The Miserable Piano Oregon Boy

Dear Joel,

First of all, I loved those Billy Collins poems. My favorites were Flames and On Turning Ten. Coincidentally, the message at our church last weekend was from Colossians 1:15-20, which is one of the many great poems you can find in the Bible too. I can't believe God's never been Poel Laureate of anything.

You wanna know what music I like? Goodness sakes, that would take a book. In the words of Inigo Montoya, "No - there is too much. Let me sum up."

My musical interests vary widely. I often listen to country or Christian music in the car. If I'm setting up a playlist on Spotify, or preparing music for a long car ride, though, it's usually neither of those. I love musicals, so I listen to a lot of soundtracks. Les Miserables (the recent film version with Hugh Jackman) has an incredible soundtrack that I could listen to over and over again. I like The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, The Lion King, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I listen to my fair share of classical and other instrumental music too - I love Yo Yo Ma. Last fall Elizabeth and I snagged tickets to see The Piano Guys in Des Moines. They're very talented and extremely fun performers (which you can tell from their YouTube videos).

Last in my summary, I'll mention two specific songs that I can't stop listening to. The first is called Back O'er Oregon. Not sure what it is, but it's a song I could put on repeat all day long. The second is a song from the soundtrack of the film Black Hawk Down called Minstrel Boy. It's somehow both tranquil and chaotic; peaceful and battered.

Pretty much everything I mentioned in this post is available to listen to on Spotify, so if there's anything you're not familiar with, check it out and let me know what you think.

So, you're Mr. Music in our family, and you play 38 instruments (or something like that). What are your favorites? I mean, I know the guitar is probably what you play most, and it's really versatile, but is there an instrument that you find particularly beautiful or fun or interesting to play? Why?

P.S. I want to write a story. What should it be about?