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New
York
Got to Brooklyn via Lucky Star about 9:30pm after my last day at
Berklee for the semester. Immediately ran into Chris Tarrow - nice
to see him after so long. Apartment in good shape but alleged snow
storm is on the way. Supposed to be 6-10" but turns out to
be mostly freezing rain. Kind of miserable weather but Eric Halvorson
stopped by and we dug out the Gretsch kit and played some duo. So
nice to play with Eric - I guess we've been playing for almost 20
years now. He's always been one of my favorite drummers and favorite
people as well. Don Falzone was going to come over and play too
but the weather was pretty threatening and he lives all the way
up in Nyack. I really want to go out tonight and hear Jim Hall at
the Vanguard but I got my first cold of the season and it's kicking
my ass. Lucky Star yesterday was tough but I had some NyQuil and
that helped me to sleep for a bit. Wish I was a better traveller
since I do it so much. Making plans to come back in January and
do some recording with Eric and Don and hopefully Michael Blake.
Playing the Ibanez As-200 and really digging that guitar. JetBlue
tomorrow back to austin - spencer is riding me to JFK. Can't face
the long A train ride at 4am. Had dinner with Adam Kolker and he
gave me his new CD with Abercrombie and I can't wait to hear that.
He's not teaching anymore and he looks very happy about that. Procrastination
Played some really nice gigs with Brannen Temple. One Thursday at
the Elephant Room with Mitch Watkins and John Fremgen. Mitch sounds
amazing and makes it sound so easy. I felt like I was really scuffling
trying to play these fast tempos but he just blew right through
all that. Great sound as well with a Badcat amp complete with the
lighted eyeballs and some kind of solid body guitar. It was tough
but fun. Then on Saturday with Brannen again at the Elephant room
with Roscoe Beck and William Menefield playing mostly Brannens music.
Pete Rodriguez sat in and sounded great. Mister
SparkleThere
is something very liberating about playing with Tim Miller. Illuminating,
yes. Humbling, indeed. As if a jazz musician needed any more humility.
Speaking of which, I was contemplating this aspect of jazz the other
day. Listening to Coltrane and Miles and Wayne and Monk and realizing
the longer I play the further I get from the truth that they created.
That's humbling. Trying to play this music for 35 years and not
even coming close to what they did is quite humbling indeed. Trying
to play this music gets more difficult every day. I've been listening
to a lot of Wes - D Natural Blues and If You Could See Me Now. Pure
genius. It's really difficult to work on something like say, hexatønics,
when I hear Wes and Trane playing so beautifully and apparently,
effortlessly. Anyway, playing with Tim is liberating because I know
I'll never be able to do what he does so I just try to listen to
myself, when I'm soloing, and figure out what I do that's different
and do more of that. I figure what I do differently from him is
play crappy so apparently that's what I do more of. I'll never have
his harmonic complexity, chops or sound so I don't even have to
try. Just have to try and comp for his amazing solos and not run
and hide under a chair or cry like the little girly-man I am. And
when Marcello Pelliterri and Bruno Raberg are playing as well, it's
so easy. Not to cry but to play. We got a lot of students out and
I think they liked it. Not much room to sit though. I bought a Sparkle
Drive overdrive because I forgot to bring any effects at all to
Berklee but never turned it on. Kind of getting into the Ibanez
these days but I left it in Boston anyway. Got a couple of more
weeks to go in the semester...crap!...forgot to ask Rick and Larry
about the last week of school. I might need to make a reservation.
Also the ensemble auditions...crap! Got to take care of that soon.
Crap! Anyway, after the little concert Marcello and I sat in a bar
and drank beer, ate nachos and ruminated on the rigors of travel.
The wonder that is Berklee. The new Berklee in Valencia in 2010.
