Happy 2008 So Far

So here I am starting off 2008 still grossly delinquent in my blog postings. The internet is serious business, you know… as I was recently informed. Long post here—lots of stuff on which to catch up.

We kicked off 2008 in our typical low-key, slightly lackluster tradition. We had a small New Year’s Eve gathering with a few random friends—ate some food, played some games, watched poor Dick Clark barely count down the ball-drop, then promptly went to bed. Whoo hoo!

I attended Steve Lawson’s bass masterclass at Looperlative Bob’s house a couple weekends ago. There were only six or so of us for the first day, and just half that for the second day, so there was a bit more individual playing going on this year (good thing!). I happened to be the only four-stringer in the group, so some of the chordal explorations Steve was outlining for us proved to be a little tricky from my vantage point. All in all, it was an inspiring bass weekend… just what the I needed given the current malaise of my creative and musical output (what output?!?!). The weekend was punctuated by a Saturday night house-concert with Bob, Steve, and Lobelia (more on them a bit later).

No sooner had I recovered from an entire weekend of bass-madness, I was on a plane heading to Washington D.C. for a DR video shoot. First time for D.C. and first time flying Virgin America. While the VA accommodations didn’t prove to be any more spacious or comfortable that any other flight I’ve been on, they did have cool touch screens on every seat. Said touch screens gave us access to satellite tv, tv on demand, games, music, and food! At first I thought that was the coolest thing ever, but after a few episodes of the Simpsons, My Name is Earl, and 30 Rock, I ended up just flipping the channels for the rest of the flight… not reading, not sketching… (so pretty much like my evenings on the couch at home!).

The video shoot took only half a day, so we had a few moments to check out the Air and Space Museum. A few moments actually turned in to a few hours (so much to see!) and by the time we stepped outside to see some more sites it was just a bit too cold to bum around (at least for us Californians). The fading light, however, was just about perfect for snapping a few shots of the capitol building and the Washington Monument… so at least we got those. On the cab ride home, we had our driver cruise by the other requisite sites… the Lincoln Memorial, the White house, etc… Guess I’ll just have to come back to D.C. for further exploration!

Back in California now, and even though we’re a lot warmer than D.C., we’re trying to not let the soggy weather get the best of us. Its been quite grey and rainy of late… and despite we’re not even into February yet… I’m ready for summer!

Last Thursday Christine and I hopped over the hill (that is, drove down 17 towards Santa Cruz, for those not up on the lingo) to Felton to catch Michael Manring, Steve Lawson, and Lobelia at Don Quixote’s. The evening started off with a solo set from Steve Lawson… looping, laid-back, ambient-y brilliance. He was then joined by Lobelia on vocals for further explorations on that theme. My favorite was their cover of the Police’s “Tea in the Sahara”. Michael Manring was up next for some truly blistering bass pyrotechnics. Now, Christine had never seen Michael perform live… but after just his first song she informed me that I was no longer the best bass player she’s ever seen. (and I hear a “DUH!”???). Michael, Steve, and Lo rounded off the evening with a few improve excursions… pretty wild stuff.

Allrighty. Enough typing. Note to self: post more often so you don’t have to catch up on so much.