I don't know if anyone is still reading this, BUT I do want this post up in case anyone is still out there. I'm hard at work on the new version of this site which will be fully functional soon. I've been playing a lot here in Austin and have all kinds of musical projects and performances to report. If anyone is interested I play Mondays at Cedar Street from 6-8, Wednesdays at 219 West (on 4th st) from 7-11, and at Roy's (2nd and Trinity) on Fridays 6-10. All of these are with the fabulous singer, Kevin Ahart.

As far as baseball playoffs go, this year is easy. National league - Cards trounce Dodgers, Astros edge Braves, Cards trounce Astros. American League - Red Sox beat Angels, Twins beat Yankees, Sox beat Twins. So Cards and Sox in the series and as I must say, SOX WIN! Check back for much more frequent updates, latest gig info, and the new, fancy version of my site very soon!

September 30, 2003 Welcome to texas, welcome to BASEBALL PLAYOFFS!!!

I'm very sorry for the long, long, long delay since my last update. As most of you out there in webland know, I've moved to Round Rock, TX. I grew very tired of New York City and its meaningless, self-important fury and headed for a more satisfactory life back here in the haven that is Central Texas. Those of you who haven't been before don't know what you're missing.

However, more important than that is the commencement of the 2003 post-season in Major League Baseball. If you refer back to my predictions from the beginning of the year, you'll find that I was reasonably accurate. The only division that I was way off on was the National League West. In retrospect a wild-card prediction might have been nice. But now, for my next trick, I will predict the outcome of every post-season series:

That is some pretty daring foresight if you ask me. Let's see how it all plays out. Truth be told, I think the Giants may beat the Red sox if it gets to the series there, but I cannot turn my back on the Sox at this point. If I had picked the Cubs to go all the way to the big games I'd have chosen them as the winner also!! As long as we avoid the heart rending event of a Cubs-Red Sox world series. I wouldn't even be able to watch!!!

More updates to come, more frequently!!

June 26, 2003 New York City Strikes again - this time they've resorted to common thievery

In the past four days I have recieved 5 parking tickets totalling $375. I also witnessed the doormen of our building being written a ticket for having too much trash on the sidewalk in front of our building. Some of you may have heard a story on the news around a month ago about a pregnant woman in the Bronx getting a ticket for sitting on the steps to a subway platform. At first I thought, "Well, she really shouldn't be sitting there . . . that's what they make benches for." Then I realized that it would have been much easier, more reasonable, and more civil for the police officer to have simply asked her to move. This was the beginning of New York City attempting to "raise money" to help the ailing budget. This comes after a subway fare hike, a railroad fare hike, a bus fare hike, a taxi fare hike, increased tolls at all bridges, increased sales tax, increased property tax, increased income tax, cut backs in essential services (firemen, police, sanitation workers), increased parking fines, and removal of rent protection laws. Did I miss any? Since I don't know all the details I can't say whether all these financial problems are warranted, but I can say that their method of "fund raising" is not acceptable. I've read a lot about the history of New York City and the infamous ages of corruption with government officials, but I thought I'd never see it face to face. Let me explain:

The first four of my five tickets came early Monday morning and again early Tuesday morning. I received the first ticket for parking in a crosswalk -- however, there was no crosswalk. The second ticket was because our registration sticker in the window did not match the license plate number. That was, indeed, our fault (we have the right sticker, but it wasn't displayed - long story - I'll spare you), but they never would have spotted that if they weren't writing a bum ticket for a non-exisitent crosswalk. The third and fourth tickets were duplicates of the first two written less than 24 hours later. Those four total $320. Upon further inspection I noticed that the ticket was written with my car parked at 81st and Riverside, but I was parked at 80th and Riverside. At 81st, there is a crosswalk, while at 80th there is not. Could it be that the officer wrote the tickets wrong on purpose, knowing that when it came down to it, we'd have no way to prove we were actually parked at 80th where there is no crosswalk and therefor no ticketable offense?? Sounds too dictator-like to be an American city. So now the police just make up offenses to write tickets to raise money?? Hmmmm . . .

The next instance in the attack of the NYPD-gestapo was just this morning. As April and I returned from the gym we saw a sanitation officer writing a ticket to one of our doormen. There was a bunch of trash that had been left behind by the GARBAGE MEN who didn't do a good job picking it up, allowing a bunch to be spilled on the street. So, the garbagemen come along, make a mess, and then the law-enforcement wing of the same agency comes along minutes later to write a ticket to OUR BUILDING!! Are you kidding?? A few hours later, I went down to go move the car for alternate side of the street parking (street cleaning). I had ANOTHER TICKET!!! This one was accusing me of parking during the no-parking hours, which are 11:30am-1:00pm Monday and Thursday. The ticket clearly has the correct no-parking hours marked on it, yet it was issued at 11:02am. This one is the worst as it even states clearly on the ticket that they are just making up the offense. That one was for $55, bringing the total to $375 dollars. We are fighting all five of these tickets although we may have to end up paying for the mismatched registration.

So this is what it's come to. The city is now just flat-out robbing us. Do you have a car?? Well, they'll put a made-up ticket on it and tell you owe them money under penalty of incarceration. Who do we take this to?? The cops and the city are the criminals in this case. We're tattling on the robbers to the ROBBERS! I thought that NYC had come a long way since the days of Boss Tweed and the corrupt dictator-like conditions he created. Apparently I was wrong. I never thought I would see anything like this. We have the constitution to hold off such practices . . . but I guess that doesn't count if the "greatest city in the world" needs some quick cash. New York City is as worthless as ever.

June 8, 2003 Annika, Sammy, and the importance of youth sports

Has it really been a month?? My apologies for all the regular visitors to my updates page. I've been meaning to discuss a few important topics for awhile now, so get ready, because here I go (in reverse chronological order):

Sammy Sosa is not a cheater.

Sammy is a great hitter, and a fan favorite, but Sammy is not very bright. He may have taken the corked bat up there by mistake, or he may have had an error in judgement in desperation to get out of his slump. The recourse for this activity should and will be an 8 game suspension. Intentional or not, the rule was broken. The real debate and the real problem here is that people are questioning his massive homerun and RBI totals. None of his 76 bats that they inspected were corked, as were none of the 5 in the hall of fame, and when they sawed the bat that hit HR # 498 very recently on ESPN, it was genuine WOOD and nothing else. I saw it with my own eyes. If Sammy had gained a corked edge along the way, we would have seen something strange in one of the hundreds of bats he's broken over the past few years. I could go into more detail about how a the cork in the bat really doesn't physically give the hitter an advantage (it's like the Schwartz from Spaceballs - IT'S IN YOU LONE STAR!!), but I'll spare you.

Now, Annika. I was, of course, glued to the set a few weeks ago as Annika played at the Colonial. I'm having a hard time coming up with a logical reason why I was happy about her playing, so for now I'll just have to go with my heart. Personally I felt like it was a great triumph for her . . . because she played so poorly. "WHAT?" you say. Well, she played so bad and still managed to only shoot 5-over. If she'd played well, she would have probably shot around 2-under. That's damn good, man or woman, on the PGA tour. As in everything, it's not so important what happened as much is what it means. As I'm getting older (and married and all that good stuff), I see things around me in the world and think how it will affect any kids I may have. Coincidentally, April and I had already picked out the name for our little girl and it is, you guessed it, Annika. We had decided this a long time before she even thought about playing at the Colonial (I mean, come on, Annika Johannesen is a fantastic name!!), but all this coincidence is fun. One of the most important lessons I hope to teach my future daughter is that she has a lot to offer the world and her #1 attribute is not to be sexually attractive to men. Here in NYC (Long Island especially) the younger girls do not play sports and don't really occupy themselves with much other than going to mall, buying makeup, and doing their hair. When I think of the girls I knew growing up in Texas, most of them had something that they DID. My sister played (and still can play) her ass off at softball. On her corporate teams after college she was always the "ringer" girl that could knock it over the drawn-in outfield. I knew girls that were very active in gymnastics, band, basketball, volleyball, and (god forbid) academics. All these things teach them that they are capable people and their main focus need not be to look pretty. Girls involved with youth sports can grow up to be strong, capable adults with a solid self-image rather than limiting themselves to being a sex-object or a trophy wife. Annika out there on the course, with NO MAKE-UP, playing golf at a level few humans can achieve is something I wish my daughter could have seen. She is a role model to little girls everywhere, encouraging them that they have as much to offer the world as anyone and should not limit themselves.

Now, one problem here is that even as women accomplish these things, a lot of men can't get passed they're own sexual problems. Women's tennis is a glaring example. These women are GREAT and should be respected as athletes, yet most men still only see them as sex-objects and don't recognize the amazing things of which they are capable. I've heard way too many sports casters making catcall-like references to many women tennis players. Can't we get passed this? For the sake of my daughter, I hope so. She's not going to be willing to put up with that crap.

And one last note, the womens' national soccer team is about twice as good as the mens' team. And, no, Mia Hamm, is not their best player.

May 8, 2003 Sprained in New York

While on a quick, day-off 9-hole round of golf with my wife April, we ran into a little trouble. As I watched her trudge out into the rough on the 5th hole to find her long, but errant drive, I saw her suddenly, crumple into a heap. At first I thought she was joking or just tripped, but then an urgent cry of "WILLIAM!!!" came across the fairway. I hurried over, and she had twisted her ankle in an unseen hole. It turned out to be not so bad, but still painful. She toughed it out and finished the round (what a trooper), but later in the day it began to swell and hurt.

