I got the blues.

Dar has taken up with some new 'musicians'. He plays guitar pretty well - darn good, really. But these characters he's been playing with? Ee-gads. The first guy, L. - his singing is reminiscent of Alfalfa from the Little Rascals. Anyone familiar with that old-time humor, Alfalfa serenading the lovely Darla by caterwauling "I'm in the Mood For Love"? It's like that, only imagine Alfalfa slurringly drunk and more annoying.

The new guy, X. (I don't even remember his name) is a wee better. While L. is strictly a cover guy (eviscerating Neil Young songs), X. writes his own materials. However, his own materials are a weird hybrid of blues, pop, and crap. Sometimes he sounds like Billy Joe - other times like a dying shelduck.

After being forced to listen to this so-called music, I finally had some sort of fit. Dar was listening to X's 'demo tape' for the umpteenth time, trying to learn the music so they could practice. I don't know if I can blame this on female hormonal crankiness or just raw nerves, but something evil took a hold of me and I stormed into the room where he was practicing and raged at him for a good 20 minutes about how the music sucked, the guys can't sing, he's playing the same fucking Grateful Dead spinning shit....I just told him straight out: It's all bad, dude.

And then something magical happened: He agreed with me. Then he played some of his own stuff, the good stuff. I picked up one of X.'s lyric sheets and said, "Let me sing this song to your music. Then, tell me if I can sing better than either one of those jackasses."

So I sang. I belted it out. And I don't sing. I don't even hum. But I did it for me. I just had to. Well, the kids came running into the room to hear this strange new sound. Mom singing? In the living room? The car yes - but the living room with Dad? Whoa.

When I was done, I asked: Well, am I better than those guys? The kids answered instantly, yes! yes! It took Dar a moment longer before he admitted, that yes I was a better singer than the other two.

Unfortunately, being told I'm a better singer than those two is like being told I'm a little nicer than Hitler. Sigh.