Summer Begins

Long time since the last post...what a busy Spring it has been! Had a great Octet show at the Blue Whale, played a musical, did some fun sets with Mahadev, and recorded with tenor saxophonist Frank Silva for a new record of his original music. It's going to be a rip-snorting record, and I even got a tune on there, so keep your eyes here for more info as it gets released.

May is flying by, and I have a few shows with Orkestar MEZE coming up. First, this Sunday 5/19 we are playing at the Annual Bulgarian Festival in Culver City. It is a four-hour event with tons of other music, delicious Bulgarian food, arts, dance, and all that wonderful festival stuff! Best of all, pre-sale tickets can be purchased online for only $11. Eleven bucks. Yeah! Still only $20 at the door, but get them early and pick them up at the venue. Event runs from 12:30 to 4:30pm at the Veterans Memorial Complex, 4117 Overland Ave, Culver City 90230.

A week later, on Saturday 5/25, we are driving the plow and mules down to sunny San Diego (albeit with a somewhat downsized MEZE) to play a small daytime festival, and then rock the Turquoise Bar at night! We'd love to meet some new SD Peasants, so please tell your friends and enemies to come check us out.

Lots of other good stuff in the planning stages right now...stay in touch! Here's Orkestar MEZE with the incredible Ellis Hall in March!

Slumgum and Dan Rosenboom @ Royal T

It was in my calendar for over a month - last night was finally the night. No, not the season finale of Auction Hunters or the release of the iPhone 657. It was Slumgum and the Dan Rosenboom Group at Royal T in Culver City.

Slumgum is an incredible musical force right here under our SoCal noses. I find it difficult to explain this sort of a group in words, or rather, sentences. Here are some words that come to mind; mutuality, sincerity, honesty. This is one of the tightest groups I've ever heard, not in the traditional or immediate sense, but in the way they move from moment to moment so independently, yet so together. There is a joy of intensity in their performance, and as a musician myself, watching and listening, I can feel the deepest love and respect they have for the music and the present. They have one record out and another coming soon, and you should own it.

Following Slumgum was a large musical romp in the form of the Daniel Rosenboom Group. Expanded from his septet (which just released an album) to nine pieces, trumpeter and composer Dan Rosenboom led us into a set of new songs written on the road. Flavors of "In A Silent Way" Miles Davis, hard funk, Led Zeppelin, Spanish and Balkan music, and electronic texture all presented themselves throughout, in addition to those oh-so-difficult-to-name sounds that we composing types are always after. From rockin' and raucous to lean-forward subtle, Rosenboom's music is another testament to the freedom and far-reaching grasp of this creative music world.

Thanks Los Angeles. Looking in the window, it can look a little cold and barren, but there's a hot, hot fire burning in the furnace.