Thoughts for August:
Well, the first thought is that it's so…fucking…hot. I've been keeping up with my runs but it's getting pretty ugly. Even if I'm out by 7:30am it's still 80°F and 90% humidity. I did get some pretty cool running sunglasses, though, and they help. Got this new AS-200 and it's pretty nice. Been playing the Buscarino most often and still on the fence about it after 7 years.
Did the berklee guitar sessions and had a good year. Good students, played some new tunes like "Friday the 13th," "Barracuda's" (Wayne Shorter)", couple of Radiohead tunes, "Evidence", etc. Had a great rhythm section of John Funkhouser and Mike Conners, got to hang out with Rick Peckham (my favorite part), saw some old friends. Then I went to Brooklyn and played with Mike Baggetta (great guitarist) and another session with Eric Halvorson and Mat Pavolka. Fixed the light in the tenants apartment, changed the pump on the boiler, cleaned the sump pump, bought some garbage bags, ate some banh mi and some sushi. Had a good time.
Recently bought a "new" car, 1996 BMW 318ti and have been having fun with that. Did a couple of new transcriptions, practiced a bit, working on a new recording which will probably not happen because once school starts in 2 weeks I'm up and running again. Teaching for Austin CC again on Fridays, Berklee Mon-Wed, some Berklee online stuff. Doing a gig with Dave Scott in October which will be great, had a lot of fun playing with the guys at Sao Paulo's last Friday. Just missed the hurricane in New York but was there for the earthquake.

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newsletter
I seem to be getting more and more "newsletters" these days, mostly from my musician friends giving me a synopsis of the high points of their month, week, year. I guess "day" would fall under a Facebook post. "I made really good coffee this morning then I drank it!" I can live with Facebook and in fact, I like to know what my friends are thinking (most of the time). If I get a religious or political or politically incorrect post by someone who is my "friend" but I've never met I immediately unfriend them. But that's Facebook. These newsletters I get in my email inbox are starting to bug me. Mostly because I read them and nothing I do seems as exciting and important as what they are doing. I mean, I have to make up stuff to put on my resume. Like:

"Mr. Saunders is the most incredible guitarist/composer/graphic artist/teacher/multi-instrumentalist/surfer/skateboarder/philosopher in the history of the world! His latest release "Insert Name Here" is a masterpiece: compositionally on the level of Bela Bartok, the guitar artistry in the stellar realm of Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Snoozer Quinn and John Coltrane. In fact his playing is an amalgam of the aforementioned musicians. Mr. Saunders should be bronzed. Which would kill him, of course, but perhaps that's not such a bad idea. He is too beautiful a musician to live."
Ben Ratliffe - The New York Times

Pretty nice review, right? But sometimes I get to thinking that a good portion of what these newsletters are saying is totally blown out of proportion. I mean, I don't get newsletters from the people I know are doing some really heavy shit, playing for huge crowds or making killing recordings or playing with some of the best players on earth. Like….I'm listening to Adam Kolker's new recording that's totally killing and Adam's deal was: "I've got a new recording that I think is really good and if you could check it out that would be great." Not "this is MOST IMPORTANT RECORDING TO COME OUT IN A MILLION YEARS!!!!!!!" Speaking in exclamation points as someone who shall not be named used to say. Or any of the myriad of my friends and acquaintances who just say "I'm in France playing a gig" when they are playing huge concerts or incredibly difficult stuff that's such a huge challenge. I don't get newsletters from Pete Bernstein saying "I'M PLAYING WITH SONNY ROLLINS. I have to find out through the www.After that boring preamble, if you are still here, alert the media! Here's my Bruce Saunders newsletter for the summer. Hear about all the wonderful things I have been doing, my many incredible accomplishments, my truly amazing talents and skills!!!

* He practiced drums on many (well…some) occasions.
* He was able to finish at least one gig without pissing off either any of the band members, an audience member, the bartender or the owner. It's true.
* He helped his wife strip the paint off the front door. The unpainted door seemed very attractive after sweating for 12 hours. Either that or they both lost interest in the fucking door after all that work that started as "lets repair the screen on the screen door!" and turned into "well, we might as well"…[fill in the blank here and repeat].
* He let his 1967 ES-330 fall facedown from the stand to the tile floor and he broke it. This stimulates the economy (of Dick, his guitar repair guy).
* He blew up his 1965 Vibrolux further stimulating the economy (of Jesse, his amp repair guy).
* He finished the book he started writing 7 years ago (this is an actual accomplishment and technically should not be included. But it is an incredibly boring, virtually worthless book containing material only interesting to him so it sort of fits).
* He used a chainsaw without removing any digits or (human) limbs.
* He transcribed a Wayne Shorter tune (Barracudas - probably the easiest Wayne tune to transcribe. Took about 10 minutes).
* He was friendly to many animals.
* Amazing and (almost) true. Last month Bruce waited, he thinks it might have been a Monday, until almost 5pm for his first drink of the day.
* He replaced the dead headlight bulb on the right side of his honda which meant removed the battery and overflow tank for the radiator. A big drag but with the help of beer it took longer than it should have. At least the beer helped the pain from the injuries sustained from the use of incorrect and useless-even-when-new-Chinese tools. As they say "the proper tool for the proper fool!"
* He learned some new Monk tunes and didn't play them with any humans.
* He played a gig with Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Monk was there but he strolled the entire gig. (If you are going to lie, go for the gold).
As my friend Rick Peckham would say, what do you think of me now?

