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.

Upcoming Summer Fun:

I've just started rehearsals for a very cool new project called Oktoberfest: The Musical which will be playing from August 26th through November 27th at the Crest Theatre in Westwood. What's it about? Well, it's about Oktoberfest, obviously, and specifically the origins of the tradition in Bavaria. All the seats have been removed from the theatre and are being replaced with long tables, the better to accommodate the beer drinking which is necessary for any good Oktoberfest celebration. 

You can check out more information at the link below where you can see what I imagine to be a depiction of me, the only drummer involved in the show: 

Oktoberfest the Musical

It seems music director Tom Griep was captured in a, shall we say, "more flattering" manner.

Now, I can picture you thinking: "Oktoberfest as a basis for a musical? I'm not sure that's a great idea." Consider this: if someone had told you 4 years ago about an idea for a hip hop musical about the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, you would have been skeptical too. So come check it out, it will be a blast. Beer and pretzels are involved.

Additionally on August 31st I'll be performing again with The Echo Society, arguably the single coolest musical group I've ever been a part of. This show, the group's fifth, promises to be their most expansive yet and is taking place at the Theatre at Ace Hotel. The shows are a blend of electronic music with live chamber orchestra and complemented by video projections and expert lighting. Come see it. 

I have the distinct pleasure of being back at the La Mirada Theatre this month, playing with the national tour of Disney's The Little Mermaid. 

It involves a very large setup and is typical of modern musicals in being very busy with very quick switches between instruments. Things move so quickly, I actually never sit down during the show!

The cast sounds amazing, and the orchestra is great. I'm assured by friends who have seen the show that it looks incredible as well, but of course I can't see anything.

It will be playing through June 26th, so come down and see a performance!

We lost Sarah a couple of years ago today. But the last time I communicated with her personally was three years ago today. She was asking for my address to invite me to her upcoming wedding. The fact that we didn’t talk in that intervening year is one of my greatest regrets.

I got to know Sarah in college. We were in a music theory class that became close, and associated for years afterwards known simply as “Gusto.” From there she became a very dear friend. A spring break trip with me and my then-girlfriend Briana to nearby Nashville, IN. A late night where she told me all about her troubling problems with a man. A weekend where just Sarah and I headed out to the country, playing paddleball by a riverside, where I was escaping my life for just a little while, though I don’t think Sarah knew it.

When we both moved to the New York area for graduate school we stayed close, she being one of my only friends in the area. When I came into the city, we would inevitably meet and adventure together. Lulu at the Met. Watching turtles from the castle in central park. A trip to Brooklyn where she first met her future husband. And she was my confidante. I told her all about my problems with women and my degree program, and she told me about her concerns with men and school. I even got to go on a double date with her and Richard, her eventual husband, just before I moved to South Africa.

So I can only chalk it up to an astounding lack of character that I didn’t keep in better touch with her after that. We wrote for a while, but grew distant over the intervening years, talking less and less.

I saw the videos from her wedding and marveled at her beauty. How happy and, yes, still awkward she was. I wished I had been there, but I was living thousands of miles away and couldn’t afford to come. It was only a few months later that I heard she was sick, after I had moved back to the US. If I had been a better friend, I might have gotten on a plane to go see her. But I was scared and weak and I didn’t go.

When she let everyone know she was going into hospice care, I was too inexperienced to understand the depth of what that meant, and before I knew it she was gone.

By sheer coincidence I was in Indiana at the same time as one of her memorials. I got to meet her father and see her husband again. I heard her teacher David Effron speak about her amazing potential as a conductor. I got to weep with some of our other friends over our loss.

And I thought about how poor a friend I’d been. How I’d made it to her memorial but not to her wedding. How I hadn’t made time to visit her while she was sick.

I thought about Sarah every day for a long time after she died. Now sometimes I’ll miss a day, but the next I’ll remember and be all the more regretful for not thinking about her the day before.

Thank you Sarah, for being, at times, my best friend. And I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend to you. 

Happy New Year to all! The last few months of 2015 was a busy and productive time for me. I got the chance to play with the wonderful Dream Orchestra at the end of October and in December playing timpani for the Mozart Requiem and Handel's Messiah. 

I also got to return to the Idyllwild Arts Academy, where I spent a few summers in high school, to play with their orchestra in a program including Beethoven's 8th Symphony and Sibelius' incidental music to Pelleas et Melisande. Got  a heavy snowfall while there, not something I'd really expected in my usual Southern California living, but perhaps a preview of what's to come this winter. 

As for the new year, I'll be touring to the east coast with a band for several weeks.

And when I get back, I jump straight into a short run of Beauty and the Beast at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center from January 28th to the 31st. 

Come see me do a thing!

I've had some cool gigs lately and some fun stuff coming up. I'll be playing with the Dream Orchestra again next week, with a concert on October 30 at Saint Monica Catholic Church in, you guessed it, Santa Monica.  Come check it out. The group is great and we'll be doing Mozart's Requiem. www.dreamorchestra.org

Last month I had the pleasure of playing Bonnie and Clyde with the Musical Theater Guild at the Alex Theater in Glendale.  I didn't know this musical beforehand but its seamless blend of 30's jazz and more modern pop-country was a hoot. It's a shame you don't see this musical produced more often. Here are a few pictures of my set up. 

It's mostly a drum set book, with a bit of percussion. This particular production was a one-day-only reading, so we used a reduced orchestration and I was asked to omit the mallet parts (saving me some significant moving trouble!)

Coming up in November, I'll be playing with Vox Femina on October 15th at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. This is a great all female choir based in LA that's been doing wonderful work for nearly two decades. More info at www.voxfemina.org 

Lots more interesting stuff coming, including a likely tour to the East Coast in January. Stay tuned for specifics on that. 

It has seemed a fairly common trend in my career that the musical universe will see to it that if I play one kind of instrument, more of that will follow.