.. oh yeah, I'll be off the Trio gig next week (june30). I haven't booked a sub yet, but I'm one of two places next wednesday: at my brother's wedding or having a baby, whichever comes first... :)

The Trio has put two in the bag so far... last night was considerably better than the first night (last week). It felt like a band again, lots of listening and some unexpected turns. Why, oh why, do musicians seem to fall into the trap of ending songs the way they started? I mean, few films, books, plays, or dances really do that; why music? Is the musical language so foreign to the audiences ears that we can't assume they can appreciate something starting, changing, and ending? I don't know. Jazz standards are most noticeably stricken by this curse; you play the "head", solo, then play the "head" again. It would seem that jazz, of all musics, would be able to loosen itself from these shackles. In the end, it's up to us I guess to take these chances.

... I just read that Lollapalooza has been cancelled in its entirety due to poor ticket sales. WOW. So, right now, I have more gigs this summer than 30 bands who just days ago had way more gigs than me. This is a fragile business. It's a helpful reminder that music is its own reward, and the mere notion that I will pay my bills (and maybe, just maybe, save some money, or spend some money on my family and I) through music is a pretty wonderful thing. I've yet to reach any substantial notoriety in this business, and may never, but I do play my drums almost every day, and have yet to pick up a spatula and flip a burger for money, or ask "do you wear black?".....

.. new CD finds: John Abercrombie (w/Joey Baron)/Class Trip (ECM)

The Trio starts tonight, and should continue weekly all summer. I've been looking forward to this gig since it ended last fall. The venue (a restaurant called Canyon Creek) treats us well, and the music goes in lots of different places. Pre-production for the Trio has been impossible, what with everyone finishing up other projects and me expecting the expectation @ home (not yet, any day though)... So tonight we'll just wing it, and then in the next few weeks start working out of the band "book" (a collection of repertoire we want to do, as opposed to just showing up and playing the same old jazz standards all the time). The "book" requires me to do some photocopying.....

What else, the Hot Buttered Soul performance July 16 at the Docks is confirmed, although the details have changed. They originally sold it to us as a large (2000 + people) event. The reality is that it may be only a few hundred of the attendees that actually stick around for the band. So, the budget had to be scaled down, but it's all OK. They've offered us some other dates too in the future, so that make sme happy.

What else? The summer may shape up to be OK work-wise, stay tuned to the website for new dates.

Otherwise, come out on Wednesday night and say hello!

I got a call today from a promoter that stages running races (with parties attached), and they are looking for Hot Buttered Soul (my cover band) to play an event of theirs in July. We've done the Toronto Marathon through these people (we'd play on the course itself, so while the audiences were small at any given moment, literally a few thousand folks would hear us in the space of a few hours), and this race in July, they want us to play the end-party. That's cool. 2200 people, which I think would be the largest crowd this band has played for....

Anyway, details to work out, fees to be discussed, songs to learn (they want lots of classic rock). This is the business side of the music business, but I don't mind. The end result is always playing the drums (and paying the bills by it). How could I complain?

computers! such fun.

anyway, I'm re-arranging server space, so bear with the site for a few moments... the videos are offline right now, until I can find more space to keep them... but there's some great mp3 music to hear, so enjoy!