There's No Place Like the Stage.

I've been playing a lot of music with a number of different groups these past few months.

Aside from my main band (scene in stereo), and the 3 ensembles I play for at school, I've also been playing with a dude I met at Lane and his friend from OSU in their group "Stateside Traffic."

At first I took this gig mainly because SIS doesn't get to play as much as I would like (due to our singers very busy school schedule), but it has turned out to be really fun as well as a good opportunity to get my "Brand" out there. That sounds like a smug thing to say, but it's the word my piano and Jazz Choir instructor used to describe what she has done here in Eugene. This lady is a working musician who drives a Mercedes and rarely works outside the Eugene area. Now, in her case, her success due in large part to her just being better at what she does than most people, but also in large part to her networking and playing for just about anyone and just about anywhere. I'm not saying I want to work towards that over the next 25 years. What I am trying to do is to expose myself as much as possible on this local scene so when someone needs a drummer for any kind of gig, there will be a good chance that this person, company, event comity, promoter has already heard my name.

So far I have been lucky enough to play with these two bands as well as a fantastic singer/songwriter named Shane Holt. Also, Through Viki (the lady I talked about earlier) I have played a wedding, recorded drums for a local musical, & filled in for the Thurston High School Jazz choir.

This year has opened a lot of doors for me musically. And it all came together this week where I had 3 rehearsals with Shane, 2 rehearsals with Stateside Traffic, a choir concert Thursday night, and then a Jazz Combo concert Friday night where I played at 7:30 and then immediately drove back to the UO campus where I played with both Shane and ST on the same bill.

In midst of all this when have I had time to study? Well, I haven't. I better get to it I guess. Bio final in about 12 hours! yay!