Holiday wishes to all my friends!

As we move from one year into the next, I wanted to take a moment and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Yes, you heard me right, “Merry Christmas!” I don’t go for the “Happy Holidays” routine – so sue me if I am not politically correct.

Musically speaking, I have been working with a 6-7 piece jazz band called the “Paragons.” The band has a trumpet and a sax player, and plays mostly dance music such as swing, cha-chas, tangos, sambas and some vintage rock and roll. The musicians in the band are very talented and experienced, so working with this band is always a lot of fun.

I have a new hobby. I got back into ham radio (I got my first ham radio license in 1988) and I've taken tests the first Saturday of the last three months until I finally worked my way up to the top level, "Extra Class'" which is as high as you can go in ham radio. Now I am studying FEMA courses and am getting some "Incident Management System" certificates, and will be doing some volunteer work with the Sheriff’s office and some ham radio emergency communications organizations. Whenever the next disaster comes, I should be fully credentialed and will be helping out with disaster relief and emergency communications. I also built a web site (http://radio.tomsmerk.com) that I will be using to provide news about local ham radio groups and clubs. If you are interested in ham radio, scanners, shortwave listening, CB radio, GMRS or FRS, check out my web site and see what you think!

So, back to music. When I play with the Paragons, I've been playing my big jazz guitar most of the time, the Heritage Golden Eagle, and I’m using a neat little Fishman Loudbox amp, which is very small and light, but it has 60 watts of power so it works well with the bigger band.

I still maintain my performance schedule at http://musician.tomsmerk.com/gigs.html, so hopefully you will soon be able to come to one of my shows. Don’t forget to say “hi” when you come. If I can ever do anything for you, feel welcome to contact me at tom@tomsmerk.com.

Happy Holidays! (Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!)