goose update

Nature has dealt a cruel blow to the pair of geese that I've been obsessing about since the middle of May when I first saw their nest. They laid their eggs on a tiny island in the middle of a drainage pond and unfortunately the water level fluctuates quite a bit. The mother was apparently still in the midst of laying her eggs because she would occasionally leave the nest for short periods of time. It looks like there are two or three eggs in there. I read that once the goose lays all of her eggs she doesn't leave the nest until they've hatched. So hopefully she had a few more to go.

When we got all that rain last week the island was nearly completely under water. I took this picture around noon on Tuesday.

Later that evening the geese came back and they just stood there motionless while we looked at them. It was pretty sad. I don't think they had quite figured out what they should do next. I know how that feels. The water had subsided a little bit. I was sure that the nest had washed away and unfortunately freshly laid goose eggs don't float.

I checked again on Wednesday but they weren't there. I think they are probably gone for good. Maybe they found a new place to lay the rest of their eggs.

On Thursday I went back one last time. The water level was back where it had been the very first time I saw the nest. The twigs of the nest actually looked like they had survived the flooding, but the eggs are gone. So I guess I won't be seeing any one day old goslings swimming around in this pond anytime soon. I hope that she had a couple more eggs to drop and she found a safer place to build her new nest.

Life is so random sometimes. Since I became a freelancer I've learned that it's all just part of the package. You just deal with whatever comes your way, however good or bad or strange it happens to be. We lost our home four years ago and we're still rebuilding it. That disrupted a rather nice steady employment situation that I gratefully enjoyed for four years.

Then I was given a wonderful opportunity to finish my M.M. degree. On the very first day of school I got a call for a three month jazz trio gig in Dubai. That is exactly the kind of thing that I have always wanted to do but hadn't really pursued so that was very random. I was bummed that I couldn't do it and I saved that message on my phone for the entire school year. The year of school was wonderful though and well worth doing.

While I was at graduation I got a call to do a three month ship gig in the Mediterranean, which I can't do yet because I need to stay home and finish building my house. And exactly one week after getting a masters in jazz studies I suddenly and inexplicably find myself having a bunch of classical gigs, including a performance of the Mozart Requiem and a recording session for a new requiem by a local composer.

I guess I'll be thinking about those poor little unborn goslings while I play these pieces. I'll be thinking about other friends too. But now it's time to stop with all the philosophizing and go cut the damn grass which is super long once again.

Karaoke Conductor

Tonight I conducted in public for the very first time. One of my duties as a teaching assistant this semester is conducting the largest jazz ensemble at UMD for a few tunes at each concert. I have no idea what I'm doing. I never took conducting, so I'm kind of bad at it, I think. I can't actually tell. Anyway I did it and good or bad, it was kind of fun. I counted them off, waved my arms and pointed at people, and announced the tunes.

This particular band is huge - all the parts are doubled. They have about 12 saxes - maybe more, 6 trombones, 8 or 9 trumpets, 2 clarinets, 2 flutes, 2 guitars, accordian, vibes, piano, bass, drums, and a vocalist. Fortunately for me, a large jazz ensemble usually does not require much in the way of conducting skills. Once you count it off, it kind of plays itself. It will keep going even if you mess up. Just like karaoke.

I love how obvious it is that Spring is on its way and you can tell that even at night. That little white spot is the moon. It didn't photograph nearly as big as it actually was. But at least the trees look kind of cool.

my kind of day

Lately I've been feeling like I'm on a treadmill. The stuff I have to do never stops. It's really too bad I don't have time to get on a real treadmill. That would actually be fun - and good for me too!

Today was an excellent day. I was playing bass all day long so I'm all happy and unexhausted and my back feels great for a change. Poor Doug had to work over at the house all by himself today. Too bad. I'm tired of being tired. I needed a break. He likes working on the house so he can just keep doing it until he's finished.