With all the walking necessary in NY, April would need some way to get around. So we started to investigate renting a pair of crutches. Anywhere else in the country a 5 minute trip to the pharmacy will get you a pair for pretty cheap, but this is NY -- the city with everything, except anything you need. The pharmacies here not only don't rent crutches, they don't know where you can get them . . . nor are they willing to offer any help. We called April's doctor who said she'd have to come to him for an appointment to get a referral to an Orthopedist who could then write her a prescription so she could get them. Hmmmmm . . . how are we supposed to drag my poor girl around the city to two unnecessary doctor appointements as well as to some supply store to get the crutches?? You'd think that in such a foot-traffic-heavy place, the crutches would come first so you could get to the doctor appointments . . . but no. We followed a lead from our neighbors to check for medical supply stores in the Yellow Pages and found Sharp Medical Inc where a man told us he had a pair of crutches and would rent it to us for a week at $10. Great. We went to his building expecting a store, but we found an old man in an apartment filled with boxes of medical supplies. He had boxes and boxes full of medical masks for people afraid of SARS (which is especially funny since medical masks are not effective in preventing the spread of SARS). His living room was literally filled with unopened orders of supplies for people. He was nice enough and rented us the crutches with no big deal, but that was a unique situation. We started the day looking for a pair of crutches and ended up at Mr. Sharp's apartment over on Columbus Ave discussing the run on medical masks. It hate the phrase, but only in New York.

In other news, softball season is in full swing and its great to be out in the sun again!! I'm playing a reading session at the New School tonight . . . it'll be fun if I can get any of my reeds to play. Big news to come . . .

April 24, 2003 Who does Keith Hernandez think he is?

One of the quirks about New York City that I will miss once I figure out how to escape will be Keith Hernandez as the baseball analyst for the Mets games on MSG. I grew up with Harry Caray and Steve Stone calling games for the Cubs on WGN in the late 80's and early 90's. I got to hear the "It could be, it might be, IT IS!! . . . a homerun for Andre Dawson!! CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN!' Here in NY, things are a little different.

Keith Hernandez (for those of you unfamiliar with our national pasttimes' recent history) played first base for the Mets in 1986 when they won the World Series. He was also the MVP of that series . . . impressive. Now, he's the baseball analyst for much of the local TV coverage of the Mets games, and he hates this team. He's a very smart man and a wealth of knowledge about how to play baseball well. Day in and day out he see's the Mets doing silly, stupid things on the field. But, rather than be a TV personality and rationalize why whatever just happened was OK (keep the fans hopeful and interested) he lets it fly about what a chowder-headed play he just saw. Everytime Robbie Alomar slides head-first into first base, which truly is a chowder-headed thing to do, Keith goes into the reasons why it was dumb. "There's NO excuse for that," is one of his favorites. The other day Fran Healy (one of the other commentators) mentioned what a beautiful swing Mo Vaughn has (which he doesn't), and Keith corrected him by saying, "No, he has a power, low-ball swing." An awkward silence followed and then an abrupt change of subject. He says stuff like this everyday and it is simultaneously discomforting and refreshing. It's good to hear somebody being honest on television, but sometimes you wonder how the guys on the team feel about Keith and his flapping mouth. He was the World Series MVP 17 years ago, but he's not Superman . . . that's Derek Jeter's job.

In my own personal version of baseball season, we've begun our softball season in Central Park. We haven't had enough of a turnout to get a full game yet, but this Monday will be only our third gathering. If anyone out there in internet-land wants to come play visit my Softball Page. I assure that I never slide head-first, run out every ball, and never stop chasing down a pop-fly until I get called off by the centerfielder.

April 9, 2003 The Wedding

On April 6, 2003, April Johannesen and I got married. It was a beautiful day at Mayfield Park in Austin, TX. With our families and a few friends in attendance (as well as the Mayfield Park peacocks), we pledged our undying love to each other. The peacocks trumpeted, the frogs in the pond croaked, and my little nephew Scott sang along as we read our vows while choking back the tears of joy. It was a beautifully perfect day with many memorable events, not the least of which being tht April is now my wife! I'll post the pictures as soon as they are ready!

But, the wonerful week is over and I'm back in rainy, snowy(?!?!) New York City. Everyone here is still rude, the weather is still cold, but atleast baseball season has started. The warm weather, nice people, and general laid-back atmosphere of Austin makes me long more than ever before to return to Texas (or atleast, the Southwest). But, I still have work to do here in NY so the battle continues. Its amazing how a simple trip to the grocery store can be such an unpleasant experience!

March 20, 2003 Journalistic Accountability

I'll be blunt. I hate FOX News. As their coverage of the "war" (read - invasion) droned on into the night, I became so disgusted that I sought out the New York FOX 5 web site and uncharacteristically fired off an email expressing my disgust. Here it is:

I intentionally avoid watching Fox News as I usually find the reports and news shows to be rather unabashedly biased and sensationalist. I was particularly sickened by your incredibly reactionary coverage of the September 11th attacks and their aftermath. Normally, I keep my disgust to myself and leave you to cater to the more impressionable citizens in our society, but your coverage of the ongoing war situation is beyond reprehensible. I get a strong sense from the entire presentation of Fox News that you, as a station, have very little sense of history and perspective. You may or may not be familiar with the concept of "yellow journalism," but you are its modern manifestation in our society. You should be ashamed of yourselves for your consistently inciteful (not insightful), sensationalist presentation of the "news." I realize that your likely response is for me to simply watch some other station. I assure you that I will, as I always have, but I hope that maybe just one of you involved with Fox News will look in the mirror tonight with the knowledge that you are being held responsible for your despicable newscasts. Not everyone in this city is feeble-minded enough to accept the gossip-like gibberish that you pass off as news. We should all aim for something greater and more meaningful than this -- especially journalists, who above all, should be concerned with the truth. News programs should provide information, not attempt to influence opinion, as yours do. As I know, you claim to be "giving the people what they want." More realistically, you prey upon those that don't know better to improve your ratings and thusly your advertizing revenue. Fox News is an active pollutant in our society, and each of you that is involved with its production is leaving the world in a worse state than it was before. I realize that my opinion will not change the way you cover the news; I just want you to know that there is someone out there who sees you for what you are -- a profoundly negative influence on our deteriorating society.

I editted out the line that suggested that each person involved should look at themselves in the mirror and say, "I made the world worse today." That seemed a little too personal and belligerant. Anyone out there have any opinions? Let me know

March 17, 2003 The 2003 Mets Have Got to be Kidding

The 2003 Mets have got to be kidding. If anyone out there in TV land happened to see any part of the Spring training game against the Dodgers yesterday, you know what I mean. We have yet another "Texas Rangers-esque" team of high-priced, not-in-their-prime players trying to overcome great expectations as their careers dwindle. Cramming guys together on a team like this creates a very non-team atmosphere where no one cares, no plays well, and everyone mutters "there's always next year". We have Roger Cedeno playing center field. ROGER CEDENO?!?!? Are you kidding?!?!?!?! Even if we do get Shinjo in there (which we should) he'll be an offensive liability. Cliff Floyd can hit but runs like a tranquilized hippopotamus, and he's the starting left fielder!!

Before I go any further, let's count the "has beens", for lack of a better term. We've got Mo Vaughn (getting better), Robbie Alomar (overrated), Jeromy Burnitz (better do better), Tom Glavine, David Cone, John Franco (lots of heart but he's over 40), Al Leiter (again, lots of heart, but getting up there), Mike Piazza (doing well, but around retirement age for catchers). Some details . . . Mo Vaughn is and should be ashamed of last season, but it was after an entire year off, so I'll give him one more to prove his metal. Robbie Alomar was a hiped player that I'd never watched closely and I will tell you that he is not a smart ball player and getting a little clumsy out there at second base. For being a "future hall of famer" (an overused and foolish title) he sure made a hamfisted attempt at both defense and offense in 2002. Jeromy Burnitz showed promise with 2 homeruns (20% of his total contribution last year), but his swing is still to wild for consitency. Tom Glavine is used to being a part of a winning team with a solid counterpart (I'm reffering of course to the Braves and Greg Maddux). He will not survive standing as the lone ace on a rag-tag thrown-together squad like this, I predict he will have a winning percentage of 60%or LESS. David Cone may not make the squad after taking a year off to be a broadcaster, but I have to harbor good feelings for him. Even though it was for the Yankees, because of who he is, I still tear up when I see bits from his perfect game in '99. It remains to be seen what pat John Franco will have in this club after missing all of 2002 for Tommy John surgery. Great guy . . . great player . . . very old. I think he is still the official team captain, however. I love Al Leiter. He is an inspiration to us all with the way he puts his entire soul into every pitch. Unfortunately the combination of his slightly slower delivery from the stretch and Piazza's Swamp Thing-like throws to second base, Leiter's starts last year turned into track meets. I think hiw W-L was below .500, but that was also due to embarrassing run support. And this brings us the heart of the team, Mike Piazza. I used to doubt the man's swing. He was trained as a young player by the greatest to get in the box (Ted Williams) yet he still hits the ball with his right foot of the ground. I still don't understand how he went from Ted's style of hitting (which I endorse) to his own. However, after seeing him hit a homerun in person at Shea Stadium, I changed my story. Sure he's a total upper-body hitter, but he packs a wallop with some serious carry. And, he has dramatically improved his throw down to second base. Quick FEET!! That's the way.

I will now officially register my MLB 2003 predictions:

Well, there are my predictions. You can quote me on them at the end of the season. And, despite my concerns, I will be in attendance at many Mets games this season and hopefully I'll land some tickets for the home opener against the CUBS.

Also, Bush just laid down the law about Iraq and we'll be at war with 48 hours. Depressing. I don't know if it is the right thing, but I also know that I can't stop it. Let's hope its over quickly and no one is hurt.

March 16, 2003 Holy Crap!! SPRING!!!!!

I felt like it would never ever ever ever ever ever ever be warm again here in New York. But, alas, the temperature suddenly rocketed up to 73 degrees today (yea, you heard me). Almost like magic, the birds began singing, the sun came out and it just got warmer and warmer. April and I spent 3 hours outside throwing the softball around and having some 1-on-1 batting practice. We wore shorts and short sleeves and revelled in the miracle that is Spring. The forecast says it will hold for atleast the next few weeks, but I'm going to pretend its here to stay.

