Events of the last few days, if anyone cares to read it all.
Which, I'm not sure is entirely plausible, but we'll see, I suppose. Beginning with Wednesday:
I went to the Berklee hockey game on Wednesday. I met up with Neil, and he had two friends from the pop a capella group he's in with him. It was actually Tara's first hockey game ever; it was kind of funny! We played against Emerson College, again. I think we've played them three other times this season; we play in like, the D league or something, so we don't get to play Harvard or BU or Boston College or UMass or anyone who is awesome like that. So, that's all right. Every time we've played Emerson, we've kicked their ass, except for Wednesday, when we got our asses kicked. However, I don't believe that the ref was very impartial. I mean... no, I don't know a whole lot about hockey in terms of rules, nor have I been a fan for very long (and for that matter, I'm not even really a fan unless it's Berklee, and in that case I'm only a fan because I find it hilarious that a music school has a sports team) but there was seriously never a time when we didn't have someone in the penalty box, and there were several times when we had two guys in. And... that's just stupid. There were also several penalty calls that even I, as a spectator who is admittedly not an avid watcher of hockey would have spotted, but went missed by the ref. Ugh. Oh well; we lost, and that's all.
After the hockey game, I went over to Cambridge to see the Chris Potter Underground play at the Regattabar. The Regattabar is a weird little place; I've been to three of the four jazz clubs in the Boston area (the other one is 21+) and this is my least favourite, but it has the best acts! I don't get it. It's kind of crappy. It's got table seating, but you can't choose your own seats, they seat you. I got put with the entire saxophone class from the University of New Hampshire; it was kind of hilarious, and kind of weird because they all knew eachother and I had no idea what to do with myself. Then, the waitresses come and ask what you'd like to drink, of course. I told her "water", because screw you, I've already paid my admission, I just want to watch jazz, I don't want to spend any more money. She asked "Sparkling or Evian?" and I was like, "What?" and then she brought me this fancy glass bottle of Evian water and charged me $5 for it! Dude... if I was going to pay for something, I'd have bought something cheaper and tastier. Not spent $5 for water. Sheesh. And then, she came back in the middle of Chris Potter's last tune to ask for our money. I sent her away because I thought it extremely rude that she'd interrupt the show, and I couldn't hear her anyhow; my hearing is funny like that, actually. When she finally came back after the set, she insinuated that I'd been the rude one for sending her away and wanting to actually listen to the music. Bitch. Oh well.
Anyways, enough whining; I've seen Chris Potter three times now. Once in '05 at the Jazzfest when he came with Dave Holland's band, in '06 with his own group at the Yardbird Suite, and now this time. I can say that he is easily my favourite saxophone player; he is someone who, when he's soloing, never loses my attention, and always makes sure he has something original to say in what he improvises. It's unbelievable; you see that in so few saxophonists today, and not even in all of the famous dead guys (John Coltrane, anyone?) so it's kind of refreshing. And not to mention that he and his group play as tightly or tighter in 15/8 or 7/4 as some groups play in 4/4. And without a bass player! Unreal. Also he has a Rhodes in his band, which I don't care what anyone says, they're sexy as hell, and in this case, totally kicks the Wurli's ass. In this case. I still haven't chosen a side in the eternal raging Wurli/Rhodes battle.
I got sick on Thursday... I'll spare you all the details, but I was out of commission for Thursday afternoon and all of Friday. I would have also taken today (Saturday) completely off, just to make sure I was completely recovered, but I had another gig with Josh, Jack and Eric at the Asgard, so, I had to wake up.
I like playing with these guys; Josh plays cello, Jack plays acoustic guitar, and Eric plays trumpet (I, of course, play keys). It's a funny little instrumentation, but we make it work. We've played a few gigs before, and now that we've had a bit of time apart and came back together, it seemed to work even better. People in Cambridge seem to like us, which is good! We're going to start trying to rehearse a bit more, and get an actual set list and some actual arrangements together, which will be cool. We've got a good instrumentation for arrangements, maybe not so much for just straight jamming, because we often end up tripping over eachothers' feet. Ah well. Should be cool.
The rest of today I've mostly spent doing nothing; I'm still recovering a bit, I think. I had a good hour or so just chatting and making random jokes with Kael and Martin around the kitchen table; I still can't believe how lucky I am to have found such great people to live with in such a great place to live in Boston, almost purely by luck. Amazed, I tell you. I am amazed. And that about sums it up, friends. Go nuts!
