End of Summer Blog

» Posted by on Sep 11, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Hello all,

Wow, summer came and went pretty quick, didn’t it? Time flies. For evidence of this phenomenon, please check the date of my last “monthly” blog. Well, “monthly” was the original plan, but I think “seasonal” is more realistic for the future.

It’s been quite a busy summer. Plenty of gigs with The Brute Squad (some highlights – Memorial Day weekend at Bayside Grille in Excelsior, playing right next to the Mississippi river following the Minneapolis Marathon, and Kaposia Days in South St. Paul), Jess & Zeb (highlights – a couple times on the patio at Northern Vineyards in Stillwater, and a “tour” of several Axel’s Bonfire locations in the metro area), and also a couple jazz gigs, a wedding ceremony, and a couple wedding receptions.

In early August, Jess and I did a bit of recording for the first time in several years. We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with this yet – the beginning of a new CD, part of an EP, something for promotional use, or just for fun – but we wanted to get into the studio again before we got too rusty. We chose to record 3 of our favorite songs to perform live – “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix, “Heavenly Day” by Patty Griffin, and “Women Be Wise” by Bonnie Raitt – and did them in one afternoon. We’d like to thank our friend Joe Olsen for taking the time to record and mix them. I’ll try to upload them to the Jess & Zeb website soon (I’m not entirely certain how to add songs to the media player on the site), so keep an eye out for that.

My teaching schedule has lightened up a bit, as it does every summer, but the extra summer gigs always tide me over until new students enroll and old students return in the fall. I’ve used this extra time to reorganize my teaching system a bit. Nothing drastically different from the way I’ve always done things, just trying to set everything up to make the learning process as smooth, enjoyable, and beneficial for the student. Time slots are available at both locations that I teach, drop me a line to sign up!

If you’re on my e-mail list, you may have noticed a total lack of newsletters lately. This is because, for the most part, I’ve found e-mail to be a fairly ineffective marketing method. I might send an occasional e-mail announcement if I have an important gig or other newsworthy event to report, but otherwise, if you want to stay informed about gigs and other updates, I recommend you “like” my band pages on Facebook, and/or bookmark my website and visit often.

In closing, thank you all again for your continued support, and I hope to see you soon!

Submit a Comment