Anyway, I played in the crazy time signature big band up in Baltimore from 11:00 until 1:00 and then played the 2:30 show of The Music Man at the Atlas Theater - sightreading=fun! Then I went with some orchestra people to the Argonaut and had a lovely Portobello mushroom sandwich and sweet potato fries, followed by a fabulous latte at Sova, my favorite H Street coffeehouse. Then we all went back and played the 7:00 show.

The Music Man is not really one of my favorite shows - it's kind of square or something - and not very "jazzy" but it does have some lovely bowed string parts, so I enjoyed it anyway.

The thing that really made my day happened during the opening scene where all of the travelling salesmen are riding the train to their next destination and reading newspapers while they ride. The guy in front who I could see from the pit had an old looking newspaper with a picture on the back of a kid with an afro. I thought that was kind of odd. It was a little too 1970s-looking for a show that supposedly takes place in 1912. Then I looked again and I swear that picture was of Michael Jackson when he was about 10 years old. And that is hilarious because Michael Jackson is originally from Gary, Indiana. Gary, Indiana is mentioned a lot in the show and there's even a song with that title.

So whenever you hear "Gary, Indiana" mentioned, are you reminded more of Michael Jackson, or the song from The Music Man? I guess it might depend on how old you are.

Here's the video from the movie, which features Ron Howard in his pre-Opie days and Shirley Jones in her pre-Partridge Family days. It's kind of adorable but it's also slightly cringe-worthy. Enjoy!

so busy....

My blogs have kind of fallen by the wayside recently, and now that I finally have a free minute, I guess I might as well throw up some pictures (since I seem to also have diarrhea of the camera) and try to remember what I've been doing for the last week.

The trip to Atlantic City last Friday was quick but fun. My friend MyCatTom and I yakked away for the entire trip up and the entire trip back which made the drive seem really short. We rehearsed in the afternoon and did the concert that night. The various "Swingettes" came from DC, NY, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and Atlantic City. I enjoyed playing with all of them. There wasn't much free time, but I was able to hobble on down to the beach. It was unbelievably cold and windy there. On the way home the road was extremely well-lit by an enormous full moon.

The things you can buy in New Jersey!

Why is the beach so pink?

I guess I was walking around in the Red Light District

We saw this on the way home. Too bad they were closed!

The Messiah rehearsal and concert over on Kent Island last weekend went well. But I had to get up at the crack of dawn, which not exactly my favorite time of day.

Sunrise on the Severn

This must be the Great Wye Oak's great grandson.

I'm totally finished with school for the semester. I really enjoyed teaching my class, but I'm glad I don't have to do it next semester because my own course load is going to be much larger than it was this fall.

I'm playing a musical adaptation of Theodore Roethke's poem "The Waking" for December graduation at UMD tomorrow. Just me and a singer. She has a beautiful voice and it's a pretty cool piece. The bass part works great in the original "guy" key but the transposed bass part lies in a kind of awkward and less resonant area of the bass, so there's no way to make it sound as good as the recording. Even the bass player on the recording would not be able to sound as good in the key I'm doing it in. So that's a little frustrating, but I think the over all effect will still be nice. I haven't played in a hall as big as the Comcast Center for a few years so I'm looking forward to that as well. We had the soundcheck this morning and the sound guy is great. I'm digging the reverb - a lot! Anyway, here's the original version of the piece, in the original, more resonant key.

a little bit sad it's almost over

School is winding down now. My classes are finished and all I have left is giving the final exam, which I've already finished writing, to my improv class next Monday. Once I finish grading the projects and the exams I'll be done. I loved teaching this course and I'm actually going to miss it next semester in spite of how much work it was to prepare for it each week. It's nerve-wracking to do something like this for the first time but I really enjoyed organizing the material into a semester long program and planning all of the various activities that would reinforce the stuff that I presented. The students seemed to think that it was challenging but fun and they all made good progress. It was a very satisfying experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to teach it.

