Gavyne's First Jazz Band Only Concert

Gavyne performed in his first ever Jazz-only concert tonight and it was awesome! One of these days, we'll break down and buy a video camera that can take more than 9 minutes total of footage. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this little videos we put together instead.

Here were the first three songs of the performance, all three performed by the Ashland Middle School Jazz Band.


Harlem Nocturne performed by AMS Jazz Band


Misty performed by AMS Jazz Band


Take Five performed by AMS Jazz Band

Then the Ashland High School Jazz Band performed four songs, before joining the Ashland Middle School Jazz Band for these last two songs...


Malaguena performed by AMS & AHS Jazz Bands


Louie Louie performed by AMS & AHS Jazz Bands

Hey, Luke! Will You Learn to Play "Butterfly" for Ryann?

While hitting up YouTube for some clips of Bo Diddley in action, we ran across this video tutorial on how to play Dave Matthews sweet little song "Butterfly." We challenge Uncle Luke to learn this song and play it for the latest member of the DAGS clan, Ryann.

Here's the tutorial:

how to play butterfly by dave matthews — YouTube

Here's the scene in "Because of Winn Dixie" in which Otis (Dave Matthews) sings to Opal (AnnaSophia Robb):

Butterfly - Dave Matthews and AnnaSophia Robb — YouTube

Trombone Players Are Hot!

While looking for videos of people playing Super Mario Bros on trombone, we ran across The Beach Trombones Babes.

Gavyne pleaded with us to not post this YouTube video, but we did it anyway.


"Trombone Talk - Beach Trombones Babes" - YouTube

And I bet you thought the sax was the sexy instrument.

Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest

Here's the movie we put together of our backpacking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. We traveled almost all the way by Jeep to the Wrangle Gap trailhead, walked the remaining distance of the road, and looped back around to the PCT.

To read "Kyle's Special Journal Entry," click here.

And now, The Stich Family Chronicles is proud to present "Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest."



Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest — YouTube

One Year Later...

After much ado, Kyle finally did it. He managed to get our Alaska-visit part of our 2007 photo review. "There are still a couple rough spots, but at least I was able to save this movie file."

Enjoy this two-part second part of the 2007 Stich Family Photo Review.


The Last Frontier Part I — YouTube


The Last Frontier Part II — YouTube

Apocalyptica - One of Baylin's Favorite Bands of Late

The beauty of YouTube is how many different forms of music you can find, almost always on accident. Awhile back, we were searching for a specific video when we ran across this all cello band called Apocalyptica. From what we've seen, they seem to pretty much cover Metallica songs exclusively.

Here's an awesome rendition of "One":

One - Apocalyptica — YouTube

Whenever I hear classical conversions like this, it always amazes me at how the original composers really had a classical ear - whether knowingly or not. Funny thing is that the fellows look more like Metallica did when they originally released their hits, than they do now.

Oh, and part of why Baylin likes this band so much is partially because he's drawn to music that blends an elegant beauty with foreboding tones, but mostly because he has high ambitions of learning to play the cello next year.

In the meantime, Gavyne continues to hone his chops on the 'bone - trombone that is! Some of the top songs he's been learning is Gene Krupa's "Sing, Sing, Sing," and the "Oompa Loompa" song. Maybe one day he'll be as good as Fred Wesley:


Fred Wesley and RB Funkestra — YouTube

If you liked that bit of Fred, definitely check out this non-embeddable video on YouTube of a truly killer trombone solo.

Going Gardening - Part I

Here's a little film we put together. This is the first in a series of films we're doing on turn our yard into a food factory.

The Marriage of 2 Favorites

It's so easy to get lost in all the videos posted on YouTube. So the other night when I was showing Gavyne some videos of Neil Peart in action, I ran across this video:


Rush Tom Sawyer South Park Intro — YouTube

Renee loves South Park; Kyle likes it.
Kyle loves Rush (yeah, even to this day); Renee likes them.

Turns out that the Geddy, Alex and Neil are good friends with Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

We Love "Cute With Chris"

Every week, we look forward to catching up on all the funny stuff Chris Leavins does on his site: Cute With Chris.

He always shows pictures of cute pets, and not-so-cute pets. He also likes to encourage reader abuse. If you ever send Chris questions or photos, get ready for him to maybe make fun of you.

Each week (or two), Chris usually posts a new video. The humor is mainly meant for older teens but we think he's hilarious. Here's his latest episode:

Jan to June: 2007 Photo Review Part I

So, we did it...just barely. We managed to bring you the Stich Family review of photos from 2007.

As Kyle sat down to coordinate the creation of the video you're about to watch, he realized that the video was getting real long, real quick. So, we are presenting a series of videos. Expect "The Last Frontier: 2007 Photo Review Part II" by January 14. (We know your itching to see it, Amanda.)

Without further ado, we are proud to present you with Part I:
Jan to June


The following content and video was added on 8 Jan 2008 (by Kyle):
Ever since we added the song "Devil May Care" by Diana Krall to our photo review, Renee and the boys have had the song stuck in their craws. I went to YouTube to see if they had any videos of the song, so I could see her hands in motion. Low and behold, I found it.

Now, I didn't plan it this way. I swear I didn't. See if you notice any similarities between the start of our photo review and the start of the video. Oh, and the song is really good in its entirety, too.