This week's guest blogger is musician, songwriter, friend, and voracious reader, Terry White.  

I got to know Terry backwards.  We were mixing the same studio, Joyride, with our mutual friend Blaise Barton.  "You don't know Terry?"  he would say.  "Nicest guy in the world.  His album is on the wall outside."  I would look at that album cover, for "Our Separate Ways," and think, "I gotta meet that guy."

Turns out we did know Terry, we just didn't know it.

Terry is like the Mayor of Roosevelt Road, or as it is known, The Veltway.  FitzGerald's, Friendly Tap, Wire, The Outtaspace?  Everyone knows him, just ask.  If you need someone or something, he will help you get it.  One time, I needed a guitar for a gig, and I didn't even ask him for it, but he got it to me.  When Terry's guitar got to that gig, but he didn't, I wrote a song called "Where is Terry White?"

Admittedly, that song had as much to do with his wife, the amazing Colleen, as him.  Colleen raises the game of everything she's involved in.  She's got the ideas that bring things to the next level, and she herself is a wonderful writer.  Maybe I'm partial: she is a librarian.  Robin is too.  So, they know how to do stuff.  The exact people you want on your team.

As Terry will tell you below, I was thrilled when his collaborator turned out to be Colleen.  And I hope you will tune in Friday night for The Virtu-Haiku Milieu: Collaboration show on Facebook. 

For a sneak peek, check out their video here: jennybienemann.com.

Meanwhile, enjoy this post from Terry:

"When Jenny asks if I'd like to contribute to one of her projects, I am honored and of course accept the invitation. 

I had written a song based on one of her haikus last year, and she asked if I'd like to contribute to another round. This time the song should be in collaboration with anyone of my choosing, and it should include a video.  Perfect timing! The entire world is collaborating to diminish the effects of this virus. I asked my wife, Colleen, and she naturally said no, as she hates the spotlight. It took a bit of cajoling. But once she picked the haiku, and I told her, I envisioned her in a scarf, with sunglasses, wearing her dishwashing gloves, she became a willing partner.  

Colleen and I have been collaborating on life for almost 30 years. One thing we collaborate on is meals, which can lead to dirty dishes. As we shelter in place, unable to dine out, we are creating more dirty dishes than ever.

Typically, we dirty the dishes together, and Colleen takes over from there. I do enjoy getting the dishes dirty, and I'm not totally opposed to what comes next—the washing, the drying, the putting away. In fact, I'm happy to collaborate on it! But Colleen has a high standard of what constitutes clean, and demands that the cleaning take place immediately following the dirtying. I'm more in the camp of allowing dirty dishes to sit, while we relax, preferably with a cocktail. She's often cleaning the dishes while we're still in the process of dirtying the dishes. This can be a bone of contention in our meal collaboration. 

But that's what collaborating is all about. Bringing one's strengths to the effort, and accepting the weaknesses of your husband.   

So Colleen picked this subtly romantic haiku, and let me turn it into a blues number of domestic conflict.  I selected blues as the genre, because Jenny has a crack band (Robin Bienemann, Andon Davis, Klem Hayes and Paul Bivans) that play with her at FitzGerald's monthly. She has occasionally invited me to join the band for the blues segment of the set. It is thoroughly enjoyable for me, as I don't have much responsibility (Colleen knows my penchant for that), and I get to play some lead guitar. Not to mention, have a few half-price drinks."

- written by Terry White, with editorial support from Colleen White.