Tuesday, Feb. 13, JFK JetBlue Gate 1

Where am I? Oh yeah, gate 1 at the luxurious Jetblue terminal at JFK. Long couple of weeks: Boston, New York, Austin, Boston, New York and later tonight (or this morning) finally Austin. Played some very nice gigs though. Really nice one with Alan Ferber at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn. Alan's been writing some amazing music and has new arrangements for nonet and string quartet. He found for amazing string players who read it down and sounded, well, great. Some guitar players came out to the gig: Ben Monder, Andy Green and Nate Radley. Luckily we had already played Ben's tune "Luteous Pangolin" so I didn't have to embarrass myself (even more) in front of Ben, one of my favorite musicians of all time. Alan almost played it again after Ben showed up but luckily changed his mind and we played something else to close the evening.

Also played an organ trio gig with Terry Bowness and Ernie Durawa in Austin and that was a real blast even though I had been awake for a long time since I took the A train to JFK that morning and had to get up at 4:30 after going to bed at 2 because of the Tea Lounge gig.
Not going to Berklee next week but going to NY to play with Chuck Braman on Thursday and Alan Ferber, again, at Smalls on Friday and Saturday. Then, back to Boston. This week I'm doing some really fun gigs with Paul Glasse, John Steinman, Joao Vargas and Elias Haslanger. Elias has some wonderful music and plays his ass off and it's with Steve Schwelling, John Fremgen and Eddie Hobizol so it's bound to be intense.
Right now I'm at the opposite intensity. Code orange for non-intensity. Got 6 more hours or so until the freaking plane touches down in Austin. fuck. If it takes off on time. Big snow headed this way and it should be starting about the time we are supposed to leave. Just hope we make it out undelayed and undismayed. Had a good teaching week though. Some really interesting, interested and talented students keeping me on my toes. Level keeps going up at Berklee. I think it's coffee time now. Don't think I can wait until we're at cruising altitude. JFK always has long queues for takeoff. "Okay, folks, we're currently 14th in line for take-off. Grab your laptops and talk really loud into your cell phones. We're going to be here for a while."

Tuesday, January 30 - Logan airport

Been too busy to write much. Had a CD release gig at the Elephant Room and that went okay. Band sounded great but didn't feel all that positive about the way I played. Don't get to play my own music very often and was worried about the arrangements. Chris Maresh was originally going to do the gig but he called in sick that day and John Fremgen was willing to do it at the last minute. He sounded amazing - just came in and read it down and played his ass off. Then back to Boston to teach which is going well but extremely tiring. I'm at gate 33 at Logan, waiting to go to JFK, got a layover, catch another plane and back to Austin. Flew to JFK on Saturday, took the subway to Brooklyn, hung out for an hour, subway to 89th st. where I met Craig Enright and Chris Higgins and we drove to New Jersey for a gig. It was a great gig, too. Eric Halvorson played drums and was killing as usual, the food was very good, people were really nice, the gig payed well and we played great tunes. Got home about 11:30 so it was a pretty long day. Up at 5am and all the travel, etc. But having a good gig made it worth it. Plus the check. And possibly more gigs. I was playing the Ibanez that Jess pointed out cost $450, not $400. She's right, as she usually is. I played the blonde 335 at the Elephant Room and is wasn't really working for me that night. Difficult to play, don't know why. Been playing a telecaster at Berklee and after I tweaked the truss rod today it plays pretty well. Okay, flight is boarding. I'm in 4C, not a bad seat. This flight is only about an hour and a half but I have an exit row on the flight to Austin later.
Did my time at JFK and I'm on the exit row now. I see by the flight tracker we're above Kentucky. It's about 10pm and have a few more hours to go until I get home. Listening to MP3s trying to find examples of jazz musicians using pentatonic scales. M. Brecker's "Tales From The Hudson." Damn. He was such a beautiful musician. I never got to play with him or meet him but the way he plays makes me think he was an incredible human being as well as an incredible, historic musician. Fuck. I'm also listening to Scofield and I get a similar vibe from him. "En Route." Damn. He's so good.

