Life Got In The Way

Well, I haven't posted anything for about a month now. Let's see now, what's gone on since then? Yesterday was my birthday, I got a stereo with a cd player and turntable from my parents. That's cool, because now I can blast my original pressing of Zep I. I've also come to the conclusion that Maynard Ferguson is a god.

The Big Band Dance went awesome. We totally blew all the other bands out of the water. Review of set list:

1. When The Saints Go Marchin' In - This one is arranged in a New Orleans street band style, so Mr. Pittman wrote an intro for us to play while we marched in from the back of the hall. It opened with Brandon playing the bassline on tuba, then Swanson joining him on banjo. Christine, David, and myself then came in, improvising over top of it for 16 measures. Then the rest of the band kicked in and carried us all the way over.
2. Jumpin' At The Woodside - A cool Count Basie tune. A quick, little dance number.
3. Mack The Knife - Mark sang this one. He's a pretty good singer, oddly enough. He's got a nice crooner style that suits the song nicely. I soloed in this one. Hot damn.
4. Peace Frog/Blue Sunday/My Girl - An odd grouping, but the arrangements that Pittman wrote for the two Doors tunes sounded great. Joel sang Peace Frog and Brandon sand Blue Sunday. Swanson sang My Girl. He also nearly blew the amp soloing on Peace Frog.
5. Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel....yeah, I know....apparently this song has a special meaning to Mr. Workman, so Pittman wanted us to play it for him.
6. Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing - Stevie Wonder. Not bad, although I really don't like this song all that much.
7. Harlem Nocturne - aka the theme from Columbo. Nothing terribly special here, either.
8. Sentimental Over You - I believe this was a trombone feature, which starred Joel. Shane had a really nice solo at the end. There's a really good reason why this guy plays lead trumpet.
9. Hit The Road Jack - Britney and McMahon sang this one together. It's a pretty easy chart to play, but together it sounds really good.
10. Hallelujah, I Love Her - David sang here. Damn, that guy has a great voice.
11. Flight of the Foo Bird - Another Count Basie song. I soloed on this one, too. David and Swanson both liked it, but I thought it was pretty sloppy. I shouldn't have tried to play so fast, but what's done is done. I'd like to hear it if anyone recorded it.
12. ...Saints Outro - Last bit of When The Saints... to end our set.

Overall, it was an amazing night. The music was awesome and the dancing was great. Keith sang Beat It in the Senior band performance. Next year I'm singing Eat It. The best memories, for me, were when both Curt and Dave complimented me enthusiastically on my soloing. I'm not some starry-eyed kid who likes talking to popular kids; quite the opposite actually (hey, I used a semi-colon!). Rather, when musicians of their calibre tell me things like that, it's then that I get starry-eyed.

IMC should be fun.