The photo below is from our week long engagement at the Soraya Center at Cal State Northridge - Way bigger pit!

Here are some pictures of my friend Mallets Malone playing with the new Pixarmonic Orchestra at Disney's California Adventure.

Pictures of my setup from a run of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum at the Garry Marshall Theatre in Toluca Lake back in November and December. This was a reduced orchestration, with just Keyboard, Bass, Woodwinds, and me playing the assembled instruments above. Great Show!

Another great production at La Mirada! Newsies during the month of June. This time I got to play with the fabulous drummer Gordon Peeke as well as some of the usual suspects from Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum including conductor Brent Crayon, bass player Dana Decker, and woodwind doubler Gene Burkert.

This year instead of the usual festivities for the holidays I took a two week tour to China. This was with the American Hollywood Film Sinfonietta, a group that plays classic film scores to clips of the film projected on a large screen. The music and clips aren't synced up in any way, though, so it can lead to a few pretty funny juxtapositions, like the plaintive theme of the Shire playing as on screen the Ring Wraiths descend on the Fellowship. 

(Me with the Shanghai skyline in the background)

We played in 9 different cities, some well known here, like Shanghai and Beijing, and others I'd never heard of, such as Taizhou and Zhangjiagang, which nonetheless have millions of people.

The tour was not without challenges. Evidently people from the U.S. have the highest standard requirements when it comes the hotel rooms. So, having a glass bathroom in a room the size of a closet shared by two adult men who aren't dating is what we call a "sticking point" Here I am laughing with my roommate  Matt and good buddy Alex. Alex had been banished from his room while his roommate used the facilities, because there was no privacy at all. 

Our performances were fun. We had some classic film music scores including Schindler's List, Superman, Harry Potter, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars and also things not written by John Williams. 

We used mostly rented equipment, which was a decidedly mixed bag, from professional level Adams instruments to aluminum bell kits and timpani that seemed to have been made by someone who had only heard about timpani, but had never actually seen one. 

Pollution was a major factor in every city. Most of the musicians wore face masks at one point or another on the trip with some of the Wind and Brass players and the singers wearing heavy duty masks whenever we were outside. 
This picture is from inside a concert hall, and no, there was no fog machine. That is visible smog indoors. (Also pictured, our wonderful singer Jaclyn Shaw!)

After a pretty grueling 8 days of travel and concerts every night we had a day off in Shanghai. Jaclyn and her husband Caleb Shaw (the singers) are Disneyland Cast Members and were nice enough to invite a few of us to the Disney Shanghai Resort with them. 

Here you can see the fabulous Enchanted Storybook Castle, the tallest Disney castle in the world. It is very impressive, especially compared to the particularly small one at Disneyland in Anaheim. It was a great time visiting the park, and because it was raining, the lines were very short. 

We also got to spend the night at the Toy Story hotel, which is decorated a bit like every room is a 7 year old boy's room. 

So an adventure was had by all, and I got to have a once in a lifetime experience. Glad to be back home, though and sleeping in my own bed. 

It's been quite a while since I've updated, and a lot has happened over the spring and summer

I played the end of the two part run of West Side Story at the La Mirada Theatre
I got to visit seven different schools with Perc Trio for a series of educational concerts
I went on a tour up to the Bay Area with the Evangenitals
I played several shows with D.on Darox, a great artist out of Ventura County
I got the chance to play a run of Chicago, one of my favorite musicals
I had the immense pleasure of playing the Grand Performances Series in downtown LA with Daedelus and Friends where we reimagined electronic music songs in the form of live instrumental lullabies - a real artistic highlight
And I played in the pit orchestra live to a silent film at Cinecon, a classic film convention

Sorry for the whirlwind recap, but I felt like I couldn't leave out all of those great playing experiences before starting to talk about the Fall!

I've got a number of things on the horizon. Soon I'll be updating about a run of Something Funny Happened on The Way to the Forum by Stephen Sondheim in November and December that I'm very excited about and a tour to China during Christmas and New Years'.


