Well after several near misses in the last few years, I finally got to see Björk perform live. She came to Red Rocks which is an unbelieveable natural amphitheater just southwest of Denver. The show, although very loud, was extremely cool and I'm glad I went. Thanks to Tyler Gilmore for hooking me up with my great row 26 center seat!! She is 42 (I think) now and still sings as well as ever. With the ammount of strain she puts on her vocal chords, you'd expect a loss of range or timbre or pitch. I was very impressed at how well she did. As most of you probably know, most "pop" artists are terrible live performers because they are not trained in any way and their weaknesses can be covered in the studio. Most choose to either suck, knowing their audience doesn't care, or they lip-sync to a pre-recorded track (MANY more than just Milli-Vanilli do this - they just don't get caught). Björk is, however, actually a good musician who respects pitch and various other musical dimensions often ignored in "pop" music and she delivered an excellent live performance. She has studied and trained her voice since she was very young and it really shows. Bottom line - great venue, great show, great musician. I loved it.

Speaking of Björk, the 9th+Lincoln Orchestra just performed on KUVO 89.3 for their pledge drive. We did 2 of my arrangements of Björk tunes from our show last November. It went really well and I hope all of you screaming fans got to check it out. I will have some sound samples of it up on my [ music ] page soon as well as some other new recordings I've done recently.

On the gig front, I've just joined up with a top 40's band called Soul X. We do the standard wedding/corporate function material and work for Pro Entertainment. We've been playing at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs lately and we have some other parties here in Denver soon. Unfortunately, these are private events so none of you can check out my hard-driving rock saxophone playing, but I assure you it's an experience :) - Between Soul X and Onda, I'm all set for June. It will be a busy month (including the 9th+Lincoln recording session) but lots and lots of playing - just as it should be! Bye for now - see you at the gig!

My goodness. There is no excuse for not having updated my journal for 3 months!! My apologies to anyone out there who actually reads this thing. The latest news is that I just completed designing the website for the 9th+Lincoln orchestra. You can go to www.9thandlincoln.com to view my handywork. The band is going to make a recording (release status pending) this summer and it will include one of my new compositions for big band. On the gig front, I have a very exciting gig coming up next weekend. On Sat April 7 I'll be one of the 3 Tenors for a show featuring (besides me) Peter Sommer, Keith Oxman, Dana Landry, Erik Applegate, and Jim White. I've really been digging playing tenor over the last year (with my fabulous new mouthpiece from Adam Neiwood), and this is a great group to be around. The show is at Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge with sets at 7pm and 9pm. Maybe I'll see some or all of you there!

And, to keep things caught up, here's what I've been up to over the last 3 months:

January It was FREEZING!! The National Western Stock Show with the the Fort Collins Symphony was a blast. Anytime I get to play Bolero I'm in a good mood. Several gigs with Onda lead to several more gigs in the summer with Onda. All in all, I've never been so cold and the snow seemed like it would never go away.

February Still very, very, very cold. However, April and I escaped to Arizona for a 3-day golf trip (pics coming soon). We had lots of fun in the sun and got our season started early. I may have gone insane without the trip. Toward the end of the month I played at the Pepsi Center (Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets Venue) and at the Paramount Theater with the Rat Pack Revival show. Very fun and always a treat to be backstage at big, famous places like that. You never know who you'll run into (Alan Iverson, Marcus Camby, Carmelo Anthony, and that guy who is captain for the Avs - sorry don't really follow hockey).

March THE SNOW MELTED!! By the end of the first week of March all of the snow was gone from our yard and the golf courses were open again! I had several more fun Onda gigs this month as well as an unexpected trip to El Paso to judge a high school jazz band contest. The 9th+Lincoln show featured two of my charts from the Björk concert and I got to play lead as Art Bouton was back east for his daughter's Masters recital. As this month was coming to a springy close, we suddenly got 5 inches of snow dumped on us as some sort of sick, last-minute joke. No worries: it's melting very quickly and we'll be back outdoors by Sunday.