We are going to be working like crazy on our house for the next six weeks because Doug thinks we can have it finished by the final inspection deadline. I've fallen for that kind of talk before. We'll see....

This weekend I've got a gig in Atlantic City with an all girl band called the "Swingettes." I'm carpooling up with a friend from here and we will be playing with other people we know from NYC and Philadelphia. That should be fun. Except that I've got a Messiah rehearsal the next morning that I have to rush home for, and it's on Kent Island. And then there's the rest of the weekend. It's fun to be busy with non-construction type activities though. My hands like that a lot.

Tennessee Tour

We left late Wednesday night last week for a little mini-tour which involved a lot of driving but was also a lot of fun. We had some gigs with a Benny Goodman/Peggy Lee tribute show that started in Cleveland, TN on Thursday and ended in Bluefield, WV last night. The headliners were from Boston, and most of the rest of the band was from the Knoxville area except for a drummer from North Carolina.


I had most of the day off on Friday so I did some exploring in the Knoxville area, but it was so cold that I spent the entire morning goofing off in a coffee shop in downtown Knoxville before heading out in my car to check out the rest of the downtown area and some sections south of town. I attempted to go for a walk by a lake. It was a pretty lake but too cold for me so I finished the day back at the coffee shop.




One thing I noticed while hanging out there was that a lot of the customers had nose piercings, which is fine, but they weren't the usual single stud or loop on the side of the nose - instead a lot of them had a piercing through the middle that looped down and ended in two balls, with one coming out of each nostril. Maybe it was the weather, but I started thinking that it looked like they all had silver snot hanging out of their noses. Now that's a whole lot more attractive than real snot so I'm actually kind of glad it was silver. But ewww, what if you had a piercing like that and suddenly had to blow your nose?


When I went to pick up Doug I got to see the amazing restoration and remodeling work that Vance and Emily are doing on their house way up on a hill overlooking the Tennessee River and downtown Knoxville. The style of the inside of their house is exactly how I want mine to look if we ever get to that point. Emily has done most of the molding work herself and has even built a few couches! Now I almost feel like trying that. Almost. Anyway it was very inspiring, and cool to see how good some of the things I had been envisioning actually look in a real house.
(A real house, as opposed to a Foam Core Fantasy).

We drove about an hour east to the Sevierville area to spend the night at Tom's house which is on top of a ridge way out in the woods in the Great Smoky Mountains. His driveway was about a half mile of this:

Kind of exciting in a Deliverance sort of way!

Tom's house reminded me of a ski lodge - very rustic but very nice. Doug said it was sort of log cabin style construction. If so, it was the most luxurious log cabin I've ever been in. The weather was appropriately cold - it got down to 17 degrees that night. Tom's girlfriend Teresa made an incredibly delicious dinner for us and also breakfast the next morning. Then we caravaned up to the gig in West Virginia.

Tom was nice enough to find an orchard store that we could stop at on the way that had Doug's favorite apple, the Arkansas Black, in stock so we bought an entire bushel of them.

They got quite a bit of snow down there in southeastern West Virginia, but the roads were fine.

This mountain didn't photograph very well because of the glare of the sun - be sure to shield your eyes!

Yep, I've been around the block a few times.....

As if I wasn't busy enough already, now I'm in grad school, trying to enrich my life as Doug and I drive ourselves into the ground building our house. I was awarded a teaching assistantship so sometimes I am also the teacher of some of my fellow students. On top of that I'm quite a bit older than most of the kids in my department and I'm the only female. I've kind of been enjoying the weirdness of both of those things. It can be pretty amusing at times. My immature sense of humor is serving me quite well in this situation.

So yesterday I was running the jam session and one of the guys came up to me afterwards and said "You seem like you've been around the block a few times...." and then asked for some advice about making an audition tape for something. I was kind of flattered that he'd ask me such a question and also relieved .... I guess..... that he was at least thoughtful enough to use the word "seem" instead of "look." I guess he was trying to be all casual and cool with that "around the block" expression. Anyway, I was laughing about that for the rest of the day!!!

