Feb 20 2007

Mom’s surgery

Today Mom went into the hospital to have her carpal tunnel fixed. She had a surgery known as Trapeziometacarpal Arthroplasty, in which the Doctor used the entire Flexor Carpi Radialis Tendon in place of the actual basal joint. It’s quite an interesting procedure, and I had never known anyone to have it done…until now that is.

After a relatively short two-hour surgery, she was sent to Recovery, and then up to spend the night in her own room. She’ll be coming home tomorrow, and hopefully without any problems whatsoever. According to all of the Doctors, the procedure went perfectly. She’s feeling just a little throbbing in the left hand, but that’s to be expected for the next couple days/weeks.

I’m just glad the surgery went well.

|:| Zach |:|

Feb 18 2007

Guiharp? Harptar? The Harp Guitar?

Today I was perusing the ol’ interweb and I stumbled upon a creation formally known as the harp guitar. While I personally prefer a synthesizing name such as the Guiharp (my personal favourite) or the Harptar, I guess I will bow down to formality and refer to it as the harp guitar. A whole bunch of information about the instrument can be found on the Official Harp Guitar website ( www.harpguitars.net ).

After looking around that website for a bit, I found out that Andy McKee (the artist I mentioned in the entry right before this one) uses a harp guitar in a couple songs. I have uploaded a video of him playing one in a song called Into the Ocean. The part that is incredible to me is that he can play both portions simultaneously without missing a note!

Into the Ocean (harp guitar):

As always, if you want to watch the video more than once, download the Riva FLV Player by clicking on the “FLV Player” under the “Tools” menu in the right-side bar. Click “save as,” and install it on your computer. Then you can download this video by clicking the link below and hitting “save as:”

Download Into the Ocean

Too cool! 😀
|:| Zach |:|

Feb 17 2007

Andy McKee

The only way that I know to describe Andy McKee is as a beautiful synthesis of Michael Hedges and Billy McLaughlin. He is absolutely incredible. The best part is that he is clearly passionate about his music. On his record label’s website (http://candyrat.com/artists/andymckee/) he said that he “hopes [his] music communicates something to the listener,” and that it is “an emotional experience.” To me, it surely is.

Here are two video clips of him playing. The first is a slower tune with an amazing amount of calming qualities in the introduction and outro. The second is more upbeat, while maintaining the same high level of passion.

Rylynn:

Art of Motion:

Please, if you want to watch the videos more than once, download the Riva FLV Player by clicking on the “FLV Player” under the “Tools” menu in the right-side bar. Click “save as,” and install it on your computer. Then you can download these videos by clicking the link below and hitting “save as:”

Download Rylynn (video clip 1)
Download Art of Motion (video clip 2)

Hope you enjoy! 🙂
|:| Zach |:|