I am trying to live the dream sure enough.

My banjo man, Moose Dooley, says my brother-in-law lives his dream.

Moose is a very tough cat who has no use for a fool. One day he pulled me aside to ask about my brother-in-law. “Hey, Bibey.” he asked. “Does he really smoke Cuban cigars, drink fine whiskey, have a black belt in karate, and stay out all week-end with twenty-five year old girls?”

“Afraid it’s true, Moose.”

Moose was humbled (which is rare) and said, “He’s my hero.”

See ya, Dr. B

Good Luck to you, you are living my dream…one day I will live it too

That violin is a tough one. I can play mandolin, guitar, banjo, and bass and even do a little part singing, but when I pick up the fiddle everyone in the house runs for cover right down to the family dog.

A pick I can handle; that bow is a beast, though. They don’t call it the devil’s box for nothing.

Dr. B

Hey, speaking of choices, I know you’ve seen this one, but other readers might get a kick out of it. There was a T-shirt making the rounds at festivals a few years ago. It said,

“MY WIFE SAID IF I BOUGHT ONE MORE GUITAR, SHE WAS GONNA LEAVE ME.”

(insert picture of guitar here.)

“I SURE AM GONNA MISS THAT GIRL.”

As a man with a wife I love and three mandolins, I’m thankful for what I have in this world.

Dr. B

You are right, and the same kind of thing exists in the music world too. A lot of bands will play free for the exposure. I try to be charitable, but some of them are not very good, and it gives bluegrass music the wrong image.

Whenever a big RV dealer wants to book us in Raleigh and balks at our fee (around $1200.00 for an out of town gig), I tell him if we are there and he sells one extra camper for it, he’s made money.

I usually close by saying, “I can get you a terrible band for free. Nice guys, but out of time, out of tune and they sing so bad it’ll drive their mama away. Or, I can get you Ricky Skaggs for thirty grand. Ricky is great- no doubt about it, but you gotta sell a bunch of campers to get that back. Ricky has a better band than me, no doubt about that either, but we are 90% as good, so I figure….”

The alternate of course is to hire us for 1200.00 bucks. Come to think of it, with gas being what it is I might go up to 1500.00.

We’ve played many a benefit for some child with cancer for free, and always will, but if someone stands to make money from what we do, I see to it my guys are compensated.

Now if I can figure how to do that with my writing!

Thanks for visiting and I appreciate your words of wisdom. I am just getting started and need all the good advice I can get.

Dr. B

I guess the trick is to somehow not ignore the bottom line to avoid going under, and yet not make money the driving force and the reason for being in business.

In doctoring I figured if I took good care of my people I could not get rich or go broke either one. I didn’t make as much money as some, (and didn’t care) but if anyone is happier with how their career went, I’m happy for them.

As far as cooking, one time Ms. Marfar had a teacher conference, and I cooked for the kids all week-end. You never saw two young’uns so happy to see their mama get back home. If it weren’t for the grill, they’d starved to death, but I did the best I could.

Dr. B

Medicine has virtues the whole world does admire,
Writing often finds the way, to light an inner fire.
Music reaches deep down into the soul,
And golf gives balance to help make all things whole.

It sure is fortunate you don’t have to make a choice. – Ted

A few years back, I thought about starting up a little desert catering business. I’m a whiz at whipping up the sweeties, and thought it’d be a good way to make some money while still being able to stay at home with the mini-Chilis. Mr. Chili talked me out of it, saying that having to do the baking under a deadline and for money would suck the joy out of it.

I’m still trying to decide how I feel about that, because I love teaching, and I get paid to do that. Why should the baking be any different?

I’m paying attention to you and your adventures. I truly believe that if someone can find a living in one’s joy, so can I…