I guess that's why it was so tough to wake up at 5:30 this morning
and why a tiny monkey seems to pounding on my forehead from the
inside. Only one cure for that - a nice glass of Spanish wine! Beautiful
weather in Austin, though. Playing tonight with a great guitarist
from Austin named Mitch Watkins and looking forward to that. After
Tim, how much humiliation can there be? Possibly quite a lot I guess
but at least I don't have to fly tomorrow. Rant
I wish I had some really exciting news like....well, the US just
decided to send jazz to the moon and I've been selected to play
some tunes in the Copernicus craters or in Mare Imbrium, the Sea
of Rains. The whole band gets aisle seats on the rocket and I get
to bring whoever I want and my wife can come too and we get paid
a lot and at least 5 people will be listening worldwide. Mel Bay
will donate the CDs instead of having me pay $10 each for my own
CD. There is no sound check. The band actually rehearses. But no,
just really busy and incredibly enervated - flying does that to
me. I guess it also makes people into the biggest assholes on earth.
Uh, oh, I fly every week, what does that make me? Oh, no! But, really,
what's up with the armrest piracy and even the breach of personal
space? A
little side note: the wonderful tenor player Rob Sudduth turned
me on to this blog by Trevor
Dunn about travel and it's hilarious - and all too
familiar. Jetblue
to Boston - 8am
Frank
Karlberg Quintet Previte
bootleg CD Madrid
airport
Halfway
to Barcelona from Valencia - Xavi driving 35,000
feet again I'm
also noting that it's right off the elevator shaft and that, like
mexico, there is no airconditioning and there is a window onto an
airshaft that won't really close. Tomorrow we drive to another place
but we're not sure if there is a hotel or not. I hope there is but
not counting on it. Anyway, it sure felt good to play with Masa
again. He's such a great musician. I should be so tired!!!! Why
am I not? mas 9/18
Carcaixent Elsa
made a killing paella in the afternoon then about 4 we drove to
Valencia. We did a 3 hour master class then a long dinner and jam
session. It was really crowded but the musicians were all at a very
high level. Met Latino, wonderful bari player and Perico Sambeat,
an incredible alto player. Lots of good guitar players. We played
4 tunes as a trio before the jam session and that was really fun
as well. Been going to sleep about 4am every night which is going
to be really, really bad when I go back to the U.S. I'm going to
be totally turned around time-wise. Maybe I can just stay up all
night and go to bed at 7am. That would make it about 11pm in the
U.S. which will be perfect. paella Monday,
August 20, Berklee Played
a great gig with Kat Edmonson at Reed's Supper Club in Austin. Kat,
John Fremgen, Steve Schwelling and Sam Lipman. Kat sings ballads
so well and it was a treat to play with Sam - he's amazing and I
hadn't had a chance to play with him before. Very nice person, too.
Sunday,
Aug 12, 2:30 am - on a bus between xalapa and mexico city xalapa,
mexico, howard johnsons wedding central ate
some really good food in Austin, went to Galveston and had an amazing
time, mowed the lawn a couple of times, got my Ibanez refretted
(plays great), didn't practice enough because of the hand, sweated
a lot, got rained on a lot, played with Pete Rodriguez a lot, played
a gig of my own at the Elephant Room that went really well. Pete
sat in at the gig and played his ass off, Chris Maresh, Philippe
Vieux and Rob Kazenel all sounded wonderful and not doing a quintet
gig made things a lot more manageable for me. I missed having the
trombone on the heads but it was tough with quintet not to make
the tunes really long. Seemed about right with the quartet. bruce
saunders quart Heard
an amazing two nights of the Bill Frisell trio at The Continental
Club. Tony Scherr and Joey Baron. Just freaking wonderful. They
have such a vibe as a trio and as individuals. They listen so very
hard. I haven't heard Tony play that way in a long, long time and
he was just amazing. I've heard Frisell play so much over the last
20 years but he's on some other level. Tune after tune and such
beautiful guitar playing! He played Eronel in the sound check -
amazing. Moon River, Alfie, Raise 4, Strange Meeting, Days of Wine
and Roses, Surfer Girl, No Moe, Dylan Tunes....just one after another.
He was playing a guitar made by someone in New York City made from
a building on Bowery being torn down. He was using some sort of
ring modulation/tremolo thing made by Zvex and also using my Deluxe
Reverb! I hope some of his mojo got into it. As I told Tony, I'll
never wash that amp again. I say this every time I hear Frisell,
or at least hear him with Tony, but this was so freaking good. Dang.