More to follow. 

March has been a busy month with a lot of cool different activities.

It started with a dual week, playing a series of Children's Concerts in the morning with the New West Symphony and doing rehearsals in the evening for an independent performance of Britten's War requiem.  The picture on the left is of the Britten section, minus Stevie Ray Hernandez taking the photo and Alan Peck who played the chamber orchestra percussion part. From left to right: yours truly, Tyler Smith, Scott Babcock, and Khris Metella.

This was followed by a set of performances of West Side Story produced by McCoy-Rigby of the La Mirada Theatre at CSUN's Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC).  Very comprehensive set-up below, featuring vibes, xylophone, glockenspiel, Timpani, tam tam, Congas, bongos and Timbales as well as a variety of small items.

This brand new production will go up at the La Mirada Theatre starting April 21st and running to May 14th. Come see it!

Following West Side Story, I was lucky enough to do a performance of Carmina Burana with Vox Femina and the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles at First Congregational Church.  This amazing piece is always a pleasure to play, and it was a special treat to play alongside one of my earliest mentors Judy Chilnick.

In another typical tale of freelance work, I got a last minute call to play with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra for their Opera Gala concert. Just a quick soundcheck and then the concert, but a fabulous group to play with, and a great section. L to R: Ben Phelps, Jamie Strowhiro, myself. Mike Deutsch played timpani. 

Finally, I'm finishing off the month with a two week run of Sondheim's "Follies" at Cypress College. This show is part of the college's 50th anniversary celebration. A great show, three performances left this weekend, worth the trip!

What a busy month! Here are a few of my favorite moments.

My life in Los Angeles now consists of being a freelancer. I think for a lot of music students this is a bit of a mysterious thing. And honestly, it's even mysterious to me sometimes. My schedule is constantly changing as I work on different performance and teaching projects throughout the Southern California area. 

I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about a weekend I recently finished in terms of working as a freelance drummer and percussionist in Southern California. I'm including maps to better emphasize the incredible amount of driving that can go into this particular branch of music making.  Many thanks to google for their sweet map app that saves me regularly when navigating traffic.

Friday: I started work on Friday coaching a drum line at a local private high school in Studio City. There is no marching band at this school, so it's a stand alone drum line that plays at football and basketball games throughout the year.  We have two coaches and I'm the assistant coach. 

This Saturday was homecoming, which is the biggest performance of the drum line's year. This is the one time of the year this particular drum line gets on the football field, where they do a coordinated performance with the cheerleaders. I unfortunately would have to miss seeing this for another gig.

After coaching, I headed to Westwood to play the final performance of a musical I've been involved with since early August called "Oktoberfest: The Musical." This was the first production of a new musical, which is an interesting process because the music and book were evolving as the show got ready to open. From the name you'd think I'd mostly being playing oom-pah-pah numbers, but there are actually of number of styles in the show in addition to what you'd traditionally hear in an Oktoberfest setting including a burlesque, kickline style jazz number and a few 80's synth-rock influenced tunes. In addition to drum set, this book calls for a fair amount of glockenspiel, chimes, mark tree, and a number of sound effects. 

Oktoberfest: the musical was scheduled to run until late November, but due to low ticket sales was forced to close early. The closure is unfortunate, because this was a union gig, with good pay, great fellow musicians and an excellent cast and show. The producers have plans to take it to Europe and perhaps stage it again somewhere else in Los Angeles, which I hope works out because it's a good show and the people involved are truly lovely. 

Following the performance I had to break down and pack up my set up from Oktoberfest which had been in the theater for several months. Finally, everything packed away as the lighting and sets were being struck, I headed for home. 