I went to the Berklee hockey game on Wednesday. I met up with Neil, and he had two friends from the pop a capella group he's in with him. It was actually Tara's first hockey game ever; it was kind of funny! We played against Emerson College, again. I think we've played them three other times this season; we play in like, the D league or something, so we don't get to play Harvard or BU or Boston College or UMass or anyone who is awesome like that. So, that's all right. Every time we've played Emerson, we've kicked their ass, except for Wednesday, when we got our asses kicked. However, I don't believe that the ref was very impartial. I mean... no, I don't know a whole lot about hockey in terms of rules, nor have I been a fan for very long (and for that matter, I'm not even really a fan unless it's Berklee, and in that case I'm only a fan because I find it hilarious that a music school has a sports team) but there was seriously never a time when we didn't have someone in the penalty box, and there were several times when we had two guys in. And... that's just stupid. There were also several penalty calls that even I, as a spectator who is admittedly not an avid watcher of hockey would have spotted, but went missed by the ref. Ugh. Oh well; we lost, and that's all.
After the hockey game, I went over to Cambridge to see the Chris Potter Underground play at the Regattabar. The Regattabar is a weird little place; I've been to three of the four jazz clubs in the Boston area (the other one is 21+) and this is my least favourite, but it has the best acts! I don't get it. It's kind of crappy. It's got table seating, but you can't choose your own seats, they seat you. I got put with the entire saxophone class from the University of New Hampshire; it was kind of hilarious, and kind of weird because they all knew eachother and I had no idea what to do with myself. Then, the waitresses come and ask what you'd like to drink, of course. I told her "water", because screw you, I've already paid my admission, I just want to watch jazz, I don't want to spend any more money. She asked "Sparkling or Evian?" and I was like, "What?" and then she brought me this fancy glass bottle of Evian water and charged me $5 for it! Dude... if I was going to pay for something, I'd have bought something cheaper and tastier. Not spent $5 for water. Sheesh. And then, she came back in the middle of Chris Potter's last tune to ask for our money. I sent her away because I thought it extremely rude that she'd interrupt the show, and I couldn't hear her anyhow; my hearing is funny like that, actually. When she finally came back after the set, she insinuated that I'd been the rude one for sending her away and wanting to actually listen to the music. Bitch. Oh well.
Anyways, enough whining; I've seen Chris Potter three times now. Once in '05 at the Jazzfest when he came with Dave Holland's band, in '06 with his own group at the Yardbird Suite, and now this time. I can say that he is easily my favourite saxophone player; he is someone who, when he's soloing, never loses my attention, and always makes sure he has something original to say in what he improvises. It's unbelievable; you see that in so few saxophonists today, and not even in all of the famous dead guys (John Coltrane, anyone?) so it's kind of refreshing. And not to mention that he and his group play as tightly or tighter in 15/8 or 7/4 as some groups play in 4/4. And without a bass player! Unreal. Also he has a Rhodes in his band, which I don't care what anyone says, they're sexy as hell, and in this case, totally kicks the Wurli's ass. In this case. I still haven't chosen a side in the eternal raging Wurli/Rhodes battle.
I got sick on Thursday... I'll spare you all the details, but I was out of commission for Thursday afternoon and all of Friday. I would have also taken today (Saturday) completely off, just to make sure I was completely recovered, but I had another gig with Josh, Jack and Eric at the Asgard, so, I had to wake up.
I like playing with these guys; Josh plays cello, Jack plays acoustic guitar, and Eric plays trumpet (I, of course, play keys). It's a funny little instrumentation, but we make it work. We've played a few gigs before, and now that we've had a bit of time apart and came back together, it seemed to work even better. People in Cambridge seem to like us, which is good! We're going to start trying to rehearse a bit more, and get an actual set list and some actual arrangements together, which will be cool. We've got a good instrumentation for arrangements, maybe not so much for just straight jamming, because we often end up tripping over eachothers' feet. Ah well. Should be cool.
The rest of today I've mostly spent doing nothing; I'm still recovering a bit, I think. I had a good hour or so just chatting and making random jokes with Kael and Martin around the kitchen table; I still can't believe how lucky I am to have found such great people to live with in such a great place to live in Boston, almost purely by luck. Amazed, I tell you. I am amazed. And that about sums it up, friends. Go nuts!