Minnesota Chris Schuette – Indiebear Music

Minnesota

February17th

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Upcoming Concert

Posted in: Minnesota, Music

Other than the occasional home concert for Wifey and Isla, It’s been a while since I played in front of a real live, polite Midwestern audience. Well, I’m excited to announce that I will be performing my original piano compositions in St. Paul, MN on Friday, March 30 along with pianists, David Nevue and Steven C Anderson. The concert starts at 7:30 pm.

David is the talented composer and founder of Whisperings Solo Piano Radio, an online radio station I am proud to be a part of. If you enjoy solo piano, do yourself a favor and check it out!

The concert will be on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Seating is limited, so please RSVP to steven@stevencmusic.com to reserve your seats and get directions to the home. The suggested donation is $10/person at the door.

I’m really looking forward to this, and I would love to see you there! For more information, visit the Events page at the Whisperings website, or drop me a line.

Unfortunately, Indie & Bear will not be in attendance.
January16th

4 Comments

Where Is The Snow?

Posted in: dogs, family, Minnesota

Isla seems to be taking our unusually mellow Minnesota winter in stride. Thanks to her cochlear implants, she can now hear her dear old dad go on about the brutal winters he experienced as a child; however, thanks to her youth, she simply doesn’t care.

Patty and I recently took Isla and the dogs for a jaunt through the fields behind our house. We all enjoyed the mild weather, and Indie & Bear got to wear themselves out. Isla even got to walk the dogs for a bit, although, Indie seemed to have some reservations about taking orders from someone in a penguin hat. I guess I would too.

A lot of people ask how Indie & Bear are with Isla. Well, they’re both great with her; however, Bear seems to be her protector and is a good sport when she wants to hug/ride/borrow money. Indie prefers to keep her distance, lest Isla decide to work on her eye-poking skills. Isla is never alone with the dogs, of course, and Patty & I are good about teaching Isla the proper way to interact with them.

Nothing wacky occurred on our walk, so unfortunately, all I have are adorable photos that’ll treasure forever. Sorry.
December15th

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Snow Walk

Posted in: Minnesota, Video

It’s been a pretty mild winter in Minnesota so far this year. That’s why I feel lucky to have gotten out to record some video after our only snowfall of December. It was pretty quiet that Sunday morning and I had the entire field behind our house all to myself. I invited Indie & Bear, but Indie was pretty comfy on the sofa, and Bear was checking out the Best Buy ad. (OK, I took them out for a run later!)

I decided to compose and record a simple string track and I edited the whole thing in iMovie.

Considering how much coffee I had, I’m amazed this came out sounding so relaxing.
November29th

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Calling Doctor Isla

Posted in: Baby, Hearing Loss, Minnesota, parenting

Patty & I brought Isla to the Minnesota Children’s Museum on Sunday for some much-needed “burn off all your excess energy so you can for-the-love-of-God take a nap” time. We have annual passes to the museum, so we tend to go there a lot.

As you can imagine, Isla loves any place where she cannot possibly run out of things to do. This time, she decided to hang out in the “Our World” exhibit, which includes a toddler-sized “Main Street,” complete with a mini doctor’s office. Considering how much time Isla has spent in the hospital, it was a bit of a relief to see her enjoying the surroundings. She couldn’t wait to try on the lab coat and play with the stethoscope. She even attempted to break my leg in the hopes that she could take a real x-ray! (I’m still a little disturbed by that.)

I know she’s just playing, but it’s amazing to watch her figure things out while also having fun. Patty & I aren’t pushy parents, but we just want her to know that she can do anything she wants to in her life. She’s becoming a more confident little girl every day, and something tells me that she won’t let a little thing like hearing loss slow her down.

I just hope I can keep up.
February3rd

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Under The Sea(rs)

Posted in: Baby, humor, Minnesota

Patty and I took Isla to Underwater Adventure at the Mall of America recently. And by “recently,” I mean “sometime in 2011.” Isla loved the chance to see fish, unlike her previous indifference to meeting “Fish,” Mr. Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda is still alive

We had a great time and Isla really seemed to enjoy the experience. Nothing wacky happened during our trip to the mall, although Patty and I enjoyed a Cinnabon and I got into a slap-fight with the lady at Glamor Shots over a previously unresolved issue involving the best way to photograph a rhinestone -studded jacket, but that was it. Oh, and if you ever want to visit the Mall of America without all of the interpersonal jostling, I highly recommend you visit on a Wednesday morning. Just call in sick for work. Seriously, I’m totally cool with that.

Here are some aquarium photos, yo.

(You thought I was joking about the Cinnabon, didn’t you?)
October5th

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Red Wing-ing It

Posted in: humor, Minnesota, travel

Patty & I went to Red Wing, MN over the weekend. No, we weren’t there to look at all the vintage photos of Charles Nelson Reilly. We actually went down to load up on small town charm and to look at antiques. Trust me, if you ever dreamed of getting into a slap-fight with a cranky octogenarian over an early-20th century Victrola, Red Wing is the place for you! (I’ll wait while you Google that entire sentence.)

