The weekend was amazing!  Saturday was a beautiful late summer day in New Mexico and the harvest festival was even more welcoming and inviting than in years past.  The band performed extremely well and I was very lucky to be hosting the event and performing with the opening ensemble.  A bit of blues, jazz, and even a couple of pop covers kept the audience dancing and enjoying their time at the winery.  There was this older Spanish couple who really tore up the dance floor.  They were amazing to watch and even at their age (which I assumed to be somewhere in their 60's) they moved with a delicate grace together.  It was inspiring to play for people who danced and enjoyed our group's music.


Overnight was an evening spent with family and I returned to host the last day of the festival.  Sunday might have been even more gorgeous than the day prior, but then again I am just a bit biased having spent time at the winery every year since the festival's inception.  Finally home in Durango Sunday evening I spent time with my new niece and her family.  They are such a special group of people and I am truly blessed to spend time with them.  The new baby is amazing and I'm posting pictures this time around to share her beauty with the world!

Needless to say she's incredible and I love her dearly.  (Can't wait to spoil her rotten when I get to baby sit!!)  After that I attended one of the most musical recitals I've been to in quite some time.  The woodwind professor at our university played the hell out of the flute and saxophone (tenor/alto)!  He was brilliant and exuded musicality and emotion with great command of the literature and finesse of his own performing abilities.  I was blown away and extremely happy that I attended.  Please make sure that you get out and support your local music scene as well as music in general.  So many great performers go unheard and just need a willing audience to listen to what they have to say musically.  Your ears will tell you when it's wonderful and when it needs some work.  (lol)


The week started off busy and today has been full of surprises.  New jobs, new events to plan for the club, and possibly new gigging venues.  More to come for sure from the blog, so keep reading and have some fun this week.


Ciao!

Productive Days, Baby Visits, and Rehearsals...

Job hunting Sucks...with a capital SUCK!  Okay, so now that I've gotten that off my chest the rest of the blog can continue.


Today was fairly productive.  Any day that I get to hold my new niece is a good one.  Today just happened to be one of those days.  Every time I get her in my arms and she's looking up at me, or staring off into the void which I always misinterpret as her being interested in what I'm doing with my face, I feel like I'm on cloud nine-hundred!  She's so perfect and beautiful I just want to hi-five my sister and brother-in-law for making such a wonderful little girl!


Rehearsals for the show in November and the gig this weekend were really good today.  The big band is making some progress.  I'm excited to see where the Schneider music will go and how it will develop over the next couple of months.  The charts for the gig this weekend are sounding pretty good.  I just hope that tomorrow night's rehearsal will be as productive, if not more so, than tonight.  Keep you fingers crossed...


That's all for now, more to come, sooner rather than later...


Ciao!

News, News, News...

In the time that has elapsed between the last post and now, so much has happened!  I guess the simplest way to put it would be to have a small list to bring everyone up to speed.  It is as follows:

• I'm a new uncle!!!!!
• My sister had her baby!
• I'm currently seeking a new line of work...
• Up coming gig this weekend at a local winery...
• New Jazz band music is extremely challenging and rehearsals are really great...
• My roommate, who just moved in a month ago is thinking about moving out to get a house...
• I'm finished with my degree and trying to get things moving towards the masters...

So, in a quick and itemized "nutshell" that is what's been happening in my neck of the woods.  The most wonderful part of it all is the new baby girl.  Her name is Charlotte and she's incredible!  My whole life changed and I was amazed seeing my sister in a completely new light, as a new mommy!  Needless to say everyday that I get to spend time with my sister and her new family makes my life that much more meaningful and special.


Musically, the world is moving a little slower than I would like, but things are in motion to alleviate that situation.  With a great gig this weekend, we shall see what types of things come from playing a great show.  Hopefully more and more gigs...just have to keep my fingers crossed with this new ensemble.


I wish everyone a great week and luckily the posts will be a bit more frequent.


Ciao!

The Baby, The Black Sheep, and Some Quality Time...

I'm sure of one thing, that being an uncle for the first time is going to be awesome!

The Labor Day weekend has brought some wonderful quality time spent with family and friends.  With the immanent arrival of my sister's baby, we are all still operating at DEFCON 2, so the tension is high  but it's that good kind of tenseness that makes life exciting!

The rain in the afternoons has been wonderful and it poured freely during and epic storm last night!  The weather was cool and calm and I've always been in love with the aroma of fresh rain off the mountain blowing gently on the cool night air...intoxicating.  Needless to say the evenings have been getting cooler and it feels wonderful.  Last night during the storm some friends, my sister, her husband, and I watched a film from New Zealand.  The film was entitled "Black Sheep".  This quite possibly could have been the best horror/comedy I have ever seen.  The effects were perfect for the setting and the story was so absurd that the entire evening reeked of sheep and horror gore.  Great Saturday night activity for a group of friends.  Check this one out everyone, it's definitely worth wasting a few hours!

Monday is coming and we'll see how far along she is with contractions.  Practice time is upon me and I must heed the call of what Wayne Bergeron referred to as a "coil of torture".  Ciao!

Pitter Patter...

So the big news is that my sister is getting closer to having her first baby!!! Everyone is on pins and needles waiting for the "little bundle of joy" to arrive.  I have to say that the anticipation of becoming an uncle is driving me a little bonkers, but its going to be awesome when it all happens.


She's due any time now...keeping our fingers crossed for a safe and successful delivery!


Ciao!