More Wicked

Tired of hearing about Wicked yet?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06052/658517.stm

Loving Music

"I'm so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can't play great music unless your hearts have been broken." ~~ Cellist Gaspar Cassado

WIcked Trailer

http://www.universalpictures.com/media/wicked_generic_trailer_700k.mov

Make Your Child Noteworthy

Nothing new in this article - but good to see MENC and NAMM are getting some attention for their efforts to keep music ed alive.

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/entertainment/ci_3520801

It's Friday...

Another hectic week here. I don't know that people realize how busy it can get in a school music dealer like Progressive.

Yes, it's mid-February, so marching band season is over so that end of things have slowed down. But remember, it's musical season - so everyone needs things - now - for their productions. Schools are beginning to get their budgets ready for the next school year. And with that comes assistance from places like Progressive to explore new products as well as prices for those products. So, those phone calls keep all of us (especially Lorry) pretty busy.

I did have a chance to put in some time on a new project on instrument leasing for schools in need of new equipment. More work to be done there though.

There's always a project - always a new "crisis" - if you will - everyday. That's one of the things that keeps it fun.

Beyond that, it's great to visit schools and talk to teachers and hear of their passion for their profession. They really believe in the power of music education and what it can do for their students. That genuine interest is vital to keeping music programs alive. S0 - always support your local school music program.

Anyway - my birthday was earlier this week - got a bit lost in the shuffle of other things going on in everyday life. BUT - I do get to spend the night with some WONDERFUL friends tomorrow night which I cannot wait for!!!!!

Making Music In Prison

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/12452/

A Good Lesson Here

Ok - admittedly I stole this from another blog (George Hopkins from YEA!'s blog), but I think this is so good, so true and so telling. Anyone who knows me, knows this is pretty true for me.

Autobiography on One Sheet of Paper

By Portia Nelson


Chapter One
I walk down the street
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in
I’m lost, I’m helpless
It isn’t my fault
It takes forever to find a way out

Chapter Two
I walk down the same street
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk
I pretend I don’t see it; I fall in again
I can’t believe I’m in the same place
But it isn’t my fault
It still takes a long time to get out

Chapter Three
I walk down the same street
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk
I see it there; I still fall in; it’s a habit!
My eyes are open; I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately

Chapter Four
I walk down the same street
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it

Chapter Five
I walk down another street


From: Manifest Your Destiny by Wayne Dyer

A Book Recommendation

"Language reveals the man. Speak that I may see thee." - Ben Jonson

Just a good quote quoted in a book I just read. It's called "Teacher Man" by Frank McCourt. It was a gift from a great friend of mine, Megan.

I highly recommend this book for you teachers out there - but even more for the students out there. And I don't just mean those students sitting in classrooms. I mean all of us as students of life. There's a great perspective on learning and appreciating life found through the great stories in this book.

Thanks for a great book Megan!!!!

Another Interesting Day...

There's never a dull moment for me...

Today brought a few personal dissapointments. I won't go into the details here - but they definately set the tone for a not so stellar day. Such is life I guess.

Anyway, if any of you have read my bio, you know I have a TV on at my desk all the time with CNN on. Well, today I had it on - I started to smell something horrible and the TV started to make a static like sound. Then I saw the smoke. Something happened with the AC adapter for the TV. Thankfully I caught it in time - but how weird. I've had that TV in the same place for over a year - never a problem - all of a sudden at noon on a Friday in February that happens!!! Just glad I caught it.

Anyway, as you may have seen, we are slowly getting more bios up on the website. Hopefully, in the next week or so we'll have everything up. The website re-design will continue in the next few weeks as well. There's also another web project I'm working on right now. Not ready to post that on here yet - hopefully soon it will be unveiled.

It's Friday night - here watching the Pens game on TV - tied after 1 - can they win one game?

Going into work tomorrow as Lorry is back from NYC, so we can get some projects done and over before a new week starts.

Plans for next week---

Monday rehearsal at Baldwin (I have a woodwind ensemble I teach there)
Finishing up some things to go to our accountant
Starting a new project involving instrument leasing for school districts
"Un-Steelerizing" the website
No Pens games!!! - due to the Olympic Break
Birthday next week - get to go out with some wonderful friends next weekend to celebrate.

OK, back to the Pens game!!!!!!!!

Wicked!!

Just a random thought here. Check this link out if you're a Wicked fan

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/PressReleaseDetail/0,,CNTID%253D63613%2526CTID%253D,00.html

Just a neat story about Yamaha and Wicked! Oh, did I mention I get to see Wicked in Pittsburgh in just over two weeks?!?!?!?!

