And you thought the beats stopped....

I've only been awake for thirteen hours at this point, but damn it still seems like a long day. Lots of practicing (reading through the Charlie Parker Omnibook) and lots of searching for jobs. Not a whole lot out there that will let me set my own hours. Made coffee and forgot about it for two hours. Now that's abuse.

Got together with Gary (bassist from TDH and ELQ). He's putting together something of a Weather Report tribute band. Now there's a new idea, put together bands that play just like the great jazz combos. Funny. The reaction he's been getting from people when they find out is also humorous. Everyone expresses an interest and then almost sarcastically wishes him "good luck". We sat down tonight to pick tunes to work on before the first rehearsal. I tell you, sometimes I'm amazed that these guys are venerated by jazz-heads and musos. There is some really sickly-sweet schlock on their albums. God it's horrible. Should be interesting carving out space in the group as a guitar player though. I'll definitely be able to straddle the sax/synth division.

Need sleep. Have to make sure to bring my homework from two weeks ago to class. Ugh. I-IV-V-I progressions in E minor. yay.

A long winter night....

So, now that my stint as a contractor ("sub" contractor that is) for the State is up, I've decided that this of all times would be perfect to increase the amount of time I spend with a guitar in my hands. However, it seems that for every twenty minutes I spend practicing or writing; I spend an hour and twenty minutes with my fingers blazing at the keyboard. Go figure.

My spy-jazz quartet (The Evan Lurie Quartet) had our first gig this past Friday at the Hemingway Cigar Lounge in Fitchburg, WI. Thanks to all of you who came out. A number of trainwrecks were avoided and a good time was had by all. The night didn't start off so rosily though. I have to give a big thanks to Anthony Cao and his girlfriend for being so gracious when they walked in and saw our rigs set up. Apparently there had been a mix up in the booking since the management had changed. Anthony, I owe you a drink or two!

Otherwise, looks like we might be hooking up for a celebration of the Taco Bell Boycott coming to an end. (http://ciw-online.org/ for more info) If everyone can do the show (and we can get on the bill), we'll be doing a few tunes from the Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Prostizos albums. Fun.

Must return to working on the website, http://www.guerillabeatz.com.