Musically, things are a little slow again, but the busy wedding season starts up after I get back from my own wedding on April 6. I played with the Howard Williams Big Band at the Garage last Monday. It is a much more straight-ahead band than the other Monday night bands here in the city. The 2nd alto chair is also a jazz chair (unusual!) so I got plenty of soloing opportunities, although I feel that I only used them wisely on the last two of the night. Also, I heard Josh Redman play with Roy Haynes at Birdland this week. Once again, Josh played some of the greatest music I've ever heard. I've heard him live twice and both times I left feeling like I'd just learned a new language or something. It's about as close as what I can only imagine it was like to hear Coltrane play back in the day! I also heard Joe Lovano recently at the Village Vanguard. He also played beautifully and has sent me on a Lovano-recordings kick that I'm enjoying! Its a shame that NY is such an unbearably awful place because there really is an abundance of amazing music.

Feb 18, 2003 Blizzard of 2003

OK, now I've experience a blizzard (qualified by less than 1/4 mile of visibility in the snow). We had the fourth highest accumulated rainfall in NYC history yesterday (19" on the 6:00 news) and it still hasn't stopped yet! It slowed last night but just picked up again this morning. The temperature is rising, and today is supposed to be the last day -- let's hope that turns out to be true.

This weekend I played a Valentine's Day wedding at Bethpage State Park (the golf course is buried in the snow of course). There was an untimely track fire on track 20 in Penn Station and they closed it up and cancelled all LIRR trains . . . yikes. I was travelling with George (our new bass player who lives up on 143rd st) and we were forced to get a car service from the city to take us all the way out there. It cost $100. You heard me right . . . a bill. We were also 45 minutes late to the gig, but we had notified the band leader by cell phone. We were able to sneak in without incident, but I did forget my bag with my clarinet/sound equipment/saxophone stand/percussion toys in the trunk of the cab. I got it back with another quick cell phone call. It was very stressful, but all turned out OK. It does seem, however, that the real heroes here were our cell phones.

Back to the snow. April is on her third consecutive 'SNOW DAY' as the trains are running too far behind and the Long Island roads aren't safe yet. Luckily she's rescheduled most of her students for later in the week . . . now if it would just stop snowing . . .

Feb 13, 2003 Filling the Void with Conspiracy Theories

Well, it's just been too damn long since I've written in here! I know you're all clamoring to find out what I've been up to and what gives with the delay in the updates. I wish I could say it has been due to my extremely busy playing schedule, but unfortunately I've just been too busy working on other websites. My next webworks opus (JosephPittman.com) is about to be released on the world . . . I'll announce that when it happens.

I've been playing in two groups here in the city, lately. I'm still involved with the Bill Warfield NY Fusion Ensemble (another rehearsal tomorrow morning) and a group put together by Trombonist Jamie Dubberly. It's 11 players (sometimes 12 with a guitar) and we play mostly Jamie's music as well as the baritone player's originals. They're starting to build up their book and maybe we'll go from a rehearsal band to a gigging band sometime soon. And, as always, I'm still working on plans for my own group. I've finally decided on the instrumentation and I'm making sketches for some charts right now. I need three or four pieces ready before I can call a rehearsal and get everyone to trek down to the union. I'll get it together soon enough.

I'm not going to really comment on the impending war. It's too complex of an issue for me to really take a side. I also feel like I don't know what the real truth of the whole thing really is. I don't have confidence that we are being fully informed from our government (an irony of the 'open society' we are fighting to protect) so I have a hard time drawing conclusions from questionable data. I will say that the long-time impedence by the oil companies (via the government) of the development of alternative fuels seems to finally be coming to an end. Fuel-cell vehicles are suposedly about 10-15 years away, but if we didn't have oil interests in the Middle East, this issue of invasion would be a lot more clear cut.

January 20, 2003 New Webworks Release

For all those interested, I (as a subsidiary of Wil Swindler WebWorks) just completed and unveiled a new website for Tim Young, a New York City guitarist who has just released a new album called 'No Stranger'. If you feel so inclined, please check it out at TimYoung.biz.

January 17, 2003 Learning about Seasons

As the winter months continue to plod their way through the city, I am forced to learn how to handle this whole new concept of "seasons." In Texas we have two seasons -- hot and cool. Hot is from May to September and Cool is from October around again to April. At no time during this two-season year is one required to stay inside. There is no "snow" or "inclimant weather" excepting the occassional rain or even a rare ice-storm. The bottom line is that I have gained a new appreciation for spring and summer and I have a feeling this spring and summer will be the best of my life because I will fully appreciate the ability to go outside and be active.

The cold hasn't completely beaten me down. I've still been going out to the driving range whenever the snow melts. A few weeks ago I actually chipped a mat at the Mosholu driving range out of a block of ice and hits balls out into the frozen snow. Last week I bounced some pitching wedge shots off a giant frozen puddle at SkyDrive in Amityville (Long Island). Yesterday, April and I braved the wind chill in the teens to step out for 20 minutes to Riverside Park and throw the softball around a little bit. It's uncomfortable, but so is staying inside all the time!

On the musical front, things have slowed also. I had my one wedding gig in January last Sunday and don't have anything again until Valentine's day. Luckily my Web Design Business has picked up and is sustaining me during these slow times. I went to hear Aaron Goldberg at the Rising in Brooklyn who was playing with my friends (and my rhythm section from the Sage Theater in Nov) Adam Thomas and Bill Campbell. It was great and a very intimate setting for such a great player! Tonight, I'm off to Symphony Space (right down the street from my apartment on 95th St) to hear the John Hollenbeck Band including some of my saxophone friends, Ben Kono and Tom Christensen. Next week, Pietro is playing at Detour and I will, of course, be there! I'm still back-burning my new ensemble and I feel that my floodgates will burst soon and get that project going. Wish me luck!

January 4, 2003 Cabin Fever in 2003

I apologize to all of my web-fans out there (all 6 of you) for the lengthy delay since my last update. As is evident by my absence, a lot has happened.

April and I spent Christmas in North Richland Hills, TX (DFW area) with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. The weather and atmosphere in Texas were a nice break from New York, and it is taking some adjustment to get back to NYC speed. On Dec 26 at 5:23 pm, my sister gave birth to the first of a new generation in our family: my nephew, Michael Scott Mantey (click to see the online picture gallery). He tipped the scales at 7 lbs, 9 oz and is beautiful, healthy baby boy! We're all very excited about this tiny, new member of our family.

New Year's Eve was uneventful as April and I (still very happily engaged) stayed in to avoid the hoarding, drunken masses in the city on that night and watched Back to the Future parts 2 and 3 on DVD (a nice XMAS gift from Stephen Smith. My good friends Bobby Corbett and Amanda Naylor got engaged on Christmas Day at the Round Rock West Park (aka the "duck pond")near we all grew up. That's super cool! It seems that after a 24 year wait, we're all turning into adults . . . look out world, we're all serious now (or, like, whatever).

The gigs have dried-up as Jan/Feb is notoriously dubbed the "slow season" for weddings. And, if you saw the weather here right now, you'd see why. Since I've been back it was been cloudy with freezing rain (and the all-too-occassional snowflake) with temps right at 32 degrees. I haven't been able to leave the house and have fun for a week. I've been doing computer work (new website client to be revealed in a week or two) and trying to practice although I've been too depressed to get much accomplished creatively. Last winter I bemoaned the unusually warm winter as I wanted to see snow and experience the Northeastern winters everyone talks about. This year, I see why everyone complains and moves to Florida. Next week is supposed to be a bit warmer and a lot drier. I will hopefully be able to take a day off and blow off some steam then.

And, on the wedding front, April and I have decided to (try to) move the wedding up to April 2003. We'll be married before we know it. We've done this to get in our honeymoon (4-week backpacking trip through Europe) this summer. Life rolls on!!

December 18, 2002 Engaged in a Winter Wonderland

Yesterday, I took April upstate to the Catskill wilderness area with plans to hike up Slide Mountain. We arrived and found the entire mountain covered in a fresh layer of snow (about 3 feet deep), but it was still sunny (not a cloud, actually) and warm enough (24 deg F) for hike. We set out and soon found ourselves a winter wonderland like you could never imagine. Everything was white and all the trees were completely covered with snow. When the wind blew, it would knock loose the melting bits off the treetops and cause mini-snow falls, some of which were so heavy that it seemed misty with all the falling powder. Many of the trees were bent with the weight of the snow and hung down very low over the trail making it seem like a passageway. Even the sky seemed different as it took on a deep blue, almost purple color through the snow-laden trees. After a long, cold , but amazing hike we neared the summit. As we got higher, footprints of the hikers from days before began to turn back, but we pressed on. We passed fresh mountain lion tracks, black bear tracks, and some cute little rabbit tracks in the snow across our trail. Finally, when we reached the top after what April said was a day she'd "remember forever," I dropped on the knee and asked her to marry me in a sunny spot at the top of the mountain.

She said yes.

We hiked our frozen feet down the mountain again (much faster of the way down despite our many falls on the steep parts into snowbanks) and drove the car to a nearby town where we had a very nice dinner, and then drove back to the city. It was an amazing, irrepeatable experience, and we will remember it forever.

December 10, 2002 Something about Snow

Last year we waited until January for any meaningful snowfall. This year, it hit us last Thursday and didn't let up until late in the evening. The ground was covered and it was beautiful! It's been very cold for the past two weeks, and I'm getting a bad case of cabin fever as all of my recreational activities are outdoor events. Since my "other job" involves staying at home for computer work, practicing, and composing, I rarely get to leave the house. I can't wait until spring to get back out on the softball fields! I also can't wait for a little tiny warm patch here in the winter so I can bundle up and get out on the golf course. ANYTHING!! JUST LET ME OUT!!

