Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

I have an announcement!

I got a concertina!!!

Also, Heidi is pregnant, due date in May, We have not found out in advance whether to buy guns or pink guns for their 10th birthday, and Heidi is learning to play guitar. Leave your name suggestions if you have any, currently we are leaning towards Blade Mezulari, but we are open to ideas.

We also crashed Ben’s last camp in Nashville, and it was lots of fun, @BanjoBen thanks for letting us come out and for feeding us (mostly me)!!!

I also, probably won’t check here again for a few months, but I’m still alive and well, teaching in the JAM program, and still think about you folks from time to time.

Stay blessed
-Dragonslayer

23 Likes

When I saw the title I immediately thought of this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xiIea1xWEgY

Also, congratulations!

5 Likes

I vote for Ming kai Rui Tú lóng zhě Salyer.

7 Likes

Good to see and good to hear… beard suits you well, just recalling 2 Indian political figures lately grew beard… Oh boy, you are man, now! Congratulations, @Dragonslayer and family!

3 Likes

Congratulations!!!

6 Likes

Great to see you back on the Forum Gunnar. Nice to meet Heidi and congratulations to you both. A baby Dragonslayer.

5 Likes

Congrats on the little one Gunnar!

5 Likes

Congratulations to you and yours! Praying for healthy!
@Michael_Mark nailed the name! :smile:

4 Likes

Good hearing from you Gunnar! Congratulations! I third the submission by @Michael_Mark. I like hearing you all together. That is special!

Nice pick up on the concertina. I love the sound! I got into Tango years ago and there is a related (but very different) instrument used in Tango called a bandoneon. I loved the sound and decided to get one. Then I found out two things:

  1. They are hard to buy and veeeeeery pricey
  2. They are very hard to learn and it really doesn’t build much on other instrument skills.
    Needless to say, I did not fork out $5k on an oddball instrument that I would fail to learn.
5 Likes

Good stuff @Dragonslayer and congrats on the newest addition!

4 Likes

Awesome news!
Happy for yall!!!
Prayers and best wishes on the way for the both of you, and the little one due in May!!! :grin::tada:
And way to go to Heidi for taking on learning the guitar :+1::+1:!!

3 Likes

Congrats!!

2 Likes

Thanks you all for the kind words, and @Michael_Mark for the… erm, interesting name suggestion. I will consider it, although I’m concerned that a name like that may contribute some “emooootional DAaaamage” to any child who bears it.

I would love to have a bandoneon, but I think it would be one that I didn’t end up learning too well. I have an accordion that I seldom play because it’s big and heavy, but the concertina is super light and easy.

6 Likes

@Dragonslayer I punched “dragon slayer” into Google translate and got “tu long zhe”. Rui apparently bears the connotation of wisdom or astuteness, and Ming kai is the Chinese name my grandmother gave to me and so why would you not name your kid after me as long as you were at it?

By the way, I just learned that 2024 is the year of the dragon. How fitting.

6 Likes

OK so how about this name - Qīngtíng shāshǒu? until the child becomes big enough…
Ming, your thoughts??

My two cents. Choosing a child’s name is one of the most important tasks a parent has to do. Choose the wrong name and the child will be taunted and bullied at school. I know I was a victim of such teasing.

1 Like

True… I was just kidding.

@Dragonslayer if you wanted real suggestions my favorite boys names are Amos, Moses, and Peter - girls names Charity, Hosanna, and Ruth!

7 Likes

As if mine wasn’t a real suggestion! :roll_eyes:

4 Likes

That’s not a concern for us, as our children’s classmates will be their siblings, who will all have equally odd names.

9 Likes