2008 Year in Review

A very musical year, all things considered. Let's see what we've got -

Cafe Milano duo with Steve - 9 months! Longest steady gig I ever had.

The flu.

Fordham Teach-In concert with GC, Jr., Lance and Sylvester. Thanks, Jude.

Project 19 at CSI! HUGE success.

Sliced Bread at a bakery. Oh well...

Plotting MEC.

UFO at B.B. King's with Vinny. Only You Can Rock Me, Rock Me.

Mini-reunion at Carmen's with Vinny, Maria and Laurie.

Concert at Alvin Ailey Studios with GC, Leon and Braden.

Monks Monks at Adobes every quarter (or so).

Diana graduates!!!

Project 9 gig.

RUSH at PNC. Changes aren't permanent, but change is.

"Jazz wedding" with Andy and Johnny Rog.

P19 goes "Back to the Beach" (audience somewhere between 8-15 thousand).

My worst (and possibly last) class.

High school begins.

Slices of RivProj at Adobes (Mike Mullen and GC).

Project 5 debuts at The Cellar.

Caught Adam Rogers at the Jazz Gallery - amazing. w/Antonio Sanchez and Boris Kozlov.

One door closes, another opens. The Armory Inn 'duo + special guest' gig begins! Thanks Steve!

Elliott Carter turns 100.

Christmas with the Heifers.

Knicks vs. T'Wolves with "the kids".

Seems like all music, huh? Pretty much. Got the cool recorder, and bass guitar, and cool drum machine I haven't had time to use yet. Spent a lot of time planning for the coming year, esp. Master Class series, and P19 back at CSI. Of course, on the home front all was wonderful with the notable exception of the loss of our dear Mr. Kitty. The great beyond just got a little more Zen.

Reading - don't think I made it through much this year. A couple of Stan Getz and Rush books (see "listening"), the truly frightening "American Theocracy" which gave me nightmares. Bruce Sterling over the summer.

Listening - mostly Rush and Stan Getz. Also Steve Khan "Suitcase" and "Borrowed Time". Gene's "Concerti" - absolute masterpiece. Lots of Miles, too, esp. Blackhawk Complete. But really, it was all about Rush and Getz. Wow, I just reviewed my Amazon purchases to see if I forgot anything significant, and was just frightened but the volume of Rush and Stan Getz that I consumed this year. Seems to be agreeing with me, though, so I'll probably stick to it for the foreseeable future.

Here's looking forward to a wonderful 2009, especially for the MEC ad/venture. So much happened this year that I would not have anticipated, I have to say I'm really enjoying the ride at the moment.

Oh yeah. O-BA-MA!!!!