April is lining up to be a good month with several fun gigs. Check out my new database driven Gigs page for all the latest on what I'm up to. I'd love to see your smiling face at my gigs (and bring your ears too). Later for now!

I was promised "fairly mild" winters in Colorado. All of my neighbors and new friends here have said that it "snows a few times but it melts within a few days." Apparenly we are having an atypical season this year. Just as the snow from the first snow storm (end of Nov) melted, I squeezed in one round of winter golf, and then WHAM! the big blizzard hit on Dec 20. I was supposed to fly out of Denver Internat Airport that evening, but luckily for me the flights were all cancelled by noon. I didn't get to go visit April in Tulsa, but I also didn't have to do the whole stranded-at-the-airport thing -- or the stuck-on-the-side-of-the-road-in-my-little-no-snow-tire-having-civic thing. All in all, it was OK. However, the 2nd big storm one week later when the first had only just begun to melt, made me believe it may be a few more weeks before I resume my winter golf season. We got two warm days this week and the snow made significant melting progress (only 2 feet left to go) when WHAM AGAIN!!, we got another frickin' storm a few days ago. Well, the skiers are happy, happy, but I am earning my rank as captain cabin fever. I will write this winter off and wait until next year to see if everyone was totally full of it with regards to the mildness of Colorado winters.

On the musical front, my CD (Chamber Jazz Ensemble) is now available at CDBaby.com. CLICK HERE to visit our CDBaby page and maybe make a purchase of 10 while you're there! I've been very busy with my saxophone repair and dealer responsibilities with Single Reed Consultants and with my composer responsibilities with the 9th and Lincoln Orchestra. There are rumblings of a 9th and Lincoln album being recorded this year. There will also be a new 9th and Lincoln website in the next few months (I may have a hand in that). I've been playing a lot with Onda and they are keeping me busy through Feb and March. Very cool.

On the book front, I finally finished David Foster Wallace's Infinte Jest a few weeks ago. If you're looking for a challenge, I recommend it. If you're looking to enjoy a nice book, stay away. It's a difficult book about difficult issues written and published in a difficult way. It was the kind book that was "worth all the hard work" in the end. I've moved on (or rather back) to William Faulkner for my next selection. I read As I Lay Dying many years ago but have never checked out his more prominent works. I'm on The Sound and the Fury right now and I'll move on to Light in August sometime soon. Anyway, I've really enjoyed getting back into the literature thing . . . I always fill like I'm being filled up some of the things that are good about the human race while I'm reading a good work of literary art.

Well, back to it - I have so many saxophones to overhaul and so many charts to work on, it's just ridiculous.

Things have been going along swimingly this month!! I've had a lot of fun with a lot of different groups and it has been wonderful. My Wil Swindler Quartet concert went well and was well-attended (something to which I'm not always acustomed). The rhythm section played great and it was a lot of fun. The 9th and Lincoln Orchestra Music of BjÖrk concert was really fun and very successful. Due to bandleader Tyler Gilmore's efforts with the press, we sold the club out!! There were people who couldn't get in out in the bar. In retrospect we could have probably pulled off two shows and made a killing! I had a lot of fun writing for big band again. I've had several days over the last few weeks where things were "as they should be" - meaning that I spent the day composing modern jazz and practicing my saxophones and then went out for a real jazz gig that night. It doesn't happen very often and I've enjoyed every second! I'm also very excited to play with Mark Diamond and Andy Weyl at the Hotel Boulderado tomorrow night. They are great players and it is an honor to be able to play a whole evening of jazz with them. It will be a dual-horn evening for me as I will have my tenor at the gig too. I almost feel good enough about my tenor playing to share it with other people :).

