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.
Back in Austin played a great gig at Sao Paulo's with Kevin, Joao,
Russell Haight and Mitch Butler sat in. That was really fun. Kind
of cold here but nothing like New York and Boston. Went to a great
party at John Fremgen's and saw all sorts of people: Mike and Laura
Mordecai, John, Stephanie and Ian Files, Sam Lippman, Rob Kazenel,
Chris Maresh, Beto without the Fairlanes, Sticky, Paul Glasse, John
and Lauri of course, John Mills...bunch of other people. Here's
the tail end of the party. Chris looks like he's having fun. Really
good eggnog.
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.
Yesterday Jess and I went to Central Market and heard Doug Hall,
Steve Schwelling and Brian Martin and they all sounded great. It
was so good to hear all those guys playing so beautifully - plus
they played some Joe Henderson which is always a great thing. Brian
fancies himself to be quite the chef and I didn't want to burst
his bubble with the fact that I'm married to the best chef I know.
Plus, I'm a bit of a gourmand myself. My condiment sandwiches are,
in all modesty, legendary at the faculty lunch table at Berklee.
Just the right mix of ketchup and mustard. In fact, my Quorn sandwich
caused quite a stir today in the post-diversity love-fest (actually,
things got ugly - we sent the diversity guru running back to the
safety of her office) guitar meeting. Joe Rogers and Tony Gaboury
were suitably impressed enough to expound on the virtue of the fungus
Quorn and I saw a newfound respect in their attitude toward me when
they learned I was the keeper of the Quorn flame. It also takes
a steady hand and an eye for detail to carefully pick the mold off
the bread. Delicious! Now if we only had a toaster.
Austin has been amazing: it was 82° yesterday and today I went
out for a run and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was about
55°. What I really need to be doing is schoolwork or writing
or something productive but what I am doing is sitting on an airplane
writing this stupid journal. 11D but I have both seats. No rants
today except at myself. I was putting a Wes solo into Finale but
gave up on that.
On the return flight now. Long, long, long. I just want to be doing
something worthwhile and not sitting in one spot for 9 hours. My
Joe Henderson ensemble played yesterday and sounded great so I'm
Mac the Rippering a copy of the DVD to put in their respective mailboxes.
Mindless busy work that I can handle on what is turning out to be
another 20 hour day. I see by the jetBlue map we are almost over
Mississippi. Had a "de-icing" at JFK which added an hour
and 15" to the flight as per the usual winter flight. Lots
of school, lots of flying, not enough practice. Too many Clif bars
and not enough tapas. Not enough time with my wife. Not enough time.
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?
Yes, I think I'm going off on a rant. Sorry, sorry, I can't help
it. I'm sitting in the Houston-BUSH freaking airport, speaking of
assholes, after a really crappy flight. Okay, I know I'm on Continental
but still....Assholes!!! (It is a rant - I'm so
sorry). First, on the flight from Austin to Boston (via Houston),
I'm the next to last person on the plane and the flight attendant
comes tripping down the jetway "sorry, no more room for carry-ons."
Okay, gate check the freaking thing. "We don't do that. You
have to check it through or you can get another flight." Well,
every other fried food eating (and carrying), huge carry-on, armrest
stealing, inordinately large (and I mean sideways), greedy, piece
of shit passenger on the plane had a carry on. Why not me? Can't
we find the asshole who put their bag above my seat and have them
check their imitation Gucci - or better yet, stick it where the
sun will never shine. There's probably room up there. "So,
would you like to be on another flight." No, no, I'll just
crawl to my seat and have the fat old lady in the middle seat of
the bulkhead row, the coveted row on this cut-rate airline, take
my armrest and stick her arm into the personal space of my aisle-seat,
bulkhead row. It's okay. I'm learning all about Proxemics. I'm a
little whiny-boy. Please kick me. "You aren't worth kicking
sir, please shut the fuck up and get on the plane." Sorry,
sorry. I'm crawling, is that good enough? "Not really. Say
thank you." Thank you miss, may I have another?
