Paul Rodriguez – The Blog That Ate Sudbury

I’ve been itching to perform at the Sudbury Summer Concert Series since moving here a few years ago. It just looked like fun! Well, it’s happening. I’ll be playing at Haskell Field in Sudbury on August 2 at 7 pm. I’ll be playing 90 minutes of tunes from the 60s and 70s. It’s going to be great fun and I’m really looking forward to it. My wife Nancy will come up to sing a few songs and my good friend Bob Plaskon will join me on guitar and vocals on a couple of songs. You’ll hear songs that will bring you back to those innocent high school days when your biggest worry was whether the girl or guy you had a crush on will go with you to the prom.

I’ll be doing songs from my favorite artists like Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Lou Rawls, Glen Campbell, and more. Tell your friends! It will be a great night. “Oooooooooweeee! The Wild Night is calling!”

Download the flyer here.

It’s a fantasy of most singers, baseball fans or not, to sing the national anthem before a baseball game. How many times have you singers dreamed of standing at home plate of your team’s ballpark and belting out the definitive version of the Star Spangled Banner, with 50,000 people listening and watching?

Well, it may not be Fenway but it’s baseball and I am so excited to be singing the national anthem before the Worcester Tornadoes minor league baseball game on July 20, 2010 at 7 p.m. If you are looking to see a great minor league game this summer, come to Holy Cross college and Fitton Field to see the game and hear a rousing version of the Star Spangled Banner!

It’s been a while but I’ve got myself a steady gig! I’m performing at the DoubleTree Hotel Westborough-Boston every Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. Henry Tessman at the DoubleTree and I both thought it would be great to have some regular local music (for different reasons) so we made it happen.

Just having fun

I bring a variety of music from the 60s and 70s (OK, my era) and occasionally throw in something from a little later. Listen to music from James Taylor, Billy Joel, The Beatles, America, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, Paul Simon, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Dave Matthews, Tom Petty, and on and on.

It’s a pleasure playing at the DoubleTree. The staff is incredibly helpful and accommodating and the food is magnificent. It’s a great place to hang after work.

So treat yourself to some good food and drink, good music (if I do say so myself), and good friends (you can bring those or meet some new ones there). Come up and say Hi.

I grew up in the Los Angeles area, spent a good amount of my adult years in central and northern California, then moved back to the Los Angeles area in 1989. In late 2002, my family and I moved to the Boston area. In my experience, there is a fundamental difference between people who live in L.A. and people who live in Boston and it is this – people in Boston evolve, people in L.A. don’t. And it’s all because of the weather.

People in Los Angeles (and that includes me pre-2002) have no seasons. It’s mostly sunshine or at least the promise of sunshine in a day or two. It rarely gets below 50 and when it does, it’s a major, major news item. Also, when it sprinkles, the TV networks pull out all the stops with Storm Watch or Storm Update!.

Because of this, L.A. people are complacent. They can go to the beach year round. There are no businesses that shut down for the winter or for “the season.” You have all your options open to you all the time. Nothing happens in winter except that the temps are generally cooler. Local softball leagues go all year long as do all other sports.

Boston people are planners. They know that winter is coming so they stock up on supplies to fight snow and ice in the driveway and ice dams in their gutters. They cover certain plants and make sure to rake before the first snowfall. Kids are fitted with new parkas, caps, boots, thermal underwear, gloves and earmuffs. Towns make sure they have a good supply of sand to cover icy roadways. Also, don’t forget generators in case of power outages due to ice storms. Ice storms!

Boston people are planners. Come January, they are busy lining up summer camps for their kids. January! Summer camps! Vacations are planned for winter break, spring break, and the summer. At the very least, babysitters are lined up so the parents can continue to work.

Boston people are planners. Humidifiers are checked or purchased just before the winter. Dehumidifiers are checked or purchased just before the summer. Swimming pools are uncovered and readied by Memorial Day and closed up soon after Labor Day. Planting schedules are adhered to and local fruit and vegetable stands open for the season (ahh, the smell of just cooked local corn with butter… er, I mean buttah!).

What does this have to do with evolution? Although Boston people (and I would include all New Englanders) continue to go to work and school through the winter, there is a sense of meditation. More time is spent contemplating one’s life during the winter because they spend more time inside, alone with their thoughts, meditating almost, thinking of what they will do when spring breaks. They slow down. Conversations become more meaningful because the threat of a big snowstorm makes them realize they may not see that person for a while. We spend more time reading or just looking out the window contemplating the awesome strength of a trillion tiny snowflakes coming down on your driveway.

When spring does arrive, they celebrate. The Red Sox are starting their schedule. The lilacs and tulips and forsythia explode. Country clubs ready their golf courses. Snow shovels and bags of salt are put away. Shakespeare in the park, Tanglewood, ice cream stands, duck boats, swan boats, lobsters on the beach, dinner cruises, walks through the commons, weekend trips to the cape, weeklong trips to Maine, canoeing, fishing (lake and ocean)… the list is endless.

Spring is a time of rebirth for Boston people. Those dreams they coddled during the winter now get put into action. Those meditations during the winter on a better life bear fruit. Things happen. Boston people change. Boston people evolve.

On the other hand, L.A. people don’t stop. They keep moving without stopping to determine whether what they’re doing is worthwhile. The changes they do make are superficial because it was conceived during rush hour traffic.

Of course, I’m making big generalizations here but I believe there is some truth to this. I’ve seen and experienced both Los Angeles and Boston and I feel I’ve grown more in my seven years here than I did in my previous 30 years in Los Angeles.

Have you had a similar experience?

I’ve been playing guitar since I was 10 years old. That was about 46 years ago. I’ve been singing for almost as long. Music has always been a part of my life. My big goal this year is to finally put together a show that encompasses all those years as a musician. I’ve done a lot of things, met many people and seen a lot of places.

How about you? Are you a musician? Do you still play? Are you a geezer guitarist like me? What has it meant to you?

I have blogs on other sites but this one is strictly personal. If you were looking for me, leave a message and say Hi. This is to differentiate myself from the rest of the Paul Rodriguez’s of the world:

Born 1953
Attended Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic elementary school in Paramount, CA, and Pius X High School in Downey, CA. I’ve lived in Los Osos and San Luis Obispo in central California and in Sonoma and Santa Rosa in northern California. I currently live in Sudbury, Massachusetts. I’ve been a musician all my life, sometimes making a living that way – but not now.

Your turn.