Well, it's getting cold here in Colorado and as I type this we've got a viscious snow-storm heading our way. I think the low temp for tomorrow night is 3 deg F. Zoinks - that's cold. I am, however, going to skip out on some of the cold and go to Austin this weekend for a few gigs down there. I think the highs are in the 70's so it will be a fun little break. If anybody wants to catch up while I'm in Austin, shoot me an email (wil@wilswindler.com). More to come . . .

I just got back from Austin where I released my first CD with the Chamber Jazz Ensemble. the show we recorded for KUT radio went very well and I hope they find time to play it in it's entirety sometime very soon! I'll post here and send out a group email when I know if/when it will be aired. The CD release party itself was a success. I got to see lots of my old students in Austin (hi guys!) and play with the band one last time. Everyone did a terrific job and the crowd was great. Thanks to everyone who made it out for the show. Any of you who have ordered CD's but were not at the show, they will be in the mail very soon. If you haven't bought your copy yet, visit the Chamber Jazz Ensemble website to order a copy (and 2 or 3 for your friends) via PayPal.

It was been an inexcusable two months since I last made an entry here. Let me try to catch everyone (including myslef) up on what I've been up to! In Mid-September, the 9th and Lincoln "Decomposed" show was a really fun evening of free-jazz and group improvisation. I was unsure what we were in for, but Tyler did a great job putting together an interesting, enjoyable show. Late September brought the first public performance of Bola Abimbola's Wazobia at Cervantes - it was mostly a train-wreck, but the drunk, brawling crowd didn't seem to mind. Not my kind of gig, man. October brought the Loveland Choral Society Gospel show which was (despite my non-Christian philosophy) a good time. The music was pretty fun and the band was great to play with. Mid-October included my radio debut, also with Bola's Wazobia. It was slightly less of a train-wreck than the Cervantes show, but still not the level of performace I'm accustomed to. As you may have noticed from the changes to my gig calendar, I've dropped out of Bola's band. Good luck to them, but it's not my kind of organization. Sorry, no west-African pop music anymore for my fans!! Then came my return to the same radio station (KGNU in Boulder) 2 days later with Onda. They are the type of organization with which I like to associate and the show went pretty well. Let's hope for a lot more Onda dates on the calendar in the future.

That pretty much brings you up to date. As those of you that know me are already aware, I was pretty bummed about the Mets losing to the Cardinals, but things are looking good for the franchise and I think next year will be another good run! Looking ahead, I've picked up a jazz quartet gig on Nov 18 here in Longmont. I'll post more on that as the date draws nearer. I'll also be playing with the Colorado Jazz Orchestra on Nov 9 - great band - good charts - Wil plays lead alto! Hope this makes up for my lack of journal action for the last 2 months. See you on the gig, baby!

Well - I just completed one of the busiest playing weeks of my life! The past ten days included 8 gigs and 3 rehearsals. Saxophone players aren't supposed to work this much! Things look to be slowing down a bit in September, but the phone still may ring.

Just a follow-up on my "Triple Play" -- things were looking bleak as the times of the gigs shifted a bit and made the likelyhood of my safe, punctual arrival slimmer than I prefered. I was racing from gig #1 to gig #2 when I checked my cell phone messages to find that gig #2 had been rained out. I was caught in a thresher but got a reprieve at the last minute - whew!

I had fun with the 9th and Lincoln band this month (Aug 27). We played the big band adaptation of Bjork's Aeroplane that I arranged for the CJE. I haven't heard the recording of the gig yet but it was fun to have more insturments involved. We're doing another one of my CJE adaptations next month (Sept 17) - this time it's A Flower is a Lovesome Thing. Should be fun!

The weather here in Colorado has cooled off significantly and it is pleasant. It's still August and I had the heater on in my car this morning - WEIRD!.