Finally made it to Boston, the old lady sticking her elbow into
my personal space the entire flight then my lonely carry on creeping
down the conveyor belt in baggage claim number 2 about 10 minutes
after everyone else had grabbed their checked bags and split. While
I was talking to the nice person in lost baggage about my experience
with their airline, inquiring as to where my bag might possibly
be found. "Oh, really, that's a shame. Can you move to the
right, I can't see the TV." Took an extra 25" to get my
carry-on. Wheeee... Thank you miss, may I have another?
Then, tonight, I'm on Continental again and I opt for the bulkhead
row but the only seat left is the dreaded middle seat. Crap. What
to do? Legroom but - danger!!! There is no exit row advantage on
Continental, I know this. The bulkhead is my only hope. Maybe I'm
between two tiny people traveling the globe selling fresh, hot sandwiches
of which they have samples and want to share with me. Perhaps they
don't speak English, will curl up into very small, quiet balls and
sleep all the way to Houston. Yes, this could happen. The middle
seat is a gamble. A major gamble for a four hour flight. To Houston.
Where I have a layover. In the Continental terminal. Where I am
now. While it sucks, there is a Starbucks and I can get decaf espresso.
Never thought I would welcome a Starbucks. Think happy thoughts,
it's not all bad, I'm almost home. Anyway, the bulkhead middle seat.
5B. 4 hours to Houston plus taxi-ing. It could be, and is, between
two large business guys drenched in cologne who are already sitting
when I get on the plane and who have already taken both armrests
and are both reading newspapers - way into my personal space. Hmmmm,
how does this happen? The overhead is full but there is a space
a couple rows back. Strange. Am I missing something here? I fly
every week, how do these large gentlemen get on before me? I know
they've been here for a while because these are the kind of guys
who take about 20 minutes to get into their seats when boarding.
The kind that stand in the aisle and very slowly and carefully fold
their fake Armani suit jackets into perfect squares and place them
ever so gently into the overhead where my carrry on was supposed
to have a space. Pretend to sit down but only get halfway, still
blocking the aisle with about 100 people waiting, go looking through
the jacket pocket for a blackberry. Then they sink slowly into their
seats, open their newspapers and steal my armrest. How does my overhead
space get filled? Well, I had a kind of dark passage here but I
had to delete it. I'm over the flying thing - all is calm, all is
bright.
Maybe I need a little vacation. I'm slightly burnt on this travel
thing. I hope Jess doesn't read this. Naw, she probably won't see
it. I hope. Really. No Berklee next week because I'm taking Thanksgiving
off. Okeydokey, rows 15 and higher in Houston. I'm almost gone.
Can't wait to get home. I got 5C (aisle), a 40 minute ride and the
plane is half empty.
I'm out of here.
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
Had to take the flight with a JFK connection to Boston today because
the direct flight was a lot more expensive. Turns a 3 1/2 hour flight
into 8 hours. Checking out Kneebody "Low Electrical Worker"
and it's killing. Great band, great music. I was playing a nice
gig with Brian Martin and Steve Schwelling at Lago Vista outside
of Austin this weekend and Brian told me about this band. Totally
happening. The gig was really fun as well - just playing some tunes.
I've been using this Ibanez AS-80 (1980 I think) and it's a fun
guitar. I think I like it so much because I only paid $450 for it
and it's really light. Like a small bodied 335. Got some fun gigs
coming up with Suzi Stern, Steve Schwelling and Joao Vargas. Played
with Joao last week with Pete Rodriguez and that was a lot of fun.
I heard Pete on Thursday at his CD release party at the Elephant
Room and that was great. Got my own gig coming up on Nov.1 and rehearsal
is looking kind of unlikely as usual. Why is rehearsal so tough
in Austin? It was never an issue in new york.
Speaking of New York, I was there last week and went to Cornelia
St. and heard Frank Karlberg's quintet with Christine Correa, John
O'Gallagher, John Hebert and Mike Sarin. Really wonderful band and
amazing music. Everyone sounded fantastic, the place was packed
and I saw a lot of old friends including Russ Lossing who told me
about a bootleg recording of a gig we did in Padua, Italy with Bobby
Previte about 9 years ago (almost exactly 9 years - Oct.