I've included a pic of Frisell with the amp. What do you think of
me now? good
gigs, online chats (shats), floors, rain
It's
been raining a lot in marlboro country. i think it's put people
a bit on edge. The other day i was driving and waiting behind a
woman turning left at a stop sign onto Berkman Dr. (named after
the famous pianist David Berkman - or so he thinks). A guy in a
truck pulls up behind me, no great surprise here in texas. he's
got a 16 oz. cup of Short Stop coffee on the dash. He probably had
a bag of the double meat, double cheese short stop burgers next
to him as well since he had just pulled out of the parking lot.
Double beef, double bacon, double cheese on a white bread bun, 16
oz. of coffee, some fries....all is good. Anyway, this guy pulls
up behind me and 5 seconds later beeps his horn, pretty long beep.
Okay, I think, this guy has a gun so I'm just going to chill. Then
he beeps again...Okay, I'm no girlie man, I'll stick my head out
the window and reason with him. "Please sir, it's not me, it's
the ultra-cautious woman in front of me" or something to that
effect with maybe a fuck you in there somewhere. Astoundingly immediate
reaction: man-headed-for-a-coronary jumps out of the truck and starts
yelling something in my apparent direction, quite feverishly, his
face turning a shade of red that leads me to believe he is not long
for this world. I don't understand the words, he is so worked up
that he is having trouble with pronunciation. I'm thinking he is
not wishing me well or thanking me for pointing out his misunderstanding
of the situation. I'm also thinking that, like many texans, he has
a large handgun and perhaps a shotgun close by. Perhaps he feels
sexually inadequate, maybe there is trouble at work, maybe the incredible
jolt of lard based products has gone to some primordial neurons
and he is in the grip of a passion to kill he cannot control. But
he does seem very excited and also dangerous so I'm pointing in
the direction of the car in front of me, the real culprit, mumbling
something like "please, sir, kill her first" thinking
I can make a quick getaway while he's filling her car with lead.
She's lived a long life and I have many years to fill with tasks
and...stuff. But, mercifully, the Terminator deflates almost immediately,
squeezes himself back into the cab of the American made, gas guzzling,
carbon-monoxcide producing, fear-inducing, truck, continues to lay
on the horn and we eventually go on our merry way. Ah, america....land
of excess. Speaking
of excess, I've had an excessive amount of good gigs. Some high
points: The Elephant Room with Suzi Stern, John Fremgen, Eddie Hobizol,
Kyle Thomson, the Torre Di Pietra Winery with the dynamic duo of
Philipe Vieux and Brandon Rivas (both sounding amazing), a few gigs
with the fabulous Ernie Durawa and Terry Bowness, trio gigs with
Steve Schwelling and Chris Maresh and Brian Martin, trio gig with
Chris Maresh and Kyle Thomson, duo gig with Russ Scanlon, gigs with
Chris Apfelbaum and Paul White, gigs with Ephraim. Been playing
this ovation steel string acoustic I got on Craigslist and it's
a really great guitar. Sounds good even with the stock pickup through
what ever amp I happen to be using. I blew up a '67 Vibrolux but
Jon Bessent of Tonecraft
fixed it nicely. He also worked on a Pro Junior I have but now that
one seems to break up pretty early. Wish I could play with Mike
Flanigan again but it doesn't look likely before I leave for Mexico
in August. Had
a really nice 4th of July with my wife. We went to Whole Foods and
had pizza and tried to wait long enough for the fireworks but didn't
make it. We had a nice walk over the Town Lake bridge but it just
looks like the Colorado River to me. Beautiful day though, and lots
of nice people. town
lake from treo 650 Not
much this week. A gig with Will Schultze and Philipe at Ikea in
Round Rock, Jaspers trio on sunday with Chris Maresh and Steve Schwelling,
the Galaxy on Saturday with somebody, don't know who. Still many
details to figure out on the new floor in the house. Still a lot
of hand pain. fun
with acupuncture What
have I been up to you ask? Trusty camera phone tells all. That's
the shoulder and elbow area - also needles in back, shoulder and
wrist of other arm and hand. My arm isn't really that yellow - it's
the camera. Also did a lot of great gigs - hence the needles. Also
a lot of mosquito bites - they seem to love chewing on me. still
austin Playing
a lot of really fun gigs, got to play with Paul White, a wonderful
tenor player, played more with Ephraim Owens, a gypsy named Christian