The Night Has 1000 Eyes, John Coltrane vs. Bobby Vee

The combo I'm coaching at school is playing this piece on their concert next month. I had to submit the tune list to the head of the department today and I decided that I should double check all of the composers of the tunes my combo is doing. The Night Has 1000 Eyes is in a fake book we use which is called, rather ironically, the Real Book. This book is well known amongst jazz musicians for being full of errors and the composers that were listed for this song somehow didn't seem right to me. I thought I should double check.

So I did my research the fast and easy way, using Google, and found out who the correct composers were for this tune, which happens to be the title song from a 1948 movie. It has become a jazz standard as a result of John Coltrane's rendition:

In addition, I discovered that there is in fact another song by the same name and the composers are the ones that are incorrectly listed in the Real Book. This song is from 1963 and was a hit for Bobby Vee. The video is hilarious:

lots and lots of music

The weekend has barely gotten started and I'm exhausted already. Hopefully by the time it's over, I'll be exhilarated. I've been back at work over at the foamcorefantasy house now that I can wear an actual pair of shoes, but I've really gotten used to not working on the house during the past seven weeks. We're still putting up siding, and the backyard "pets" are still in abundance.

Tonight I heard a wonderful concert featuring vocalist Gretchen Parloto and bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spaulding. They were both amazing, but Esperanza completely blew me away. She is phenomenal and inspiring.

Tomorrow morning I'm subbing on a Sweeney Todd rehearsal, putting up some more siding, playing another little gig, then I'm going to try to make David Sanborn's late set at Blues Alley if they put me on the list. (I know someone in the band - ha ha ha, actually I know at least 3 people in the band!)

Sunday I've got my brunch and then I'm heading down to Twins to hear pianist Leslie Pintchik. She's great and so is her bass-playing husband. Then I'll probably stay up really late getting ready for my class on Monday.

A Medley for Change

We did a quick little recording session yesterday and it's on YouTube already! Here's the link to it on YouTube in case the thing here doesn't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i2S5A-x0Ig

Concerts this weekend

A fundraising cabaret-concert for the Obama campaign at the beautifully restored Atlas Theater, 1333 H Street, NE, will be held this Saturday, September 20. Bar opens at 7:00, concert is at 8:00. Noted local singer Steve Washington will perform with a 7 piece jazz band. Donations start at $35 and there are plenty of cool places to go on H street after the concert. Tickets can be purchased at the door or by visiting http://www.aconcertforchange.org/. Hope to see you there!

Steve Lippia, THE Frank Sinatra tribute singer, will be performing Frank's biggest hits with his band this Sunday at 2pm at the Weinberg Center in Frederick.

The Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Saelzer, will perform at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, 6601 Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda on Sunday at 5pm. The program will include the Strauss Emperor Waltzes and Brahms Symphony #2. Donations are appreciated, admission is free.

It's Official....

I still love teaching! This is good news because it is my "retirement" plan, the only one I've got so far.

I started teaching piano when I was 14 years old. I hid that fact from my piano teacher because I thought she would be horrified. I only charged twice as much as I made from babysitting because I didn't want to rip off any of my poor guinea pig students. I went on to get a B.Mus. in piano performance with the intent of becoming a professional piano teacher.

I put off getting a M.M. because I had become interested in going to law school. I took the LSAT and did pretty well on it so that was definitely a possibility. I also wanted to make sure that I liked teaching piano enough to spend the additional money on a masters degree because I knew it would undoubtedly be much more difficult to pay off student loans as a piano teacher than it would be as a lawyer. I also wanted to party like it was 1999, but that's another story. Fortunately that phase didn't last too long.

