Spring break countdown: 7 days.

tonight, des and i finally got to see the student Jazz Combo and Ensemble. i’d been looking forward to hearing them since last semester. it was a lot of fun. i was ready to get up and cut a rug, but it was a performance, so i tried to keep my butt on the chair. didn’t stop my feet from tappin’ and my fingers from snappin’. an important thing to note: i know almost all of the players in the group. I go to class with some, live down the hall from others. I’ve even jammed with a few myself. Hearing the solos and the way they meshed musically was really a great experience that made me hungry to be in a Jazz Combo myself (if i only had formal guitar training…(i know, jon would say it’s just memorizing modes and scales (maybe during the summer))).

anywho, the first part of the concert was the Combo. Basic standard jazz combo: Drummer, upright bass, pianist, and some brass. They played a few good pieces, including “All Blues” by Miles. after that came the Ensemble: drums, bass, piano, and full brass complement. I’m talkin big-band style, crazy fun jazz tunes. And they had a flute in there too. When i first saw the flute alongside the sax and trumpets, i was wondering how effective it would actually be next to big, loud brass. But then the brass quieted down and the flutist did a sweet little solo in the middle of hoppin jazz drum brushes, i was taken. it reminded me of clarinet, which i am more used to as a jazz instrument, and it was so smooth and silky. LIVE MUSIC ROX. 4 life.

yesterday was desiree’s birthday, so we planned a couple of desi things for this weekend, like a night out and a day at the mall. Although not all things are going to go as planned, we teamed up with a few of des’s friends and invaded a couple 24-hour diners late last night and tonight.

I never knew how hungry i could be after midnight until i looked at a menu. less than an hour later, i’ve eaten my 4th meal for the day.

late night diner parties can be fun. Actually, it kinda reminds me of my 15th birthday or so, big sis Michelle got my friends to “surprise me” with a late night trip to Denny’s. This was back in Texas, and Denny’s was right around the block. And, now that i think about it, when i lived in Lafayette, i believe i went to a couple get-togethers at ihop with friends. Good place to chill before we went to somebody’s house and played guitars or HACKED it up or took a dip in somebody’s pool or played video games or watched movies or played pool. AHHHH summertime pangs are getting to me!!!! man life was good.

dude now i’ve lost myself in my memories. next only to the summer i spent in France, the summer right before my senior year was the best summer of my life. Phenomenal. Desiree and I had just gotten over the initial excitement of being involved in a relationship, and we were totally fallen for each other. bright early cross-country mornings with my homies, exercising 6-mile endorphin runs as the sun rose and gently lifted the dense rainforest mist from the trees and the earth. an occasional biscuit breakfast at Edie’s restaurant. Chill-out fun times and pool parties and movie nights in bradley’s kingdom, video games and totally rocking guitar experiments at jon’s place, good, sweaty hacky sack on Hot humid louisiana nights after playing ultimate frisbee or basketball as the sun goes down by bennett’s house, daugh the list goes on and on. how about the time that me, matt, justin, and chad pfister recorded ourselves on videotape as we played The Hives’ “Hate to Say i Told You So” in Justin’s room. I shouted the lyrics above the roaring instruments until i was hoarse. Man when i get famous that videotape is going to show up and i’m going to be proud of it. I knew all summer that i had a dream-life. i had more than i ever asked for.

*sigh*.

i’m almost halfway through the semester, keep my eyes on the goal.

oh yeah and here’s some news. The great summer job in Engineering that i’m supposed to get? Yeah. who knows if it will happen. The “industry experience” that i was told about might not finalize. i’m going to kick my job search skills into gear now so i actually have a summer job. and by the way, those skills have proven useless for me so far. Here’s the good news: I may have a better chance staying in Louisiana for the summer. Just Keep Swimming.

This entry was posted by dave on Saturday, February 28th, 2004 at 2:53 am and is filed under journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.