A few pictures

Sonny Rollins sings a blues for his last tune...I don't think this happens very often...he was feeling really good that night. It was pretty cool to see.

Sonny playing during the concert at the Touhill


Me with Sonny after the show...he was a pretty great guy.

In other news, I have taken over running the Bistro!!!.........for this weekend at least.... Bob (one of my bosses) is going up to New Jersey this weekend for a Bruce Springsteen concert (gross) and leaving me in charge of allll the stuff at the club this weekend. Frank Catalano, a tenor sax player from Chicago is playing this weekend on Friday and Saturday. I have to take care of everything, including setup, soundcheck, front of house, artist relations and payment. I have done all of this stuff before, but being the only one there and doing it all by myself is a bit stressful. I'm looking forward to the opportunity though and I'm glad everyone trusts me to run the place by myself!

Also....HOW 'BOUT DEM BEARS!!!! They had another nail biter this past Sunday, playing like crap for the majority of the game...but I was glad to see them pull out another win. Hopefully this weekend against the Lions won't be quite as stressful, but coming off the Lions first win, I am a bit scared...but just a bit.

If you get bored, here are a couple of things to check out on YouTube (just click the links): Black Dynamite trailer (a '70s blaxploitation spoof that looks incredibly hilarious), Christian Scott (a trumpet player that I have just come across...he is a modern jazz player and what I have heard, I like...click here for another tune) and Frank Catalano if you get a chance.

talk to you soon!

I Like My Job

So I might only be working part time still, but I can't complain much more than that. We are back in the swing of things at the Bistro, so I'll be nice and busy now-a-days. We have had a couple of cool events since the last post too. on September 10th we had an event at Neiman Marcus called Fashion's Night Out. It was a nationwide event at all Neiman Marcus locations. Jazz St. Louis was one of two not-for-profits that took part in the St. Louis event, raffling off a $500 NM gift card and putting on a concert with Good 4 the Soul and a few of our kids from the student groups we teach. The event was a lot of fun, featuring runway shows every 30 minutes, open bar, and hors devours from some of St. Louis' best restaurants. It was pretty nice spending the night around rich people and hot models....

This past weekend tops that though. On Saturday, we presented saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Touhill (a performance hall on the campus of Univ. of Missouri StL). For those of you who don't know, Sonny Rollins is commonly referred to as "the last living jazz legend." He has played with EVERYBODY: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Max Roach, you name 'em, he played with 'em. Anyway, Rollins is now 79 and still touring, but mostly overseas. It was a huge show for us, with 1400 people turning out for this once in a lifetime experience. I spent all day backstage helping out the band and got to meet and talk with Sonny a pretty decent amount. It was quite an honor talking to such a legend in the jazz world. The best part was that he was sooo down to earth. He could easily be a huge prima donna, but he definitely was not. Its great working with the best artists in the business when they are actually nice people. Pat Martino was the same way. But then there are people that are terrible to work with who 99.9% of people have never heard of. Oh well. Anyway, the concert was incredible and he signed my all-access pass after the show! Good Stuff!

As far as MY band goes, I have only been to one rehearsal so far, but it was a lot of fun. I just got my friend Steve to join as the tenor and bari sax player, so we now have two horns. We are playing a lot of great tunes: some Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Joe Cocker and other stuff in that vein. Our gig is still two months off, but we are hoping to book some more stuff around that time, so that should be exciting.

In other news, I have been REALLY lazy with my climbing, but hopefully will really get back into it now that the weather is starting to cool off, which means Bouldering Season!!! Also, this past Friday we had our housewarming party (finally). It was a good time, but the turnout wasn't quite as good as I would've hoped. We did have some neighbors join us though, so that was nice.

And last but not least: HOW 'BOUT 'DEM BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope everyone (ESPECIALLY Tony) got to watch the awesomeness that was Da Bears incredible defeat of the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Talk about an intense game.

Sorry if this post is a little disjointed and rambling, but I am in the middle of watching a marathon of The Office on TBS....Hopefully next time I will have some pictures for you! Talk to you soon!

It's 2:20 AM and I'm finally going to try to write something...

So it has been a grueling couple of months here since my last (non-picture filled) post. I have been swamped with my part-time job, waking up by 11 AM to catch The Price Is Right, and honing my combat skills and knowledge of modern weaponry and warfare by playing LOTS of Call of Duty 4, not to mention committing countless hours to catching up on all of the great TV shows out there before the new seasons start....so I hope you can all understand my lack of this completely superfluous act of "blogging". Anyway, enough of my sob story...I am committed now! This past weekend I got to see my whole family (probably 99% of my readership, so I should just say: "I got to see you!") which was very nice, even though I would've rather it been this weekend and not for the same reason. I got to catch up with a lot of them (you) but there is plenty that I have left out since my last blog, so I decided I would make a list of the goings-on over the past couple of months:

1.) I found out that hyphens were, for the most part, removed from the English language, but are still accepted, so I should've said 'goings on' instead of 'goings-on.'
2.) I recently went up to the Chicago Bears training camp with my friend Amanda. She worked there for a few weeks this summer and made friends with a few of the players. The night we went up, we went out to the bar and about 1/2 the team showed up! Alex Brown bought us tequila shots and I talked/hung out with a few of the Bears players. Fun stuff!
3.) Today I had to yell at some Asians for backing into my car and walking away. Apparently the stereotype is true... and luckily there was no damage.
4.) Ben and I had our cars broken into outside of our apartment a few weeks ago. My iPod was stolen. Fortunately I didn't use it much and all my climbing gear was still in the trunk.
5.) FOOTBALL SEASON IS UPON US!!!
6.) Unfortunately, I've made only a couple of trips down to Jackson Falls since my last post.
7.) Fortunately, one of those trips involved my hardest climb to date: Spiders From Mars (5.10b). Those of you that have been keeping up and didn't skip the long section about climbing in that last post will know that Spiders was a long time nemesis/project for me...I'm glad it is finally over!
8.) The next trip down to Jackson I on-sighted Gully Gee Whiz, a 5.10b, making my hardest grade to date seem like a joke. If I can on-sight 10b, I should be able to red-point at least 2 grades harder....
9.) I am out of climbing shape and I live only 5 minutes from the rock gym...I need some motivation....hopefully the cool temps will help!!!
10.) My climbing partner, Andrew, and I are planning to go to Pere Marquette State Park this weekend in search of boulders/climbable rock. We know it is out there....but where? First Ascents here we come!
11.) I have been asked to play in a 60s funk/soul group...I haven't played my sax in 7 over 9 months (mom, don't show this to dad) but I have a rehearsal Monday night and hopefully I remember how to play....it's just like riding a bike...I hope...
12.) I am a Colonel in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and very proud of it...
13.) I am still getting along great with Ben and Nicole and enjoying life here in St. Louis. I do hope to start getting out more soon and start taking advantage of all the city has to offer though. Life is good, but can always be better.

Here are a few pictures to leave you with tonight...well, this morning...

The Family on my 22nd b-day in South Africa

The Jazz St. Louis Family (minus Gene and Kate) at one of our fundraisers

Me 'hang-dogging' (or hang dogging) and rehydrating on my big project: Flingin' Hog (5.11a)