I had my blue chips and they were good-made a nice dinner. Jetblue is now serving 3 Blind Moose red and I had one of those and it was good. Some rich guy tried to sit next to me in this coveted exit row and I had to put my foot down. I said "how 'bout the other side" and he found a friend on the other side of the isle and they are now bonding. This is the first time I had an exit row to myself in about 40 flights this year and I just couldn't give it up. Not getting a whole lot of work done but it sure is nice to listen to Sco and these other great players. Okay, better concentrate. Got quality project time.

Tuesday, Jan. 16, jetBlue somewhere in ozark ozone
Listening to Dave Smith's new CD "Circumstance" on FreshSound. Amazing recording with Mark Ferber, Seamus Blake, Nate Radley and Dave Ephross. Dave wrote intricate, beautiful music, plays his ass off and is a really nice guy to boot. Everybody else sounds amazing, too. This is a great recording.

Coming back from new york. played some really nice gigs: alan ferber nonet at smalls, grassroots with jeremy and a recording with craig enright, eric halvorson and steve doyle. the smalls gig was really crowded because of iaje people and because mulgrew miller was playing after us. some woman in the audience was kind of moaning along with the music which was a real new york moment. i think she may have been drunk. after about 30" somebody finally threw her out. in the meantime people were shouting "shut the fuck up!" which was a really nice touch during the tender ballads. before we played alexis cuadrado's band played and that was killing. brad shepik!!! i've been listening to him for about 15 years, ever since I heard him, tony scherr and kenny wolleson at the angry squire on 8th ave in manhattan about that long ago. he was great then but he just keeps getting better. he always finds something different in the music that I didn't know was there. his time is perfect and he has a tremendous musical personality. the other guys sucked. not really. alexis wrote some music like I've never heard before, has a great bass sound and plays his ass off. as does mark who I've never heard sound anything less than amazing. I'm hearing it right now as a matter of fact. this is a great cd, dave. i also heard rick peckham on thursday night and he's never anything less than amazing. incredibly hard music from tanya kalmonivitch, ronan guilyfoyle and owen howard. also killing. owen is another guy i've known for a long, long time who is an amazing player and writer. i love his cds and still listen to them really often. like rick's cd: left end. every time i hear it i'm reminded of how good it really is.

then on sunday i played my $400 craiglist ibanez with jeremy s., adam kolker and anthony pinciotti.

ibanez sounds good - how about those beautiful xmas decorations? - very classy

anthony and adam and the delicious grassroots popcorn cooked to perfection by the smiling bartender - they sure love us there

incredibly fun. those guys listen so hard and can go anywhere - they make it really easy. damn, i'm really missing playing with them. on monday the same feeling playing with eric halvorson and steve doyle. we've been playing together so long.

eric is such a great drummer and steve sounds amazing. craig sounded great too, and picked some hard material. we recorded music by bergonzi, don grolnick and other people who i don't remember now even though it was only yesterday. am i getting alzheimer's? probably.

no pics of anything before saturday because i forgot my camera on thurs and fri.
now back to austin and i'm really looking forward to that even though it's colder there than in new york and it's in the middle of an ice storm. had to leave for jfk by 5am this morning because taking the train takes at least 2 hours from brooklyn because of the stupid monorail. crapola. now i'm listening to scott colley's "initial wisdom" holy shit. adam rogers, ravi coltrane, bill stewart and scott c. damn. adam rogers. damn. damn.

howard beach A train stop @ 6am. wheee!

i'll be back in two weeks. pretend you're not home.

In austin I've been playing with terry bowness and ernie durawa and that's great although we played on new years eve outside and it was really, fucking cold. also playing with steve schwelling and glen schetuze and that's been a lot of fun. hope to do some more of that. playing with darin layne at his house and that's also been great, he's a wonderful guitarist.