The latest with April is that she has been contracted for several performances this season with the Tulsa Symphony (as in Oklahoma). It pays great and will supplement our income nicely - not to mention it's a great chance to play with a good orchestra! She'll be back on the road (like in the old days) but this time, the symphony takes care of the lodging! sweet deal

One final item - I have in my possesion an acoustical anomaly. I have a Selmer Soloist C (not even a C*) for alto that plays great. I measured it with all my fancy mouthpiece refacing gear and it is a legitimate C (.064"). THe facing is darn near perfect and it plays like a dream. I can't explain how it can project as well as my Meyer 6M but it does. I played lead with it on a big band gig last night and was not want for volume. I can't explain it but I may have to make an adjustment to my equipment listings! ciao for now!

In case you've been to my [ gigs ] page lately, you might have noticed that I have 3 shows listed on Aug 26. This is not a typo. I was able to schedule 3 gigs in one day (that's a first). I'll be in Boulder with Onda at 1pm, then in Lone Tree with the Metropolitan JO at 5pm and then in Denver with the Denver Municipal Jazz Band at 7:30. And, there's still room for the in-the-park homerun if someone wants to book my after 10pm for a late gig. I'll keep my fingers crossed and my cell phone on vibrate. Stay tuned for the official release date of the Chamber Jazz Ensemble CD and the unveiling of my newest website. COMING THIS WEEK!!!

I apologize to all of you screaming fans out there for not updating this journal for almost a whole month, but I've found some time today. As is evident from my [ gigs ] page, I've been busy playing and I have more and more coming in all the time. What the gigs page doesn't show you is that I have rehearsals involved with a lot of those gigs that take up even more time. I've also been totally swamped getting a new website ready for my latest endeavor with April. We've been stocking up on musical equipment and are going public very soon. I will officially unveil the URL whent he site is completed. When I'm not doing that I'm TRYING to get all my saxophones is stock repaired and ready to go out, as well as continuing my foray into the fascinating world of mouthpiece refacing. I'm still very much a novice but I'm really enjoying it. I've received some help from Brad Behn, (alt site) and I hope to pick his brain more when I get through all my saxophone repair. OY!

On the musical front, I have become the first-call 2nd alto player for 9th and Lincoln as well as a composer-in-residence (whatever that means these days) for the band. The gigs with Onda have been a real blast, and I've got gigs with two new big bands coming up. As I've said before, Denver is fitting me a lot better than NY or Austin. Also, the unofficial relase date (which will be confirmed or denied soon) for the Chamber Jazz Ensemble album is AUGUST 26. More on that in the coming weeks. AND . . .I promise more info and more frequent updates coming very soon!

I was pretty sad that the World Cup had to end the way that it did (with Zidane's "incident"), but I think Italy was one of the top teams in the tournament and it was good that they won. Now I have to wait 4 more years. The last World Cup I wasn't married yet, I lived on 95th and Riverside in Manhattan, and I played on an alto that is two horns ago now. I wonder where I'll be in 2010?

Things on the music front are going well. All of a sudden the phone has started ringing, and it seems like everytime I leave the house I come back with a gig. That's cool! I don't expect it to always be this way, but I will enjoy it as long as things are rolling. The music scene here is much more active than Austin and I feel like I have a lot more opportunity to get involved. More people are making more things happen - know what I mean? And, I'm getting a lot more chances to play my tenor - which is fun since I have my good setup now. Anyway, check out the new [ Gigs ] page to keep tabs on what's going on here on the front range. The next two weeks are particularly busy.

I've also been re-reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I have read most of Murakami's books and I'm a huge fan - yes, the Wind-up Bird from the Chamber Jazz Album is in reference to his outstanding work The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. It is definitely one of the heaviest works of art I've ever encountered - hence my theft of the title. Anyway Hard-Boiled was the first of his books that I read back in 2000 and it blew my mind. I read and re-read several of the others but never got back to it for one reason or another. Well - no point here - just want to recommend these books if you like modern literature. They are translations (from Japanese) but you could never tell. The prose is just beautiful. The only one of his books that seemed to lose something (either cross-culturally or in translation) was Kafka on the Shore. It was a good book and it had me most of the way but I didn't quite get it somehow. However, now that I think about it that's how I felt about Wind-Up Bird the first time so maybe a re-reading in a few years will shed some light. Whatever - check him out.

