San Diego could once lay claim to Grammy-winning violinist and composer Mark O'Connor.  He lived in Vista on an avocado farm, having left Nashville and a demanding schedule as a studio musician.   O'Connor composed Vistas while there, inspired by the landscape around him.  It seems inspiration is everywhere for O'Connor, but especially in the mountains and hollows of Appalachia.  His album Appalachian Journey, on which he collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer, was a critical and popular success.  Their effort led to O'Connor's Appalachia Waltz Trio, a chamber group that includes Mike Block on cello and Gillian Gallagher on viola.

For the last three years, O'Connor has been living in New York City, but San Diego is still home to his string camp, which takes place each summer at Point Loma.  O'Connor and his Appalachia Waltz Trio performed on These Days and O'Connor talked about his passion for teaching and mentoring young musicians, his own mentors, like Stephane Grappelli and Benny Thomasson, and how he fuses his interests in roots, jazz, and classical music.  Watching O'Connor play is really something -- kind of other-worldly.  His skill and craft boggle the mind.  You can see O'Connor and the Appalacian Waltz Trio this Saturday night at the Birch North Park Theater. 

Last week a book arrived on my desk called Not Quite What I Was Planning:  Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure.  It's a collection of six-word memoirs submitted to an online project launched by SMITH magazine.  They made a book out of it and I'll tip my hat and make a blog post out of it.   

Of course, the original hat tip goes to Ernest Hemingway.  Legend has it Hemingway was challenged to write a novel in six words. Lord knows how many bottles of booze it took for Papa to brilliantly write, "For sale:  baby shoes, never worn."  Inspired by the legend and aware of a national memoir craze, the editors over at SMITH launched sixwordmemoir. com and received thousands of entries.  It didn't take long for the likes of Stephen Colbert, Dave Eggers, and Joyce Carol Oates to submt their versions. 

I decided to write my own.  Unfortunately, nothing came right away.

Earl Thomas and members of Ike Turner's old band, Kings of Rhythm, performed on These Days this morning. Earl's voice will knock your socks off!  He sang a tune called "Soul Shine," an Ike Turner song called "Working Together," and the Mahalia Jackson gospel number "Elijah Rock."

Check out the video below and then go see Earl perform live on Sunday night in what is sure to be an inspiring show at The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. It's a benefit show for the North County Food Bank - one ticket will provide 37 meals!

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