who's really wonderful. Rob Kazenel started a band with Christian,
Chris Maresh, Christian and me that he calls Area 52. Still having
hand problems so don't want to type too much. About at the end of
the berklee online jazz class for this session and doing 5 sections
of online teaching has been more work than I expected. Some really
good students, though. I'm still thinking about Take Toriyama. What
a tragedy. Going to Galveston tomrorrow and really looking forward
to that. austin
Been
getting in some much needed practice and playing some great gigs
with Philipe Vieux, Brandon Rivas, Brannen Temple, Pete Rodriguez,
Russ Scanlon, Alex Coke, Kat Edmonson, John Fremgen, Steve Schwelling,
Ephraim Owens, Chris Maresh, Chris Aflerbaugh...probably forgetting
someone. Too much computer and guitar has totally screwed up my
left hand so trying to take it easy on the computer. Been getting
acupuncture 3 times a week from Dr. Gu - he's pretty incredible
but the gigs make it worse so I have to get more accupuncture -
then I have to do more gigs to pay for dr. gu...... Take
Toriyama, the great person who also happened to be a great drummer,
passed away a week and a half ago. Unspeakably sad and tragic. You
can see and hear him play if you click Squib
or Pedal (videos). For that concert Take
took the bus to Boston (4.5 hours), played one set with me, got
back on rhe bus to NY (another 4.5 hours). I think I paid him $125.
Another time Take, Alexis Cuadrado and I drove to Washington from
NY to play with Antonio Arnedo. I think that was an 7 hour drive
each way. We drove, played the gig, drove back. Take never complained,
always played great and never said a word about his incredible sorrow.
And I'm so pissed at him because now I can never pay him back, not
that I ever could, for all he did for me. I hope you got some peace,
Take. jet
blue - back to austin (finally) Going
back to Texas after being away for too long. Jetblue on time (maybe
even early). Had an amazing time in New York, playing some gigs,
seeing a lot of old friends, getting some sleep. Eating something
besides sandwiches (sushi from Kiku), doing a little practicing
(too little), trying to finish some tunes. Yesterday was great:
played in the morning with Justin Flynn, Scott Neumann and Carlo
DeRosa and Carlo's place in Ft. Greene. Those guys just play so
well and are so musical. It was too short but really fun and we
played a new tune of mine, one of Justin's and some standards. Oh
yeah, we played The Sorcerer and that was difficult but good. justin
and carlo scott
- notice the view from carlo's window Then
last night Alan Ferber's band played at the Tea Lounge - there were
no subs! All original band members and a string quartet as well.
Alan is playing and writing his ass off. Some really amazing solos
from everyone (except me) and a lot of people came out. I saw David
Phelps, Scott Neumann, Pete McGuinness, Bill McHenry, Paul Sullivan,
John Hebert and Lo Gen, Mike Fahn, Maryann McSweeny, David and Donna
Phelps, Ben Rubin, Nir Felder (on the street), Ziv Ravitz (on the
street) and probably some others that I forgot about. It was crowded.
Got to bed about 2am and up at 6 - this seems par. No more berklee/boston
but still doing berklee online. Going to Bastrup today to supposedly
play with Eric Johnson - I'm afraid Eric's going to have to stand
in line to whip my musical ass. I'm still hurting from last night,
last week and last year. will/alexis
@ tea lounge mark
and alexis Quick
update on the "jam" with Eric Johnson in bastrup: eric
was indeed there, i got to play a couple of tunes with him along
with Alex Coke, Hannibal Lokumbe, Roscoe Beck, Grace, Rob, John
Steinman, Paul Glasse - I think that's it. Everyone sounded great
but Eric was killing. It was really great to hear him in an intimate
setting like that - he is such a great player. Also an incredibly
nice guy. A long but very good day. lucky
star - whee Did
hear and play some great gigs this week. Heard Jeff Newell's New
Trad Octet at Barbes on Friday. With David Phelps playing his ass
off. Then David was kind enough to ask me to play with him at this
place called Puppets Jazz Bar on 5th ave. in Park Slope. With the
ultra happening Eric Udel playing bass - the owner played drums
and he sounded good. Wasn't a whole lot of jazz happening although
we did play Grantstand, but it sure was fun to play with maestro
Phelps and to use some distortion. Played some Led Zepplin, the
Chicken, stuff like that. Phelps sounded amazing and so did Eric,
Eric Halvorson came out for a while and people were really nice.