Don't forget, I'll be with the 9th and Lincoln Orchestra at Dazzle on July 30th (7 pm start). We will be playing my old chestnut Sönn Saga um Elsku (which I have renamed Elska to make it easier to announce on the mic). I wrote it in 2001, but I don't have anything more modern since all my post-college compositions were for the CJE. I guess I'll have to dust off the big band chops again and get something new ready for them for coming months. Anyway - good band, good music - support them with $$ - see you there!

As I've got posted on in the [ News ] section on the homepage I have several shows coming up in the next few weeks. Anybody and everybody is welcome. I'll post some more info as I have it and maybe add my calendar page. The highlight of the upcoming shows is with 9th and Lincoln again. We may do another one of my charts but we'll see.

On the hiking front, April and I went up to Black Lake with Libby in Rocky Mountain National Park. For a full recap and some picks check out Libby's Hiking Blog. It was truly a magnificent hike through Glacier Gorge along Mills Lake, Jewel Lake, and ending around 10,000 feet up at Black Lake. By far, the bet hike we've done in Colorado so far.

And, an update on our kittens. We've named them Oscar and Ella (Oscar is the Black Tabby and Ella is the Calico Tabby). They are getting along with the rest of the kitties very well and have started hankering to get out in the back yard. Here's their latest portrait with me in the background:

World Cup final - I'm so sad Brazil is gone - they really didn't play well against France. I believe Italy will win this 2-1. If France wins it will be an unbelievable feat - I can't believe they've gotten this far.

Good things on the music front. I've got a few gigs coming up this weekend (and a third one I had to turn down) and two in the book for July already. This Saturday (June 24) I'll be playing with the John Williams Orchestra at the Glenn Miller Festival in Fort Morgan, CO. It's been awhile since I've played the old school dance stuff but it's always fun when played well. On Sunday (June 25) I'm playing with the 9th and Lincoln Orchestra at Denver's premiere jazz venue Dazzle. This is a great band that plays modern big band music that doesn't get a lot of performance time around the world. We will be playing my adaptation of Gil Evans' links for Pablo from Miles Ahead. Gil Evans' music, as I'm always raving about at Chamber Jazz Ens gigs, is rarely played, but is widely accepted as some of the best large-ensemble jazz compositions in our repertoire. The band will also play several of the Tyler Gilmore's charts (the bandleader), some Thad Jones, some Jim McNeely and some other originals from Denver jazz composers. It should be fun!

Onto to other pressing matters . . . what a pathetic showing by the U.S. team in the world cup - BLECH! I love watching the World Cup every four years and I set aside time in my day to watch as much as I can. It's great this year having all 3 daily games on at different times! So much good soccer to watch - that is, until the U.S. team takes the field. Every year there is lots of hype about the U.S. team and how things look good this year, but every time it is the same story. The team can't control the ball, can't complete a pass, and essentially relies on long ball fast breaks and playing for fortuitous rebounds to score. All the press (commetators/sports writers) always yap about how "so and so didn't show up for this game" or "they need to pick up the pace and show more energy." HOW ABOUT, COMPLETE 2 PASSES IN A ROW?? That might help. Watching teams that understand how to control the ball and use space to open up goal-scoring opportunities (such as Brazil or Germany) really makes the U.S. team look like a bunch of guys who got lost on their way to a kickball game. I know it must be more complicated than it seems, but it is as if no one on the U.S. side understands what makes up a good soccer team. It's been 5 World Cups in a row ('90,'94,'98,'02,'06) with the same deal. The advancement to the Quarterfinals in 2002 was a fluke. They got lucky on those "fortuitous rebounds" I mentioned earlier and some other anomolies. Either way, I'm glad they did not advance this year because they did not deserve it. And, one last gripe - I nominate Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa for the "Worst Soccer Commentators Ever Award." It's like listening to two McDonald's managers describing 5-star cuisine. I hope they don't get to call too many more matches. And, my pick - Brazil. Those guys are good and getting better with each game. Look out!

