The Clap Dance / 69th St. Polkas

Adapted from the Lifescapes Celtic Fiddle CD, track #14

(http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/203)

The Clap Dance is also known as the Rattlin' Bog and the Sixty-Ninth Street Polka is also known as The Galway Belle or Tom McVicar's. Very session-friendly tunes in D and E Dorian, respectively. When strung together with "Britches Full of Stitches" in A, you have a pretty darn good polka set. If someone did the gypsy tamborine thing on 69th St., it would be soooooo cool...

My timing on this tune leaves room for improvement, but as with the other recordings, it is a quick mark on the wall before racing off to class. :)

Schemingmind Chess Team

WWW.SCHEMINGMIND.COM is an outstanding site for correspondence chess. My user name is gtolle. Since I'm on email daily, making some chess moves over a cup of coffee has become routine. This clever club-oriented chess site has every variant you can imagine and the user interface is the best I've seen.

I started a team called "Weekend Warriors" and we are currently playing a team on Schemingmind called "No Expectations." I've forgotten how fun chess can be. Some of these players are reminding me how painful it can be, too!

Sevens (tenor banjo)

My tenor banjo attempt at Liz Carroll's Lost in the Loop tune. The session-friendly version taught by Josie Solseng in Olympia, Washington is my angle of approach (trying to replicate Liz' version faithfully is beyond my current tenor banjo powers!)

Wise Maid, Tenor Banjo, Caffeinated.

The Wise Maid Reel on Ernest T. (my tenor banjo) after a triple shot latte. Tenor banjo requires a pinky stretch that isn't required on a mandolin or fiddle, and it is uncomfortable until you've done it regularly for a month or two.