Busy again

Why is is that for many of us, for two months of the year, that things are crazy busy and the balance of the time musicians have to scramble for work? Every 6 months it seems that the universe is unfolding as it should. June and December are quite active for musicians at my level of the jazz food chain.

I'm gigging vitually every night for the first few weeks of December, sometimes twice a night. The New Year's Eve gig that we were working on just fell through a couple of days ago (cheap bastards won't shell out any more than a regular night) and I don't even mind not working that night.

Tonight is going to be an interesting one. When Coat and I were programming the NOW workshops, we didn't think twice about following our annual pattern of making the last Monday in the series as an evening performance. All well and good, except that we had previously scheduled this evening as a special night at The Cellar for alumni of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute. Then Coat got the call from Canada Council to sit on a jury all of this week. So now, not only had we programmed two events for the same night, but Coat would be out of town.

With some help from Dave Chokroun, who will hold the fort at The Cellar until I arrive, I will make things work. I will host the show and conduct the large ensemble at The Western Front, then bomb over to The Cellar to host the balance of the evening's proceedings and maybe get some playing in as well.

Well it beats sitting home and watching the TV, except for the bit that I posted on vancouverjazz.com today. There is a great musical segment at the end of Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. Who are these guys?

Why does strange shit happen on the day I'm trying to get my jazz festival submissions in? This is a regular pattern over the last few years. Though I'd started early enough, it went down to the last day yet again. And just like previous years, that's the day my computer slowed down to a crawl and the printer wouldn't work right. Then on the way down to CJBS, I got a flat tire. Brand new tires, no apparent holes or leaks, just flat. I was redlining as I had to head out to a gig right after that.

On the plus side, doing a couple of private Christmas functions over the weekend has its benefits. The food was good and plentiful and people are all dressed up, though the latter is a particular disctraction for our piano player. If only all of our gigs had such hazards.

Another positive is the we've also almost finalized the Monday lineup for The Cellar for the first half of next year, right up to the jazz festival. I'm just nailing down the last couple of slots in Coat's absence. The lineup just keeps getting better and better and it's quite gratifying to see the depth of talent in this city and give them a chance to be heard.