Franklin, PA

Today we had a travel day, and then the band was off for the rest of the evening! It was great - a couple of band guys and I went and met up with some of the actors at a local coffee house. That mocha was FABULOUS. We are here in Franklin, PA - this is a fantastic picture of small america. I'll post a picture of the main drag tomorrow. It's great. I'm reading a book by bill bryson that reflects upon his travels in small town america. The tour I'm on isn't an equity/union scale tour - and the nice thing about that is that it is shorter, and I'm going to see so much of America (and a bit of Canada!)...and it will be the small town america that I love and adore so much.

Shout out to a few people - NICK O'SULLIVAN - you rock! Bonnie's parents came too - holla.

And joe!! You rock dude - but I killed you in Foosball ;-)

Hiking

Hiking inLaVale, MD

careers

If you're a musician - you can relate to this - You're sitting in a rehearsal, things are going well, very well infact. But you're continuing to have to repeat something over and over and over again, despite the fact that the ensemble is playing (or singing) well. And you get this feeling of,"Man...I'm so ready to be done with rehearsal. Ugh." - or at least some variant of that. Well, I started feeling that last night around 10...We had been playing practically since 9 that morning. My lips are chapping and my face is drying out. And I had such a thought as the one described above. And then I had another thought - "this sure beats the heck out sitting in a cubicle having someone yell at you about how they can't control their checkbooks, and that you're taking money from them." So I smile and think how blessed I am that I play for a living right now. Even though a small payroll fiasco threatened the whole pay thing yesterday - that has been cleared up, and now things are cool again.

In other things - guilt is unfortunately a double edged sword. On one hand - it has the benefit of sometimes being the media through which our conscience speaks to us. On the other hand it can be used as a manipulative tool by human or spirit. I guess the hard part is distinguishing which one it is at the time it hits you.

For anyone curious - the show schedule is posted a few posts below this! Come and see it! The show is really good!

Coming soon: Pictures of Frostburg State University

jopaige

Paige Faure is Jo March in the Windwood productions tour of "Little Women."
Hands down - she is better than the recording.

Yesterday we had a run through with the assistant M.D. - the music is fantastic. If any of you are able to some see the show, you should. We watched the run through with piano yesterday - it was AMAZING. The staging is fantastic - the music is great - the actor/singers are off the chain.

My roommated is Professor Bhaer - his German accent is really cool :-)

day one

Well - here's the scoop:

First of all - I forgot my camera, so I'm going to be ganking my friend bonnie's for at least the first half of the tour.

We're staying for 8 days in this best western here in La Vale, Maryland. When I looked up the hotel name before we left, it said it was the braddock motor inn. I thought..."motor inn? sounds cheapish...." but it's actually really nice. Apparently it's a hotspot for winter birthday parties for kids because of the very large indoor pool. Don't you just want to jump in there?!?!

My roommate is Shane - he plays professor Bhaer in the musical women. He's 31, and married with two puppies. And very cool - and if i snored last night (which I warned him about) he said it didn't bother him. :-)

Off to rehearsal - two 3-hour practices today. I love it.

I love ashley, my darling wife, miss her like crazy. check out her blog

adgcount.blogspot.com

Little Women Itinerary

here's the itinerary for the tour folks. Tell your friends!

Lessons Learned

Well - I guess the number of posts can be expected to decrease. This is my last day at EECU - so the time that I have to just chill WITH access to the internet is about to decrease. Though the drive was long at times, and sometimes people come in and are completely incompetent at large aspects of life, and sometimes I get cursed at with multiple instances of the F-bomb...and sometimes I get fussed at for dancing on the job...(I'm listing these things for humor...), and I have to tell people who really need a loan that they can't get one...this has been a good job!

Things I have learned while working for EECU - Your Community Credit Union

1. Keep a freaking Check register and write down your DEBIT CARD PURCHASES ALSO. I can't tell you how many people get charged overdraft fees because they simply don't keep track of there purchases chronologically. NEWS FLASH - you can't spend 50 bucks on your debit card one day when you only have 25, and then expect to deposit 100 bucks the next day hoping that you won't be charged. That's just dumb. No e-commerce, e-banking, or e-anything can take the place of writing down what you spend.