giant guero's guitar


terry and ernie on new years eve before the ice age

Tuesday, Jan. 16, jetBlue/greyhound houston, tx Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, plane can't land at Austin because jetBlue is out of wing de-icing fluid in austin - the plane wouldn't be able to take off again. So? What does that have to do with me? They are really sorry. Sorry doesn't' help me, I'm afraid. But our plane diverted to Houston and jetBlue hired a greyhound bus to take us to Austin, somethiing they are calling 3 hours but we know is 4.5 hours. Add to that the 2 hours waiting for said bus. Now it's 2pm, I left for JFK at 5am and I won't get home until about 9pm NY time. For this jetBlue has promised a $50 voucher - for another jetBlue flight. Am I missing something here? By the way, that little boy in the pic was kicking my seat all the way from NY to Houston then his lame-ass mother sits down behind me on the bus, too, to let devil-boy continue his torture. I personally blame his lame-ass mother. I'm not a genius but even I know when it's time to give up and move to the back of the bus. Hopefullly he's going to fall over and bang the shit out of his head because he's standing on the seat. I've got my fingers crossed. It would be worth the wailing since he won't shut up anyway.

houston from greyhound

devil boy

thursday, jan.11, brooklyn

In ny to play some gigs with alan ferber, jeremy stratton, craig enright. week of IAJE so a lot of people in town. jetblue flight great (exit row to myself-no problem with guitar) and subway to brooklyn uneventful. apartment looks fine - thank you dan nettles for washing sheets for me!! you're the best. going out tonight to hear rick peckham at smalls with tanya kalmonovithch, owen howard and ronan guilfoyle. should be good. tomorrow smalls with alan ferber and it's the regular band doing one set. saturday hope to hear pete mccann in the east village, sunday jeremy, monday recording. had some really good gigs in austin with terry bowness organ trio and have some fun stuff coming up. best get on the train now - who knows what evil mass transit gremlins lurk out there. it's been too good today, bad things coming. i'll take pics tonight and post.

sunday, dec. 24, austin

Croatia was really fun. Lindsey Horner, Jeff Berman, Lou Stallute and me. We had one rehearsal on 42nd st. above the Showtime topless club and from the start it felt great. Lindsey's music is beautiful, everyone was nice and played great and the coffee from the 7/11 on 42nd st. was Sumatra and fresh. And cheap.

jeff and lou on 42nd after coffee

studio above showtime topless

band at newark

Took off from Newark the next day about 3:30pm - NJ train from Penn Station, Northwest Airlines, took off on time. Seats were a little cramped after JetBlue and I had an inner seat but there were outlets for my laptop and I got a lot of work done. NW Air has about 40 movies on file and toward the end of the first flight I watched most of "The Illusionist" with Ed Norton and Jessica Biel(? - how did that happen) and it was decent although the TV screens aren't the best. Got to Schipol and had a 6 hour layover.

schipol 5:30am

lou about 6:30am - good coffee

Then to Zagreb and got there about 1:30pm their time. Went to the hotel and checked in and by then it was about 3pm. Nice hotel. Met for dinner about 6 and had a great meal with Nikolina, our liason with the American Embassy who were sponsoring the trip. It had something to do with a NY week in Zagreb as you can see from the poster.

in zagreb

After dinner back to the hotel and couldn't sleep until about 2am their time - don't even know what time it was for me. Up at 7 for some reason, practice, work on laptop, etc. Walked around looking at stuff, went to the hotel gym, met in lobby at 5 to go to club for soundcheck. Bad sounding room, weird amp with no reverb, typical. Went to NY photo exhibit, met a bunch of people including poets and novelists from Amersterdam there for a reading the next night at which we were going to play. Really nice people - Megan, Robert and Cowen.

lou at NY art exhibit

Back to gig, played one set, went to dinner.