high line nyc

highline

highline

prospect park morning run 100°

amazing vermont run

vermont - great day!

July 17, 2011
Good gig with Dr. James Polk, Sam Lipman, Chris Thomas and Dave Sierra at Elephant Room last night. Dr. Polk is pretty incredible. All standards, really late night, gave Chris a ride home and got totally lost over in West Austin and didn't get home until about 3:30. Pretty beat this morning. Recording on Mon/Tues along with packing, grading online stuff, etc. Leave for NY Wednesday. Bought another AS200 on ebay which won't be here until I get back but it's an '82. Don't know why I did that - the one I have is pretty cool. But they are getting really hard to find.

July 12, 2011
A nice rehearsal with Eli, Daniel and Steve for upcoming recording - Eli wrote some killing tunes. Playing the tele more after Eli gig at Elephant where I played it pretty much all night. Played AS200 as well at rehearsal and it's also a nice guitar. Got lots of bills this month but getting lots of practice in. Leaving Wednesday for New York with a 5am wakeup call.

July 7, 2011
Fun playing with Mike Flanigan and Kyle Thompson last night. Nice gig tonight at Whip In with Kevin Witt, Aaron Allen, Mike Sailors, Bennett Wood. All Miles. Too many fast swing tunes but a nice vibe overall. Practiced a lot of Monk this week, Brian Broderick came over today and we played and he sounded great, finished my Premier Guitar online lesson, dealing with Berkleemusic online stuff. Booked some flights for berklee guitar sessions (damn!) and thinking about fall flights. Shit. Don't even want to think about it. Seems like my summer just started. Running tomorrow and if I'm not out by 8am then no go. Teach the Austin Community College students tomorrow as well then an Eli electric band gig late at the elephant room. Getting too old for the late nights.

July 5, 2011
Things in flux. Had some good gigs, some not so good gigs. Hot. 100+F every day. Trying to run but difficult. Practicing Monk every day (got a trio gig in August at ER playing all monk for 3 long sets), writing some things, doing school work for Berkleemusic and Austin Community College and a new Premier Guitar Online lesson. My 1967 ES-330 took a dive and needs repair. Did a nice gig with Brannen at the Elephant Room and Sam Lipman was just killing. Brannen always killing. Spent 2 days stripping the front door with Jess and it looks pretty nice. Blew up my '65 vibrolux and Jesse at Austin Vintage fixed it in a couple hours. They are the best! Going to NY in a couple of weeks. Had some really good tacos, some okay fried food. Drinking too much beer. Fretting over my online classes too much. Drinking too much coffee and other adult beverages. Missing my NY friends. Cutting up a lot of branches from out .75 acre spread here. With the drought branches falling daily. Chainsaw use not recommended when drunk. Fixed my burned out headlight on the honda which meant removing the battery and radiator overflow bucket. What?

1979 as200 - pics of 1982 later

cursed screen door

recording books and online lesson


dr. polk, chris thomas, dave sierra, sam lipman at elephant - top of vibrolux (and empress superdelay) bottom right

vanguard in may when I went to hear bill frisell

June 7, 2011 / austin

so… things are bleak here. I've been working really hard on these sextet tunes, had one gig at the elephant room with the band and while it wasn't optimal, it did give me some hope that the music could work. mike mordecai called me to play on the 20th anniversary of the elephant room last night which was a great honor, I had a really nice band..the music sucked. everyone hated it, band included. me, too. I might have well have been watching tv for many days on end rather than waste my time writing and arranging this music. mark sarisky said someone "who shall remain nameless" said the music sounded "ponderous" and that was the opposite of my intent. I'd be happy to play standards but I'm so tired of "all the things you are" and that kind of tune. I know about a million really nice standards as well as the monk, coltrane, wayne, herbie, etc. songbooks but people just don't play that around here. I'm pretty discouraged. I'm not playing this sextet music in austin anymore unless it's with new york players. not that austin players are not good, it's just that they don't really like the music I write, they don't hear it, they aren't interested in learning it, etc. maybe i'm not interested anymore, either, but I had some hope after our first gig. that hope is long gone now. working on some recordings with new york players but maybe not the sextet stuff for a while. i'm kind of depressed about the whole thing now. I put hundreds of hours into this music and it was a total waste of time.