First things first . . . the Chamber Jazz Ensemble CD is moving along now. Believe it or not, progress is being made! The release date is still unknown (unfortunately) but I will have it announced when things are getting close.

Here in Colorado, I've got a few musical projects on the horizon. Coming up on Sat June 10 I'll be playing with Salem and the Pioneer Inn in Nederland, CO. It will be a very eclectic show! I'm also getting together with a Nigerian musician named Bola Abimbola who is starting up a pretty cool African-pop/World Music group in the area. That should be fun. I'll post here at the site if some performances get scheduled.

On the FUN front, I went camping over memorial day weekend at Pearl Lake State Park near Steamboat Springs. We froze our buns off at night (in the 20's one night) but had a great time out in the mountains and trees. I'm looking forward to more fun camping trips now that we live here in the great outdoors! We also visited Strawberry Park Hot Springs which was really nice. Going back and forth between the freezing river and the 104 degree springs was . . . uh . . . exhilerating? Ask April - she swam in the river (BBRRRRRRRRR).

Our latest news is that we adopted two 8 week-old kittens this week and have been enjoying 24-hour romping in our house. They are from the same litter and love to practice the art of Cat Fu. Those of you with kitten experience know what I mean. No names yet, but here are there little mugs:

Oh my goodness, where do I start? Rewind a few weeks to the Greeley/University of Northern Colorado Jazz Festival where I got to hear some good old fashioned NYC jazz here in the Rockies. On the first night, after hooking up with old UNT chum Andy Dahlke, I heard Cedar Walton, Vincent Herring, and Rich Perry. I returned the next night for the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra which was fabulous, as is to be expected. I got to hang with my old teacher Dave Pietro and Steve Wilson for a bit after the concert and then I moved on to the after hours jam sessions. At the session I heard Greg Gisbert, Ingrid Jensen, and several other smokin' players. It was great to have all that music in one place! I should also mention that several of these shows were backed up by the UNC faculty rhythm section of Dana Landry, Jim White, and Erik Applegate. And, I forgot one - local talent and saxophone/jazz professor at CSU in Fort Collins Peter Sommer played an opening show for the festial which was excellent.

WHEW!! That was a lot! Last week, April and I went to Chicago to visit voice-over superstar, Kate Parker and check out the CSO as well as visit Wrigley Field for a great day game (CUBS WIN!). And of course, we ate at Potbelly's 4-5 times in a few days - YUM. From there, we hopped another Southwest Airlines flight to Long Island to visit April's family. While in the area, we got to hang with Mark Nuccio at his house in Jersey which was very fun. I got to visit the old softball gang (or atleast the ones that showed up) and get in some swings and tosses. Then, on our last day I went mouthpiece shopping which is always, always, always FUN! I ended up with a new tenor mouthpiece that I never would have expected. It is a Woodwind & Co. Hard Rubber Sparkle-Aire that was refaced by Adam Niewood and it is fantastic! Much like when I found a good setup for my soprano, all of a sudden I sound competent on tenor. I've been playing on real trash because I'd never devoted any time to getting my tenor setup together so its nice to have such a wonderful piece! Adam's work (on this mouthpiece atleast) is fantastic! And, if anyone knows anything about Woodwind & Co. mouthpieces, please email me (link at the top of the page) because I'm not coming up with much on them.

Which brings us to the present day. Last night I went down to the Boulder Outlook hotel to get involved with my first jam session in the area. This one is hosted by Mark Diamond and it was a lot of fun. I really appreciated Mark's open attitude to the musicians who were there. Sessions can get real vibey and exclusive real quick sometimes and Mark did a great job keeping things organized and fun. I met some other good players as well and I'm glad I went. Now if I could just find a job . . . next time!