So I taught piano. And I loved it. I had 35-45 students most of the time. One year I had 55 but that was a little too much. I was involved with all of the local music organizations, and hosted 3 or 4 recitals per year for my students. I made sure that they got used to performing because it's supposed to be fun, right? Most of them seemed to enjoy it. They all did well in the various competitions they played in too, especially in the ensemble events.

Somewhere in there I took up the bass. It was my fun new hobby. I was teaching piano full time and playing bass here, there, and everywhere. I didn't practice much because I was too busy playing. Gradually I started getting gigs. After several years I got a call to do a road gig playing "Meet Me in St. Louis" for 3 months and that pretty much changed everything for me.

I spent a few years gradually easing out of teaching and I've pretty much just been a bass player for the past 10 years. Over all the money's not as good, but the experience has been well worth it. I love performing on the bass, especially in a group setting. Who knew? I wasn't particularly crazy about performing when I was a pianist. And I love the travel opportunities that have come my way. I'm missing that a lot right now, but if I go on the road my house will never get finished. On the very first day of school this year, I got a call about a 3 month gig with a piano player and singer at a hotel in Dubai. Way to rub it in, ye cursed forces of nature!

So I'm in school, and my teaching assistantship duties include teaching a beginning jazz theory and improvisation course and coaching a combo. And I have to say I love teaching just as much as I ever did. There's just something about it. So far it's my favorite part of being back in school.

I am especially overjoyed to realize that this is still true, after 10 years of not doing it, because we designed our house with a really nice set up for me to teach in. Once I become too old and decrepid to lug the bass and sound equipment around all over the place, I will go back to teaching piano, and maybe bass too. And I will probably do it until the day I die.

More Clarinda

Okay this is the last one, I promise! I was recently sent this link to a 10 minute TV feature about the Jack Million Band's trip to play at the Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda Iowa. It took place during all of the flooding and tornados back in June. It is quite interesting to hear all of this described in Dutch, and also to see some of the recreational activities the locals decided to share with the visiting musicians from Europe. I didn't know about the guns - that must have been the day I was out exploring on foot. Anyway this clip is highly entertaining, at least it is to me - because I'm in it!

Summer Weekend

I had a nice variety of gigs this weekend. Friday night I subbed for Man of La Mancha at the Church Street Theater. The regular guy left his bass for me to use so I took Metro down. It was great not having to haul a bunch of equipment for a change. Things were really jumping at the Dupont Circle Metro on the way home.

On Saturday night I had my favorite kind of summertime outdoor gig. It was a backyard party on Capital Hill with the Stateside Steel Band. I just love the playing calypso music with a steel drum band outside where everybody is having a good time. That's what summer is all about.

Sunday I played my usual brunch gig at Lia's in Chevy Chase. It's a jazz duo with bass and guitar. And I get to eat what usually ends up being my favorite meal of the week. The food is excellent.

The King of Jazz

On Tuesday evening we went down to the Library of Congress to see a screening of the 1930 movie "The King of Jazz" starring the very appropriately named Paul Whiteman. He is not the first person that most people would think of as being jazz royalty, but he was definitely one of the most successful early bandleaders who played "jazzy" music. This movie is a spectacularly entertaining example of the musical revues that were popular back in the 1930's. It features singing, dancing, novelty numbers, and some very elaborate costumes and scenery.

The Library of Congress might consider placing this movie on the National Film Registry, which means that they would then be able to preserve it and repair some of the blurriness and scratchiness that exists on the original. If you are interested in the restoration and preservation of this movie let them know by writing to:
National Film Registry Public Review Process
M/B/RS Division, Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540

Here are some clips from the movie that I found on YouTube.
This first clip is the cartoon prologue:



This one has some amazing dancing:


George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" was written as a result of a commission by Paul Whiteman. This is one of the earliest performances.

