Emi Jarvi

An octave mandola, an expat and a laptop walk into a bar…

When I married the Ninja Butler in 2005, my Mom and Dad gave us a guitar and an “_blank” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_mandola”>octave mandola that they made for us.  My Mom did mountains of research to source materials and my Dad worked the wood.  It
goes without saying that my jaw hit the floor when I laid eyes on them – seriously, imagine me as a cartoon with my eyes yoinking outta my head with an ‘awooooogah’ sound effect to finish it
off.

I named the mandola ‘Jarvi’ after my Mom and Dad and it’s taken a prize position in our studio ever since.  I pick ‘er up every once and awhile and play through some of the old songs I wrote
back when I was 18 and still a bag of hormones…

But it makes me feel ho-hum that I don’t play her more… she’s a beauty and should be strutting her stuff and making all the other acoustic instruments’ hearts flutter.  So today I went online
and started an online course (after a lot of hunting – it turns out there aren’t really online courses for the octave mandola / octave mandolin.  Bouzouki?  Yes.  Octave mandola?
No.)

But I managed to find one set of lessons that were made up of simple written instructions with some recommended exercises to develop good technique.

I’ve played the mandolin for years and years and the Octave is the same tuning.  But the mandola has a stretched neck that I’m finding pretty trixie.  The action is going to take some
getting used to, too – it’s higher than the mandolin and my wuss hands are jellified after practicing…

But it feels good to take Jarvi the mandola out for a real spin.  She is GORGEOUS – you’d have a huge crush on her if you met her.  Hopefully soon you will :)

When a chick plans a stag do…

Stag Do:

“A stag do is a party held for a bachelor shortly before he enters marriage, to make the most of his final opportunity to engage in activities a new partner might not approve of, or merely to spend
time with his male friends (who are often in his wedding party afterwards).” – Wikipedia

I’m sure you all know what a bachelor party is, but what happens when a chick plans the stag do?  I’m my brother’s best man, as you may have heard, and so the privileged fell to me.
And

it

was

awesome.

Any attempt that I made to over-plan were mellowed by my dad telling me that guys tend to do stuff on the fly.  We had a killer venue (a lodge-type place with a built in movie theatre/theater),
we had Beatles Rock Band, we had Jack and coke, we had cigars, we had many musical jam sessions (with real instruments, not fake Beatles ones)

No debauchery (at least not that I saw), no sloppy drunkards (again, at least not DURING the party, I can’t speak for after).

Hosting dude parties is awesome… there’s no ‘hosting’ to be done, everyone just gets their own stuff and finds food wherever and generally gets on with it – most fantastic.

You can check out some pictures that Jake’s friend Dennis took >>

I’m the best man

Yes, that’s right.  I’m the best man… in my brother’s wedding.  In about 2 weeks.  Oh God…

I have to write a speech…

I’m now facing the dilemma, how much to let rip?  The feeling of power is intoxicating, actually, but mingled with nerves and excitement.  I imagine this is what an “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_%28chocolate%29″>Aero feels like.

I have so many ideas rolling around in my head.

A full chorus line of people singing?

A movie montage of touching comments from friends and relatives?

A reenactment of This Is Your Life?

A series of humiliating posters?

A bag of tricks?

I wish I knew someone that knows how to break dance…

Oh, AND I’m planning the stag-do (bachelor party)… I’m trying not to be too much of a chick.  We’ll see how it goes…

United Breaks Guitars