Ahem . . . pardon me . . . just lost my cool for a moment. Anyway, I had fun playing at a wedding down by Battery Park this weekend. It was snowy out, we worked in some Christmas songs (before the ceremony and at at opportune times during the reception . . . like during Boogie-oogie-oogie and Girl From Ipanema), and it was fun to play again. I just got called this morning for a last minute rehearsal with the Bill Warfield Band. It is a medium-sized big band that plays the music of Led Zepplin and Jimi Hendrix . . . sound fishy but its kind of interesting and a totally slammin' band. I really enjoyed the last rehearsal I played with them and I'm looking forward to this one in a few hours!

This weekend I have two polar opposite performances. Saturday evening I'll be playing a holiday party with the Lubin Band in Greenwich, Connecticut. Then the following afternoon at 3:00 PM I'll be performing Sabre Dance with the Greenwich Village Orchestra (a rare alto saxophone solo in an orchestral piece) at Washington Irving High School near Union Square in Manhattan. Fun Weekend!!

December 4, 2002 The goings-on of the past week

I just returned to New York from Denton (and N. Richland Hills), TX and it got cold while I was gone. Yikes. The windchill was down around 10 degrees and it was not a night to be out . . . but I was. As soon as I got home from the airport, April and I turned right around and went down to Cornelia Street Cafe to hear Dave Pietro play some of the music for his forthcoming album. My friend Eric Morones also just arrived in town with the Brian Setzer orchestra and he came down there with us. It was a fun night. Afterwards we tried to find a diner to eat a late, late dinner, but ended up wandering around in the aforemnetioned icy wind. After about 20 minutes we found one, thawed out, and ate. Incidentally, Eric will be on TV tonight for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting playing with the Setzer Band. I think they'll also be on the Today Show tomorrow morning. Check it out if you can.

I was visiting Texas to play at my college roommate, Steve Smith's undergraduate arranging recital. The music was great and the performance went well -- the bottom line is that Steve is finished with his degree at North Texas (wohoo). I also hung out quite a bit with my sister who is due to give birth to my nephew Scott in a few weeks. Life keeps goin' on!! Stay tuned for the upcoming changes to my site.

November 28, 2002 Happy Turkey Day (sans Turkey)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there in Web-land. As we hope to make our turkey day tradition, April and I are preparing a Roast (as in beef) in lieu of the turkey. We had a "turkey-tastrophy" last year and neither of us really like turkey . . . turkey turkey turkey (incidentally, if anyone does a search on Google next month for "Wil Swindler turkey" or "jazz turkey" this page will be number one on the list from all this repetition). Anyway, we're also preparing delicious pumpkin bread (a long time Swindler family xmas tradition that has now become an every-chance-we-get tradition) and April's making me some real peanut butter cookies and some chocolate chippers as well. Our oven is going to be busy today! We're spending the whole day at home in our apartment enjoying each others' company and spending some quality time togehter without work and worldly distractions. This is the way a holiday should be!

Coming soon to wilswindler.com:   A thorough analysis of why New York City sucks and why people won't admit it, and a full redesign of the site including some new content and a whole new look. Everyone enjoy your turkey (turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey . . . ).

November 21, 2002 That's a Tough Read

I had a good time on Monday night playing with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra at Birdland. Her music is always interesting to hear and very difficult to play. No ammount of experience or practice can prepare a person for some of the traps laid throughout her charts. Luckily, the rest of the saxophone section were all regulars and I was able to just follow them in times of uncertainty. Anyway, I loved playing with the band, and it was very nice to be a part of one of the world-class jazz institutions in the working world today. It has strengthened my desire to get my own band going as soon as I can!!

In other news, I'm finishing the proofing phase with the final version of Amalgamation (trombone concerto from last winter). I'll be sending them off to the publisher within a week and we can expect the release sometime soon! THese things take time.

November 17, 2002 Hope for the Future

Well, the "big gig" is over now and I feel quite a bit of relief -- although it is tempered by some feelings of disappointment. I had a pretty poor turn out and our lack of rehearsal time lead to some less-than-perfect renderings of my new tunes. It was fun, though and definitely a step in the right direction for what I need to be doing at this point in my career. The band played well on the tunes that we all knew a little better. I think grand total in attendance was about 15-16, but they weren't all there at the same time so it felt like even less. I must say though that I did get some good support from my friends here in the city and those close to me showed up, stayed the whole evening, and listened. Thanks to all that came!! Overall, I enjoyed the process of writing all the new music and getting back into a small-group vibe. I hope to book another date somewhere soon and start getting more people familiar with my music. I've also got plans to hit the studio for either a demo or a full CD within the next few months (gotta put that wedding-band money to work!!). I'll keep you all posted as that develops.

Now I must turn my attention to some other projects. Of course, I'm playing at Birdland tommorow night at 9 PM, and that'll be fun. In the coming weeks I need to finish my chart for BMI (incidentally we played the small group version - "Music for Poetry" - on Friday), and I'll be in Denton, TX on Dec 2nd to play at Steve Smith's recital. I'm also beginning the long-term plan to put together my own group to play my compositions. I've always loved writing for smaller, timbrally-mixed jazz ensembles (9 or 10 players), and I hope to begin writing music for this project very soon. After my first 9 months or so in New York, I was afraid I'd never be able to get my writing-juices flowing again, but they've slowly returned along with my ambitions to make a niche for myself in the world. More exciting things coming!

November 14, 2002 Trials and Tribulations

Tomorrow's the big day with my quartet at the Sage Theater. The rehearsal today was a little shaky because the piano player had some trouble finding the place and we lost a lot of time. The music sounds like its all going to work (it's almost 100% new material!) and it can all hopefully grow into some nice things for an album someday. I must admit I'm a little stressed about this performance tomorrow as it has been quite a while since I've played my music. I've got to sustain a two-set concert all with my own music and ideas . . . it's simultaneaously exciting and daunting. I'm also a little worried that we might not have a good turn-out. There's so much going on in New York and the club hasn't really promoted this event much. I guess these are just the trials and tribulations invovled with attempting to play my own music. It's got to be a labor of love, right?

I've got a busy week coming up. It seems like I've been working non-stop for the past two weeks to get all the music together for tomorrow night. This week I have my gig on Friday, a wedding on Saturday and on Sunday, I'm playing with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band at Birdland on Monday, the BMI Jazz Composers' workshop on Tuesday, and a rehearsal with Toshiko on Thursday. Once again, being busy with music is a good problem to have!! I'll also be checking out my UNT friend Frank Basile's quintet in Brooklyn at the Rising on Wednesday night.

Everybody please come on out tomorrow night!!!!

November 5, 2002 Booked Band

As my Nov. 15th gig at the Sage Theater approaches, I have hired the rhythm section and am finalizing all the music. My super-slammin' players are:

We'll be playing some originals, some arrangements (and reharms), and some standards. I usually like to play obscure tunes and stay away from the stock items, but I assure everyone you'll enjoy the program! For more info about the gig visit my Sage Page.

Things are still cookin' along as I have a reading session at NYU tomorrow afternoon, a rehearsal with the Peter Silver Big Band tomorrow night, and a rehearsal with a salsa band called Quimbombo on Thursday morning. I only have one club date this weekend, but that's OK. And, last sunday I had the unique opportunity to sit in on 2nd Clarinet in the 92nd St Y orchestra with April. I'll probably never get to do that again (it was a freak circumstance that landed me there) but I enjoyed it. Playing with April is always great, for obvious personal reasons, but it's also great to sit next to such fantastic clarinetist! She's cute, too.

October 29, 2002 All Work and No Play

It seems like I've been so busy lately yet as I sit here to write this update I can't really think what I've been doing. Maybe I'm psychologically blocking it out. I've still been busy on the weekends playing weddings with the Jeff Lubin band and doing various other things during the week. I've had a little more time to practice lately and I've been working hard on a new big band chart for the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop. The band read what I've finished this morning and it went pretty well. It'll be a nice chart when its done. I'm also working on composing new music for my gig at the Sage Theatre coming up in a few weeks. I still need to get the other musicians (putting that off for some reason), but it'll all fall into place very soon.

The World Series turned out to be more painful than I thought. I found myself rooting for whoever was losing at the time. In the end I was happy for the Angels but heartbroken about the Giants. I guess there's something to be said for having a clear-cut good vs. evil matchup. Maybe I was taking the evil role that the Yankees filled for granted. Atleast I feel like the winners appreciate it.

Life has been kind of dull lately. I've been working pretty much all day everyday and I haven't done anything fun (or left the city) in months. I'm going to try my best to save one day next week to play golf and relax, but I've been saying that for about a month now. I guess this is what its like to make a living . . . I understand now what it means to "really need a vacation." Fortunately I have one coming up at the end of November and then another at Christmas. Until then its back to work!

October 17, 2002 Adventures in Theatre (the other way to make a living in music)

I got a call a few weeks ago to play a benefit concert for the York Theatre at 53rd and Lexington in Manahattan. Since it was a "benefit" the pay was $0 but since I was playing four instruments (flute, alto flute, clarinet, and alto saxophone) I get doublers' pay which racks it up to $0. I did it because an old UNT friend, Sean McDaniel, had recommended me and he'd be playing as well. It was just a couple of Monday nights . . . what else have I got to do?

I showed up for the first rehearsal with all my instruments (and Dave Pietro's alto flute) in tow to find that I was the entire wind section. The "orchestra" was just me and a rhythm section. The name of the show is I Sing and it had played off broadway last summer with only the rhythm section accompanying the actors. For whatever reason they decided to add one more player and that ended up being me. The orchestrator had only a few of the parts ready and many of them were incomplete or transposed incorrectly. I don't think it was his fault however because I think they gave him about 24 hours to orchestrate the 2 and a half hour show.