I did play some really nice gigs since i've been out of berklee, a couple with chris thomas, a great bass player from st. louis who's living here now. Those with brannen temple who is just slamming. Got to hear bill frisell at the vanguard and in austin in may, got to play duo with tony scherr, my favorite bass player of all time. got to play with brannen, joao, ephrahim, charles medearis at sao paulo's last friday. A great gig! Brannen is wonderful. I heard Carter Arrington and John Blondell last night and they were killing. Played a really nice jam session with Aaron Allen and Wayne Saltzman. Been running a few times a week despite the heat, only teaching online and one day a week in Austin. Things could be worse. But last night was so…freaking…depressing.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Since that really depressing gig I've had some ideas. Trying to book a trio gig of all Monk tunes with Brannen and Chris Thomas, wrote a tune, thinking about recording in New York and who I'd want to use. Also learning Logic and working on the play-along for my next book using loops with the guitar. I've been using the Apogee Duet 2 and it sounds really good. Otherwise, hot as hell here, played a really nice jam session with Carter Arrington, Aaron Allen and Dave Sierra. Just kind of getting into not traveling for a while. I did book a father's day gig with Brannen Temple and Chris Thomas playing all Monk music and I'm really looking forward to that.

working on the whole-tone book recording

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Monday, Feb. 28 / back on continental to Boston
Hmmm. This woman is in a class of her own. I don't quite know what to say but you know those action movies where you see the bad guy falling off a mountain or something really high, yeah, like a plane, they fly about 35, 000 feet, they are very high? Anyway, those movies. The perspective of the viewer is of the bad guy's face (or yes, could be a fat woman in a striped shirt made of some horrible synthetic stuff)...of the bad guy's screaming face as he falls for miles knowing he (or she) is doomed to be splattered onto a very hard surface, probably a surface of jagged spiked stuff. That image kept me occupied for a while. Striped shirt fat woman screaming as she fell 35,000 feet onto jagged spiky stuff. No more smug look of self righteousness although in that shirt she should have been hiding her head in shame. Her "glandular" problem (read as 9,000 calories a day) is nothing to be ashamed of (you will notice her arm is much bigger than my leg). But her violation of my personal space and that freaking shirt were breaking every law of human conduct. I have issues, yes, many. But as I said, this woman was in a class of her own.

A little background:

The flight was about an hour late taking off then we were sitting on the tarmac for another 45 minutes or so. Being "elite" I got on the plane early and went to my fine seat. On these particular 737's the exit row seats don't have any extra legroom unless you are in my seat, the window seat of the second exit row, which doesn't have a seat in front of it. This woman was in the middle seat, a cursed seat even in an exit row which does have the extra legroom. She probably switched to the exit row thinking she'd have extra legroom but was angered to learn that was not the case and she was taking it out on me. For the entire 4.5 hour flight. I would push her arm onto her side or at least just taking up the armrest and she would shove it back into my lap. She was large, yes, a fat fucking cow, very large, but the problem was that she was leaning into my space giving the guy in the aisle plenty of room. She was clearly angry. And obviously a fan of Krispy Kreme. She ordered a salad Snak-Pak but she wasn't fooling anybody. That was like a "wafer-thin mint" after her previous meal consisting of a starter of the Outback Steak House Aussie Cheese Fries followed by a full rack of their baby back ribs. And a milkshake. Maybe two. Anyhoo, I seemed to be the recipient of her frustration. She was kind of reading a Dan Brown novel which you see on her considerable lap there - that didn't help her status with me one bit. Kind of lowered it if that is possible. Once we got to Newark the connecting flight was 2 hours late so I had plenty of time to think about the glamour that is my life. Livin' the dream in seat 21A.

Monday, Feb. 14, 2011
Back on Continental headed for boston. some good gigs this weekend, 2 with ephraim owens and one with elias haslanger. but i fear that the dreaded austin cedar allergies are hitting me. on sunday i felt like absolute crap and since i've left austin about 7 or 8 hours ago starting to feel better. no throat issues, my lunch isn't riding my sternum like an elevator, not incredibly tired, etc. Going to have to do something about that cedar. but really fun playing with those guys including kevin wit and joao vargas and aaron allen. playing again with eli on thursday and friday this week and then no travel next week and i think i'm doing a recording with terry bowies and steve schwelling. i'm ready for a break. i think this is my 5th week of going back and forth although i was in new york for a couple of weeks. this flight is pretty humane, exit row although of course the first exit row i was in a couple was taking the middle seat so I had to jump up to the row above with an empty seat in the middle. They were saying "you got lucky" and I was thinking "if i was lucky people like you wouldn't be taking the middle seat and then stealing my armrest." I kept that to myself and just smiled and stepped on their feet on my way out since they didn't seem inclined to move. Doing a makeup tonight 7-9 and I should be to school by 6:30 to prepare. Left the house 9am and get to berklee about 6:30 then a 2 hour pre-makeup. Long freaking day. Tomorrow 11.5 hours of teaching but I'm glad to have the work. Wednesday only 5 hours then back to Austin. Leave for the airport at 3:30 and get home about 1am. Okey, dokey.