Man of La Mancha at Church Street Theatre

Last weekend I subbed on bass for Man of La Mancha at the Church Street Theater, AKA Keegan Theatre, in Dupont Circle. It was a nice production and apparently this review will appear in the Alexandria "Metro Herald", whatever that is. Anyway, this theater is a great place to see a show because it is so small that there are no bad seats. I won't be there, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

One of the best things about this particular gig is that the regular bass player left his bass there for me to use, so I didn't have to haul all of my stuff down there. It was pretty nice to be able to just walk in, pick up the bass, and play the show.

Shameless Self Promotion

So I learned a new blogging skill today. (see above) The drummer is the amazing and incredible Brooks Tegler. The bass player is me. The trombone player is kind of cute, isn't he?

The Baggage Handlers at Midway

I was just looking back at all of the posts I made about my trip to Iowa. I sure seem thrilled by it all. I'm guessing it will be the only significant trip I'm going to be taking this year, mostly thanks to this unending project , so I'm milking it for all that I can. In another year I'll finally be free to get back to taking some longer trips. Finally.

Landing in Chicago

On the flight back home I had another chance to take a video of my bass being manhandled by the baggage guys. I guess at the end of a long day, a gigantic "99.5" pound bass trunk is about the last thing a baggage handler wants to see coming down the conveyor belt. I sort of wish I hadn't seen this, but it's good to be aware. Anyway, the trunk really is built for this kind of treatment (I hope) and there was no damage to the trunk or the bass whatsoever. Still, this is one scary video featuring one very angry baggage handler. The video from the flight on the way out was a lot less horrifying.

So far the cost of the trunk and the risks I have taken in flying with it since 1997 have all been well worth the playing experiences that I've been able to enjoy, all because I happen to own a bass trunk. Here are a few of the highlights:

• My first cruise ship gig, which included 2 months in the Caribbean, crossing the Panama Canal several times and 2 months cruising all around Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. I'll never forget playing out on the deck, serenading the people on land with Italian tunes as we entered Venice for the first time.
  
• A big band theme cruise with Tex Benecke, and crossing the Atlantic playing several additional big band theme cruises.
  
• A New Years Eve gig with the Artie Shaw band in Tunica, Mississippi.


• A few gigs with the all-female big band Diva.


• Four years on the road travelling all over the USA with the In the Mood show.


• Playing with the awesome Jack Million Big Band from Belgium at the Glenn Miller Festival.

I probably wouldn't have been able to do any of these things without a bass trunk, so I'm extremely happy that I made the investment. However I may be thinking twice about flying as much in the future. I've heard all of the horror stories and one of these days it will probably be my turn too. I really hope I'll be able to stop before that happens, but I'm not finished quite yet.

The Glenn Miller Festival

Glenn Miller's Birthplace in Clarinda, Iowa

I had an absolute blast playing at the Glenn Miller Festival with the Jack Million Big Band from Belgium. They were all outstanding musicians and super nice people too. I really enjoyed getting to know all of them. I was also very happy to spend an entire week playing with Brooks Tegler on drums. The singers that came with the band from Belgium were first rate, as was the guest singer, Jan Eberle. She is the daughter of Ray Eberle, one of Glenn Miller's original singers, and she actually spent her early childhood on the road with the band in the 1960's. Here we are:

They had a very large exhibit of Glenn Miller memorabilia. I was rather amused when someone pointed out an old newspaper article on one of the tables which featured a picture of my husband who was there performing with the Airmen of Note.

For the festival we played two rehearsals, three concerts, a dance, and a parade through town. On the last day we played a concert just outside of Des Moines which honored the soldiers from Iowa who have perished while serving their country.

Two Good Things

I sure hope we can get our house finished this summer because I'm going to be pretty busy this fall. I recently found out that I'm going to be able to finish my M.M. in Jazz Studies with the help of a teaching assistantship. Awesome!

And in June I will be subbing for a week with the Jack Million Band from Belgium for a series of concerts in Iowa, including the Glenn Miller Festival. Yay me.

So I'm getting in tiny little bits of travel here and there, but the major stuff like touring and ship work is going to have to wait another whole year.