Lonely Robot Boy (Horse Called Tomorrow)

I was getting ready for work the other day when the phrase, "I'm just a lonely robot boy..." popped into my head.

At first I thought it was a stray idea that would soon fade. But other related phrases kept coming on the drive to work. 

"I've admired your hinges and servos for some time now," was another line, which made me imagine the robot boy had somehow discovered a female robot. "I admire the chrome of your brow" was the second part to that couplet, but it didn't fit together like I expected.

Then I looked for a place for the robot boy to live. My first thought was an astroid, like in the original Twilight Zone episode, "The Lonely." I spent some time trying to write lyrics to explain how the robot had been abandoned by humans, and so on. Finally, I decided that the robot could just imply his back story, not spell it out.

I'm just a lonely robot boy
Stuck on this forgotten rock
I'll share my battery pack with you
And my charging dock

I've always liked the line, "We'll be together, with a roof right over our heads / We'll share the shelter, of my single bed" from Bob Marley's "Is This Love?" So I adapted it to my robot's circumstances. Sharing a battery pack and charging dock might be the most generous thing a robot boy could do.

I've made my home
In the wreck of this ship
Picked you up on the radar
A curious little blip

I like your hinges
And I admire how
The sunlight caresses
The chrome of your brow

Years ago, my wife and I were watching a movie with our friends Brad and Julia. I think it was the live TV remake of Fail Safe back in 2000. Wow, that's a weird phrase, "Back in 2000." Anyway, there was a scene where the military is tracking a dot on the radar. Other dots are shown in pursuit of the first dot. "Poor little dot," said Julia. That stuck with me.

So the robot boy sees a blip, maybe after hundreds of years not seeing anything on the radar, and it gives him hope. How would a robot boy compliment a robot girl? I would start by admiring her hinges and chrome accents. That's just me.

These mountains remind me
Of a paperback book I read
About a cowboy
And the horse he called Tomorrow

They wandered through the desert
And no matter where they went
They found empty houses
Ghost towns filled with sorrow

There's more than a little WALL-E influence to the imagery and storytelling in this song, but I also wanted to bring in differences, like my robot boy reading paperbacks instead of watching VHS tapes. The books were presumably left behind by humans when they either died out or left for greener planets. I decided to merge that idea with a passing tribute to America's "Horse with No Name."

I already mentioned Bob Marley. I wanted to borrow a line from one of his songs, but I couldn't find a convincing way to use the line I mentioned above. So I turned to "No Woman, No Cry," another beautiful song.

Maybe this isn't the end
Here, little darling, don't shed no tears
Maybe someday
We'll see other suns
The nights can get so cold
But you've got my hand to hold

I hope you enjoy my song. If so, please pass it along to others.

Cuba - In early 2017 we were able to travel to Cuba to visit my wife's extended family in the Guantanamo city area. 

We stayed at the Hotel Guantanamo, which is inside the city. It has an open air lobby, just like resorts I've visited for work in Mexico and Dominican Republic. But it has a more urban vibe. There's an elementary school on one side, a park/square at the front and a neighborhood behind. And it's not near the ocean.

My brother-in-law, his son and I played music in the lobby and out on the dining patio. We took 3 guitars that we gave to churches in the area a day or so before we left.

One of the highlights for me was being able to play a song with my brother-in-law one night in a second floor restaurant. An excellent singer and guitar player was performing that night in the restaurant, and he entertained us with traditional songs, plus some of his originals.

He heard that we were musicians, so he kindly asked if we wanted to play a something for him. Well, we just happened to have our guitars in the trunk of the 1950s Pontiac parked on the street below. Pretty cool. We only played one song, "Shaving and Daydreaming," restraining ourselves from taking over the gentleman's gig. From the blank stares we received from the folks around us, our Americana sound must have seemed pretty foreign to Cubans.

Later in the week, we traveled to a an ocean resort in Guardalavaca. At a rest stop along the way, a troubadour played songs. Both musicians are featured in the video and their interpretations of "Guantanamera" are the soundtrack.

At the resort, a Canadian woman told us she and her husband had been coming to Cuba for many years, and we were the first Americans she had met there.

I've heard people say that they would like to visit Cuba before it's Americanized. 

I understand what they mean. There's almost no advertising. No fast food. No seat belts in the old cars. Buses are pulled by semi-trailers. Bikes and motorcycles compete on the road with cars. Riding in a horse drawn carriage is not a novelty there. It's a legitimate transportation option. And that's in the city! Everywhere there are kids walking to and from school in their uniforms. 

Even if relations were completely normalized overnight, I don't think Cuba will be Americanized anytime soon.

It would be nice to have some decent ketchup in the hotel restaurants, though. They call it ketchup, but it's really some very thin, watery stuff that only hints at the real thing. I think if we go again, the next time I'll take a bag of Heinz Ketchup packets to leave behind. Who knows. I might start a... revolution.

Flying with a Guitar: Gate Check

I try to take my guitar on business trips so I can play in my hotel room (quietly). I've even played for co-workers at times, but mostly it's just me in my room.

Here's my experience with traveling with my guitar:

Most airlines treat musical instruments and baby strollers as a special category of luggage. It's called Gate Check.

Don't check your guitar with the regular checked baggage. I did that once and the case came out looking like an elephant had sat on it. The guitar was OK.

Take your guitar through security like a carry on. If it's a gig bag, try placing a few rolled up T-shirts under the neck for extra support. I usually loosen the strings to reduce tension on the neck. But I've also forgotten to do this and I've never really noticed any difference.

A few times in Mexico the security people opened the case and asked me if this was my guitar. I said yes and they seemed to approve. They did not ask me to play, however.

At the gate you'll need to walk up to the desk and ask to "gate check" your instrument. They'll put a special tag on the handle and give you a receipt stub. You'll keep the instrument with you while you wait to board.

When it's your turn to board and they scan your boarding pass, sometimes they'll also scan your gate check stub. Not always.

You'll walk down the ramp with your instrument. Just before you get on the plane, you'll hand the guitar to a luggage worker. Or you can just place it next to the door. Usually, somebody's baby stroller is already sitting in the same place. 

The luggage handlers will place your guitar in the plane's luggage compartment. So what's the advantage of gate checking your guitar?

I've observed that they seem to place the instrument on top of the checked luggage, which should be safer than checking it and having it land under a giant pile of heavy bags.

Then when the plane lands, the guitar should be there waiting in the little area just outside the plane door for you to pick up and carry up the ramp.

With smaller instruments like a ukulele, you should be able to carry the instrument on the plane and stow it in the overhead compartment or under the seat in front of you.

There is usually not enough room for a full-size dreadnought guitar, but I have seen someone do it. I guess it depends on how full the flight is.

One time a flight attendant asked if I wanted to keep my guitar in the locker where the flight crew keeps their baggage. That felt pretty cool, but it really wasn't very different from gate check.

Again, I would recommend against checking your guitar with the regular luggage. Have you ever seen the Toy Story 2 airport scene?

Hope this helps my fellow players.

Peace.