I don't usually get political here on my website but with all that's going on I can't hold it in anymore. First, the administration: it is no secret that George Bush is not a smart man. It is still bewildering to me how he was ever elected in the first place, let alone re-elected. I've heard two main justifications given by people for voting in favor of Bush: (1) He's a man of convictions, and (2) He's a good Christian. Neither of these is a good reason to vote for anyone. Being a man of convictions is of no use if you're decision making (meaning, how you reach your tenaciously held convictions) is not sound. It is clear that Bush's "convictions" have lead our country into unprecedented turmoil. Maybe, a change of his mind might help turn things around **NOPE** "gotta stick to my convictions, heh heh." And second, voting down political lines without careful investigation of the candidate's individual platform is a bad enough idea, but voting based on something totally unrelated, such as RELIGION, is about as foolish a notion as I can imagine. This is all assuming that Bush is indeed what one might consider a "good Christian." He is very good a giving public lip service to his devotion, but that doesn't amount to much. Not to mention the fact that when you start basing political decisions on religious beliefs, you enter into the dangerous, devastating dinosaur called a THEOCRACY. Separation of church and state is one of the ingredients that has lead to the success of our nation - let's not bungle it up now!

And, one other note: I was recently driving my Honda Civic from Austin up here to Longmont (it had to stay behind in the move and come up later) and consequently I was subjected to lots and lots of AM radio and thus, lots and lots of political (mostly right-wing) talk shows. One must be very careful when listening to biased "news-like-infotainment," such as this kind of thing. Regardless of whether you are listening to someone leaning left or leaning right, if you completely agree with everything the host is saying, turn it off. If you don't challenge your point of view by listening to the other side of the argument you can end up way off base. And one other point, as soon as the host says something in an incredulous tone of voice (i.e. "Can you believe this nonsense?") or resorts to name calling (i.e. "as those idiotic liberals/conservatives would have you believe") TURN IT OFF!! The worst two individual examples I'v ever heard on these counts are Rush Limbaugh (thank god he's not polluting minds anymore) and Michael Savage (on whose show I heard a caller cut off simply for presenting the other side of the issue). These men are pandering for ratings by massaging the egos of people who hold their beliefs and throwing derogatory school-yard insults to belittle the opposition. This is not information and it is counter-productive to the improvement of our country and our world. I don't mean to single out only right-wing individuals, but those are by far the most eegregious examples of this wort of thing I've heard. Occasionally the Air America guys will get a little rambunctious, but with the current administration it is hard not to get a little incredulous sometimes (i.e. the Clear Skies Initiative which the Bush administration claims will reduce mercury output from factories by allowing them to produce more mercury if they need to).

My main point: don't get your information from a source that blatantly agrees with your point of view (or is trying to sell you something), and don't base your vote on aything other than the individual merit of the candidate in terms of value to the progression of our country. Now I promise I'll keep my political views in check for a while.

Today, I unleashed on the public the new website for the Chamber Jazz Ensemble. As part of the promotion of our new CD, which should be released sometime in May, I have updated the site to include some great new photos of the band and some preview mp3's of the new CD. There are also some new live recordings available in mp3 format for those of you that would like to reminisce about the concerts you attended this year. So, check out the new site, peeps!! I had a lot of fun making it and I hope you enjoy all the new content.

In personal news, we are just about settled here in Longmont and things are still pretty going well. The weather is beautiful, the mountains are totally cool, and we are enjoying a brief break from the 7-day work weeks we were pulling back in Texas. Things will be rolling along before we know it and we'll be busy, busy, busy.

