Sloan's World

Okay, that's not exactly true. It wasn't a bar. Sloan and Six Ninjas walked into a Noodles and Co. for dinner after a very exciting day at Megan and Barton Cutter's DisABLED Protection Workshop at the Reality Center. Yes, NINJAS. Really! Sloan and I were excited about the workshop, but not really sure what we were going to do or how we were going to do any of the drills. We have known for a long time that Barton and Megan met by studying Martial Arts, but we had never seen them in action before either. (Other than one night at a bar during a Chris Hendricks Band show.:-) But Martial Arts and a wheelchair???? How does that work? Throughout all of the many adventures Sloan and I have undertaken over these many years, including late nights at bars and clubs listening to music, traveling to different cities, or sometimes just going around Durham, I think I still had a feeling that we may be a vulnerable target for nefarious folks out and about, or that if someone did approach

On Saturday, March 19th 2011, Sloan got married!! To the City of Durham !! (Janie's okay with it.) It was a beautiful day, and a very fun event. Mom, and Jeannie rode with us, and we met other friends and neighbors there. There was a ceremony where we all vowed to love Durham, to support Durham and it's local businesses and artists, and to celebrate our diverse citizens. Frank Stasio from WUNC's show The State of Things was the Master of Ceremonies, and we had a chance to talk to him and get a picture. (see above) After the ceremony, receptions followed all along Rigsbee St. and we enjoyed good music and tasty snacks from some of the food trucks. I DO!!! More great pictures from the event in the album on the right.

Sloan has officially started his own band!! MEEK NOISE!! The band includes Sloan on guitar and piano, and Noah on drums. With the guitar stand working well for Sloan, and with access to Noah's basement, they have regular band practices every Wednesday afternoon with the amps cranked up high. Check out this video for their debut performance at the 2011 Reality Ministries Talent Show!!

Sloan had his 2nd Annual Rock Star party at the Reality Center on Saturday, January 22nd. What a night! The place was rockin' with Sloan and a massive gathering (70+) of many of his friends from all the different social groups he is involved in. While everyone was having a great time meeting, greeting and eating, Sloan kicked his party off right with a super loud and very cool guitar solo that definitely got everyone's attention! Noah finished the set off with the drums, and then the Chris Hendricks Band took the stage. Major highlights from the party that guests enjoyed while the music was going on included: the excellent and never-ending food table, the Ben and Jerry's ice cream stand, the Swag table with goodies and coupons for free Ben and Jerry's ice cream, a raffle box for a chance to win a CD or T-shirt from the band, and even a tattoo parlor! Many, many thanks to everyone involved and to all the guests who attended the party. All of you are Rock Stars! There

Christmas came early for Sloan. The wonderful students at Duke finalized his guitar/piano stand, and to break it in, and to thank them for all their hard work, we had a Christmas Jam to celebrate! We shared a bunch of good food and good music with great friends! It is hard to even know where to start describing to folks who weren't here how amazing the party was for Sloan. There was a major jam session led by Sloan, Christmas carols, sing-alongs, ice cream cake!, and a very special surprise gift of three songs from Chris and Aaron of the Chris Hendricks band. Above is a highlight video of the evening, and here is a link to the many, many photos taken to document the fun. A very special Thanks to everyone who came and shared the evening with us, and a very big thanks to Rachel, Kristine, Brendan and Al from the Duke Biomedical Engineering class who made it possible for Sloan to create his music with everyone. A+ guys!Every friend in attendance came bearing their gifts of love, frien

TODAY was finally the day Sloan got to try his Guitar Rig and rock out on his own! How many engineers does it take? Four! Many of you have been hearing us talk about Sloan's Guitar Project that the Duke students are working on this semester for a long time now, but after a lot of hard work from the students over this semester, today it was ready for a trial. They even have it set up so Sloan can use the rig for his piano! Al, Brendan, Kristine, and Rachel have been so fun to work with, and have paid attention to every detail and request with great skill and greater thoughtfulness. Watch the video. Sloan's face says it all. Oh! And to prepare, Sloan has been watching his friend Aaron's videos on the website Free and Easy Guitar . (Aaron is the bass player for the Chris Hendricks Band) I better go warn the neighbors...