lindsey and lou at first gig

By then it was midnight - pizza, very good. Got to bed about 4am and up at 9. Went to (long) lunch from 12-4 courtesy of Boris who owned the club and restaurant and Amy from the Embassy, walked around, went to hotel, went to first gig with poets, they sounded great, better room, moved equipment to club for last gig. Really fun because of better amp, better sound and better crowd. Got to bed about 2 and up at 5am for trip to airport. Trip back: not so good. Got to Amerstam okay, another long layover then NW flight to JFK. Got close to JFK and it's closed because of fog. Diverted to Newark, running out of fuel, endless circling, landed with fire trucks on the runway because of so many planes diverted with low fuel, sat around a couple of hours, paramedics hauled off some lady who had passed out off the plane, took off again for JFK(! about 18 miles away - in a 747) and arrived 4 1/2 hours late. Interminable customs, ran for Jet Blue flight to Austin which was also delayed although not according to the 1-800-jetblue person. Had a beer (or 2), listened to William Ash sound like Wes (playing at the JFK Jetblue terminal), took off 2 hours late and arrived in Austin. Door to door about 30 hours. Dang. Sure was fun to play with Lindsdy though. Now, back in Austin. Day after I got back had a great gig with Terry Bowness (organ) and Ernie Durawa (drums) at Sao Paulo- they sounded so great and the room sounds wonderful. Next night same place with Joao Vargas and Pepe playing guitar trio and that was great, too. Had a really nice jam session with Steve Schwelling and Glen Schutze, heard the Paul White Quintet (wonderful) at the Elephant room and have been going to a lot of parties. Also heard Suzi Stern at the Cactus Cafe with Alex Coke and Chris Maresh and that was wonderful. It's good to be back. Going to NY in Jan. to play with Alan Ferber, Craig Enright, Jeremy Stratton, Eric Halvorson, Steve Doyle, do a recording. Not looking forward to more flying but it will be good to play with those wonderful musicians.

view from hotel window

Monday, dec. 11, croatia airlines coming into Zagreb

Doing okay but about 19 hours of travel - maybe 20 counting the train to Penn Station, Took the "airtrain" to Newark and pretty easy but all told it took 2 /12 hours just to get to the gate - door to door. Just ate a mystery chicken nugget like meal. It was cold and there was some macaroni there, too, but I couldn't really tell if it was chicken. With apple strudel and instant coffee. Not very hungry anyway but must say the flight attendants on Croatia Air very friendly and polite. Now, customs, a probably long trip to the hotel and then hopefully, a nap. And internet. And mini-bar. Not necessarily in that order.

Monday, dec. 4, austin airport waiting for jet blue

Had a couple of great gigs last week. One with John Fremgen and Tony Campisi - just a private party but so much fun to play with those guys. Parking was close and free, food and drink were free and good and it was just a great gig. Then played with Brandon Rivas and Phillipe Vieux down in Frederickburg. Really wonderful to play with those guys but it was so freaking cold! It's going to be hard to get used to this freezing texas weather. Outside gig of course but no heater - my hands got so cold they wrinkled up which has never happened before. There was a refreshing and icy cold wind blowing the whole time. It didn't seem to affect Brandon and Phillippe because they played their asses off but I could hardly function. Then last night went to the Elephant Room to hear a set by Darin Layne with Chris Maresh and Rob Kazunel. They sounded really good and played a lot of Darin's tunes as well as I Hear A Rhapsody and All The Things. Darin sounded amazing, Chris and Rob sounded great and Chris was playing a music man bass that was really nice. Chris plays so fucking great - damn! Now, headed for Boston - long day because I'm teaching until 10pm. Been listening to pianist Mark Copeland's CD "Stompin with Savoy" with the late Bob Berg, Randy Brecker and rhythm section I don't remember but it's a great recording. Wonderul arrangements and playing. Also been revisiting Dave Stryker's new Mel Bay CD "The Chaser" and Dave sounds amazing. He just keeps getting better after 100 or so CDs as a leader. I really like his quartet recording with Ornette's "The Sphinx" on it, too. Was listening also to "Capricorn" from a Owen Howard recording with Brad Shepik and those guys are amazing - Brad is always killing. So many great guitarists. Also Rick Peckham's "Left End" which I love. Rick with Tony Scherr and Jim Black. Their rehearsal consisted of talking about the tunes and then hitting and just playing the shit out of it. Also listening to Tony Scherr's "Come Around" which is an instant classic. Using flatwounds on a 335 and I'm kind of liking it. Kind of. They feel pretty stiff on the Buscarino but they sound good. They are also somewhat cheaper than Elixers which run about $10 a set.

Going to Boston now. Great, it appears the flight attendant I was sort of dissing at security because she butted in front of me in line is on my flight. Oh boy. More later.

