WorlView in the Pac NW tour...What a Blast!!! part 1

Ok, I have a moment to breathe and I really want to share some of my experiences with you while up in the Pacific NW. Good times were had by all of us and so many folks helped contribute it it. This blog will take up some space so it will come to you in a parts. I'll start at the beginning. I flew up to Seattle on Wednesday and took a shuttle to meet Farren. We drove back to Port Townsend and took care of some last minute details revolving around the gigs and my clinic with the Port Townsend HS Big Band. One important item of business was dinner at Lonza's. Man, what a great restaurant!!! 5 stars in my book. The salmon was fresh and delightful and the wine was beautiful. The next day, I gave a clinic with their big band at 7am. It's a daunting time of day to be spot on but true to form, I had them laughing 6 minutes into it and we cruised thru the next 3 hours rehearsing, sitting in and giving a brass clinic to their brass players as well as others from local schools. Kim Clarke really has those kids playing and I got to hear a really fine guitarist ( I can't remember his name but will find it and and let you know) and a pretty soulful trumpeter named Kevin "K-Dogg" Rubio. That dude played a pretty nice solo and was a nice cat too. Look for those two cats to serenade your ears sometime in the near future. I got to meet Shelly Devlin, a trumpeter from the Seattle area. She works for Ted Brown Music CO. one of the sponsors of my clinic along with Conn-Selmer INC. It turns out she studies with Allen Vizzutti, one of my all time favorite players at the University of Washington. I use a lot of his material in my teaching so you can imagine how much I grilled her on what it's like to study with the maestro himself. Allen Vizzutti, that cat is one of the most technically astute players in the world. I used to see him play in LA back in the early 80's. The next day, Farren and I drove back to Seattle to pick up the band and drove back to Port Townsend to play at the Upstage Restaurant that night. We stopped at Metropolitan Music and picked up the drums and bass amp and had a nice visit with the owner, Paul McVicar. He was very good to us and I know that when we come back up in November, we'll hook up again. So we packed up Farren's little Honda wagon and the Dodge van I rented with the equipment and the guys and we were off on our trip. I'm taking a breath for a moment and will continue in the next part.......