Late June/Early July

Greetings and salutations!!

In my last post, the outlook was pretty grim. Now, all is good in my kingdom! I have secured a new day job. I'll be working for Kmart Monday-Thursday nights. Yes, Kmart. A company that is stable, cares about customer service, and isn't difficult to get to...and they were hiring. They were really really flexible and understanding with my schedule. I have a schedule block in place so that I can continue to play gigs Friday-Sunday nights...I can't work after 4PM those days. This gives me enough time to get home to Rogers Park and head to where ever I'm going...and get there by about 6PM [seems like i can get nearly anywhere in the city in about an hour]. This makes me extremely happy as it means that I don't have to move in with my sister in Indy, I greatly appreciate her offer and I think it would be fun for a short term thing, but I love Chicago.

Gigs

Not a whole lot on the horizon. Cam's Tie is playing 1 Slam in July and 2 Slams in August. I don't have another theater gig lined up. It appears that my teaching studio is going to start up again soon though-I've had interest from two potential students.

I'm also in the early stages of forming another band. Ever since I studied with Tom Mendel in 2006, I've wanted to form a Motown/Funk/Soul band playing Detroit's music from the 60's & 70's. From Marvin Gaye to Sly & The Family Stone to James Brown to Stevie Wonder. So, I'm starting to arrange some charts, find players, and give this a shot. The band will be white guys from the Midwest playing Detroit's music. Yeah, I'm NOT ruling out using black or other minorities, it's just-most of the cats I've played with are typically middle classish white guys...in the Midwest. I'll be leading this band from the bass chair. I'll also be the principle arranger, booking agent, band manager, etc. All that I want from my players is to show up, play their best, and leave. Not a democracy, a much more friendly dictatorship. I'm taking my time with the players-I want to get the best cats for the job even if it means NOT using some of my friends. This is a business that is fun, not fun that is a business.

More to come as I figure stuff out.

all the best.