Gettin' into it.

I am nearing week 5 of being on this tour, and am finally starting to feel pretty comfortable with the whole deal. That statement may be derivative of the three day sit down in Cleveland (in a nice hotel that has a killer breakfast) that I am currently enjoying...though I believe it to be mostly true. I've got the show down and now am trying to edit/put some better sounding things in, I'm getting along with people nicely, I discovered a good way to sleep sitting up on the bus (this was quite an endeavor), and I'm used to traveling around without ceasing. These are all good things.

Another tidbit of news is that I'm keeping the gig through May for sure now! Yus! I just found out a couple days ago, it's pretty great. It goes all the way until May 15th. And after my christmas layoff (Dec 18th-27th) we're doing full week stays in Canada, florida, texas, and other wonderful places. It'll be a much nicer schedule than what is going on now.

My current objectives at this time (outside of the show) are to actually learn how to play mandolin properly (right now I'm...getting by), and get myself some nasty rock/shred/fusion chops (chops = skills). I've been listening to a rock/fusion player named Guthrie Govan that I am pretty obsessed with, as well as a fusion guy named Scott Henderson. They've got some nice stuff. Learning licks from them is a great way for me to build my technique...I'm already noticing improvements in my playing, which makes me happy. Also, I'm trying to work up the courage to shave my beard. It's really a frightening prospect. I just keep telling myself that I'll do it tomorrow...

Picture time!

(From top) Shot from my hotel room. Biggest hotel room to date!

Random shots from the pit. The two dudes lucky enough to make it into my pit photo-shoot are the excellent brass section (John on trombone and Jim on trumpet). The keyboard you see is one of two...between the two of them they make a large portion of what one actually hears in the crowd (they do everything...from strings to brass to guitar parts). Finally, you get to see two important parts of my rig. I consume between 4 and 7 altoids per show, and use my deluxe tool set (enclosed in the ziploc bag) for a variety of applications.

That's all for now...so long!