11, 1998). That was a wonderful band playing Miles Davis Bitches
Brew music and Mahavishnu Orchestra. I wasn't able to find the recording
online but I did find the CD cover.
Frank
Karlberg Quintet
Previte
bootleg CD
Madrid
airport
Waiting for the flight to JFK to board. Had a nice gig last night
at Bougui Jazz and met some wonderful people. It was "white
night" in madrid which I guess means there are lots of parties
and drinking. We got a nice crowd though. I'll miss playing with
Masa and Xavi. We were starting to get some things happening. I'm
sorry I didn't get to see much of Spain except through a car window.
Madrid looks really beautiful - I'd like to come back (with my wife).
I met some great people from Tomajazz, guitar player Hector, Pablo
who I knew in New York and Berklee, Dick the owner of Bogui Jazz
and a whole lot of others. On Friday night we played at a huge party
at a palace in Barcelona. There were about 3,000 people there, tons
of food and wine (and even martinis). It was a beautiful evening
but it ended up lasting a very long time. We left for the gig at
5pm and got back around 2am. In all that time we played just 45".
I guess that's a spain thing.
Just saw Marco Pignataro at the airport. He had been in Italy I
guess and was going to san juan by way of barcelona and madrid.
What a drag for him. Sure was weird seeing him though. He had been
playing for a week at a jazz festival in Bologna.
Now I'm on the plane and already looking at my watch. At least 7
more hours. Movies are Silver Surfer, Pirates of the Caribbean and
something else I don't remember. I saw the Pirates on the way over
- seems like it was years ago. But this was a really successful
tour thanks to Masa. Great gigs, great people, no weirdness anytime.
I got to play some of my tunes - actually memorize them. That's
a nice thing. I taught a couple of lessons, at some good food, played
for the mayor of barcelona.
Halfway
to Barcelona from Valencia - Xavi driving
Had a great gig last night in Valencia at Jimmy Glass. Masa, Jesus
Santandreau, Xavi Mareuta and me. Under my name so we played some
of my originals but also "Trinkle, Tinkle" and "Soul
Eyes." The gigs are a lot shorter over here - about 2 hours
or 2 1/2. It was really, really hot in the club but there were a
lot of people out and they were incredibly polite and attentive.
Everyone sounded great and it was just a lot of fun. I think I was
using a H & K amp which sounded fine. I brought a Line 6 Verbzilla
but the battteries seem to run out about halfway through the gig
so I quit using it a few days ago. We had to quit playing at midnight
so I was able to get a little sleep - about 6 hours which seemed
like a lot. I also scored some coffee this morning so I'm wide awake
for the first time since I got here. Whenever that was. Xavi is
driving about 140kh so I'm getting a little queasy. Nice day though.
Tonight we are playing at Jamboree in Barcelona and it's supposed
to be a nice place. I guess we play there 2 nights then Madrid and
then adios.
35,000
feet again
Headed to Zurich where I have to change planes for Barcelona. Going
to play with one of my favorite bass players of all time, Masa Kamaguchi.
Masa booked a bunch of gigs in the next 10 days in Barcelona, Madrid
and Valencia and I'm really looking forward to that. Still thinking
about the gig I did with Brannen Temple at the Elephant Room with
John Fremgen, William Menefield and Ephraim Owens. Everyone sounded
so good - it was a blast. Brannen just played his ass off and I
was really so happy to be up there. Tough music but beautiful.
Also my first week at berklee this week and while I have some really
good students this semester, it looks like the first semester in
which I'll fall below 13 hours. 10? Less? But at least the students
are great - really interested and talented and intelligent.