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011
Careful what you wish for. Crusiing along at 35k in seat 1A, bulkhead seat, first class, continental flight 550 Newark to Austin. Got bumped up but I gotta say the company in first class is kind of not as good as coach. It was nice to get a snack plate and, dangerously, I have unlimited wines for the next 4 hours, but yeah…kind of a mix of some nice people and some real assholes. Guy behind me going to be a real problem when we get off. From UK, big attitude, since I'm bulkhead nowhere to put laptop bag and he's got a ton of stuff. Got on late and smashed my very small luggage and carry-on into a corner with all his stuff and then was complaining. I had to dig out the laptop from under his really heavy garbage and fucking jacket. He's been up and down constantly since he got on the plane. He's in the seat behind me but there were already pilot bags in the overheads in first class so I had nowhere else to put my crap but over his highnesses chair. Fuck this anyway. I left Berklee at 3:30 and won't get back home until about 1:30 Boston time. That's a fucking 10 hour commute. 20 hours a week of this. But hey, I'm in first class. Thank you for that, Continental. And thanks for the cheese and crackers, they were pretty good.
School going well. Lots of great students, enough hours, great colleagues. Wish I had a more conventional lifestyle but at least I have a job, it's a job I like, and I've got a paycheck coming in. It's all good. Except for the incipient problem with the asshole behind me.
Selling some stuff. Don't need so many guitars and effects I never use. Anybody interested in a Collings Soco?

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brooklyn apartment

view from berklee office

brooklyn snow

Monday, January 24, 2010 / Brooklyn
Going into my second week of the spring semester at berklee. Only 4 classes instead of 7 and a lot more private students which is actually pretty great. I get to play a lot more, get a big lab room for my office and a lighter schedule. Have a really good Joe Henderson Ensemble group, I'm playing bass for them which is fun, going to NY (there now) because not teaching at in Austin this term.

Had a relaxing weekend in Brooklyn, wrote 1 1/2 tunes, practiced a bit, shoveled some snow, got internet, graded some online assignments and did my office hours. Cold outside: 6° F. -2° in Boston. Taking the lucky star at 1pm and should be at Berklee by 6pm which is only a 6 hour commute if I leave the apt. at noon. A lot better than the 9 hour door-to-door flying commute. I'll grade assignments on the bus and maybe read a Kindle book on my phone. Not bad at all. Back to NY on Wednesday night, back to Boston the following Monday then Austin on Wednesday night via Continental. Going to Spain in March which is good although I was accepted for SXSW this year and can't do it now because it's the same week I leave for Barcelona. Oh well. Got some new equipment last year but having fun playing my 335 in bklyn and as-200 in boston. Can't run anymore because of plantar fasciitis but riding the bike. It's too cold to run anyway. I tried 30" on the treadmill last week and could hardly walk the next day. Miss running especially now that I have a phone that will "map my run."

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Monday, Oct. 25/2010 Continental crappy exit row headed to newark, layover then boston
Not great so far but not horrible. I picked the exit row not remembering that there is no extra legroom on this plane. The guy next to me insisted that his seat was the aisle seat even though I showed him my ticket clearly giving me the aisle. Whatever, take it asshole. Long flight. Getting worn out.

10/20/10 Continental headed home with a stop in Houston.
Got the exit row because I'm now ELITE but some asshole sat in the seat next to me. Fat guy, as usual. Not supposed to be there. Three other exit rows with one person in each but he picks mine because I look non-threatening and as if I didn't pay for it . He sure as hell didn't pay because after they closed the main door he moved up from the back and sat down with a totally self-satisfied expiression. He wasted no time in stealing the middle seat space but then I noticed another empty row and said I would go sit there since it was empty and this row was now not empty. Trying to get him to admit he was an asshole and have him say "I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to be here and I'm bogarting the row now, why don't I just admit it and move over to the empty row rather than make you, who paid for your seat, have to move." But no, fat asshole that he is, I got some fucking attitude. But at least now I'm in a row by myself like the other ELITE guys who got the exit rows by themselves. Also like the asshole who didn't pay but that's all good, it's all good. Om. Ommmmmmmm.
Just really tired and feeling every year of my age which shall go unrecorded. Had a really good week at berklee - the students are great and I'm totally inspired every time I teach. I learn a lot more from them than they do from me - I just don't want them to know it. Unfortunately, I teach a lot of labs and the powers-that-be have cancelled all of them for next semester, at least in my case. I really love teaching these classes and I think the students are interested as well so I'm not sure what will happen in the future. I like Austin Community College but it's sure not the same thing. I've known some of the teachers at Berklee for 20 or so years and I still remember the students that I was able to reach and hopefully inspire. I had a couple of guys about 10 years ago who studied with me for 4 years - private lessons and classes. I still get so much inspiration from these musicians who are so excited about music…and music including jazz in all it's forms. Students who are interested in jazz. Who knew? Anyway, might be some changes on the horizon if I get no hours next semester. We'll see. At this point I'm just trying to make it through the semester.

