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| VERMONT JOY PARADE |
After my first week up here, with all its serenity (plus a little bit of chaos), it became clear that the best thing for me to do was stay in VT as long as possible before the 25th. Though there was a gap in my gig calendar after 7/4, I managed to patch it up a bit and staying here made more sense. This past weekend's Adirondack adventure made everything a little sweeter, too.
On the way up here, I got an email that one of our first gigs was dropped because we were playing the same city the night before. This was sort of a bummer (the money would have been ok), but other things have come up that certainly balance this out. We ended up taking a gig in Burlington that was really fun, and it didn't matter to anyone that we had another one a few days later. I guess this is an issue that a lot of different people and places fuss over. I don't think our other venue was any sort of competitive force, either, but after getting feedback about this on social media, I do realize that it can present issue.
After our first string of gigs, I spent a few days just shedding trombone and trying to relax. Maybe I mentioned this, but I feel so much better about my playing than I did at the start of the year, and having the time to stay in one place and really work stuff out has done nothing but help. I've also managed to get out and see more nature this summer. My hosts at the beginning of the month have known each other for years and we spent a couple days out on Lake Champlain having a great time.
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| Mama |
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| Duke |
This continued before and after our show at Galen's parent's house in Ticonderoga. Their property is right on Lake George, and we managed to have good luck with the weather surrounding our gig there, which was a total blast. I slept on the Vermont Joy Parade tour bus, which has been parked there for 2 years. It was good to hear the Whippoorwills, which brought back vivid memories of my childhood camping adventures in the Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth. Leaving Ticonderoga was bittersweet, but I'll probably spend a couple days there between our upcoming gigs, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the place again.
I returned to Burlington and was able to spend four nights in an empty apartment below Becca Mack's place on N.Winooski Ave. It's just about fully renovated, and they weren't doing any work on it last week. We would get together during the day sometimes and work out Balagan rep. It's great to be in a situation with musical neighbors, and something I miss about this place a whole lot.
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| Sam on the VT-NY ferry |
Last Friday I visited the Manhattan Drive house (where I was staying when I wrote the last post), and Sam told me that he was going to visit his parents in the Adirondacks this weekend - his birthday is on Wednesday. On Saturday, a whole bunch of us went out to Elizabethtown, where we spent the better part of two days between the river and the grill. It was great to get to know him and his family a bit better - they just bought their house and have only been living there for about 3 weeks. It's a big white house with a pretty neat history. Yesterday morning, we met one of the guys that's been working on it for years, and they keep uncovering old pictures and documents laying out the history of the place. This whole thing turned out to be a great weekend getaway that we weren't really planning on. We got back yesterday around 8. The Adirondack region is a neat place, ferry ride and all. Before we left I spent a few minutes yesterday blasting out arpeggios towards the mountain on the other side of the road. The echo there is pretty long, and it's a good way to check on your intonation.
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| Playing music with Emily on Sam's patio |
In the next 10 days before I leave, there are 6 gigs - the last two are with Balagan. I'll be going to Boston on Columbus Day weekend to play with them at HONK, but I'm glad to reunite with them here. Tonight is a hit at radiobean with Mal Maiz, a really fun Latin band that has a weekly slot. I wasn't planning on playing with them, but I'm glad they wanted me to join up with them. I feel pretty good about how all of this turned out, and I'll definitely be sort of sad to leave VT. With everything that's happened in the last three years, I can't think of a better way to start a new chapter .
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| Sunset at Battery Park |
