Greetings from windy New Mexico in the springtime. I just returned from the Voyager Southwest Flute festival in Tucson. I was teaching, headlining and had a vendor table. It was a great time as always and I really love teaching. My workshops were well attended with enthusiastic flute students. I taught about the Circle of 5ths and playing with other instruments and another class on Taking your Flute Playing to the next level. Both were fun and from the feedback folks seemed to get something out of them. I’ve played at this festival for many years and they do a good job of putting it together. Seeing my friends is always nice. I invited Zach Farley and Tim Gomez on stage with me for “A Wayfaring Stranger” which is below.
On another note I’m sorry to report that my dad passed on last week in Lubbock, TX where he was at the hospital. He was living in Hobbs, NM. I grew up in Hobbs and as a boy would travel with my dad for his work as a general contractor instead of pre-school. As we drove round in a pick-up truck or “a chevy pick-up plane” as the lyric says, he would get me to sing along to the country music he enjoyed. I think even then he was grooming me to be a singer. We spent so much time in motels and truck stops. I still do that on the road in fact. He was a very hard worker and built his cement company up from nothing earning his general contractor’s license when he was twenty-one. https://www.chapelofhopefunerals.com/memorialpage.asp?page=odetail&id=101416&locid=16&fbclid=IwAR1We8kUsx0DZ7WBCVBOjDUlFzsxubpNcfv-bZLLZ0epiXaOY9WtxkxsxqM
The story goes that he quit school in the eighth grade to help support the large family and grew up very poor doing agricultural work hoeing weeds and such with his siblings. He was a philosopher and was always learning something new and completed the Dale Carnegie course on public speaking. He endured much racism and prejudice all his life and taught us how to survive that experience and I remind people often of what my parents had to endure and how they overcame so many challenges to become successful professionals. I am very proud of their accomplishments. They nurtured and endured my music pursuits in choir and band etc. always being supportive and showing up to shows even after they had divorced. My life would be much different if I hadn’t joined band in Jr. high school. It was a challenging childhood and I’m glad I survived to thrive.
Randy
A Wayfaring Stranger at Voyager Southwest Flute Fest