One more exciting personal note: last Friday April and I played golf at Twin Peaks Golf Club. I was playing well, getting up and down a lot and before I knew it I needed a par on 18 to shoot 79 and break 80 for the first time! The 18th is a long par 4 (439 yards) and I had no choice but to really step on a driver in an attempt to get it out there far enough that I could have a reasonable chance to hit the green. I ended up in the right rough with only about 170 into the flag. I hit what I consider a "career 4-iron" that landed about a yard from the flag. Unfortunately, the extra sand on the green from the recent aeration caused a hard bounce that brought my ball to rest about 10 yds behind the flag, just off the green. No big deal for me as I had been chipping like a champ all day. A quick chip and run left me 2 inches short of a birdie with a no-stress tap-in for par and a round of 79. Needless to say, I'll be going back to that course!! Stay tuned for more adventures from Colorado!

OY! We've just moved into our new house in Longmont, CO, and it's time to unpack the boxes. I always forget how long this takes. Today should be a very productive day and most of the boxes should be emptied and broken down by this evening (we hope). So far we're really digging Colorado. I can see the Rockies from my window here by my computer -- that's new. Longmont seems to be a hip little town with a good balance of comfort and charm. It snowed last night and it should snow some more this morning -- also new to me. I love snow and it's especially nice to have some winter weather after a seriously crappy and confusing "el niÑo" winter in Texas. April and I are slowly getting back in the groove on our instruments. There's just no way to keep something like a cross-country move from interrupting your practice time!

Last night we attempted to go hear Bil Jackson perform the Mozart Clarinet Concerto (the most perfect piece of music ever according to April) with the Colorado Symphony, but were thwarted by the city. We forgot that in larger metropolitan areas you need to leave extra time -- especially if you're not familiar with the area yet. We ran an errand to pick up a space heater for our gym in the garage and then got hopelessly lost in southeast Denver. oops. We used our map and eventually got to the hall a little late, but were stymied by extreme traffic at the PAC. By the time we got to the parking garage, we had missed the Piano Concerto and the first movement of the Clarinet Concerto for sure. A quick rush could still save us, but no. The garage had just filled up and we were screwed. We decided to just head home with a big failure for our first attempted Denver outing. We'll be back, though. THIS ISN'T OVER, DENVER!!

Also, I spent all of last week in the studio at Tequila Mockingbird doing the mixing for the Chamber Jazz album. It took a long time but was a very enjoyble process. In the end I think we're going to a have a good album that we can all enjoy. If you'd like to order a copy, visit the Chamber Jazz Homepage. For those of you that have already ordered, check back here to track the progress, hear some teaser sound samples, and find out the release date!

Congratulations to us!! We were in the studio for 28 hours this past Sunday-Monday and managed to lay down 7 tracks that sounded great! It was very exciting to have an opportunity to record my music with creative control. I definitely want to thank everyone who donated money to get the project going (you know who you are). We've got mixing scheduled for this weekend and then we begin the marathon that is the post-work. It should turn out great and be out there sometime this spring.

Also, come out for the final performance of the Chamber Jazz Ensemble this sunday March 5 at Copa Bar and Grill from 6-9pm. The band will sound great since we've just come out of the studio - plus it's your last chance to hear the band live with the current Austin line-up! Hope to see you all there!!

Hey everybody! Welcome to my new website. Since I'm preparing to move to a new city (Denver), I thought it might be a good idea to give my website a new look. I'll also have new sound samples and pics as the site develops. And, for those of you who often ask me, "when are you going to put anything new on your website?" I will be updating this journal with info about the move, the new CD, and how life is progressing in Denver -- so check back often!

I am steeped in logistical details right now as we prepare for the big Chmber Jazz recording session this weekend. Everything seems to be in place, and I'm anxiously awaiting my first studio experience where I'm one of the decision makers. It's been great having this band while I've been in Austin and I'm super excited that we're able to document the band with a good recording.

I was also in the studio yeserday with Kevin Ahart as we gave another go at getting an album together. We've already done one session but weren't happy with the result. Things went well last night and we got down 10 separate tunes. They've still got another session without me to knock out the last few and finish the editing. I'll have some samples up here at the site as soon as I get them.

That's all for now. Check back soon for news on the recordings and MP3 samples!