Shrek is the movie. Not sure I want to watch that but all the lights
are out now and people are sleeping so if I read or work on the
computer it might keep some awake. I should try to sleep too because
I'm going to be up all night and we have a gig tomorrow night that
we have to drive to. Ack, I ended that with a preposition.
masa and patricia's place in barcelona
masa's club (jazz clot)
Andorra
Trying to make get a roadmap of the last 36 hours. Left for the
airport with Spenser @ 1:30pm Thursday, plane departed JFK 5:30
Thursday, arrived Zurich 6:30am Friday, departed Zurich for Barcelona
9:30am, arrived Barcelona 11:30am Friday. Arrived Masa/Partrica's
house 2pm, departed for Andorra 5pm (still no sleep, by the way),
arrived Andorra 8pm for sound check, dinner with Otilio/Antonio
9:30pm, gig from 11pm-1:30am (Saturday now), back to Hotel Marsay
by 2:30am.
Still no sleep. It's been more than 36 hours and I'm wired. Great
gig with Masa and Xavi. The club, Angel Bleu, was great, audience
was great, food at pizzaria was great. I had Pescadora pizza which
was mostly cheese but also capers, tuna, anchovies and a great crust.
And a very nice red wine. I had more wine at Angel Bleu, we did
an encore (Giant Steps) and everything is good. Why am I not sleepy?
I really want to call my wife because it's only 7:30pm in Texas
but there is no wi-fi at this hotel. By the way, this is one of
the smallest rooms I've had in a very long time.
tiny room
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?
angel bleu
andorra
mas
9/18
Carcaixent
Been here for 2 days (I think). From Andorra we went to Girona and
played a really nice gig at the Sunset Jazz Club. Met Albert, very
nice guy, manager of the club. Sold all my CDs (guess I didn't bring
enough). Had a nice dinner in a cafe, played 2 good sets. The sound
was very nice but the Polytone kept cutting out and I'd have to
turn around and fiddle with the on/off switch to get it working
again. Usually at very strategic spots in the tunes.
From Girona we drove about 5 hours to Carcaixent and Valencia. Much
hotter here - lots of sweating, lots of beer. Staying at Jesus Santandreau's
house in Carcaixent for the last 2 nights but tonight we go to Valencia,
about an hour, and stay at a hotel and play at Jimmy Glass. Jesus
is going to play which is great. We played at Orejazz on Monday
which was great. Beautiful people but the club was a bit boomy.
Fun though and Jesus sounds wonderful. After the concert we went
to a very late dinner that lasted until about 2am. Lot's of fried
food and wine.
masa at sunset jazz club
brannen temple pic at sunset jazz
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
Not much happening. Teaching another camp - got some more really
good students which is inspiring. The weather is wonderful in Boston
- about 60-80°F most of the time and it's been sunny. All the
students are coming back and the Red Sox are in town so the streets
are very busy. One thing about being back in the U.S. that I like,
too, is getting good coffee everywhere I go. Maybe too much good
coffee.
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
Been a long 10 days in Mexico. Tonight was the final concert of
the xalapa jazz fest. Had a good time but, man, long days. Had a
really grreat time tonight playing wtih Vince Cherico (he's on the
bus with me trying to sleep), Matt Marvuglio, Dino Givionni, Rafael
Alcala, and Agustin Bernal (bass player from Mexico City). The sound
was terrible on stage - I guess sound people suck worldwide. Except
for Claudia, sound person for Bill Frisell. For a while we were
hanging with Eddie Gomez and his band in the green room and Eddie
was a really nice guy - the whole band was nice. Wish I could have
played with him. We drank an enitre bottle of Don Julia tequila
which is now coming back to haunt me on these twisty mountain roads.
I don't usually get car sick but in the dark on this bus I keep
looking back at the toilet (hmm, I'm smelling it pretty strongly
as well). The expresso and peanut M & M's I just had at the
bus station don't help either. Vince and I left the concert after
we were done playing and I had an hour nap which made me feel worse.
Why did I have that espresso? We're supposed to arrive at the airport
at 7am but my plane doesn't leave unitl 11am. Worried that I'll
fall asleep at the airport and miss the damn thing and I want to
go HOME.
The students were great, though, and all in all I had a good time.
But, damn, 10 long days. We would leave the hotel at 9am or so and
get back about 7:30pm then we were kind of expected to go out to
a club about a 20" walk from the hotel and hear the groups
that were playing at the festival. I made it 3 times I think. One
time for a big band that was so loud that my ears are still ringing.