We finished this rehearsal and adjourned until the following Monday when we would play through the show with the actors and then do the performance. As we noted at the show, you know you're in trouble when the show is longer than the rehearsal. We only got through the first act and would have to do the second act live without having rehearsed it. The guys in the rhythm section were the original band from last summer so they didn't have much of a problem, but I was equipt with mistake-ridden, not-quite-clearly-notated parts, and no knowledge of how the show goes. Here's where my combat training from UNT took over. I managed to get through the whole show without any train wrecks or getting lost in the rubato, colla voce sections, and given the circumstances I did a pretty good job.

During the rehearsal and the shows there was some vague talk about doing a recording for an album of the show on Wednesday. Being quite removed from the inner-workings of the event I really had no idea what was going. In a round-about way they asked us to do this recording, but threw in some weird suggestions about thanking us for "donating our time." Being completely uninterested in giving them more of my time for free and knowing that as a union memeber I can't record things for free, I made up my mind that I wasn't going to do this recording if it was indeed a "charitable donation" - (to what I'm not sure).

I spent the next day on the phone with the other musicians as they were in touch with the union representative that handles these things. By the end of the day we had confirmation from the union that we can do the recording and as long as we don't sign anything that says we're donating our time, they have to pay us. Since no one really had ever proposed to us that we might be doing this for free, as far as we knew, things were on the up-and-up. So, with the confidence that Local 802 would go to bat for us if things got weird, we went into Clinton Studios on Wednesday morning to cut an album.

After more vague references to us doing this album for "charity", we got on the phone with our union rep and let her know things were getting weird. She assured us that when the "sign here" part came up, we retain the right to deny it, and that point the guys who hired us are on the hook for our union scale pay. It eventually came to a brief meeting with the producer where he finally made a direct reference to us working for charity and offered us $100 each for our generosity. We replied by letting him know that we never agreed to do this for free, and we'd take it up with the union the next day. The $100 offer was his underhanded way to attempt to force us to agree to it without signing anything. We, wisely turned it down and they are legally responsible to compensate us for our work. The whole "charity" facade turned out to be the producer trying to shave expenses by taking advantage of us. He'd been telling the union we'd already agreed to donate the recording, and hoped that his little offer would trick us so he'd have something to tell the union if we ever complained. Money rules all, right? Our pay is nominal compared to the costs of the rest of the album.

I must make a note, however, that without the support of the union, we would not have had the leverage to fight for our money or the confidence to go into the studio knowing that if they tried to screw us we'd still get paid. I'll post any further updates as this continues to develop. We expect our checks in the mail in the next few weeks and until then I'm still not convinced things will be cool. Either way it was an interesting experience that forced me to deal with a lot of music-biz issues and I will be stronger and better because of it. It's also the first time in my career that I've really stood up for myself and said, "I'm a professional and I deserve to get paid." cool.

October 6, 2002 Equal Opportunity Baseball and a little Yankee-bashing

Now that the two picks I made for the World Series (Arizona and Oakland) have been eliminated, and the Devil turned his back on the Yankees, we've reached an interesting juncture in the 2002 baseball season. The big market teams are failing and the plucky underdogs are taking over. Is this indicative of major shift in baseball or is it just a fluke? Let's discuss . . .

With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) we hope to see more seasons like this where the teams coming out in the end are not necessarily the ones we expected. The only difference is that it won't be such a surprise. Who's to say that the Angel's didn't have a chance against the Yanks or the Twins against the powerful A's? Can anyone defeat Randy and Curt? Tony La Russa says -- Why not? If the Giants can take down the Braves (the hard-luck big market club) all four of the teams I wanted to win but expected to lose will have defeated their respective El Guapos. The fans of the underdog world-wide will be out en masse with their ralley monkeys and homer hankies wearing the number 57 chalked onto their bills of their hats. The next step is for the Red Sox to win the AL East next year and the Braves to fail in their attempt to get a twelfth straight NL east title. Maybe there's hope for us all.

Another marked change this year is the improvement in the quality of pitching and the consequent decline in offense. No one cleared 60 homeruns this year and Barry could only get to 46 (a decline of 27 homeruns from one season to the next would usually get more fanfare if he hadn't won the batting title and broken the all-time on-base-percentage record). It may be the experimental high-strike, but it seems to me that the next generation of pitchers is coming of age and learning to control the hitters a little better. To cite one example, Tom Glavine just lasted 2 and 2/3rds innings for the Braves while Livan Hernandez of the Giants almost pitched a complete game for the win with a no-hitter through 4 innings. Move over, old dog . . . well, you know the rest.

Having said that, it was the Yankees' store-bought, yet aging pitching staff that failed them in the end. Of Mussina, Pettite, Clemens, and Wells no one went more than 5 innings and some only 2 and 2/3rds, all giving up somewhere between 4 and 8 runs -- yikes. Mike Stanton and Steve Karsay gave up some key homeruns around the 7th-8th innings a few times and the old guard pitchers on the Yankees' staff were completely lit up by the Angels' "inexperienced" offense. I guess it takes a little divinity to break up a deal with the Devil (when it comes down to it, he's not one to stick by you when the going gets tough). But for all of you griping about the Yankees long overdue absence at this year's World Series, I say get used to it. This may be the dawning of the age of the little guy. With guys like David Eckstein out there (5'6" shortstop for the Angels) and our new CBA in place, we may be crowning the Royals or the Devil Rays this time next year . . . well, maybe not.

In closing, here's a selection from an article on mlb.com with some interesting thoughts about the Yankees and the CBA:

The Yankees did not increase their supply of friends with their actions in regard to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. When the players and the owners finally agreed to take steps toward leveling the economic playing field, you saw the 29-1 owners' vote on ratifying the agreement. The Yankees voted against the agreement and with their self-interests. Way to stay in character, guys.

Don't come around with that "WalMart doesn't help Target" junk in defense of the Yankees. The analogy doesn't fit. The 30 Major League franchises are competitors on the field. Off the field, they are business partners. And business won't be as good as it should be when two-thirds of the teams enter a season with no prayer of winning. There are other franchises that will not gain financially with the new CBA. The 29-1 vote tells you that everybody gets the partnership concept, with the one notable exception.

October 1, 2002 Club Date Review

I spent most of my time from Friday Sept 27 through Sunday Sept 29 playing club dates around New York City and Long Island. For those of you out there unfamiliar with this particular sector of the music biz (and for my own amusement) I offer up my Club Date Review.

A "club date," as it is called in New York City, is a gig where you play or sing in a band serving as entertainment at some sort of social function. As they were (and mostly still are) held at country clubs, they have become known as club dates. It can be a wedding reception, bar mitzvah, birthday party, corporate event, charity dinner, and any other number of occassions. In other parts of the country these are called "casuals" and sometimes "corporate gigs." We play a mix of top 40's new music, classic rock, disco, funk, swing, latin music (all varieties), and some old standards. Also, I sometimes play Jewish traditional music and classical selections (on flute) for the ceremonies. It's a gig that requires ears and versatility as things happen quickly and you never know what's coming (or in what key).

I find these gigs unique in that they are simultaneously musically vacant and musically demanding. They are vacant in that many of the tunes are butchered and the music takes a back seat to the "show" and the occassion. There is little musical gratification for those of us who seek it and lots of mediocre musicians hacking through tunes and styles they don't know. Club dates are demanding in that things move quickly, everyone does the tunes slightly differently, we play continuously (often with rotating breaks), and there is a huge ammount of material you must have memorized (or be able to pick up by ear on the gig). However, as long as people are dancing, the client is happy and leaves a big tip on top of the obscene ammount the booking agency managed to con them out of in the first place (more on that later).

This weekend, our first gig was on the 64th floor of the NBS Studios Building in Rockefeller Center. We played a surprise party for someone with way too much money. The crowd was rude, loud, and foolish. They behaved like kids at a party when their parents have gone away for the weekend. Adults in New York will surprise you with their adolescence. On Saturday, we played a wedding in Woodbury, NY (Long Island) for a strange group of people where the best man removed the bride's garter (????). I then rushed to the next gig ahead of everyone else to cover the cocktail set at Eisenhower Park (Long Island). This crowd was a little better, but our band's disagreement about tip distribution began on our first break. Rumors were floating that our band leader was taking tips and not sharing with the rest of the band. I'll spare you all the details, but tempers were flaring and all the unreasonable musicians began to argue and do childish things to each other. As usual, I just played my horn, and tried to stay out of it. On Sunday, we played our final gig at Bethpage State Park (Long Island). Coincidentally, it was exactly one year to the day since the first round of golf I played there and standing inside all afternoon watching everyone tee off on the Black and Green courses was like torture (imagine me pounding on the windows and trying to get out like a trapped animal). Surprisingly I played the best of all four at the last gig. I got an early confidence boost with a compliment from our trumpet player who's playing I respect and I played like I felt like I was good all day. What do you know . . . think you're good and you are! Well, the dispute over the tips continued into this gig and I don't think it was ever really resolved.

Now, my position in this band is interesting and this recent tip scandal made it very apparent to me. On one side, I feel like I don't know all the material "cold" and sometimes I miss a horn line or two in the disco tunes. Because of this I feel like I don't have a foothold to really assert myself on any issues. I am lucky that they are being so patient with me as I learn the giant pile of material. I have learned so much stuff in the last 6 months that I can use for the rest of my life on these types of gigs. However, on the other side, I am not worthless and I do a good job. I play the ceremonies well on flute; I cover the klezmer clarinet stuff; I play the cocktail sets well; I can play a rock solo (getting better), a jazz solo, a funk solo, a swing solo, a bossa solo . . . the list goes on. I also learn tunes very quickly and have gotten pretty good a playing by ear over all kinds of different changes. I also have a good sound and play in tune very well. And, not to be forgotten . . . I'm a nice guy to work with. My position on this whole tip thing is still uncertain. I am worth something -- maybe not as much as the keyboard player (Mark Bonder) who covers more than his fair share of the music, but I do a lot for the band.