Fun. mr.
phelps the
combined signal paths - the sneaker connection Then
last night I went back to Barbes to hear Lambic - Paul Sullivan
and Steve Moses doing an improvised, loop based thing with guitar,
baritone guitar, drums and trombone. That was really killing. It
sounded so fat for just two people. Now
I'm on this damn bus headed for my last week at berklee for a while.
I'll miss all my friends there but I sure won't miss the travel
and it'll be great to be in austin for a while and work on some
different bands and music. more
newsletter - so much more - worship my sandwich more
exciting news about me. please, let me know if you would like to
subscribe to my newsletter. Back
to the sandwich. Out of ketchup (too many late night condiment sandwiches
after gigs) even after a trip to Eagle Provisions the other day.
I hate to digress but Eagle
Provisions is pretty happening. They have an incredible beer
selection and if you are into meat, they've got a whole lot of that
and weird Polish meaty delicacies pickled in genuine Polish pickling
agents. Speaking of which, I got some great pickles and mustard
from our friends in the Eastern bloc at Eagle and also picked up
some Morningstar Farm faux-chicken patties that I'm fond of and
what with the functioning toaster and the microwave, this was a
nice sandwich. What do you think of me now? worship
my sandwich I
don't know what it was about that newsletter that bugged me. I guess
because it was unsolicited and then I actually read the damn thing.
I could have been listening to Coltrane or practicing or something
but there I was reading this bullshit newsletter. Hey, much like
you are doing now! Reading about my sandwich. I think my sandwich
is more interesting than that other guys lame gigs though. And seeing
how I have another 3 hours on the NY/Boston Lucky Star bus, writing
about it gives me something to do. I should be doing schoolwork
though. It's hard to concentrate when there is a powerful odor of
old Bok Choy wafting around. newsletter Got
a "newsletter" today on my berklee email. Letting me know
about all the great things this particular guy is doing. The weird
part is that I read it. It depressed me. I thought I'd write one
to cheer myself up and I used his as a guide. Here's my newletter: "nothing
going on" Got
no gigs today or tomorrow - I got called for oh, a lot (!), but
I taking quality time for myself. I'm going to stay in my spacious
and luxurious brooklyn apartment and do many important, impossible
for you to understand- uh, things! Or maybe I'll just drink a beer
and cruise ebaY looking for old guitars. I
guess it's the heavy rain, the no sleep thing, the end of the semester,
being away from home. Now the guys renovating the apt. next door
have started the hammering which I'm sure will continue nonstop
until 8pm. It's 8am but they want to finish. Arghhh. Up all night
because of the people upstairs tromping around until 2am and then
my buddy calling me at 3:30am saying "no, I can't rehearse
on that day. Rehearse so you can actually get a gig because the
guy that books the gig makes it a stipulation that you rehearse
which you apparently won't be able to do. So, you're fucked."
Well, he didn't say all that. I think he said "Whoa, dude,
you asleep?" Me? no, no, it's fine, I usually don't think about
sleep until 4am. I was, uh, writing my newsletter. Sometimes during
the day I picture myself sleeping all night. 8 wonderful hours of
sleep. Not to be, not to be. thursday,
april 26 - brooklyn - 2 words 2
words: Donny McCaslin. Day-yam. I didn't think it was possible for
Donny to get better but I guess I was wrong. He played with Alan
Ferber's nonet at Smalls last night and he was just amazing. Long
solos that always seemed to be going somewhere, playing over these
really hard changes for the first time like he'd been doing it for
years, wonderful rhythmic and harmonic complexity like I've never
heard, great sound. Whoa. Had at least 3 subs: John Riley, Loren
Stillman and Jason Ridley and they all sounded unbelievable. It
was a really fun night. Saw my friends Rob Sudduth, Pete Brainen,
Mike Blanco. I guess Pete has a sister in Austin and we were talking
about him coming out and trying to do some gigs. That would be very,
very nice. I miss playing with Pete - he's an amazing musician and
a lot of fun to hang with. Met a couple of new friends including
Roy from my online class who came all the way from Jersey to hear
the band - I even sold a CD to a guy from Germany. alexis
@ smalls - john riley behind the post playing his ass off little
less profanity my
wife told me I was getting a little profane on the old journal page.
