It’s crunch time here at Portly HQ.  As such, today’s post will be very brief.

I’ve been writing a lot about Christmas and music lately—’tis the season, after all.  You can catch up on yesterday’s post about “Joy to the World,” as well as Sunday’s look back at my Dokken album reviews from Christmas 2018.

One reason for the Christmas music focus is that my students have their big Christmas Concert this Friday.  It’s always a great deal of fun, and we try to go for a homemade Trans-Siberian Orchestra vibe (if only I could get the administration to spring for some laser lights and pyrotechnics).

As an independent musician and a music teacher (I also teach history), I find myself playing the role of concert impresario quite a bit.  One lesson I’ve learned is that the money people—the producers—will always have their notes and revisions, often last-minute.  Your well-oiled, tried-and-true concert formula can often get totally upended with changes.  Learning to roll with the punches is hard, but necessary.

Needless to say, I’m a bundle of excitement and stress at the moment.  The end-of-the-semester rush for grades isn’t helping (did I mention, too, that I start rehearsing for an independent two-act play next week—yikes!), as I’ve been hastily reading dozens of history papers, each with their own slight inaccuracies.

But I am, as ever, thankful—for good music and good musicians.  Also, for work.  I’m not loving it at the moment, but I remember a time, a decade ago, when things were much tougher.

I’m also thankful to my SubscribeStar subscribers for their support.  If you want to join them, consider a subscription of $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.  At the $5 a month level and up, you get exclusive doodles every Sunday.  Trust me, they’re quite bizarre—and funny.

That’s it for today.  It’s TBT tomorrow, so look for a brand-new post (possibly post-concert) Friday.

Happy Wednesday!

—TPP