The food was pretty good but I was being careful not to get sick
and didn't go too exotic. Good beans, good salsa, pretty bad coffee
(surprisingly), good beer, not so great wine but cheap.
And, damn, this bus is making me sick. It's only 2:36, long way
to go. I think things straighten out a bit after 3 or 4 hours. Great.
I should be working on the layout of my diminished book but I don't
think I can do it with all the jerking around here. Guess I'll just
look out the window for a while.
xalapa
eddie gomez & agustin bernal
xalapa,
mexico, howard johnsons wedding central
Been kind of crazy the last couple of months. Lots of gigs, lots
of acupuncture, lots of figuring out house renovation. I played
a few guitar trio gigs at Jaspers and it felt so good to be playing
some of tunes I used to play in New York: the monk tunes, the wayne
tunes, the standards. I used the early 80's ovation steel string
guitar I bought this summer on a lot of gigs and that was really
fun. It's a nice guitar up to a certain volume level. I also finally
went to see a real hand doctor and found out that I don't have arthritis
after all and that it's a muscle or tendon problem. Good news in
a way but I'm still kind of pissed that I spent almost $1,000 on
acupuncture. Not to mention all the time there and all the pain.
See if I listen to Rick Peckham again. I guess it works for a lot
of people, just not for me. Sure did hurt though. I did a recording
with Terry Bowness and Ernie Durawa (I'm listening to it now) and
some of it turned out really well and some......well.... I also
played at the National Guitar Workshop with them and unfortunately
the sound was horrible. Really bad.
I also put a big hole in my guitar (see pic),
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
bruce saunders quartet @ elephant
room
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?
a wonderful trio
check out the amp!!!!!!
dr. sherr
tkeyhole girl in continental
jess and tony behind continental
Now I'm in a hotel lobby in Xalapa, Mexico, waiting for the van
to take me to another teaching extravaganza. Long trip yesterday.
Left for the austin airport at 5am and got to Xalapa about 5:30pm.
But at least there is internet here. I was in Xalapa about 3 years
ago at this same Howard Johnsons and now I remember certain things.
The hotel is more like a wedding factory and every night there is
a reception featuring really loud trumpets and lots of drunk people
yelling in the halls. Which would be fine except the walls are paper
thin, there is no air conditioning to cut the noise, the windows
don't really close - in other words, you can hear everything. I
mean everything. Sleeping is going to be tough. But the weather
is good, people are friendly and it's a good looking hotel anyway.
Where is this freaking van? I will never learn that when they say
9am they mean 9:45. Maybe some coffee? Oh yeah.
xalaoffee
berklee's mexico city office
driving from mexico city to xalapa
with daniel and martha and sergio - really fast
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.
i made a sandwich today. not just any sandwich, mind you, but as
you can see from the pic, a newsletter worthy sandwich (I'm going
to send a newsletter to my chum who sent the unsolicted newsletter
to me). I think i may alert the new york times food critic. but
wait, don't even look at it. it's kind of a "found" sandwich,
not that I picked it up off the street (although I've seen some
street pizza that....) but found in the sense that i used materials
found in my pint sized fridge in brooklyn. But speaking of street
food, how come there is so much vomit on the streets of Boston?
Sometimes I see 3 or 4 vomit puddles in a week. I even saw a large
piece of chocolate chip cookie in a puddle of vomit once. Gives
new meaning to the phrase "tossed their cookies." What's
going on up there? Which reminds me of the time I leaned up against
the steel beam at the Jay St. subway stop in Brooklyn and set my
guitar gig bag down in what turned out to be a puddle of vomit.
Ah, memories.
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.
Things have been really busy though. Not much sleep lately with
gigs, travel and teaching. Finishing up the year at Berklee and
doing makeups for a couple of weeks ago when I stayed in Austin.