I know that I won't do club dates forever, and I know that my future is not playing at weddings . . . but what can I say about a gig that frees up my weekdays by providing an income? And, all this ear playing has been invaluable. I haven't been playing jazz a lot lately, but today as I practiced after this intense playing weekend, I found my inner connection between my ear and my fingers was better than I can ever remember. Who knew?

September 25, 2002 New Music: Truth or Consequences

To celebrate the completion of my latest composition, Truth or Consequences for the NonoNonet, I had a nice full day of practicing!! I've been too busy with all my various endeavors (web design, database programming, composing, and sparse pracite time) to dedicate adequate time to my saxophone, let alone flute and clarinet. Today was my first full five-hour practice day in quite awhile where I was able to play each instrument as long as I would have liked and I've missed it.

Continuing that thought, the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop started on Tuesday with our first meeting of the year. It was just an orientation situation for the new people, but we're back in the swing of things now. I really need to be a more active participant this year as last year I was stumped by a whopping case of writer's block (severe psychological trauma!!!!!) . . . anyway, I'll keep you all posted on the goings-on with Jim (McNeely) and Mike (Abene).

This weekend I have FOUR weddings to play with the Jeff Lubin Band. This will be an unprecedented weekend of work where I may turn up dead on Monday . . . but with a big paycheck. I'll feel better when it's over (as always) but right now it seems rather daunting. It's also unfortunate that this falls on the weekend of the Ryder Cup (for which I've waiting THREE YEARS after it was postponed last year). I guess I'll just have to tape it and not read the news. Could be worse . . . I could be sitting at home without any work!!

September 20, 2002 Greatest Job in the World

I have many days where I question what I'm doing. I have many days where I consider ditching the struggle to play music in our society. I have too many days where my frustration causes me to feel hopeless and helpless. But, I also have days like today.

As I tried to put the finishing touches on my latest chart for the NonoNonet, I took a break to clear my head as I struggled with a particularly difficult section. I turned on the TV and caught the movie Office Space on Comedy Central. I've seen this movie before and I'm sure most of you out there have too, but it was just a reminder of how lucky I am to be doing what I do. I am blessed with the ability and the unique opportunity to be able to play a saxophone and write music as my job. For those of you who haven't seen it, Office Space is about a guy who works as a software programmer (incidentally debugging Y2K bank software) at a heartless, dehumanizing corporation. He is constantly faced with all the meaningless, worthless crap that goes along with that type of work and eventually just snaps and stops going to work when he doesn't feel like or even doing what his boss tells him to. I've never held a corporate position, but from what my father has told me from his years with Texas Instruments, Rolm, and especially Dell Computers, the corporate environment depicted in the movie is less of a characature and more of a portrait. I can't even imagine having to be constantly telling someone what I'm doing or have someone tell me when I have to work and when I can leave. I work best from 3:00 pm to around midnight . . . how else could I run hours like that? When I'm working hard on a piece of music (or even a website for that matter) I always get my best work in the afternoon and even early evening. My job allows me to be myself, live my life, and do what I want to do. The most poignant line in that movie is delivered by the main character Peter when he says, "Human beings weren't meant to be locked up in cubicles . . . life is not about working at Initech." That's not a direct quote, but it sums up the meaning. I may not be playing the most meaningful music right now and it may seem difficult to have a career playing your own music, but I have the freedom in my life to set my own hours, take breaks to play with my cat, and play golf whenever I feel like it. And, in order to afford this I just have to dedicate a few hours a week to playing some silly rock songs on my saxophone. It's really not that bad, and although I don't plan on doing this forever (or even for much longer), I can live my life the way I'm supposed to -- to be happy. Why else are we here anyway?

And, a side note: I just found out tonight that my arrangement of Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets) found its way into the hands of the DFW NPR station and they've been using it as filler music on one of the shows. I don't get any money from that because its only an arrangement, but it's kinda neat.

Smile everybody . . . there's nothing stopping you   :)

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September 17, 2002 Beware the Nice Weather

Karma is a funny thing . . . let's start from the beginning.

On Sunday, after my late, L O N G set of Saturday weddings, I hopped in the car with April to be her Logistical Support Mangager for her audition for the sub list for the Binghamton Philharmonic in Binghamton, NY. We braved the driving rain and she was successfully accepted on Bb/A Clarinet, Eb Clarinet, and Bass Clarinet. This was her most successful audition to date and will hopefully provide her with a healthy stash of confidence for her future attempts to gain epmloyment in the Symphonic world.

We pick up our story on Tuesday morning. We rose early with plans to arrive at Bethpage State Park a full hour ahead of our 10:28 tee time and take April on her first round at the world's largest public golf facility. Bethpage really is a unique, beautiful place and its a shame that I haven't been able to share it with April until now. The weather was unbelievable and as the day progressed I was heard to refer to it as "the most beautiful day for golf I've ever seen." We began our trip at 8:15 am as we drove across town and got stuck behind a garbage truck and all the kids being delivered at their PS ### NY schools. For some reason, the 96th throughway in Central Park was backed up all the way to the West Side and we began to worry that we may have to sacrifice a bit of our warmup time to the NYC traffic.

Well, it was backed up all the way to and onto FDR drive (our only quick way downtown on the East Side for you non-NYers). We opted to stay on York Ave (Eastern most Ave in Manhattan) and run relatively smoothly until 51st st where we were forced over to 2nd Ave . . . oops. The United Nations is still in session (at 23rd St on the FDR) and the entire East Side was clogged in a way you can't understand unless you've seen it. I hear a lot of people refer to it in an ignorant, light-hearted manner with a foolish wave of the hand by saying, "Oh, that Manhattan traffic! What are you going to do?!" This is a gross understatement only uttered by the foolish inhabitants of this "island insane asylum" and people who have no concept of what this level of gridlock is like. We did not get off the island (via the midtown tunnel) until almost 10:00 am. It is at this point we know we will not be able to make our tee time and I am forced to call and cancel it. It was almost as if the beautiful weather was actually a punishment because we wouldn't be able to enjoy it at Bethpage. It's really a small problem, but here in NY it is standard MO to just shut down streets and cause multi-hour traffic delays without any sort of alternate route or plan to diffuse the hording onslaught of doomed commuters, and that can bring even the toughest of us to tears.

All in all, it took is almost 3 hours to make the 35 mile trip. Note that on Sunday we made it to Binghamton 186 miles away in the exact same time-span. It's almost as if we're all trapped on this island. If there ever were an emergency where we all needed to get out quickly, we'd all be completely screwed. April and I are devising a system where we would use life-jackets and some sort of platform suspended between us to swim us, the cats, and our instruments to safety in Jersey across the Hudson River.

We spent the rest of the afternoon making up errands in the time we'd alotted for golf wrestling with the DMV, State Farm Insurance (car insurance), and frantically paying of bank loans in an attempt to save April some unexpected fines. A bit of advice . . . don't let your car insurance expire -- even if you're not driving it anymore and you plan to sell it. You will be fined by the DMV, refused to be re-instated by your insurance company, and be forced to transfer ownership of the car to solve the problem. The punishment seems a bit extreme to me. It's also a little-known way that the DMV and the insurance companies can fine you and raise your rates. I know most of you out there will never face this problem, but if you ever do, avoid it at all costs.

At the end of this horrible day, April and I were laughing at the ludicrous, unexpected day we'd just experienced. "We spent all our good karma on the weather," we joked. Then I arrived home to a phone call from Dave Pietro asking me to sub in the Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band for him on Thursday afternoon. What a day.

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September 9, 2002 Return to Forever (New York)

The big trip to Texas was mostly a success and April and I enjoyed our time in the land where life's a little bit easier. The RR Express won their playoff game that we attended but ultimately lost in the 5th game of the series, the Round Rock Donuts were slammin', and I really chowed down of the Roast Beef and Avocado sandwich at Thundercloud Subs.

I returned, expecting a softball game on Monday afternoon, but our fields have been closed (to set up football fields in our outfeild). We had to move down to some other fields in the park and only 8 people showed up so it was a short day with just some BP. Not the most exciting game . . . it'll be better next week.

This week, I have a pair of weddings to play on Saturday. It'll be another  L O N G  day with a nice, fat paycheck to make up for it in a few weeks. Maybe they'll be in the city again . . . not likely.

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September 2, 2002 On our way home

Tomorrow I leave for Texas. April and I are visiting my home town of Round Rock, TX to try to remember what "life on the outside" is like. While we're there we'll be visiting Mustang Creek Golf Course (one from my childhood), going to one of the AA Round Rock Express (Astros affiliated) Texas League playoff games, eating some famous Round Rock Donuts, and seeing my parents and my sister Dana who is an expectant mother (I'll be an uncle soon enough). Unfortunately my brother-in-law Mike will be out of town on business so I'll have to wait until my next visit in October to see him.

I haven't been home to Texas since February and I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxed break from the fury of the city. And, in case you're worried, our neighbors will be taking care of Max and Tooney. More upon my return.

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August 30, 2002 STRIKE AVERTED!!!!

As the end of August turns unusually cool here in New York, about 40 blocks south of here, the Baseball Players union and the owners have reached an agreement that not only prevents a work stoppage, but seems to have effectively addressed the concerning issues. The luxury tax and revenue sharing agreements will hopefully provide more of a competetive balance in the league. As testament to the problem, the only team that has a high enough payroll to be affected by the new luxury tax is (you guessed it) the New York Yankees. Maybe Steinbrenner won't be able to buy the World Series so easily anymore.

And, now that the strike has been avoided, I will officially release my World Series predicitions. I predict the Oakland Athletics will prove to have the pitching to stand up to the Yankees in the ALCS and send Giambi back to New York feeling like the sellout he is. And, I am almost certain that the Diamondbacks (the Arizona Dusters) will return to the World Series after narrowly defeating the Braves in the NLCS. As the A's face the the D'backs, the crystal ball gets hazy, but I think the D'backs will be too much for the A's in about 6 games. My heart says Oakland, but my brain (and Curt and Randy) say Arizona. Don't forget to refer back to this in a few months to check the veracity of my predicitons.

