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MUSICAL URGE SUGGESTIONS: A LESSON POST

September 9, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Acting on a musical urge is always chancy. Will you sound the way you think you sound, would like to sound? There’s only one way to find out, and there’s a guitar laying around. Maybe it’s enough to stop thinking about it and get back to the more important things like video games and TV. […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, complicated music, education, GUITAR, guitar player, keep time, learning, music, musically, notes, play, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Prince, Social media, story, writer, writers, writing

THE MISSING PART ON A GUITAR? YOU

August 31, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

You’ve got plans, you make plans, and there’s always a missing part. If you’re getting older and reading about the aging brain, you start worrying about your brain, and everyone your age with a functioning brain. What about that baby boomer brain? Is it getting slippery? Harder to hold on to? Then you read something […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: acoustic guitar, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomer brain, boomerpdx, brain, concentration, education, fitness, focus, GUITAR, history, learning, learning process, luxury car, mental, MISSING PART, music, music store, musical instrument, story, wife, writer, writers, writing

GUITAR NIGHT STARTER PACK

August 21, 2026 by David Gillaspie Leave a Comment

Guitar night always starts the same: With a plan. Plan to sound musical, nothing more, nothing less. The plan is successful when two people play together the first time and agree they sounded good. For at least ten seconds. Why ten seconds?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, bad childhood, band practice, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, dna, dreams, dropout, fender, fender telecaster, Get better, GUITAR, guitar night, guitar practice, hopes, improve, learning, music, musical dna, new guitar, open mic, parents, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, practice, repeating, sing, singer, telecaster, travel, twitter, writer, writers

BEST LAID PLANS OFTEN GO AWRY

August 16, 2026 by David Gillaspie

This is what I like to tell people: the best laid plans often to awry. At least that’s what I’d tell them if they asked. No one has really asked, but I’ve heard talk that sounded like complaining, which deserves a solid answer. You had plans? Well, now you know, the best laid plans often […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, beer, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, education, gear, GUITAR, guitar player, history, jam, jamming, looper, Love, married, millennials, music, music jam, Oregon, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, sober Saturday, Social media, stay sharp, story, sweat, travel, twitter, wife, write, writer, writers, writing

BETTER LISTENING SKILLS FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING

June 16, 2026 by David Gillaspie

If practicing better listening skills isn’t a life goal, it should be. How hard is it to pay attention? You did it in the classroom with the encouragement of a teacher. I still remember Mr. Kraus singing ‘Toot toot tootsie goodbye’ when he tossed little tootsie rolls to students with the right answer in algebra. […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, better understanding, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, boomers, brag, bragging, bro, education, good answer, grave robber, GUITAR, guitar player, history, listening, listening skills, North Bend, Oregon, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, science, Social media, story, teacher, understanding, wife, writer, writers, writing

AN ELVIS ROOM? THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR ELVIS

March 27, 2026 by David Gillaspie

I’ve spent more time in museums than any other institutions, and the idea of an Elvis room outside of Graceland seemed unlikely. And? I was wrong. “Would you like to see the Elvis Room?” What’s the right answer? For me it was another question. “You’ve got an Elvis Room?”

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blue suede, blue suede shoes, Elvis, elvis presley, elvis room, elvis tour, guest manners, GUITAR, history, influencer, karaoke, leader, museum show, museums, Portland, show room, style icon, SW portland, the king, trend setter

HIDDEN SONGS OF THE OREGON COAST

March 15, 2026 by David Gillaspie

People play their guitar in the basement alone looking for hidden songs. Hidden songs? There you are moving around the fretboard and something sounds different. You play it again. Nice. While you play you remember the old times you had when you were younger. Like yesterday.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, BOOMER, boomer blogger, devils punchbowl, family, food, GUITAR, hidden song, MARRIAGE, millennials, newport, newport oregon, Oregon, people, seafood, seafood tower, song, Thor's well, wife, writer, writers, writing

WHAT IS A PHILOSOPHICO DIARY

March 7, 2026 by David Gillaspie

A philosophico diary is where the writer writes what comes to them, like boomerpdx. What comes to me are examples, evidence, of the past coming forward. Today is reflected in the past. How does that work? Everything worth doing has been done, just not by you. Or me. Take last night for example.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, boomerpdx, diary, GUITAR, music, philosophic, philosophico diary, writer, writing

GOLDEN SILENCE? WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT

January 20, 2026 by David Gillaspie

I’ve experienced golden silence? Nooooo. But I’ve come close. Like the time I woke up in a tent while spending the night on a mountain I’d climbed. So quiet, at first, then the sniffing sound. Since it was Alaska, it may have been a bear. I was silent.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: ashamed, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Bob Dylan, education, ethnic cleansing, facebook, fighting, friendship, GUITAR, historical reminder, history, JFK, learning, military bases, modern nations, muhammad Ali, music, NW Portland, open mic, President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, profound effect, rolling stone, sing, song, story, twitter, unread blog, writer, writers, writing, WWII

MUSIC LESSON AT GUITAR CENTER

January 19, 2026 by David Gillaspie

A music lesson with the usual suspects? Nooooo. With an array like this, from first guitar to last, there’s only one thing to do: Guitar lesson. Which means go looking for another guitar at Guitar Center. So I did, and much to my surprise I found someone else doing the same thing. Well, almost the […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, baby boomer guitar, boomer blogger, education, expensive guitar, family, Gibson, Gibson guitar, GUITAR, guitar center, guitar family, guitar guy, guitar world, history, learning, music, music education, music lesson, song, story, writer, writers, writing