in a couple of pieces with my morning coffee. A guilty pleasure.
My kids looked at my wife and me like we were a little nuts as we spent the evening trying to “find the leg to the guy with blue pants”. They helped with a couple of pieces – but I’m still working in building their “puzzle” interest.
When we finished the puzzle – we noticed we were missing one piece. Uh oh. Put out an APB for the missing piece. Luckily my 10 year old found it under the couch. Phew!
I just finished my second puzzle this evening. A little OJ and seltzer, some air conditioning and a puzzle. Bring it on!
My suggestion for this heat wave is to get yourself a 500 piece (or 1000 if your really adventurous) puzzle, spread it out on the coffee table and start puzzling!
Stay cool,
Jeffrey
Posted by bossyfrog on 07/07 at 06:10 PMParenting • (0) Comments • Permalink
Friday, July 02, 2010
Happy Independence Day
Happy Fourth of July. Happy birthday USA. I hope y’all have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Here are some of my favorite things to do on the fourth of July:
- Eat a strawberry ice cream cone (3 scoops)
- Sit on a beach blanket with my children and wife – and watch fireworks
- Play my banjo and sing at a “pre fireworks” concert
- Take a family bike ride – early in the day – before it gets too hot out
- Lazily lie on my couch and watch a Yankee’s game
- Eat another ice cream cone – maybe maple walnut or rocky road
- Make a puzzle
What are your favorite things to do on the fourth of July?
NOTE: I will be performing with THE BOSSY FROG BAND on Saturday July 3rd at a “fireworks preshow” at 6:30pm at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT. Here’s the link for info: http://www.norwalkct.org/NorwalkEvents.htm. I hope to see you there.
Thanks
Jeffrey
Posted by bossyfrog on 07/02 at 02:49 PMParenting • (0) Comments • Permalink
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