Valley Music School

Starting in mid- September I'll be teaching guitar at the Valley Music School in Whitinsville, MA.  I'll be teaching all styles and levels of guitar to approximately ten students per week.  Classes are 1/2 hour and 45 minutes long.  If you want to learn how to play like Elvis and Buddy please sign up for a class.   Contact the school at http://www.valleymusicschool.org/  or myself at

this site

"The Garage" TV show

Jeff Ellis and I continue to create and film the show " The Garage" with Steve Butler.  The show is a lot of work but it is paying off.  We just got picked up by MNN, Manhattan Neighborhood Network.  We air in September on channel two.  This means we are now airing on more than 115 stations in more than 30 States.  Awesome'
Please visit our facebook page at " The Garage with Steve Butler".
Also - visit us on you tube to see clips of the show:  Search  stevebutlersgarage to bring up the page.
If you'd like a copy of the show just email me and I'll send you one.

The show is a lot of work but it is a lot of fun to make.  Jeff and I mail DVDs to stations across the country each month.  I have the easy part.  I love making things and will always be making things no matter what'
Jeff has the difficult task of making me look good.  He also does all of the filming, operates the camera, picks the music and does all of the editing.  He does this each month.  So far we have four episodes airing and a few others to be edited.  The show is streamed live over the Internet on a variety of channels.  Scroll down the list at the side of the blog to see if it airs on a station in your area, if not. please contact them and ask them to air it.

Recently I was approached by Randy Johnson, the editor of Woodwork and American Woodworker  magazine.  Like Fine Woodworking and the Taunton Press Woodwork and American Woodworker are venturing into the DIY video market.  Randy saw clips of the show on you tube.  I will know by the end of the year if I'll be making some videos for them.  This will be a paying gig so I'm very excited about this potential venture.
Thanks Jeff for fine editing

More News

For more than six months Liesl and I have been back and forth with the town of Uxbridge about this beautiful old school building. Liesl and I are hoping to lease the building from the town and finally have a permanent home for our school

 The Blackstone Valley School of Crafts"  A month ago the town managers office called and asked us to re-submit our proposal.  We did and last week we got a call from the chairman of the board of selectman.  They are interested in our proposal and in September we have to give a presentation to the entire board of selectman. The building was originally gifted to the town and is to remain an educational institution.  We want to create a vibrant craft center that embraces the community.  Hopefully we'll get the building and bring new life to it through the making of objects.  I'll keep you posted.  Please visit http://www.theblackstonevalleyschoolofcrafts.blogspot.com/ for updates.  Liesl and I received a call from Jeannie Hebert of The Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and from Bruce Larsen form The Small Business Development Association ( SBDA).  They are very interested in our school venture and are working with us to achieve our goal.  Apparently there are grants  and funding available for such initiatives as ours.  They met last week with the State on our behalf.  We should hear back from them soon.  I'll keep you posted.  So - as usual we have a lot of irons in the fire.

I'm not a citizen of this country so I can't vote, if I could I'm not sure which polotical party I would vote for especially in these tough times.  I have never endorsed a polotical candidate before and always try to hear both sides of an argument and give everyone  a chance.  This being said I must give praise and a huge thank you to a young State Representative.  Ryann Fattman is a State Representative, representing Sutton and parts of Uxbridge, MA.  When we originally didn't hear back from the town about our proposal I contacted a few offices.  Ryan's office was the only one to call us back and do something.  Ryan's office contacted the town managers office.  We heard back that same day.  Last Thursday evening I was invited to go to an event that Ryan was hosting.  Ryan meets hundreds of people each week but he came over, shook my hand and asked about the school.  He then proceeded to introduce me to Senator Scott Brown and Charlie Baker, who ran for congressman.  I'm very impressed with this young politician.

Update

Our camera broke so I haven't been able to post anything in a while.  I borrowed a camera and decided I'd post an update.  I'll be working at a friends shop making and photographing projects for the book.  I'll post the projects as I go, it should be fun.
I finally finished the two little blue tables.  I salvegd a couple of TV tray tables that I found in the garbage and used them for the tops. They'll look great in a boys bedroom. 
I met with a contractor in Mendon who showed me some drawings for a library.  It consist of eight built in bookcases with arched tops and cornice mouldings.  I gave the client a quote and now I wait.  The rest of the house is being done so it could take a while.

The chickens are laying eggs now so we get six eggs each day.   I built a gutter out of plastic pipe to catch the rain water.   We've had so much rain lately that the barrel is full, perfect for the chickens and the tomatos.  I have a piece of beautiful pink marble that was used to have an old radiator sit on it.  There is a hole on one end that a pipe use to go through.  I have an idea for a tall, slender sofa table that will have the marble as the top and wiil house a vase where the hole is.

Swing

Our camera broke so I haven't made a post in a while, my apologies.  My time lately has been taken up with moving.  Liesl, Quinn and I moved into a small house in Uxbridge.  It's perfect for us.  We have a little less room inside but more room outside for Quinn to play.  Six years ago I made a porch swing for liesl.  It hung on the front porch of our place in New Jersey.  When we moved away from Peters Valley it sat in storage because we didn't have a place to hang it.  Well- now we do.  It was so nice to be able to hang the swing up for Liesl.