Sept 2007
It's been a great summer including attending the Summersongs workshop with my daughter Liz (aka Claudia), and having the chance to accompany her performance. Some other highlights of the workshop: a great swing jam where we did Miles Davis' "All Blues" as a SINGALONG!!! among other things, and the chance to study and perform with so many other great musicians and songwriters that I can't even count them. When I went up for my turn at the big student concert I was thrilled to be accompanied by Pat Donohue on guitar and Ron Gomez on bass. I also came home with a list of songs I want to cover that I heard while I was there. I performed at the children's stage of The Beacon Sloop fest, sharing the bill with fellow summersongers Fred Arcoleo and David Beede, fellow NJ songwriters Spook Handy and Arlen Bennet, and the one and only Pete Seeger. Pete invited us all up to perform on his set, so I can now say I've played flugelhorn with Pete Seeger; how many people can say that? Then it was off to New Mexico for he pilot of the White Buffalo Arts Ranch program. What brought me there was the prospect of some serious song critique by Freebo, but what I actually got out of it was much more; learning native american drum making, pottery, stories, jamming by the campfire, riding on horseback up in the Jemez mountains. This was a pilot for the full program, (which director Laurie hopes to launch next summer), which uses Native American culture to teach respect for the Earth and sustainable living.