Well we’re getting into the home stretch of summer. Lizzy is back to school; Michelle has one more week of vacation. Things have been pretty mellow and relaxing, but at the same time really busy.
One thing we wanted to do this summer was go camping. We didn’t get a chance to go last summer at all, and the summer before it was just one quick trip. Now the kids are older and the other families we used go with, well their kids are older too. So this time it was just me and Jeannie, like when were in California. We were up in the Catskills, so Martin and his kids came by for the afternoon. And we did get to build a fire and go walking in the moonlight and do a little hiking and commune with nature and have a nice trip thru the countryside. Well hopefully we’ll have a chance to do more of it next summer.
Our streak continues — six out of the last six bands we’ve seen have had a trombone player. We saw Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden last week, his hundred and first show there. Lizzy was originally supposed to come, be Jeannie’s sister Mary came instead. It was a good time. I worked in the city that day and we all met up for dinner. The show itself was great. We him recently, or at least it feels like it; it was four and a half years ago. So it was basically the same band and the same show. The band of course is excellent, nine players including horns, percussion, multiple guitars, a second keyboardist, faithfully reproducing all the sounds on all the records, and jamming it out and bringing it alive. And Billy Joel has become a much better singer since the days when he was making records. In the first half of the set he tends to mix it up and play alot of his deep cuts that I’ve never heard live before, and sliding into a batting order of hit after hit by the end. Billy is also a monster pianist, but because the songs are so tight most of his virtuosity comes out in random snatches of improvisation between songs, where he’ll suddenly riff on some Art Tatum or Rachmaninov.
Work has been busy. We’re preparing for a major release and it’s all bug fixes and chaos. I guess it’s not as bad as it was this time last year. And you know, at least I’m healthy. We’re also really active with the Jukebox these days, preparing for a major release with alot of new feature work and far less chaos.
The jazz group Haven Street has a few gigs coming up, including one in Brooklyn in October. We’re also starting to plan out or next album and recording date. Everyone is going to be missing a rehearsal or two the next couple weeks but we’ll hitting it in September.
And the big new thing is my new rock band G! Force. We’ve been rehearsing for a couple months and have thirty songs down. Our first gig is in September and we have several more after that. More on the group, the lineup and the setlist in a future post. But for now I’ll tell you it’s a fun and very exciting project, and it’s sounding great, and it’s going to be a busy fall for music