She's right, as usual. I edited a bit for those of you who take
exception to this - and for me, too. nameless
hour delayed
flight from boston to austin. promises to be 2.5 hours late tonight.
Wind. Wouldn't wind help keep the &^%&^%& plane in the
air? Are flights really late this often? 9 out of 10 flights for
me. At least in the east to west direction. I've read a book since
I got to Logan many hours ago and we aren't even to Chicago yet.
Who knows how late the next one will be. But.... it was a pretty
good book.One of those airport books. the silver lining on a cloudy
day. Listening
to....me!!!! Well, kind of. one of my students asked me yesterday
if I transcribed my own solos. no %*&^%*^%* way. i'm not strong
enough to even listen to myself without puking up a ration of snickerdoodles
- actually I'm not strong enough to even try a snickerdoodle. by
the way, ye old iPod seems to have died and all I have to listen
to is what's on the laptop. do yourself a favor and get applecare
for the ipod. anyway, I saw "Strange Omen," a CD I did
with Mike Cain and Glen Velez many years ago - so I played it and
was pleasantly surprised. What a great concept Mike has! What an
amazing player. This is such a nice vibe and Mike wrote such good
music. He let me put a couple of my tunes on it. I think because
he knew it would change the texture of the programming to have different
composers but listening to it now the strength and depth of Mike's
writing and playing is obvious. He's the one with the vision. Just
having the courage to present a debut CD with guitar, piano and
percussion is an incredible thing. Mike is living in Brooklyn again
but I haven't seen him in many years. I think he's teaching at NEC
and playing pop or rock gigs although I think I saw his name on
the Bar 4 list at some point. I
finished recording the video's for the online jazz course today.
Don't know what to think of that. It sure has been a lot of work
and it's not finished yet. I really wanted the course to be good
but.... it seems kind of fragmented to me. I had a vision in the
beginning of focusing on one thing like pentatonics but they talked
me out of it and now I think I tried to cover too many topics and
the course suffered for it. The video's are done - that's a good
thing. Maybe Berklee online will leave me alone for 24 hours.
Think I'll see about a tiny bottle of wine on this latest flight.
Had to run to the gate in Chicago which I really hate but at least
I made it on, otherwise would have had to overnight at O'hare. Can't
remember if this was a free flight or not. I got a couple of free
ones this semester but some others were extra expensive so it ended
up costing the same. Like, I get a one-way cheap JetBlue flight
free but an AA one way to Boston costs $300. This particular flight
may be a voucher for an overbooked flight I got around spring break
for an extra 3-4 hours at various airports. I know this is all really
fascinating. I'm gonna listen to some music and spare you any more
details of my endlessly boring day. Plus the wine lady is here.
I'm tempted by the $3 "snickerdoodles" but that's just
because it's been 12 hours since I had anything to eat. Not sure
what a snickerdoodle is. Sounds kind of evil, like something the
obviously drug-addicted wolfgang puck invented to make people puke
but in a fun way. I must find out how these people market themselves.
What's up with the "up a notch" guy? I think David Berkman
played on his show. He's in chelsea market on 19th st. and 9th or
10th ave. in manhattan. I like the cheap coffee there but what's
his name, emerel?, kind of ruins the vibe of the place. Okay, i'm
rambling. gone......= monday,
april 2/ AA flight 504 just left St. Louis for Boston - 1:15 late Had
some great gigs in the last few weeks: played my music with a group
in Austin (Rob Kazenel, Mike Mordecai, Steve Zirkel, Philippe Vieux).