I'm already listening to the CD and reading the book to prepare myself for the show - hahaha

A Busy Couple of Days

First of all - everyone can take a sneak peak at our newest web feature - bios for the whole staff!!!

I'm in the process of updating a lot of things on the website. Obviously, the addition of this blog is one thing.

We updated the books section of the website so you can better see what titles we have available in the store. It's still not exactly how I want it to be. I'd really like a searchable database - but that's a bit much for now I think.

Over the next few weeks, I want to do some major changes to the site design as well as the buttons on the left side of every page. For the most part, the basic design is the same as it was on day one of the website over two years ago. I think it's time for some updates!!!!

Anyway, that's what I've been working on in the web dept.

It's tough to fit the time to do to web stuff with all the other things going on here - school visits, finishing up inventory, eBay, planning some marching band events for the fall...

Anyway, back to web work - PENS GAME TONIGHT!!!!! I don't even hold out for a win at this point - just fun to watch the game!!! HAHAHA

eBay

Looking for good music products?

Look at our eBay auctions!!!

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlayyed24

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZprogrmusic

Spent part of the morning re-listing some eBay items that you can see on the sites listed above. This was a mild "eBay madness" day. Between the store's and Lorry's stockpile of random things, keep checking back to see what we have come up to post on eBay. Some days I feel like I work for FedEx, we are selling so much stuff and shipping it out immediately.

Making Music...

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Recap of the Day

Wow - what a day!!! Where to begin? I am sitting here in a coffee shop in the Southside writing this (yes that's a cliche I know - but oh well!!)

Anyway, it started this morning with a call from Lorry that Becky gave birth to Brandon Allan - how exciting!!!!!! However, I feel a bit bad because this news got a little lost in the shuffle today with the Steelers pep rally outside of Progressive.

I was talking to a friend of mine today about the birth of Brandon and she really made a great comment. She said - "wow, isn't that amazing, a new life into the world." Yeah isn't that amazing? What will Brandon see in his life? (Hopefully a Steelers win this Sunday? hahaha)

So Diane is in New York with Becky, Lorry is at a convention this weekend and he'll get to go up and see Brandon this week. So, what does that mean - I got to dogsit for a few hours this afternoon. Lorry and Diane have the cutest dog in the world - Xu Xu!!!! Xu Xu is so much fun!!!! Here's a picture of both of us hard at work!!!



Signing off for now!!!!!

The Pep Rally was amazing!!!! Had to be at least 400 people out there - and the sun came out right in the middle of it!!!!! HERE WE GO STEELERS - HERE WE GO!!!!!!!

Such Steeler spirit - amazing!!!!!!!

More on this later - I have about 20 pictures that will be posted later.

A big day here at Progressive - a new baby boy and a huge pep rally!!!!!!!!

First Picture

The first picture of Brandon Allan from the hospital!!!! More later!!!!!

Off the the Steeler Pep Rally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brandon Allan 2/3/06 7 lbs 7 oz

Congratulations to Grandpa Lorry (our manager) and Grandma Diane on the birth of their first grandchild - Brandon Allan!!! Mommy Becky gave birth to Brandon Allan at 6:49 am today and he weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. We will post pictures of the new healthy baby boy as soon as we have them!!!!!



Big Steelers pep rally outside the store today - check back here for the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting - PE vs. Music?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3621475.html

Here's what's happening in Texas? Could this idea spread?

The First Post

Welcome web surfers to the newest addition to the Progressive Music website. Hopefully, you'll be seeing lots of additions in the next few months - but more on that later.

A little introduction here - I'm Mark Despotakis - your blog host - haha - and I'll be using this blog to give you some insight into the music products industry as well as into music education as well as any other random things I choose to post. That's the point of a blog right?!?!?! :-)

So where to begin on blog day 1? HMM - it's Groundhog Day! (BTW - A story I've covered for a television station in the freezing cold before) Phil saw his shadow - so six more weeks on winter!! But, I do understand the celebration on Gobbler's Knob turned into a bit of a Steelers pep rally!!!!

Speaking of a pep rally (note the fancy segue), tomorrow (Friday) is the Steelers pep rally right here in McKeesport!!!!! Come down at noon and join in the fun!!!!!!

In fact, the fun has already begun. Have you been in McKeesport in the last week? Did you hear all the Steelers fight songs playing over and over again throughout the city? Well, you can thank us for that!!! Some say we're obnoxious - nah - we're just getting into the Steelers Spirit!!! We'll post a ton of pictures from the rally tomorrow as we cheer the Steelers on to a Super Bowl Victory!!!!

HERE WE GO - PITTSBURGH'S GONNA WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!!

That's all for the first post - more later!!!