Music filled week

This week was a busy one - not much time for riding the bike. Last Saturday I spent the day in Grand Island judging the Harvest of Harmony field competition. On Sunday, in perfect weather, I took the Surly out for a spin out to Princeton and back on the Jamaica trail. Fall colors were definitely starting to show around the pumpkin patch at Roca Berry Farm.

It was also fun exploring some of the dirt roads in the area before getting back on the trail.

The rest of the week was given over to music. On Monday, I played with the Monday Night Big Band down at Brewsky's, on Tuesday I went to my daughter's choral concert, and on Wednesday I spent the afternoon and evening attending clinics and a concert by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. It was especially rewarding being able to attend the rehearsal and sound check right before the concert. This is one of the top ensembles in the world, and Wynton is one of the great trumpet players of all time. One of the trumpet players in the band is originally from Sioux City - I used to play gigs with him when he was still in high school. He was amazing even then - it was a thrill to here him play with these guys. This is a bad cell phone pic of the band at the sound check:

After dying through 3/4 of the Husker game and being amazed at the final quarter on Thursday, on Friday I went to the Southwest vs. Southeast football game to watch my daughter march, (and to watch LSE win, sorry KimC) and then headed down to the Crescent Moon in the Haymarket to listen to my son play with his jazz group.

On Saturday, I spent the day in Grand Island again, this time to rehearse and perform with the Temptations. It was a fun gig, but a long day as we started rehearsing at 2 p.m. and didn't finish the show until 10:30. The concert was in the new event center which will host events for the state fair - it's a very nice venue.

There was a nice crowd, the promoter estimated an audience of about 3,000 people. Here is a view from the stage right before we started our set.

The rhythm section that travels with the group was very strong, especially the drummer, who had the loudest sound on the snare drum that I've ever heard. Unfortunately, I was sitting right beside him, so it may be a while before I can hear out of my right ear. :)

It is thrilling to play with an act that has had so many top hits. I've played so many of their tunes with cover bands at weddings or other gigs, it was quite an experience to play with the real deal. Here is a video from their fan website - this is the same group and setup we played with on Saturday.