Not Missing Much

I thought I'd miss television when we chose to ditch it a while back. Apparently, I'm not missing much. My ABC news feed, which I read online, had these headlines tonight:

Rats Run Wild in KFC-Taco Bell in N.Y.
Man Does 40 Squat Thrusts on Elephant
Lawmaker Comes Down on Plastic Gonads

If that's what's making headlines in the world, missing out is just fine with me.

Instead of sitting in front of the tube, we get out and do other things. Tonight, for instance, there was a concert at the college with Mamadou Diabate. He was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 in the World Music category. He's African, and plays a traditional African instrument called the "kora." He was joined by four other musicians, some of whom played traditional African instruments (the balafone, calabash, and talking drum) and some who played ones my kids could actually identify (bass and acoustic guitar). The ensemble played a lot of really rhythmic African music, but they also performed original compositions that were much more like American jazz and blues. It was a great thing for the kids to see. They bobbed their little heads and danced in their seats. We had a good time. Afterwards, one of the musicians asked me to take a picture of him with John. I couldn't get the blasted digital camera to take it, or I would post it.

You can hear samples of Mamadou's music on his Web site: http://www.mamadoukora.com/.