Back in the air and this has been the best flight of all time. Maybe I shouldn't jinx it. But: exit row to myself, right on time, flight attendant forgave me, extra battery for the laptop, sun is out the whole way, not too hot-not too cold, good coffee and cranberry bread (thanks Jess and Steph), noise-cancelling headphones. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything - what's going to happen now? We haven't landed yet.

Wednesday, nov. 29, american airlines - my pals

Is it soup yet? That's from an tv commercial for those of you born after 1990. My brain is. Soup, I mean. I'm sick of flying and have about 3 more hours today. got a lot of "secret project" work done, not that anyone cares. that includes my long-suffering students who have had to put up with multiple makeups this semester and have been great about it. the next one is when I go to croatia with lindsey horner, something i couldn't say no to. i really want to play wtih lindsey again, even if it means the most brutal travel of all. I'll be teaching about 16 hours a day for a few days at berklee, taking the bus to NY and then flying to europe, playing some gigs then flying back to ny and hopefully making a connection to austin on the same day. if I miss the connection it means sleeping at JFK until the next morning when jet blue flies to austin at 7 am. but it's a gig with lindsey so.....

playing tomorrow with john fremgen and tony campisi at a private party then on saturday with phillipe vieux and brandon rivas - this is going to be nice week. played last week with jeremy stratton, george schuller and phillip from san francisco (tenor) and that was really fun. played a telecaster which was kind of hard - i knew it would be but wanted to see if i could take it to croatia and be functional. don't think so - taking the ibanez which can get destroyed by gate checking and i'll survive. tried flatwounds on the ibanez and they are really hard to play but I like the sound. might keep trying even though i sound like crap on those strings.

are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?..........

saturday nov. 18 / mucal invader is there no end to your oozing?

thank you american airlines

in hell or Chicago / American Airlines / how about some free internet

What's with T-mobile and their "service." What is O'hare's "Boingo". What's with American Airlines? A nightmare commute back to Austin - no food today because I had to do a make-up on my lunch hour, just bought an $11 beer at O'hare and the the total time from door to door, Berklee to Austin, is about 11 hours. 11 seems to be the magic number. All I want to do is check my email but I don't want to pay $6.95 to do it. I guess "boingo" is better than T-mobile but so is a sharp stick in the eye. Please remind me why am I doing this? Please, just get me the fuck back to Austin - I guess it'll be tomorrow when I get there.

Okay, took a few deep breaths and thinking that the $11 beer did help somewhat but I'm feeling a little shaky going into a 22 hour day running on a cup of raisin bran at 7am and some lame american airlines pretzels on the last flight. Squeezed into the middle seat between a bio-tech tycoon and a bio-tech stock trader who were bonding across me "THIS GUY IS FAMOUS". the tycoon seemed like a nice guy though. Actually, no, but I liked his style. The trader said "one question" and the tycoon said "no fucking questions". the tycoon was really a harvard educated scientist and lived in Iceland, home of sunna gunlags and scott maclemore, and my only beef with him is that he was large and hogged some of my space. And, that he was a millionaire and let me buy him a drink, rather than the other way around. Ah, plane is here and should begin boarding in a millenium or so. I hope the next miniscule bag of pretzel mix is waiting for me. Maybe they'll give me two? Sell me two, more like it. I'd best go now but tomorrow I'm really looking forward to playing with Rick Macrea and Chris Maresh and Kyle Thompson on two different gigs. I can't tell you how long it's been since I had two gigs in one day. Oh, yeah, bought a 1980 Ibanez AS-50 (can you say Ben Monder?) for $450. What do you think of me now?

Okay, back in the air again. This flight is now 3 1/2 hours late. An 11 hour commute door-to-door. Had to get a oxygen bottle for the pilots. Took the one maintenance man four trips to get the right tools. Just like there was only one gate agent for 29 gates at the Logan "facility." Crap, crap, crap.