My wedding gig this weekend is a unique one. I'm playing a ceremony called the Bedecking(sp?) where I have to lead the bride and groom around whle playing my clarinet. (!?!?!) This should be interesting. The good news is that is on Sunday night and is across town on East 86th Street so it'll be an easy commute. I may even take a cab!!

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August 28, 2002 This Week in Wil's Life

It's been a busy week (that's my excuse for the lapse in updates), but now I've got a few moments to recap the goings-on of the past 10 days.

My gig on Saturday was a peculiarly scheduled wedding at 9:00 at night. It ended at 3:00 am . . . yikes. I got home at 4:30 am . . . yuck. I didn't get to sleep until almost 5:00 am . . . zzzzzzzz. Although the gig went well, my tenor seems to be having some repair issues. It was perfect because I didn't have a gig for another 2 weeks so I could leave it in the shop with now real problem, but I just got called yesterday for another wedding this Sunday. It's good problem to have I suppose.

On Monday, I dropped April off at Laguardia Airport so she could fly to Boulder, CO for an audition, and then I traveled out to the far eastern end of Long Island with friend Arun Luthra (website still pending but now I've been hired to design it so it'll be up soon) to play with the Peter Silver Big Band in Shinecock, NY. It was a fun gig with a nice view of the ocean and the sunset. The band was pretty good and we all had a fun time (with FREE FOOD).

Other than that its been a pretty standard week. I've been playing well lately and enjoying my practice time. I've still been working on a chart for the NonoNonet and will have it together in a few weeks. Exciting news, though . . . I'll be returning to Austin for a few days on Sept 3rd. Can't wait!!

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August 18, 2002 Wil Swindler Quartet at Sage Theatre

I'm very happy to announce I've booked a gig for Nov 15th at the Sage Theatre on 7th Ave and 48th St. This will be my first real music gig in New York City. I'm going to be very busy over the next few months writing some new music and trying to get my mind into a happy place about my playing. I'm planning on recording a CD shortly following the gig as well. It's wonderful to have some good news and something to look forward to!! I hope everyone can make it out to hear the band (ps - I haven't booked the rhythm section yet, but I've got plenty of time for that).

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August 16, 2002 The Root of all Evil

With the declaration of a strike date for major league baseball and recent events in my life, I feel compelled to write about some issues involving $$money$$.

In my life, I find that money is a hindrance to creativity. I am unable to do what I love to do because it is not a lucrative pursuit. Spending my time learning to play the saxophone better, or to improvise at a higher level, or composing music brings me no income and must therefor lose priority to pursuits like playing ridiculous music at weddings and doing other jobs to earn money during the week. Being trapped in a capitalist society leaves very little room for someone who just loves something and wants nothing really to do with money.

I carry this thought into the threat of a baseball strike. It has been said countless before times that no one plays baseball for the love of the game anymore and I recognize that this idea is nothing new. But, to apply it to our current situation . . . what's wrong with baselball? money. Why have the Yankees and the Braves been unusually dominant the last 10 years? money. Why are people in Kansas City and Tampa Bay forced to watch Triple-A quality baseball every year? money. Personally, I love baseball. If I were a pro ball player, I would be simply thrilled to be able to do what I love everyday. I would be so consumed with joy for the opportunity to do it everyday, money would be secondary. Here is where the idealism fails. Since the owners are mostly concerned with bleeding every penny out the teams they can, the players cannot afford to be so naive. I play weddings on weekends. I make union scale which is $250 (before taxes) for a 4 hour gig. My employer charges the client $1000 for me to be there. He keeps $750 per bandmemeber, per gig. Sound familiar? I have no leverage to do anything about this, but the ball players do. Unfortunately it comes at the expense of the fans as we are forced to pay higher ticket prices, $7 for a hot dog, and may not even have a post season this year. So, where's all the money going? Well, George Steinbrenner is doing OK (deals with the devil are expensive on any plane of existence). The players get paid ludicrious salaries and somewhere along the way, baseball the game got lost.

The essential issue here is that capitalism is not congruent with what is best for the game of baseball in the same way that capitalism does not encourage art. Out problem is that we do things for money rather than doing things for the sake of doing them. Why do I play saxophone? Because I love it. Why do I play baseball (or softball right now)? Because I love it. Why am I on a golf course every chance I get? Because I love it. I don't do these things to obtain money. Now, why do the baseball owners raise ticket prices to cover the players obscene salaries rather than take a pay cut from their own ridiculous incomes? Because they love money more than baseball. Why does my employer get to keep 75% of the money I generate by playing for them? They love money more than they care about people or music. April and I discuss this concept all the time; people do most things out of some blind lust for money (and the accompanying meaningless power) rather than for the sake of doing them. We have lost our way. Money is not important. Money is meaningless. Money is the least important thing in life.

Now, I realize that this is all useless ranting. In our society, it is impractical to ignore the significance of making a living. One of the personal growth issues I've been dealing with lately is the concept of working with what you've got. Money should not be so important, but in my lifetime it always will be to some degree. This is an issue I must resolve rather than lament. I only wish I were like the ball players and what I loved to do was atleast financially feasible.

I started writing some new music today as the beginning of my next big project to get a group together and begin to explore "my music." I still believe that if you make the music your main focus amongst all the professional and personal issues we face as musicians, it will turn out OK. I still think love can conquer money and by the end of my life I hope to have proven it.

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August 15, 2002 I'm getting older today

Hello, fans and welcome my 24th birthday! As testament to what a boring guy I am, I have no plans for today and very little going on different from my everyday life, but I have people calling and emailing from afar with birthday wishes. I scheduled a lesson for this afternoon with Dave Pietro, although my horn is badly in need of repair, so hopefully that'll be fun and educational.

Monday's softball game was a date for the history books. April played in her first real game, starting at catcher. However, after more people arrived, she was moved to pitcher and pitched the last 5 innings of the game. She got a hit (through the hole on the right side), advanced to third on a single (RUN! RUN!!), and scored on a sac-fly. Just like a pro. In the field she made an over the shoulder grab on a pop up back to the mound, stopped a hard-hit ball up the middle to save a run, and fielded a reaction ground ball to get an out at first. Unfortunately, she walked in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to record the hard-luck loss at 10-11. She's still a rookie . . . her control will come. She wants pitching lessons from my sister now (Dana if you're reading this, she's serious) and hopes to win the Cy Young someday. She played great and I was so proud.

The PGA championship starts today. Everyone out there started feelin' the good vibes for Phil Mickelson . . . NOW! Happy birthday to me

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August 11, 2002 Air travel is no longer a viable means of transportation

It has been a rather uneventful week. I played lead in the Peter Silver Big Band on Wednesday night, practiced hard despite a painful sore right on my embouchure, and played a gig at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens on Saturday. I've been picked up to write a chart (with more possibly in the future) by the NoNoNonet. They are a NYC-based brass band that plays non-brass band music. It's an interesting group and I'm really looking forward to writing for them.

This morning (Sunday) I took April to the Newark Airport so she could catch a flight on America West at 10:00 am to Salt Lake City to audition for the Utah Symphony. We arrived at 8:30 and were dismayed to find a long, long, long, long line at the ticket counter (let alone the security line). After a few minutes at the back of the line, the rumor trickled back that her flight had been cancelled. After talking to the reservation people on her cell phone, we learned that they had her on a flight that would get in at 2:00 am Monday morning. hmmmm . . . her audition is at 8:00 am. Things aren't lining up. We waited through the whole line (90 minutes) and got to the ticket counter only to find that there was no other option, not even on another airline, that would allow her to arrive on time to prepare and play. It seems there's a better way to handle all of this, but apparently being an airline is really hard. It seems that the airline industry is getting a little shoddy. If I could find a feasible alternative, I'd be all over it! For now I'll just fly as little as possible.

The good this is that now April is here with me for the next three days and we were generally upbeat about the whole thing. I guess it all worked out in the end. Just try to stay away from America West and always call ahead to make sure your flight's not cancelled (especially in Newark as this is the THIRD time one of our flights has been cancelled at that airport).

Oh yes . . . I also enjoyed staying up for the 16-inning 3-2 victory of the Oakland A's over those damn Yankees. The Yankees NEVER lose those close, extra-inning games so it was nice to see them have to deal with a hard loss. I'm still convinced Steinbrenner and most of the Yankee mainstay players have a deal with the devil.

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August 7, 2002 Let's talk about the weather

Rather than discuss the unhappiness in which I steeped myself yesterday, and rather than write about the sad state of art music in our increasingly shallow, insensitive society, and rather dwell on all that's wrong in the world, let's talk about the weather.

The heat seems to have broken for a little while and the weather here in New York is amazing. It is sunny with vivid blue skies and a high temperature around 80 degrees. I'll take this over August in Texas. Now if only had any time to get out on the golf course (darn).

And, in case you're wondering, I'm doing OK.

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July 31, 2002 Publishing and Rafting

I received some good news via email this week in the form of an offer from Warwick Music to publish my latest composition Amalgamation for Trombone and Mixed Winds in England. Although the documents haven't all been formally signed, the contract is standard and seems acceptable. It will most likely go through very soon although I don't think there will be any hard copies available for several months.

April and I just returned from my first whitewater rafting excursion last night. Although we are sunburned (always wear your sunscreen, kids) we had an enjoyable day rafting down the Indian and Hudson Rivers in Adirondack Park near the town of Indian Lake. Our guides were with the Adirondac Rafting Company. Luckily (or unluckily, I can't decide) we were in a boat with only 4 people where most boats had 6-9. We got to be a lot more involved, but that also meant a lot more rowing. Neither of us fell out, but I did have to toss a paddle to stay on once (we got it back right away). All in all, it was a fun trip, and I look forward to the next step as April wants to take me kayaking. That should be a lot of fun!

