Jazz cats

I was a bit of a shuttle driver yesterday, going to the airport three times to pick up the guys for the Simpson College Jazz Festival. Isn't it wonderful when you have the opportunity to catch up with friends from different stages of your life--all on the same night?! We went to UNC (Northern Colorado) with Forest, UO (Oregon) with Dan, and James was Dave's teacher for a year at UO and is now a good friend.

The festival started today and will continue tomorrow. I'll try to go to the concert tomorrow evening. I don't envy the guys--adjudicating all day.

We all hung out last night (in shifts--Dan, Dave and I, then James and I, then James and I + Dave, then Dave, James, Forest and I)--I made a skillet dinner that would easily feed the migrating jazzers. After the festival today, I made dinner again, then we all hung out and drank margaritas while watching the Daily Show and Colbert. Good times.

Here are some pics from this evening.


Dave and Clara

The girls, unphased by the activities.

Dinner

Dan-o

Relaxing on the couch--Forest, James, Dave (L-R)

The jazzer's life

Late night out at Adventureland Inn (we got back at 10pm--haha), where Dave soloed with Johnston High School's jazz band. Very talented students! I haven't heard such a good high school jazz band in a long time. Dave played three tunes, sounding great on all of them. The Des Moines Big Band played two sets as well, and Dave introduced me to some of the players afterwards. It's always good meeting jazzers. Two people, upon hearing that I play oboe, said, "we won't hold that against you." There were a lot of "mans" and other lingo that flags people as jazz musicians. They're all fun guys. The networking didn't hurt either; many of them are band directors around the Des Moines area. I already had one offer to come out and work with their oboes.

Dave plays every Saturday night at the Continental, downtown Des Moines. If you live here or want to visit, it's worth checking out. The gig ends at midnight, really not late at all in the life of a jazzer. Dave used to come home from gigs well after 2am when we lived in Calgary. Part of the time change may have something to do with the change of venue--Des Moines isn't necessarily a sleepy town, but things do wind down at around midnight. Another thing to consider is our age... I don't go to the Saturday gig every week--I don't think I could handle it. Sometimes it's nice to stay home, watch a movie and get to bed a decent hour! (Then again, I know many people much older than me that can handle this life!)

I went to the gym (A.F.) today, and as all their machines were occupied except one, I drifted over to the open one. It's a brand-new machine they put in last week. I'm not sure what it's called, but it's a mix between an eliptical/cross-trainer and a stepmaster. OMG. I lasted 2 minutes before a treadmill opened up; I jumped off that thing so fast, my knees almost buckled. It was a killer and will be referred to from here on out as the evil machine. Of course, if I could stay on it for 10 minutes (working up to it!), I will have a great rear!