Monday, Nov. 1 / 2010 / Continental 10f / only 2 more hours to boston then an hour to berklee.
Crazy lady in row in front of me. Both our rows have an empty middle seat, just the way I like it. She keeps buzzing the flight attendant - "it's too cold, too hot, my coffee is bad, I need someone to turn off the fan…" etc. Then she got up and stood outside my row and asked me and the woman in the aisle if she could sit in the middle seat. The lady in the aisle seat turned and looked at me but didn't say anything. The crazy lady is quite large, by the way. Anyway, after a second I said "no, I don't think so."Why would anyone want to sit in a middle seat unless they were insane? I don't want an insane large person next to me. The large crazy lady mumbled something and staggered off and the lady in the aisle seat mumbled "thanks." I guess it was up to me to be an asshole. The crazy large (okay, she's fat) lady is now bouncing back and forth in her seat in front of me. In case she's a terrorist her seat is 8F. If my hard drive survives the crash. Should get to berklee just in time to do some makeups. No berklee next week. Looking forward to that. Nice gigs last week with Kevin Witt, 3 jazz collective and David Chao. No gigs this week - first time in months.

Wed. 9/29/10 some bar at logan having a beer
I never expected to be able to gauge the degree of exhaustion that I may be feeling at any given time and plan my day around that. Today, for instance, I woke up exhausted after a 5 hour fitful sleep, rode the T (Boston's fine subway system) to Berklee, made myself run for an hour, taught for 8 hours with no break, rode the T to the Airport stop, took the shuttle to the Continental terminal. It's now 5:30 and I've got another 8 or so hours to go to the end of my day. But I feel pretty good. It may be the effects of the Rolling Rock draft I'm drinking ($3! Logan is cheap). But earlier in the day I was wondering if I would indeed be able to fulfill my responsibilities as a Berklee professor. My voice was going, I was worried I would pass out during a demonstration of the bebop scale…I was babbling and totally looking at the clock. But at the same time totally into the students and the material. Teaching is weird. I really love the students but the politics is rough. Luckily my immediate bosses, Larry and Rick, are the best musicians and educators I could wish for. If only I lived in Boston. Except for the fact that Boston sucks. But….if only? Anyway, it's a great job, I love my bosses, love my students, love the freedom berklee gives me, love my collegues (for the most part). But……I'm tired. I'm way past middle age and the 60-70 hour weeks are starting to take their toll. In a pretty big way. It used to be I could see my face in the mirror at 6am after a 20 hour previous day and say to myself "tired but hanging in there." Now it's "totally exhausted and lucky to make it through the day." Which puts me in the position of examining everything I do in terms of the day: "slow down because you've got a 20 hour day here and another the day after…"

