Well Merry Christmas to one and all. You are all loved and cherished and I appreciate all of you. ( Even the ones I don’t like.)
Lots going on in the family. My mother in law is now moving to Cartersville and has bought a house here. This is one of the side effects of I-75 being such a bitch!! The traffic is really bad any time of day and it can get worse at a moments notice going to and from Atlanta. And all her family lives here. So she bought a house and is moving. That is a BIG deal. (in a positive way).
The GPC at Clarkston Jazz Ensemble had its last concert first week of December and is now on hiatus until the spring semester starts. This time was fun and I’m hopeful that the spring will be too!! The Big Band Contractors had a GREAT show at the Strand and raised enough money to pay everyone and nobody lost money. We also paid the MDA folks as well. SO, that was considered a success. We are going back to COSMOS early in March and then are playing for the Museum of Southern Music in April. Still beating the bushes for gigs. Big Bands are hard to book. We might just make a Christmas album. The album that we made earlier in the year is selling well and is a good recording. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigbandcontractorsllc/
I played several venues in December as a solo gig. My Bose system, long in the tooth after 12 years or so, finally got replaced and it works fabulously!!! Played a couple of combo gigs in November with some really great players!!
The Peachtree Jazz Edition got busy in the last of the year and really enjoyed playing with them as well. Travelled a bit, but you gotta go where the music is. Great holiday parties but they were well south of town!!!
Going forward, in January25-Feb 4th I am going to Portugal with the combo like we did in 2015 in Berlin. Should be a blast.
Then Feb 14th with the EJS and the Valentine concert to celebrate the Harvest House (local food pantry). March 4th BBC at Cosmos then April 21-22 with the Big band and a Sinatra group and then some lady jazz singers. All good.
Life is good and so is music.