Played Saturday in Austin with John Steinman at my new favorite
place the Galaxy Cafe, up at 4:30 Sunday to go to NY to play with
Jeremy, Adam and Owen at the Grassroots, back to Bklyn by 12:30am,
up at 4:30 Monday to go to Boston, teach untli 9pm, up at 5am on
Tuesday, teach until 9pm, up at 5am on Wednesday, teach until 11am,
get the bus to NY, Brooklyn by 4:30pm, get back on the subway with
my gear at 6pm to go to Smalls to rehearse a little then play till
midnight and home by 12:30. Wow, that was a long, boring sentence.
I didn't even say how much fun I had playing at the Grassroots.
Adam brought in Mushi, Mushi by Keith Jarrett - a lot of memories
for me with that one. I had Bop-Be on vinyl a long, long time ago.
I love that tune, you would think that I would have been able to
play it better. I also didn't mention playing with Steve Schwelling
a couple of times in Austin: with Glenn Schutze and another time
with Eli Haslanger, both times a whole lot of good music.
Met this guy named Oscar at Smalls last night and he asked me when
my next CD is coming out. Got me to thinking more about what I want
to do and when it's going to happen. I'd really like to do something
with Adam Kolker, Hebert and an as yet unnamed drummer but I think
I've already done that one. I still like listening to Fragment,
mostly because of how much fun it was just to be around those guys.
There was a picture of two girls kissing on a CD cover at Systems
Two in Brooklyn and we were having a good time figuring out who
was going to be kissing who on my CD cover. Nobody wanted to go
for that but I thought Satoshi and Hebert a good choice. But it
sure was good to hang with those guys and I don't know if I want
to do another CD with them because I love their playing so much,
which I do, or if I just want to hang out. I don't think Sato would
want to do it because he is always looking to stretch and I think
he would think the world doesn't need another stock "jazz"
CD, besides which, we've already done it. I would tend to agree.
I'd also like to record with some of my new friends in Austin. I've
been working on some guitar, bass, drums music that's more electric
although I have yet to play it with anyone. Not really funk or "fusion"
music although it's as close as I can come to that with my writing.
Been listening to Bill McHenry again and I love the way he writes
straight 8 music that sounds like nothing else. Also Dave Douglas.
He writes such great music. I was talking to Donny about him last
night because Donny has been doing some gigs with Dave. I can't
remember what I said or he said but I do remember talking to him.
No, I wasn't drunk, just tired. Well, not very drunk. I guess there's
a new policy at Smalls where musicians get the first drink free
and then it's full price after that on drinks. So, a very small
glass of very cheap wine is $8 plus tip. That'll make me cut back
a bit. Or a lot.
Bought a 1967 Es-330 from a guy on craigslist. Really great sounding
guitar that, like most of my guitars, needs a set-up. Played it
on the gig with John Steinman and it sounded wonderful. I've always
wanted a Grant Green guitar but it didn't make me play like Grant
Green. Or enable me to play this way. The middle finger of my left
hand has what seems to be arthritis and it's not getting any better
so I've been thinking about learning how to play left handed. Like
a switch hitter in baseball. That would be a nice gimmick but I
think it would take a long time to learn that. I've tried it before
and was never very successful there.
I'm rambling. Some pics>
dave, loren, donny, jeremy @ smalls
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.
This has been one endless week. Three or four 19 hour days in a
row. Looks like today is the grand finale - up at 5am and to bed
at what promises to be 4am EST. Going all day except for the long
wait at Logan - off and on the tarmac. Now listening to Scofield
play Monk's Mood. He's such a great player. He was probably about
25 when he recorded that with Hal Galper. And he keeps getting better
and better.
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.
I was going to do Berklee makeups on Wednesday but the video guy
says Wed. is the only time he can do the rest of the video's for
my online class so I'm going to have to try and do these makeups
at the end of the month. Flights got really expensive so I'm going
to stay in Boston and New York for a couple of weeks. Got a couple
of gigs with Alan Ferber and one with Jeremy Stratton and I'm really
looking forward to that.
el montan motor ho - next to luna in san antonio
it's that kind of neighborhood but a great club
steve at luna
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.
cornelia st. with lindsey
t
near bruce's house
ft. greene, bklyn
online
class recording
park slope brooklyn near my (our) apt.
adam and jeremy
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.