35,000 feet / American Airlines / Deep vein thrombosis imminent

Headed back to Boston - going to be flying every week for the next 6 weeks. If this one is any indication, it'll be okay. I think I like American better than JetBlue, TV's notwithstanding. AA got off the ground right on schedule, the seat is a little smaller but not as hard and there isn't a lot of touchy-feely stuff, just get the freaking plane to Boston so I can get off this shitbox. Do have an hour layover in Dallas, coming and going, but JetBlue has to deal with the JFK layover on the way back and their terminal there is kind of a drag.
Played on Friday with the Terry Bowness organ trio and that was really fun. Terry was killing and Chip Vayenas played drums and sounded great. The temperature did go into the 40's and we were playing outside at Guero's and that hurt but the people at Guero's were really nice and we got to eat afterwards - great food. Although I overdid it on the salsa which was really hot and my stomach is still hurting from that. Then last night I played with The Celestial Mechanics - Steve Schwelling, Danny Barnes and Glenn Schutze. Danny plays banjo and sounds amazing - we had a lot of fun. It was a benefit concert and some amazing players were playing in other bands - Alex Coke, Tina Marsh, Chris Maresh, John Mills, Kyle Thompson, Russ Scanlon, Suzi Stern, Rich Harney, Randy Zimmerman, Elias Haslanger - I know I'm forgetting someone but it was really kind of overwhelming - everyone was just killing. The high points of the evening for me were hearing Doug Hall play Quiet Now and Time Remembered and playing Raise Four with Bruce Hall. They were in town for a couple of hours before driving to Dallas. It was so great to see them.
I stopped by the Elephant Room on the way home and heard Mitch Watkins play and he sounded wonderful (lot's of chops) - playing through a BadCat amp - the cat lights up which is pretty impressive. John Fremgen and Rob Kazunel were playing as well and they sounded - guess what? - great.
So, got 4 hours of sleep and now back to Boston and a really long couple of days. I'm discovering that this plane, unlike JetBlue which is boiling hot, is fucking freezing. What was I saying about American? I take it all back.

ben taking gigs during guitar solo


serious rob

adam messing wiith new recording gadget during bass solo

brooklyn moon from basement apt. - buy this house for 800k


anthony and jeremy at grassroots CLICK Pic FOR QUICKTIME MOVIE

Hell train I damn thee


2 hours later

stylin' in the pinciotti-mobile - under BQE & smooth as clarified butter (thanks anthony)

gig cart - pro gear just like scofield and metheny

monday, october 30, jetblue, 100 miles and about an hour away from Logan

Ah, yes, Logan, backed up as usual. Last departure we sat on the runway for close to hour and now flying in circles trying to land. Did get a lot of work done this trip because I got a row to myself and have the extra battery for my laptop. Secret project. Too fascinating to tell you about. Heard some really nice music in Austin - Chris Maresh Quartet, Jim Stringer with T. and the A.M. Band and at the Brentwood Tavern jam, Pete Rodriguez Trio at the Elephant Room. Just missed doing a couple of gigs - must remember to bring my cell phone when I run. Cancelled at Guero's with Terry Bowness Organ Trio which really bummed me out. Got to play with Glenn Rexach, Rob Kazunel and Chris ? (nice bass player) and they all sounded great. I really had fun at that session playing some of Glenn's tunes and some of mine. Glenn writes and plays so great - very inspiring. Okay, no TV now either. I was typing and sort of watching a really bad horror movie with Dennis Hopper - tomorrow is Halloween. Uh, oh.

friday, october 6, american airlines, i'm assuming 35k feet

Had some good times, had some bad. In New York less than 24 hours but it was chock-full of entertainment. Heard John Ellis at the Tea Lounge in B'klyn last night and that was really good. Mike Moreno playing guitar and just amazing: Great sound, ideas, vibe, everything. Ellis sounded wonderful as usual as did Derek Phillipps (drummer) and a bass player I didn't know but was also, yes, great. Saw Doug Yates and Bryn Roberts there and it was mighty good to see them, too. They were just hanging out. I have to say the Brooklyn is getting to be a jazz mecca or jazz hell-hole, take your pick. I'm not hip enought to actually play gigs in Bklyn anymore but dudes, my 20 years there must mean something. Yes it does, it means I'm old and tired. Before the Tea Lounge I'd played with Craig Enright, Chris Higgins and Eric Halvorson at the Hideaway on Duane St. and I had so much fun. We played mostly Bergonzi tunes, including "On Again, Off Again" and it felt so great to play with Eric H. again. I just don't feel that comfortable with anybody else. He is one of the most musical drummers I know and so easy to play with. Craig and Chris sounded, well, great. Great, great, great. I either need to play with some crappy musicians so I can say "they sounded like shit. About as musical as a bag of nails" etc. or I need to find some new adjectives.