They all sounded really good and Steve just nailed it. I hadn't
played with him before and he's amazing. Also played with Mike Flanigin
at the Continental Club and that was really fun. Mike plays B3 and
sounds wonderful and Kyle Thompson was playing drums and I love
playing with him. Played at the Fredericksburg winery with Philippe
Vieux and Aaron Allen - that was great. Did a guitar duo thing with
Rick Macrae (he sounds fantastic) at the new Galaxy Cafe and doing
it again this saturday, then one with Glenn Rexach the week after
that I'm really looking forward to and one after that with John
Steinman - it's always great playing with John. Played with Terry
Bowness and Steve Schwelling at Luna in San Antonio and with Terry
and Chip Vayanes at the Elephant Room last night. Both of those
were really great but since I got to bed at 3am and woke up at 5:30
to make this (*&^(*& up AA flight I'm really, really tired.
Had what turned out to be a 3 hour layover in St. Louis where I
bought a small Starbucks coffee for $2.02 and they made me pay the
(*&^(*&^( .02 out of a dollar. So I left .02 on top of their
tip box for the next person. Assholes. Then the AA flight was an
hour late so I'm going to have to run to make it to my 4pm class
at Berklee. I will say that the JetBlue flight back to Austin last
week was on time!!!! It's some sort of freakin' miracle. tuesday,
march 20 / is this austin? Kind
of a whirlwind assault on ny - left austin on sat. and back on monday.
which turned out to be tuesday - jetblue 1.5 hours late which is
good for them I guess. had an amazing time playing with lindsey
horner, lieven venken and neil kirkwood at cornelia st. on sunday.
i hadn't played with neil before and he is just a stone cold mother-&*^%%*&.
playing with lindsey and lieven was just amazing as they are mother-^(*&^,
too...but I knew this. Saw andrea (lindseys wonderful wife), allison
miller, suzi stern, bruce hall, mark rabul and met some really great
people. the audience was wonderful, the staff, too, the gig was
short and it was such an honor and privelege to play with these
guys. on
sunday also made a recording for berklee online with the amazing
bruce hall and john hebert at bruce's studio - sure wish i could
play some real gigs with these guys. they are so much fun to play
with and so much fun to be around. Then on Monday a jam session
at my bklyn apt with adam kolker, owen howard and jeremy stratton
- such as great time, such great musicians. the sun was out, too,
as you can see. online
class recording ah,
mass transit saturday,
march 17, 5pm / abia (austin airport) 6am Back
at Austin Bergstrom Inter. Airport. Wheeee. Sun's not up yet which
is good because I don't want too good a look at my fellow passengers
and I don't doubt the feeling is mutual. I guess that's one of the
things I hate most about air travel - it's always so bright it's
like being in a bathroom. Well, except in the bathrooms where it
can be kind of dark. And the noise - I wear noise-cancelling headphones
but there is always white noise of people talking, planes arriving
and departing, announcements that are either blaring and painful
when you don't need them or barely audible when you do. It's
SXSW in Austin and I'm not really going to be around for much of
that. It's been really hard to get around, too- downtown is gridlock,
the airport is jammed, lot's of people with tattoo's, funny hats,
skinny jeans and bored or drunken (or both) looks on their faces.
I'm going to NY for a couple of days to do some fun stuff - play
with Lindsey Horner at Cornelia St., do a recording with Bruce Hall
and John Hebert and play a jam session with Adam Kolker, Owen Howard
and Jeremy Stratton. Been doing a little playing in Austin - got
together with Terry Bowness and Ernie Durawa to run some tunes for
a gig we have next week in San Antonio. Terry has got some really
beautiful tunes and we did some Joe H. tunes that work really well
with organ trio. I'm going to have to find some more Joe tunes to
play around here because I'm also doing some with Suzi Stern. We
might actually be able to get together with a band this month. I
think I'm doing a gig with her on May 24 at the Elephant Room and
that should be a lot of fun. Got
my ipod on shuffle songs and just heard a Ron McClure recording
from "Descendents" with Scofield. From a long time ago
and Scofield sounds great - not that he doesn't sound great now.
One of my students said J.S. has been playing a tele on some gigs.