Saturday: This day was centered around a gig with an Alt-Country band I play with called The Evangenitals at Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace out near Joshua Tree national Park. Playing with this band means a lot of train beats with sticks and brushes, as well as some good old fashioned rock, reggae influenced beats, and even a jazzy number or two. It's very hard to define the genre of this band, and that's something I like about it a great deal. I get to play a lot of different musical styles, not to show off, but because they fit the songs we're playing. 

Amazingly, the act at this venue two days before our show was Paul McCartney doing a secret show between weekends of Desert Trip (AKA Oldchella). Other notable performers who have come through in years past include Robert Plant, Neko Case, and Arctic Monkeys. This venue is 138 driving miles away from my house, which translates to a roughly 3 hour drive during daylight hours, but the venue is clearly awesome and this band is great. I left my home shortly after 3 pm,  and was on my way headed home at about 1am. Except I wasn't headed home. 

Sunday: Sunday started with a now only two hour drive back from Pappy & Harriet's. Instead of heading straight home, I headed to the space I lease for practice purposes to go over some timpani repertoire for a rehearsal I would play Sunday afternoon. I spent 3am until about 4:15 here.  Though I had listened to the music, this was my first chance to play along with it on a set of timpani and make mallet choices and other performance notes I might need.  

This was my first rehearsal with this group (in fact, it was actually the group's first rehearsal ever) and I wanted to make sure to make my best impression, and if that meant losing some sleep, I was happy to do it. 

At 9am, after a couple hours of sleep, rehearsal began for my weekly Sunday church gig on the campus of USC. This gig reminds me of some great advice I've heard throughout my musical life about building a career, all of which I'll cover in a separate post. 

On this gig I mostly play cajon and shaker. I improvise an accompaniment to go along with the various hymns that are selected for that week. Having done this gig for several years, I now have a musical shorthand with the Music Director, and we quickly lock in to new pieces, making it a very comfortable and rewarding experience. 

The service started at 10:30 and at 11:30 I had to excuse myself slightly earlier than the usual 12pm close to drive up to Northridge to play a rehearsal with a symphony. 

The symphony rehearsal ran from 1 to 4 pm, and the rep included Dvorak's Symphony for the New World and Slavonic Dances 2 and 8 as well as Les Toreadors from Bizet's Carmen.  

I arrived at about 12:15, and, unusually for most orchestra rehearsals I've participated in, nobody was there. Hmm. 

Rehearsal wrapped up at four and I was finally able to go get something to eat! One major challenge I experience is finding even remotely healthy food options when I'm out juggling various gigs. I've become a big fan of several chain Teriyaki places that make relatively nutritious food quickly and tastily. Then I headed home a bit of a rest before another day filled with playing.

Monday: This day was consumed with playing several Broadway sets with the JB and the Showmance Band, a jazzy event group I play casuals with regularly. American Federation of Musicians Local 47 had its Broadway-themed charity golf tournament in Pasadena and we played two sets of Broadway show tunes in the original arrangements as well as jazz standards that originated in Broadway shows. 

This was a lot of fun. Drum set was my first instrument in the percussion world and I love to play jazz whenever I can. It was also an honor to get to perform, even as background music, for some of the most prolific recording musicians in the world including my mentor and teacher from high school, Don Williams. 

Being a union gig performing for other union musicians, we were treated very well, with ample breaks, access to lots of food, and general good cheer. During a presentation of an award at dinner, Vice President of Local 47 Rick Baptist said "Drum Roll, Please!" right as I had decided to apply some chapstick. The other members of the band said they've never seen someone lunge for a pair of drum sticks so fast as I jumped to oblige him.

And so concluded one of the busiest weekends of my year. The nature of this and many other freelance careers is that it's feast or famine. I never know if I'll have a slow period ahead of me, so I have to be willing to really lay into the work when it's offered. And really, the challenge of that is one of the appeals of being a freelancer. It's exciting to have to adapt to so many different scenarios in such a short period of time and get to stretch musically. I don't know if I could handle every weekend being like this, but I'm not sure I could be happy if I didn't have any weekends that went this way either.