Coming up this week, I have a big band gig on Aug. 1 at the Madison Square Music Festival and another wedding gig on Saturday with the Jeff Lubin Band. On Sunday, old UNT chum Tyler Summers is coming into town to stay with us for a few days. He's been at the David Liebman saxophone workshop in Pennsylvania and is stopping here to check out some music (and maybe play softball with us on monday). For today, it's practice, practice, practice.

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July 23, 2002 Adventures in the Bronx (or Lost in Yonkers 2)

Saturday July 20th will go down in history as one of my memorable "gig disasters" to be recalled over a lifetime. I left for my gig in the car (foolishly attempting to drive to the gig) with 90 minutes to spare. Due to a crucial piece of misinformation from maps.yahoo.com (hyperlink intentionally omitted) and an exit sign positioned perfectly behind a tree, I went on a wild goose chase that sent me helplessly driving up and down mismarked roads in Inwood (north Manhattan), the Bronx, and Yonkers. After finding myself stuck on Broadway in Yonkers, instead of on the Huthinson Parkway in White Plains, I called April on my cell phone and asked for help from headquarters. We managed, despite the inaccurate maps at mapquest.com (hyperlink again intentinally omitted), to navigate through a surprising number of deadend streets in Yonkers to finally arrive at the Saw Mill Parkway where I luckily found my way across the county. After finally nearing my destination I missed the exit due to another poorly placed exit sign. After correcting that mistake I found that the parkway forced me to go the wrong way. After rectifying that situation, I finally took the right exit to find that the streets in the neighborhood weren't marked. After feeling my way to the country club I arrived (two hours after I left) to find that the place was so HUGE (not just a country club, but a hotel, restaurant, golf club, convention center) that I couldn't find the ceremony. Somehow, I arrived as they were completing the processional (the keyboard player had covered it for me) and was able to sneak in without anyone noticing and play the recessional at the end of the ceremony. This all could have been avoided if I would have stayed on my original road for ONE more exit. 20/20 hindsight is an highly overrated.

On a lighter note, we won the softball game 9-3 on Monday in the searing heat. Also, April and I went gofling (in the Bronx RIGHT at the scene of the crime from Saturday) at Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course. April played very well in her NY state debut and I shot a highly respectable 86. Maybe my old game is coming back!   oops, shouldn't have said that.  Next week will be fun as we're going white water rafting near Lake Placid on Tuesday. cool.

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July 19, 2002 Good Deeds

I just returned from Brooklyn after a jam session with Elias Haslanger at this apartment in Park Slope. We played some tunes and some duets and exchanged shop talk about our state as saxophonists in New York and the world. He recently lost a booked date at Kave'Haz (jazz club in Manhattan) due to a fold by the club. It is inspiring to see him unphased and optimistic about things directly following this disappointment. One of the big lessons I've learned (or rather am learning) in the city is how to deal with loss, disappointment, and failure. We must take things for what they are and remember what our real priorities are in life. Jazz music, career, and all those things need to be somewhere around third or fourth. He who knows the Tao is neither elated by success nor destroyed by failure . . . only content with existence. Enough about that. Anyway, I was feeling nice today and helped some poor unwitting tourists who were on the wrong train, but didn't realize it (this is to balance the universe after my parents got on the A train by mistake and ended up in Harlem during a recent visit). Then on the way home I helped a blind person find the stairs in the subway. Now, come on, karma, start working for me!! just kidding, of course.

Our trip to Washington DC was very fun. We met Claudio's sweetheart, Mariana, visited the Lincoln Memorial, and hung out at the Smithsonian Zoo (we have some pictures in the gallery under City Pics). It was also fantastic to get out of the city for a few days. Everything was so clean and laid back. Claudio is working for the government as a nuclear engineer and may end up cleaning old nuclear reactors in Siberia (yikes). We got the hard-sell on nuclear power while we were there and I now know a lot more about how nuclear energy and how the reactors work (did you know that it's really just a big nuclear-powered steam engine???). Anyway, it was fun to visit our nation's capital and I look forward to returning soon.

I have a gig tomorrow evening with the Jeff Lubin band in Rye Brook, NY. I'm booked to play flute at the ceremony, sax at the cocktail hour, and the reception with the full band. These gigs seem  l o n g  but the increased paycheck feels good a few weeks later. I'll be home late, but up early to watch the final round of the British Open on Sunday Morning. Can Tiger continue his quest for the slam?? Not if Ernie Els has anything to say about it! Personally I'm rooting for Colin Montgomerie to do something cool. We'll have to watch to find out.

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July 13, 2002 Leavin' Town

I'm glad to say that it was much cooler this week in the city. It barely cracked 80 degrees on some days. Softball was fun again this week, but I hurt my elbow pretty bad making one of my "web gems" out in left field. A full-out dive to my left to catch a sinking line-drive turned into a badly skinned elbow that is just now starting to heal. Yuck. It's all right though because I'm taking this week off from the softball game to go to Arlington, VA (suburb of DC) to visit my friend Claudio. I have a gig tonight in Manhattan at the Essex House on Central Park South, which is good because the commute is so much easier than gigs out on the island. It's really not that far from my house and only takes about 15 minutes by subway. After that, a quick night's sleep and then we're off to Virginia.

During the week I subbed on 2nd alto in the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop Big Band and played in the Peter Silver band again at the union. It looks like I'll be playing with them on wednesdays all through the summer and doing a gig out in the Hamptons in August. I also attended the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop annual concert on Thursday night. I've unfortunately been too consumed in my everyday life of adjusting to the city to have written anything for their concert (I'm a memeber of the workshop), but I'm optimistic about getting somethings done for next year. I'd like to make a run for the BMI Charlie Parker Prize which is accompanied by the newly-named Manny Albam Commission (worth $3000). I'll add that to my long-term goals list. Maybe having something like that to work for will get my juices flowing again. Sometimes we all need a carrot.

April and I are very glad to be leaving the city for a few days. The sadness and the overall bad vibe is really getting to us lately. We've been talking a lot about figuring out how to move away when our lease is up in a few years, but we need someway to make a living and right now, both of our careers are here. TRAPPED!! We'll figure something out.

On a lighter note, I got to play a round of golf at Bethpage with April's brother Eric yesterday. It was my first time there since the US Open and they're still resodding fairways from where bleachers and corporate hospitality tents were so the 1st and the 18th on the green course were simply destroyed. I shot a mildly respectable 96, but I did make my first birdie since moving to NY. That's been TOO long in coming. I was just glad to be out there in the beautiful weather. April was supposed to come too, but she injured knee on a train platform stairway . . . OUCH! She'll be out with us again very soon. More to come when I return on Tuesday!

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July 5, 2002 Not the heat, but the humidity

It has been a HOT, HOT, HOT week here in New York. The temperatures have been in the mid 90's with 50% humidity and heat indexes in the 100's-110's. eep. It's supposed to cool down today and stay in the 80's for a while. It may be hotter in Texas right now, but at least you guys have central air and you don't have to walk everywhere.

Monday's softball game was a triple-header that lasted 4 hours in the scorching heat. I won 2 and lost 1 to bring my record to 6-3. I can deal with that. On Wednesday April and I went out to Long Island to pick up the car for her 4th of July gigs and I got to visit the driving range (wohoo!!). Wed. night I played in the Peter Silver rehearsal band down at the Union Building and ran into old friend Bill Dunn from the Mancini Institute. He hired me to play lead alto on August 1 at the Madison Square Garden Summer Festival. It's a big band gig that actually pays!! wow.

I didn't do anything on the fourth except watch baseball and work on the website. I'm not much for fireworks and I had things to do. April was in Westchester County playing one of her gigs with the Long Island Pops so I just stayed home and worked hard to honor America.

I have a 6-hour ceremony/cocktail/reception gig in the Bronx at the New York Botanical Gardens with the Jeff Lubin band this evening, and I'm playing at the Woodbury Country Club tomorrow afternoon. The gigs are coming quickly now in the middle of "wedding season." I really do hope to begin a project of my own very soon to add to my current work. I'll keep you all updated on that!

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June 28, 2002  Joe Lovano and Bill Kirchner

The week started out with the Monday afternoon softball game in the sweltering heat (not quite Texas but plenty humid to make it miserable). We won with a 2-out 4-run rally in the bottom of the 10th inning. Who knew softball could be so exciting? I got to score the winning run with a sliding play at the plate, but I was more excited about the fact that I got to get dirty. April came out for batting practice after the game since she had the day off.

On Monday night we went to go see Joe Lovano play with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. It was, of course, a wonderful thing to hear (and see) that one could only find in New York City. The most enjoyable part, though, was that we ran into many people that we knew. I'm not accustomed to seeing friends around town (because I don't really have very many) so running into several people I've met in the last nine months made me feel a little more at home here in the city. We also ate dinner at Empire Szechwan across the street from the Vanguard and I finally found some good hot and sour soup!! That's almost more exciting than anything else!

On Wednesday I took the train out to South Orange, New Jersey to visit Bill Kirchner in his relatively new three story home. I met Bill two summers ago at the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles. We've stayed in touch and now that Bill is on summer break from teaching at the New School he had some time to hang out. We listened to each others' music, and he helped set a few things straight in my head. Maybe I'll even be able to start writing again soon! Bill sent me on my way with three CD's of recent releases from Bob Belden (Black Dhalia), Bob Brookmeyer (the 70th birthday album from Europe), and Chick Corea (Chick's Piano Concerto as well as Spain for Orchestra). It was a fruitful visit on a very humid day.

 

After a decent day practicing yesterday, I'll be heading down to the New School for a doubles session with friend, Arun Luthra (Arun's website is still pending). Tomorrow I have a DOUBLE gig with the Jeff Lubin band. We're playing two weddings at Woodbury Country Club on Long Island. It'll be a long day, but a healthy paycheck. It'll be a good chance to learn some more tunes in between the gigs. I'll be tired Sunday, but what have I got to do that day?? Oh yeah, April and I are going to see a woodwind quintet concert. hmmmm . . .