Just got back from Indiana today. I had a great time at Ball State getting my award and working with the bass students there. I also got to see family which is always nice. Pictures to come.

But I'm back on the road tomorrow. All you New Yawkahs, I'll be back in the city next week, so mark it!

Well here it is. This is the weekend I head back to Ball State to get my alumni award.

I would be more excited but I've been really busy and stressed lately working out flights, itineraries, promotion, and press releases for my CD Release Show in May. Not to mention getting a little stress about the flight this weekend and working all week long. But I am really looking forward to it. I'll be heading to Muncie (where Ball State is) on Monday, attending a luncheon and reception for myself and the other award winners (Mom and Carrie get to attend) then the convocation is that afternoon. Afterwards I'm giving a masterclass for the bass students. And that evening I'll be seeing some family that lives in Muncie. It should be a lot of fun.

I'll be back on Wednesday with a full report before heading out on a two-week East Coast trip with Tyrell on Thursday. Wish me luck.

Happy Easter everyone!

Carrie and I had some friends over for dinner after going to church. I don't know if I've mentioned it but I've developed a real love for cooking recently (probably has something to do with my love for food). We had four geusts and I cooked up a storm. I made baked chicken with sauteed squash, mushrooms, and garlic, my Aunt Mary's sweet potato casserole, aspargus with parmesan cheese, and an apple pie for desert. Carrie made deviled eggs and bread in the bread-maker. We had a feast, I'm so stuffed I want to go to the bathroom and pull a Lindsay Lohan. (was that in poor taste? good!)

Of course for you midwesterners and east coasters the day has come and passed but I hope everyone had a good holiday.

You may recall me and my Aunt Kathy talking in the comments section a while back about a festival in Spain Tyrell was booked to play. I was told it wasn't going to happen but I just got an email today that says otherwise.

Looks like we are going on a full tour of Europe in July. Countries include Spain, France, Turkey, Italy, and England with possibly more dates to come.

Needless to say I'm looking forward to it.

So I haven't really caught up on my sleep yet. Yesterday I had a bunch of errands to run; get a new external hard drive for my comp, get a replacement iPod (mine was locking up on me, Apple doesn't fix iPods they just replace them), pick up comics, pick up Murphy, etc. Carrie had been in Chicago last weekend visiting her sister so I picked her up from the airport last night. Today I went to the grocery store.

I've got a lot of work coming up the next few months. Lots of stuff around town as well as tours with Tyrell and my CD release shows in Indy and Kalamazoo. I have two concerts booked with the Mancini Institute Alumni Orchestra. One of them is performing with Tony Bennett. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Okay, nap time before I head to my gig tonight.

Vegas Thursday, Kansas City on Friday, St Louis Saturday, and today in Jacksonville. This has been one busy trip, enough planes to make you sick for sure. I finally have some time to relax and sleep. Last night I only slept for two hours and I think the most I've had in the past three days is six. Granted I could've gotten more sleep had I chosen to go right to bed after the gig and not hang out having drinks with the boys. But what are you going to do? With so much to do you gotta let out some steam somehow.

Today we played at an outdoor jazz festival. There were two stages, geuss who was playing at the other stage while we were on ... Herbie freakin' Hancock. It was a wonder that anyone was there to see us at all.

And not only has the schedule been busy but the shows haven't been very good for me either. We have been renting basses on the road to save the hassle of flying with mine. Well this tour I've had to play some really crap instruments. And we haven't had good luck with the sound at any of the venues.

Back home tomorrow, that will be nice. It feels like I've been gone for longer than I have. Right now I need to get to bed.

Well I've got a busy few days ahead of me. I leave tomorrow morning for another tour with the boss-man; Vegas, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Jacksonville in five days. Crazy, right? I'll be back on Monday night.

Whenever I'm playing at a restaurant or bar or something like that the band always gets requests.

Now, I usually don't mind taking requests, they are usually followed by a nice tip. Especially if they are for standards that are well-loved by the requester. For instance, I was doing a restaurant gig last night with a piano player friend of mine and an elderly couple requested "Harlem Nocturne." Later they tell us they are there celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary and had danced to "Harlem Nocturne" all those years ago. Sweet right?

Then later comes a dreaded request. There are two songs that I and most every other jazz musician hate, HATE to get, and of course we had a request for one of them. They are requested at probably 90% of the club dates I do and I hate them both. Its like the requester doesn't really care to hear the song, they just want to you to know that they know a little something about jazz. Well, it's not appreciated folks! So please for the love of all things sacred never EVER request "Take Five" or "Linus and Lucy" whenever you see a jazz group. Think of another jazz tune if you want to make a request. Or just sit back and enjoy what the guys are playing themselves.

We played "Take Five" and it was a drag. We didn't even get any applause afterwards meaning the people who requested it weren't even paying attention. That's the worst.

In other news I'm doing a rehearsal with a really good and popular big band tomorrow. I'm a little nervous so wish me luck.