2. Your credit score is all-important in like...everything. It's AMAZING how much the simple 3 numbers making up your equifax, experian, or transunion credit score can affect what you can and can't get in life. For example - first year in memphis - I had to pay rent with money orders, what a freaking pain, having to go to the post office, or kroger and buy a money order just so I could pay rent, because I had limited credit. 2nd year - I got to write a personal check!! WOOHOO! That's not the same every where...but you know...

3. Health Insurance and Dental Insurance don't cover near as much everyone wants them to, including me.

4. Did I mention that it's important to keep a check book register? Unless of course you are rolling in it beyond belief and don't know what to do with all the money.

5. Be on your boss's good side.

6. My wife would be a hott teller.


Ian - I would like your lessons learned - since you are a fellow credit union employee.

M.A.S.H.

Love is a good thing. Painful in a good way at times. I LOOOVE my ashley :-)


We were watching MASH last night, season 4 I believe where Col. Sherman Potter and Captain B.J. Honeycutt arrive on the scene. I have made a MASH fan out of Ashley, it took some patience and forcing her to watch it...but now she really enjoys it. I think that it's an aquired taste.

I was reading in a friends blog the other day about a literal spiritual healer. And yes I do believe that on occasion, the spirit is manifested in this way. Just perhaps not as often as back in bible times (if you will. haha!)

I'm playing the waiting game at this point with Grad Schools - the two that seem to be working are Stonybrook University (a part of the State University of New York system - located on long island) and my former institution Rutgers University. Temple has also been a option, but it has been terrible to try and get any contact with them. I guess they aren't willing to work with me as far as auditioning is concerned. Or perhaps I just have the wrong person, or wrong email...or maybe both.

vision

I just went to the eyedoctor - and apparently my vision has gotten worse. from -3.25 to -4.25. This is fairly encouraging - because it means my perscription hasn't changed in about 5-6 years.
Weird thing though - I only actually sat with the eye doctor for about 5 minutes. He checked the fit of my contact lens - and then proceeded to charge me 89 dollars for it. That essentially means that he's making about $1068 per hour on me alone. Why the heck am I getting my degree in music???


I miss small town america. I could get out of the eye doctor for 100 bucks. that INCLUDED boxes of contacts. I just spent 114 - and I don't even have a box of contacts to show for it. And I have a headache from my eyeballs bein' dialated.

*END RANT*

the future

Coming Soon - Itinerary for Little Women. Unfortunately for places I have lived the most - being Texas, Arkansas and Memphis, TN....we aren't coming there. BOOO.


I love bein married.

New Horizons - and black Chihuahuas

Sorry for the lack of updates (to all 5 of you who read :-p ) but here I am again. My last day at work is in exactly 7 days. It has been a great job - but I supposed it's time to start on that path again.

I'm wondering why I haven't utilized the beauty of the world wide web as a tool for promoting my playing. Not that I would want to now - but it could be a good thing to do. I know alot of people use myspace for that - but I think that I want something that looks a little snappier. Anyone know of a good webhosting service? Kelly Neill has one. I like it - and he's spectacular. I was reminded the other day that every one is human. This wasn't a profound thought, it was a funny, encouraging observance. Apparently - a VERY famous principal trombonist for a premier orchestra Kacked the most notable note in the trombone solo for Bolero. 2 things about that - 1. I still respect that man incredibly, because 1 out of 2000 high Db's is not bad, it's excellent... 2. Makes me feel better about the times I screw up huge! I'm gonna be that caliber of a player one day. I think i'm gonna keep a log of how many times I botch something in the Show. Expect an update on that every now and then - but don't be dissapointed if I forget!

So I auditioned at Rutgers last month. Apparently, there is competition for the one trombone fellowship slot. We'll see what comes of that. Stonybrook application is almost done - just trying to find an old term paper to send them, and hopefully that will come to fruition. I'm just praying for God's will, and i'm gonna let that be that. Sound good?

Cirque de Soleil is looking for musicians for a stationary 2 year show in Macau, China and Tokyo, Japan. Thoughts anyone?


I love being at home with my wife. And when we're somewhere where it's feasible - I'm gonna buy her a lil black Chihuahua puppy named Bubble.