Monday Sept. 13 - 2010 / Continental to Boston / 36k feet
Trying to create a new zen-like atmosphere for these weekly trips to Boston. All connecting flights, mostly Continental who I don't mind so much. I usually get a "snack" and the flights are more or less on time. Trying to drink lots of water, get at least 5 hours of sleep the night before, waking up in Boston at 6am instead of 5am, trying not to get upset when some 7 FOOT TALL IGNORANT SHIT-FOR-BRAINS "I'M THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD" FUCKING BUSINESSMAN WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER AND PROBABLY DOES BUT DOESN'T CARE STICKS HIS HUGE ASS IN MY FACE WHEN DEPLANING AND LEAVES IT THERE EVEN WHEN I SAY "DUDE, PLEASE! YOUR ASS IS RIGHT IN MY FACE" and I end up apologizing to the equally huge guy in the middle seat for recoiling into his space in horror. Actually, middle-seat guy had been bogarting the seat rest and my leg space the whole fucking flight so i was really just getting part of my own space back. deep calming breath. picture the ocean, a beautiful sunny day. Lah, lah, lah. Okay now. 12 more weeks to go, must stay calm and into my new attitude. At least on this flight the middle seat is empty on my row and there was room for my very small knapsack (my new travel very light philosophy) in the overhead - both things unlike the first flight of the day. Both my laptop bag and carry on stuffed under the extra-small space under the seat because my overhead space full of bags put there by many passengers from the rear of the plane who didn't want to carry their bags to the back. Have to remember that the aisle seat has smaller storage space. Lah, lah, lah. Calm. Picture a gentle little bunny rabbit scampering on the grass. Ommmmmmmmm. Oh....a microwaved chicken enchilada today! I hope it's as good as julio's in austin. See? Optimism! Mmmm, tastes like bunny rabbit!
Been playing some nice gigs at Sao Paulo's in Austin and playing more nylon-string guitar. When the rhythm section isn't too loud and I can hear it. Pretty much only use it on the first couple of songs. Last week Joao had his backpack stolen by a "fan" who got away with his wallet, cell phone, credit cards, green card, etc. Have to keep a closer watch on my equipment. Doing a few other gigs but not many. I think Austin is kind of not digging the way I play but hopefully some other cities will come through. A lot more NY in the spring, hope to go to Spain in March, playing at the Corpus Christi jazz festival in October, going up to Denton for some clinics/concerts at UNT. Teaching on Fridays in Austin now which means no NY until December, just finished the red-book cd and layout for my organ quartet CD so I can send it off when I proof the layout (kinko's doesn't print from Quark anymore? - weird), working on music for a possible recording in 2011. Don't know what to do yet but hopefully something different. Gonna work on a Finale chord library for a while. More on the return trip if I have the energy.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010 JFK Terminal 5

Headed to Brooklyn tomorrow. I guess my summer is almost over - argh! Been hot in Austin and the morning 8.5 mile run is taking on agonizing proportions. Gonna get the organ quartet recording mastered by Gene Paul (or his partner Joel) while I'm in New York then it's Boston for 6 days for the summer guitar sessions. It'll be great to see my friends again: Larry Baione, Rick Peckham, Jim Kelly, Mike Williams and whole lot of others but I'm not looking forward to Boston all that much. Been making flight reservations for the fall and I think I'm up to about 10 weeks worth now. Had a good time in Brooklyn and Boston.

The mastering went well although it was kind of a pain in the ass getting to Union City from Brooklyn. Saw David Berkman and we went to Iridium to hear the Kenny Davis Quartet - Davis, Geri Allen, Ralph Bowen and Ralph Peterson. Man, everybody was killing but Ralph Peterson was pretty unbelievable. Nice seeing Berkman, too. Guitar Sessions at Berklee was good but seemed really long this year. Great to see Larry Baione, Rick Peckham, Jim Kelly, Bruce Bartlett and everyone else, too. Played a couple of times with Bartlett and that was really fun - he's such a great musician. And he let me play his ancient strat which had a real vibe. I think he said it was a mid-50's neck and late 50's body. The neck reminded me a lot of my 1952 tele neck.
Rob Kazenel and Matt Pavolka played for my student ensembles and they were great. The students were great as well and played their asses off for the concert. I rode back to Brooklyn with Matt - totally exhausted. Sunday night I went to the Village Vanguard to hear Guillermo Klein and that was absolutely amazing. What great music! Piano, rhodes, percusion/trumpet, trumpet, bass clarinet, alto sax, electric bass, drums, some vocals. Not a whole lot of solos but I kind of dug that - I'm going to have to study Guillermo's music a whole lot more. I saw Matt and Akiko Pavolka, Doug and Yoko Yates, Mark Ferber, Maggie Grebowitz and some others. Great night. Now I'm in JFK terminal 5 waiting for a plane back to Austin.

Monday I saw Masa Kamaguchi, Patricia and Hugo - they are going to stay in my apartment while they are in New York. Eric Halvorson came over and we played some duo, Evan Arredondo was in town to put his daughter in college and he hung out for a while. I've finally figured out the la Pavoni so I was able to make them some decent espresso. All in all it was a great trip. In 2 weeks I start my weekly back and forth to Boston and I also start teaching in Austin on Fridays. It's going to be a really rough semester.

henry, I made this with an ancient La Pavoni for Eric H.. What do you think of me now?

coming back from Union city / Gene Paul mastering. Shorter walk taking the light rail instead of the bus.

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July 14 / 2010
Been having a pretty nice summer. Hot as hell in Austin and my morning jogs have been getting increasingly more difficult. Even if I stop every mile or so for water I still lose a lot. Very humid although it's only in the mid 80's if I run by 7:30 or so.
The time off from flying is wonderful, though. Jess and I went to New York and Vermont in late Mad early June and it was great to see some people but I sure hated the travel. In August I'm spending a week in New York, a week in Boston, back to New York and then Austin. Got to see my mom and Eric and Angela Halvorson took us out on a sail on Long Island sound. Really fun.