I was playing mine yesterday and it was kind of fun. I guess my
review of the Buscarino Corey model guitar is going to be in Just
Jazz guitar magazine coming up - not exactly sure when. Never read
the magazine myself but I'm guessing it's about jazz guitar and
guitarists. Dexter on the ipod now - he's pretty great. I really
like this shuffle feature because I get to hear a lot of stuff I
haven't heard in a long time. Including recordings I made which
can be a painful thing: "This guy sucks!----Oh, it's me." tuesday,
march 13, 5pm / logan Had
a brutal week on JetBlue last week: 4 hours late. I left for Logan
from Berklee and got to my front door about 5am boston time. JetBlue
called it "weather related" although the weather was fine.
But today I'm on AA and the weather seems fine. In fact, this being
spring break time AA overbooked the flight to Boston and I was able
to get a free flight. Of course it took a couple of extra hours
but I didn't mind if I was getting something out of it. I don't
know about JetBlue. That airline has lost it's appeal to me. I guess
I'll be flying American at least a couple of more times since I
got this voucher and I'm doing a one-way to Boston in a couple of
weeks since JetBlue was so expensive - spring break on jetBlue lasts
a month. Speaking
of spring break, no Boston next week but I'm going to NY to play
with Lindsey Horner and to make a recording for my Berklee online
jazz guitar class with Bruce Hall and John Hebert. They don't know
it yet but I want to try and get 100 examples recorded in one day.
So on Sunday I'm doing these 100 examples and etudes and then playing
with Lindsey at Cornelia St. That will be a lot of fun. I think
we're doing all Lindsey's tunes except maybe a monk tune or two. I'm
kind of burnt and don't know if I can work on the computer for the
next 6 hours or so. Want to find a bad book to read but most of
the ones at the various Hudson News stores are bad in a bad way.
I want bad in a good way. Doing some fun stuff this week - playing
with Steve Schwelling and Glen Schutze, Terry Bowness and Ernie
Durawa and the gig with Lindsey. Can't wait for that - all great
players and people. Okay,
now on the flight from Chicago to Austin. Found a crappy book but
my reading light doesn't work, it's a totally full flight because
of SXSW and I have another spoiled devil-boy kicking my mother-(*&^(*
seat and screaming. I really don't have the energy to argue with
his parents so I'm bypassing their lame asses and telling the little
*&*^(*& to cut it out - or step outside. You and me devil-boy.
I can take you even though I'm really tired. After all, you're only
2 feet high. You might outweigh me at this point though. No chips
on this flight although I can buy some for $3. Naw. Listening to
Frisell - calming. Feel the calm. Ah yes, I don't have to fly for
another 3 days. Calm. [shut the )*(&^(*& up spawn of satan].
And it's a 7am direct flight so it'll be empty I hope. Plus going
to NY when all of NY is coming to Austin or Cancun or someplace
warm. Boston weather really nice this week. Heard that Scofield
was playing a tele on his last gig in austin. Saw david gilmore
at berklee and he's a really nice person as well as being a great
musician. i didn't know he's playing with joss stone who i really
like but i sure like him from his cd's and from lost tribe. also
didn't know he was in wayne shorter's band for a while. that's freaking
deep. okay, wasted enough time - better work. friday,
march 2, austin (finally) Had
kind of a meltdown with the old journal- it's getting buggy and
hard to work with so i just started over. If you want the old journal
you can find it here. old journal At
the bottom of that journal is a link to an even older journal. Such
an exciting life. Things
have going pretty well. Lots of gigs, lots of flying, trains and
buses, lots of nice players and people. Here's the Alan Ferber gig
at Smalls last week. you
can see me in the bottom picture in the mirror taking the picture.
Got to meet Dave Smiths alter-ego. Everybody played their asses
off, it was really crowded, got rides back to brooklyn both nights,
the pro junior did the trick, made more money than usual, met some
nice people (spike wilner, ari roland and others), I wasn't sick
yet. bus to boston totally sucked on sunday, worked really hard
and got sick, going back to boston on sunday - way too soon. shooting
some videos for the jazz guitar online course so have to bring a
shiny guitar with me which will also suck. jetblue not high on my
list for christmas gifts this year. I'm
tired. Been dealing with Dreamweaver and all it's bugginess. more
later. |
