Plugging Along Through a Very Hot Summer

It’s been a whirlwind month.

Five weeks ago, Jan and I have sailed on the beautiful Sapphire Princess, a very happy ship, from Vancouver to Whittier, Alaska and returned to Vancouver. We brought our folding bikes to throw off the shackles of ShoreEx and generally go our own way. That made a real difference in our enjoyment of Alaska. I did a small website here on the mechanics of bringing our bikes on board.

We are getting closer to having a recording made at Promise Land Church with the locals, especially the two Tonys.

We got back from Alaska just in time to do the first big band gig of the modern era, June 6, at the Becker Vineyards in Stonewall. The band played great! Saxes were RF, Tony Campise, Tony Bray, Chris Kapral; trumpets were Kevin Flatt and, in one of his last gigs in Texas, Pat Murray; Matt Walker played trombone; rhythm section was Angelo Lembisis, Ulrich Ellison, Kris Afflerbach, JF. Canary was Jennifer Zavaleta.

This gig is the reason I’ve abandoned plans to go to LA--that and the remoteness of it all. Schlepping all the stuff required 1600 miles is daunting. And now that I know we can get a fine local result, I’m going for it.



Here are ten--TEN--charts I’ve taken down since we got back here in June:

Skyliner (Charlie Barnet), All Right, OK, You Win Joe Williams/Basie), Chattanooga Choo Choo (GMO), Walkin’ My Baby Back Home (Billy May/Nat Cole), Still Diggin’ on James Brown (Tower), The Very Thought of You (Nelson Riddle/Ella), Stella By Starlight (Nelson Riddle), Cut the Cake (AWB), Corner Pocket (Basie), Save the Last Dance for Me (Michael Bublé).