Saturday, October 24, 2009
Bouldering!
Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks....and you will have to wait a bit longer for a full post. I'm leaving in about 1/2 an hour to go down to southern Illinois to do some bouldering. I went to Jackson Falls last weekend (see list on the side), but my friends Andrew, Adrianne and I are going to a new place today called The Graveyard. It is a small area tucked in the woods behind a tiny country church and graveyard. I'm really looking forward to climbing at a new place and hoping to find some good problems/projects. Anyway, hopefully sometime this weekend I'll have a few more minutes to fill you in on the last couple of weeks and maybe have some pictures for you. I hope everyone is well!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
COLE GERDES!!!!
Check this out....it's the greatest thing you will ever see!
http://www.cmt.com/videos/reba-mcentire/437631/consider-me-gone.jhtml
Isn't that AWESOME! (for those of you who don't know, that's one of my best friends Cole Gerdes from Pontiac. Good Stuff!
In other news: Work went well this weekend. The band was really good and a lot of fun to work with, so that made things easier for me. Had a few technical difficulties, but nothing serious that I couldn't handle. Hopefully this will lead to even more responsibilities at work and the club.
Also, my friend Steve came over the other day to work on some tunes for the soul band. He is a friend from college that I played with in jazz band, wind symphony, jazz combo and sax quartet, so he is going to play tenor and bari sax in our band. Hopefully soon I'll have some good news about an upcoming gig!
After the awesome (well, sort of awesome, kind of depressing that our pass D sucks that much) win over the Lions (DAAAA BEARS!), Ben and I went to see Zombieland. It was pretty darn good! Pretty gory in the beginning, but it tamed down (a bit) and was very funny, thanks mostly to Woody Harrelson and an incredible cameo appearance from.......just kidding, I wouldn't spoil that. Go check it out if you are in the mood for some good ol' fashion zombie-killin' fun!
I hope everyone is doing well....I'll talk to you again soon!
http://www.cmt.com/videos/reba-mcentire/437631/consider-me-gone.jhtml
Isn't that AWESOME! (for those of you who don't know, that's one of my best friends Cole Gerdes from Pontiac. Good Stuff!
In other news: Work went well this weekend. The band was really good and a lot of fun to work with, so that made things easier for me. Had a few technical difficulties, but nothing serious that I couldn't handle. Hopefully this will lead to even more responsibilities at work and the club.
Also, my friend Steve came over the other day to work on some tunes for the soul band. He is a friend from college that I played with in jazz band, wind symphony, jazz combo and sax quartet, so he is going to play tenor and bari sax in our band. Hopefully soon I'll have some good news about an upcoming gig!
After the awesome (well, sort of awesome, kind of depressing that our pass D sucks that much) win over the Lions (DAAAA BEARS!), Ben and I went to see Zombieland. It was pretty darn good! Pretty gory in the beginning, but it tamed down (a bit) and was very funny, thanks mostly to Woody Harrelson and an incredible cameo appearance from.......just kidding, I wouldn't spoil that. Go check it out if you are in the mood for some good ol' fashion zombie-killin' fun!
I hope everyone is doing well....I'll talk to you again soon!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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!
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!
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