Howling and Moaning

I have a neighbor next to my bedroom window. I live in a suburb. The houses are tucked fairly close together so it’s a little difficult for ultimate privacy sometimes. I’m a musician. You probaby knew that. Musicians tend to keep different hours from non-musician people. My neighbor has dogs. His driveway is next to my window. Those dogs are free to roam around his fenced house, but love to spend time in the driveway. My neighbor works early hours. I work late hours. There are times when his dogs decide its fun to bark. They bark loudly at things. They bark at times that are inconvenient to my sleep.

Sometimes a police car drives by with sirens on. Or maybe it’s an ambulance; possibly a firetruck. They have sirens too. The neighborhood’s dog population loves those times when sirens are wailing in the distance. The dogs like to wail to. So they join in. This often happens during the day while I’m working after they’ve woken me up with barking. Long after the sirens have gone the dogs continue to howl, wail and moan. I’ve resorted to whistling like a fan at a football game. I do this when I can’t take the moaning any more. It disturbs the dogs and they stop the howling, wailing and moaning.

Occassionally the dogs in the driveway won’t shut up. I’ve had to go outside in my backyard. I turn on a hose and attempt to water the dogs. That seems to calm them down too. I haven’t had a need to do that in a while since the neighbor got rid of his viscious dog. But he has many. He has many dogs. The remaining dogs still bark. They don’t bark as often. They still bark.

This morning was a barking morning. Fortunately I was already woken by a phone call from my Father. He wanted to know how to do something on the internet (or is it the internets? I’m confused thanks to George W. Bush). Dad wanted to send an e-card to his daughter. She happens to be my sister. I told him “hallmark.com”. He says thank you and apologizes for waking his son up. That would be me. Then the dogs bark. Rather than attempt to read more of the back of my eyelids, I get up. I go running.

Because of the trauma I experience with dog barking, I choose a song about Moanin’. I dig Wes. I decide you should dig Wes too. Wes has great expression. Wes can jam. Wes jams great. Wes is a master of Jazz. Wes is a master of Bluesy Jazz. Wes has great tone. Wes can play great little melodies. Some are Short. Others are very long and have deep meaning behind them where they go on for a nice run up a scale then come back down in an arpeggio where he might resolve to a 9th or a chord tone. Wes probably didn’t imagine he’d be triggered by dog barking.

Don’t associate Wes with my dog trauma. I love dogs. I don’t own a dog. Actually I don’t have a dog. Owning isn’t the right concept. I love dogs. Associate Wes with love. Love of music. Great music knows no boundries. Buy Wes today. You will love it.

(** Disclaimer: If Wes’ label decides to give me a reason moan on my own, I’ll be watering the music right off the server. The post will stay as an ode to Wes. **)