September starts my weekly trips to Boston although the union is threatening a strike at Berklee so that may not happen. Which would be a real drag because I've already bought some of my plane tickets which means I'll be paying $350 a week for the privilege of staying in Austin. Might be worth it. I also start teaching on Fridays at ACC so I'll need to be here every week.
Playing some really nice gigs. This week I went to Dallas and played with Mike Drake and John Adams at a winery. They sounded great although Mike sure likes to call fast tunes and my fast tune chops are way down. But I saw my friends Nina Katrina and Jeff Robbins and that was wonderful! Such nice people. I wish they would have been able to sit in (not my gig). Jeff and I go way back to Florida in the '70's. One thing that pisses me off about Jeff is that he looks exactly the same. Bastard. Nina and I played together when I was at UNT in the mid-80's and she looks exactly the same too. CRAP! Am I the only one getting old here? Maybe New York was a bit more stressful than I thought. But Nina's a great singer (I always thought so back in the day so today I checked out her CD baby site and she still sounds incredible and totally individual - I don't say this often but great singer) and a really nice person to boot.

Been doing a trio residency at Whip In and that's been a whole lot of fun. Being able to call the kind of tunes I want is a real treat. For me, anyway. I'm not sure the bass and drums are enjoying it. Last month was Kyle Thompson and Aaron Allen/Daniel Durham. This month is Steve Schwelling/Pat Harris/John Fremgen. John played last week and he was killing. I forgot how good he is because I never get to play with him. I'm trying to play some old stuff and some new stuff - mostly standards but some odd meters and a lot of Monk tunes. Only 2 more weeks left for that.

Been working really hard to finish a decent mix of the recording I did with Eric Halvorson/Adam Kolker/Ben Stivers. It's got some good stuff on it and I think I'm getting very close as far as a good mix. Thinking about how I want to release it as well. Probably just on my own but might try to find a distributor. The cover is done, anyway. That's the easy part.
AAA just dragged my 1995 Honda off to get fixed once again. Might be time for a new one. At least it didn't break down until after I got back from Dallas.

sailing in New York (long island sound)

mixing in Austin

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Late April/early May 2010
Played a very fun gig in Austin with Joao Vargas, Brannen Temple and Charles Medearis. Wow - it was fun. There was a poet (Omie) and we sort of riffed off of her words for a while then played a tune (I think we played Black Narcissus, Bye Ya, Adam's Apple - something else). Omie was great and it was really nice to play with Joao, Brannen and Charles again. They listen really hard. Getting ready to go to Colombia on Thursday - a brutal flight with long layovers. First, though, Boston tomorrow, NY on Wednesday and the Colombia Thursday. Going to be fun to play but the travel is going to kill me. Then a few days in NY and going to try to play with Thomas Heflin but first have to get drums back in the apartment.
Wednesday April 28
Boston was tough but I made it through the last week in one piece. Then, on the bus ride back to NY on wednesday, i95 went to one lane in two different places which added an hour to the trip. I had some friends staying at the house in NY and I tried to stay up and greet them but eventually (12:30am) had to try to sleep because I had to wake up at 4am to go to JFK at 5 for the flight to Colombia. They got back about 1:30 and I was able to sleep for a couple of hours.
Thursday - colombia
met Akiko, Matt and Eric at my place and we rode with Spencer to JFK, made the flight and got to Colombia. Had a 4 hour layover in Bogota and eventually got to Ibague for the jazz festival. Ibague was very rustic but beautiful, from the get-go almost everyone was friendly and open. It was kind of humid but not oppressively so. The hotel was fine although the bellhop never showed me how to turn on the hot water and after the first day I was taking cold showers. By the time we checked in it was 7pm (we had been traveling for 15 hours at this point) and Antonio called my room at 7:15 saying he was playing at 7:30 and wanted us to come to the concert if we could do that. I was exhausted but yes, I really wanted to hear Antonio, so we met him in the lobby and went to the concert - close to the hotel. We sat in the balcony - on reflection not a good choice because the sound was horrible and it was very hot - but it was great to hear Antonio and his band (what we could hear of it). Ernesto was playing piano and sounded wonderful and Antonio was killing as usual. Antonio was playing some of the same music as when I'd played with him but he's taken it to another level and I was really jealous of him being able to do that. It really sounded like a band and that only happens through rehearsal and concerts. Eric and Matt were sleeping through the last 30" or so of the concert and I was nodding off myself. It was a really long day. After the concert we went to the hotel to hang out and have dinner and by the time we got to bed it was midnight.
Friday-colombia
I woke up at 6am as usual and started working some more on the music for the concert. Supposed to meet Antonio for breakfast at 9am but started jonesing for coffee about 8 and went to a place near the hotel for a passable espresso. Met Antonio and Eric at 9 and had a chicken tamale thing which was good and more coffee which was not. At 10am went to the university to do a clinic which didn't go all that well and at about 12:30 back to the hotel for lunch with Antonio, Juan Pablo, Eric, Matt and Akiko. Had some sort of fish which was pretty good and a beer which was crucial. At 2:30 or so started the soundcheck excursion which lasted until about 6 at which time we went back to the hotel to change. 7:20 back to the concert site, listened to the other band (very nice) and went on stage about 8:15 or so. Played the concert, great crowd, did an encore then back to the hotel for dinner about 10:30 or 11. Had chicken, Antonio ordered a nice bottle of Chilean wine, more travel/concert business with Antonio until about 1am then sleep. Up at 6am (can't help it), try to find coffee but no one is open, meet in the hotel restaurant at 9am with Antonio, Matt, Akiko, nice eggs with jamon and queso with some arepa's, spend the rest of the morning and afternoon trying to find decent coffee (in Colombia!!!) and fail, off to the very small airport at 3pm. Get on the small plane (Fokker 50) at 4:30 or so, plane has mechanical problems and get off, back on at 6pm or so, off to Bogota, get to international terminal 7pm, have a bite, hang out, off to gate 8:30 or so, plane departs 11pm, JFK about 6am, Spencer picks us up and we are back home about 7:30am. Rest for a couple of hours, do my online office hours then take the R train to manhattan for a gig with Jeremy Stratton, Adam Kolker and Owen Howard. Definitely feeling the strain of the last few days. A mamoun's falafel, some beers, back to Brooklyn.
Monday-new york
Graded online assignments which seemed to take forever. Started at 11am and finished about 6pm. Went to Puppets and saw a lot of friends: Pete McCann, Mike Fahn, Eric Halvorson, Jeff Miles, Ilan the guy from Mexico, Dave Smith...some others I don't remember. Back home about midnight.
Tuesday-new york
Playing with Andrew Bergman today at the studio space on 9th street where I used to rehearse with Lindsey Horner, Allison Miller and jack Walrath. Dave Smith is playing at Cornelia St. tonight and may go check that out. The session with Andrew was really fun - a couple of guys from Brussels whose names I didn't really get - piano and drums and really quite good. Saw Adam Kolker, Frank Anselem!, Matt Pavolka and Billy Mintz at the rehearsal studio - they were doing some playing. It had been 10 years since I saw Frank and very good to see him. I guess he's living in Paris now.