But now I'm on this ill-fated flight from La Guardia which was an hour and a half late taking off. Wouldn't be so bad except I went to JFK via the A train and the fabulous ($5 extra) monorail. Went to the terminal and noticed that the boarding pass said LGA on it. Hmmm, no wonder my flight isn't listed, I'm at the wrong airport. So, into limo smelling like apple dumplings or whatever the foul air freshener was and I'm sitting in traffic on the Van Wyck, clock ticking, driver listening to middle eastern pop, me sweating the flight that purportedly leaves in 45 minutes, mentally kicking myself for being a really stupid fucking asshole. $60 later I get to LGA and find out all AA flights are delayed because LGA just sucks so bad that no pilot wants to land his/her plane in the wasted shithole of fucking queens. [ What's with all the "fuck this" you wonder? Me, too. Maybe because I was in New York and there were a lot of people talking that way on the train. Or because of Fung Wah and there was some guy going apeshit on his cell phone for most of the ride, yelling at someone. The sound-cancelling headphones have their limits.] Or maybe the clouds were screwing things up, I never learned why everything was on hold. But at least the wine I just bought was from California and not incredibly horrible, we're on our way to Dallas where the layover will, hopefully, not be hours long. They'll just load the mother-fuckers on the plane and we'll land in Austin less than an hour late. That's what I'm hoping. No Berklee for me this coming week - staying in Austin and hope to play with some of the people I haven't been able to play with in a while: Rob Kazunel, Chris Maresh, Pat Murray, Jacob Wise. Also hope that sandwich I bought at a deli about 8 hours ago isn't going to attack me in the next 2 hours before we land in Dallas. I think the people around me are hoping the same.I did notice the guy next to me, who had 4 vodkas in 2 hours plus the $4 "snack box", giving my sandwich the eye. Keep looking, bozo, cause you won't be seeing this sandwich for long. And, no, since you hogged the armrest you can't have a bite.

thursday, october 5, mass pike, framingham or so

Fung wah. Füng Wahhhhh. Listening to Larry Goldings "As One" with my Sennheiser noise-cancelling headphones. Peter Bernstein sounds so good - as do the others. It's about 11:15am, pretty nice day - outside. Inside smells like fried food, diapers (I knew I should have changed mine - damn) and there's some BO in here, too. That might be mine anyway. Been wearing the same thing for a few days and long freakin' days they were. Get to Berklee about 6:30am, go to the gym until 8, go back to school and teach until 10pm. Doing pre-make-ups. Then out to Jamica Plain, Forest Hills or wherever the house is located. I still don't know Boston very well. Didn't get to hear any music this week but tonight I'm playing at the Hideaway in NY (hence fung wah) with Eric Halvorson and Chris Higgins. I'm really looking forward to that - I can't tell you. Just not getting to play much in Austin. A couple people call me occasionally but it's more like 2 or 3 gigs a month (if I'm lucky) as opposed to the 2 or 3 a week I was doing in NY. Did play an organ trio jam session with Terry Bowness and Ernie Durawa and that was great. Those guys sound so good and it was really fun to play. Oh yeah, briefly heard Chris Buono last night with his organ trio and that was fabulous. I could only stay for a couple of tunes because I was doing make-ups but he, and they, sounded killing. Nice tunes, great playing and lots of effects. Chris has two pedal boards both of which are about the size of a refrigerator door. No, really. They are fucking huge and I'm thinking he doesn't take the "T" to gigs. He needs a 2 roadies just to carry the effects.
Well, I'm really enjoying this CD. I hope everyone owns a copy of this because it's beautiful. I bought a CD by Alex Machacek and that's really mind-blowing. He sounds really great and has some chops. Very beautiful guitar sound, too.