I’m not really that into antiques, but Patty is looking for a new Dining Room table, and I am totally trying to impress her with my vast knowledge of tables, TV trays and certain ledges. Truthfully, the only thing I know about antique tables is that napping on them is strictly and abruptly frowned-upon…with actual frowning…plus some glowering (although, I think that clerk was just showing off. ) We didn’t find a table, but Patty found some sweet picture frames and a really boss old camera. Check it out:

Perhaps the most disturbing thing that I found, other than the racy pictures of Ernest Borgnine,

WWEBD?

was this old action figure carrying case (made of genuine plastic, so don’t settle for imitations.)

*cough* Rip-off! *cough*

Pardon my casual, socially-acceptable swearing, but what the hell is “Star World??” I’ll let all of the hardcore Star Wars fans out there check out this particular bit of lawsuit-fodder, but I have to ask, “What’s with the Fabio Space Monkey?”

All in all, it was nice quick little trip out of town. The weather was lousy, but we didn’t care; because the most important thing is that…

…I’m sorry, but is ”Darth Vader” wearing an evil skating outfit??

Never mind, I’d better go sleep this off.
December5th

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Weekly Thing #29: See a Sigh

Posted in: humor, Minnesota, Music, pop culture, Weekly Thing

Patty & I went to the Science Museum of Minnesota last weekend. It was my birthday, so for fun I like to ask what’s up with those dinosaurs, since the world in only 6000 years old. They look horrified, I get a chuckle, and no harm done. We also got to solve a murder, but before that we checked out the CSI:The Experience exhibit where you get to solve a fake murder. They give you a clipboard, you look at “crime scene,” then do all sorts of sciencey stuff to figure out how the fake-person fake-died. Pretty cool, although the mouth-breathers in front of us in line felt it necessary to bring a bunch of young children in with them. I dunno, that seems a little intense for kids, doesn’t it? Hell, I was slightly traumatized when I saw the witch melting in the Wizard of Oz (luckily it prepared for the sight of Nazis melting in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

Anyway, I wrote some music in a style hopefully reminiscent of the music one might hear on CSI. I call it “See a Sigh” ’cause I hate lawsuits. It runs 1:08m and makes me feel like a big man.
November14th

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Weekly Thing #26: FatCatWalk

Posted in: humor, Minnesota, Movies/ TV, Music, pop culture, Weekly Thing

Now that the election is over, I’ve been able to get around to more important things, like dreading the onslaught of another Minnesota winter. We’ve already had our first snowfall and I’m starting to feel like Minnesota isn’t the paradise I thought it was. At least I have more time to follow that exciting William Shatner/George Takei feud. ‘Cause with all of the challenges facing our country at this time, the juvenile bickering of two washed-up and slightly creepy old guys is more important than ever.

I recorded this piece a while back, but I somehow forgot to post it. It’s called FatCatWalk and it runs 0:51m. It’s my attempt at cartoonish incidental music; the kind of background music you hear in a show while someone is sneaking around. Share the warmth.
July2nd

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Weekly Thing #7: Iron Chef 3

Posted in: humor, Minnesota, Music, Weekly Thing

It’s official. The music for the upcoming “Iron Chef America” game for the Nintendo Wii is done. The game is supposed to come out before Christmas. Honestly, I can’t wait to see if they spell my name correctly. (Hey, it could happen!)

Here is the last piece I composed and recorded for the game. Since it will be part of a video game, I don’t have a monstrously clever name for it. Let’s just call it “Iron Chef 3″ and see if that works. The song is 44 seconds long, which like the others, will be played as a loop in the game itself.

Have a great July 4th weekend. I’ll be on an honest-to-God Minnesota lake. Sounds wet.[powerpress]
May7th

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Are You That Other Guy?

Posted in: humor, Minnesota, Movies/ TV, pop culture

Someone from Minnesota won the $180 Million Powerball thingie last week. I love it when Minnesotans win the lottery. Most of them plan to pay off their boat and maybe fix up their cabin if they can get time off from work. They look like nice people though.

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Good news: You have more money than you’ll ever need. Bad News: you kinda look like Les Nessman

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Speaking of my unhealthy obsession with old TV shows, I should probably admit that I used to rot my brain watching Gilligan’s Island. Hey, it was the 70′s and I was into some weird stuff, OK? Well, The Professor was played by an actor named Russell Johnson, who was also in like, EVERY Twilight Zone episode (OK, just two.) My cursory review of Mr. Johnson’s Wikipedia entry revealed the words no one wants to see in their bio:

On the one hand, you’re famous enough to have a Wikipedia entry. Unfortunately, some people were really hoping that you were slightly more homicidal. That has to be tough at parties; “Oh, you’re the actor, NOT the killer? Well, I knew I recognized you from somewhere. Yeah, I gotta go.”

I’m fortunate enough to have one of those names that is shared by relatively few people. A Google search reveals that my vaguely humorous name is shared by an actor, an attorney, a High School track star, and a whole mess o’ Germans. I’ve never heard from any of these people, but I bet we all hope that each of us behaves ourselves.

So far, so good, but I’m keeping an eye on that attorney.