matt - bogota eldorado airport

akiko/eric eldorado

ibague

ibague

antonio concert

first good coffee we had - akiko is very happy about that

eric not so happy with his coffee

adam owen and jeremy at grassroots

the view from the F train Smith/9th st. stop after session

Gowanus Canal - the Venice of Brooklyn!!

back in boston 4/20/10

Went to hear Tony Scherr, Robin Holcombe and Doug Weiselman at The Stone on Saturday and that was amazing. Tony sang some of his tunes, a Jesse Harris tune, some others I don't remember. Robin did her tunes, Doug played bass clarinet and guitar. It was wonderful. On Sunday I played an incredibly fun gig with Don Falzone, Eric Halvorson and Jed Levy at a place in Nyack. Everyone working there was really friendly, a lot of musicians came out (Chris Paison, Joel Newton, et.al), Claudia (Don's wife) was off the road and came out, Steven Bernstein's wife Karen as there... those guys were playing so great. Once again I was struck with how easy it is to play with NY musicians because they listen so well. Took a couple of hours to get back to Brooklyn but it was worth it.
In New York with Jess and had a great time. We ate at the secret taco place, had Kiku sushi a couple of times, Jess brought the La Pavoni and burr grinder so we were able to make espresso, had some Terrace bagels, bought a pizza stone and jess made a great pizza, enjoyed the train ride on the metro north, I ran in the park a couple of times but it was cold and I got sick, missed a couple of gigs but coming back soon, had a good rehearsal with Akiko, Eric and Matt for our concert in Colombia next week. Trying to memorize my music and it's freaking hard. Not the music, the memorization. I find it easier to memorize Skippy than one of my tunes. That says something about my tunes I think. I need to simplify. Back to Austin tomorrow.

with Jed Levy, Don Falzone, Eric Halvorson

la pavoni

shot

pizza!

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http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2008/12/the_best_torta.php

Pretty close to the apartment. Also had a rehearsal with Eric Halvorson, Matt and Akiko Pavolka for a (probable) concert in Colombia at the end of the month. Ran in Prospect Park a couple of times, beautiful weather, saw and talked to Owen Howard and Jim Black, generally had a good time. Uh, oh, a broken down lucky star bus. They will probably move the passengers onto this bus. Crap. More later.

Turned out okay in that no one sat next to me. Now at berklee, doing a makeup in a few minutes and incredibly worn out. It was only a 6 hour commute so I know it's the end of the year.

george, adam, jeremy grassroots april 10, 2010