thursday, september 28, 372 feet above sea level, austin

Flew Jet Blue last night and saw the sea level thing when we touched down in Austin which is how I know my GPS. And I mean touched down - nice landing by Captain Friendly or whatever his name was. Jet Blue is a little touchy-feely for me but I have to admit when they have cheap flights I prefer them over other carriers. Speaking of which, I feel like carrion. Long freaking week and they seem to be getting longer all the time. Not complaining mind you, I really like my job simply because I love the music and I get to hold a guitar for part of the day, I love being in Austin with those I love, but travelling kind of sucks. Did get a little entertainment last night at the 2 hour JFK layover when some guy was going ballistic with security. Just a momentary diversion. They were kind of half-hearted in their response to his hormonal outburst. Listening to Paul Motian Psalm right now and really enjoying the way those guys played back then (1981). Frisell sounds huge and angry. Like the airport guy. Okay, I'm tired. Had a nice gig with Steve Schwelling and Glenn Schuetze at the Elephant Room on Sunday. I had a bad cold and my ears were stopped up but it was still fun to play. Met a great couple and the email I got from them:

Hey,
J. and I met you last Sun night at Elephant Room and I've since been able to listen to the "Fragment" CD we purchased. Man, that's the kind of music I want to make when I grow up. Here's a quote from J's drum pedagogue,Nick : "This Bruce Saunders CD is the best thing I've heard since Wayne Krantz............unbelievable......"We're all looking forward to your next gig in Austin - I need to get a couple more copies of "Fragment" so I can give them to friends. As for the show, I can't tell you how refreshing it is to hear someone who can exploit the dynamic range, harmony and velocity thing all at once, and in the service of the music. Very rare, even among good players.

No, I didn't make this up. What do you think of me now? This has never happened to me before so I don't know what to think of me. Maybe D. (above) thought I was Glenn Rexach who sat in and sounded really great. I kind of thought I was playing a lot of bullshit but I usually think that so maybe it's just that they aren't sick of me yet in Austin. Not everybody, anyway. I haven't really had enough gigs for people to get sick of me yet. Some really great players here though and it's got a real community spirit. Got a gig with Brandon Rivas, a really nice bass player who studied with Bill Huntington in N.O. just like John Hebert and is living in San Antonio. Brandon is amazing and it was incredible to play with him and Philipe Vieux and the winery last week. Every time I hear Philipe I'm just blown away by his command of harmony and melody. He's an incredible musician. Okay, fading, got to go. Lots of stuff going on right now so may not be able to keep this journal like I'd like but I'll try

great to find someone at such a high level here in town

wednesday, september 20, 35,000 feet above what looks like pennsylvania

Have begun the weekly trip from Austin to Boston and back. Ouch. All I will say is that it's a direct challenge. As was the hard drive dying in my other laptop which is why it's been a long time since I entered anything in this journal. I'm doing it now when I should be working on Berklee stuff but I'm taking a little time for myself. I'm tired, that's just all there is right now. Just had a California Red served by a smiling flight attendant, it's alternately hot and then cold on this flight, I've got to layover for an hour in Chicago. Boo hoo. I did get some Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones and they work okay but squeeze the shit out of your ears. I guess that's what the extra $220 is for with the Bose Quiet Comfort headphones. Yeah, I researched.

I did hear some really nice music last week. Went out Friday night and heard Elias Haslanger at The Elephant Room with Rob Kazunel (drums), Mike Porter (bass), Pete Rodriguez (trumpet) and a really nice piano player named Angelo Lambesis. They all sounder beautiful and I really liked Elias' music and the tunes he picked from the standards menu. I think they played "Speak No Evil" and something else by Wayne but after 3 long days at berklee I'm having trouble remembering my own name. In fact, I'm going to try and get some shut--eye. Can't think anymore. Playing this weekend with Phillipe Vieux and Brandon Rivas and really looking forward to that and also at the Elephant Room with Steve Schwelling and Glenn Schutze and that's going to be really fun.