Monday, July 31, 2006

Birth of the Cool, Kemi and Jim's wedding and the Port Townsend hang.

Well, it’s almost August and I’m back on the blog folks. Lot’s of exciting stuff happened since my last blog. We performed Birth of the Cool at the Stanford Jazz Festival and it was a night of magic. The cats performed impeccably and the audience loved it. I hope we get a chance to perform it again because not only was it a gas to play but that music needs to be played! It was one of the more difficult roles I’ve had to play as a trumpeter. It gave me a whole new insight into Miles playing just getting thru all of those tunes in one concert.
I just got back from spending 5 days in the Pacific Northwest. Last Wednesday and Thursday I visited my friend Farren up in Port Townsend. It’s truly one of the prettiest places to be and I’m envious that those folks get to live there 24/7. We hung out with some of the hard core blues camp cats on Thursday night. They have a tribe that comes up there every year just for blues week at Centrum. It was cool sitting around those cats and listening to them share bits of blues history. One cat had a jug (!!!) strapped to his neck so he could sing, play guitar and blow some bass notes while strumming. Very trippy folks!!! They all are very into their blues scene and have a sort of communal tribal hang thing going.
For next three days, I hung out with the soon-to-be newly weds, Jim and Kemi Norton (oops, Kemi, did you take his name….) Friday night we had dinner at the Wild Ginger, a fantastic restaurant located above the Triple Door where I played a couple times with Ed Johnson.
Kemi’s mom, Marion, Jim’s mom Joan and dad, Jim Sr, Barbara, Yoko, Kathy (maid of honor) and I enjoyed each others company and got to know each other better. Barbara and Kathy came from Cleveland, Ohio, Jim Sr from NY, Joan and Marion from the SF bay area. Saturday was the big day. Kemi, Jim, Kathy and I made our way to a kick butt dim sum house and had a scrumptious feast before the rehearsal w/ Rev. Castro. By the way, he’s a pretty cool guy and made Kathy and I feel at home w/ our part in the ceremony. Thanks Rev!
After the rehearsal, we made our way to Dennis’s pad and got shaved, sheared, dressed and the girls did their makeup thang. And then it was off to pre-ceremony pictures. I have a feeling that there will be some wacky pics in the mist of all the gorgeous shots. (Especially with the bouquets)
Afterwards, Jim and I made our way to the site, Volunteer Park to way for the girls and the guests to arrive. Next….the ceremony!

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