TrumpetBoy
Trumpets, Music, Gadgets, Web Dev. and any other nonsense I feel like mentioning…
Posts tagged personal
New York City Here I Come!
May 14th
Following what proved to be a year long application process, I finally received my US Visa today. Time to tie up some loose ends and get moving. I hope to be making my move to New York City in early July 2009.
Once there, I won’t be allowed to work for some time, as a condition of the process. Expect more blogging at that point both here and on my music site, BryanDavis.info. I’ll have to fill my time somehow!
Mucho Airport Time!
Apr 24th
I’m writing this at 6.30am in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on the way back from my most recent excursion with “Rat Pack – Live At The Sands” US tour. Life has been really crazy lately with more travelling than I would have thought I’d ever do. Running backwards and forwards between UK and US Tour dates is certainly exhausting!
It’s been a good trip this time despite a couple of changes from the normal routine. Andy Rumble, our musical director, was away on another gig this time so we had the show’s Musical Supervisor; Matthew Freeman with us in his place. He likes to run things a little differently from Andy so it was trying at times but we were lucky to have some very fine musicians joining us in Grand Rapids, MI and Hershey, PA. A particular joy for me was the presence of two former Harry James bandsmen in Hershey. I was privileged to have trumpeters Skip Stine and Bill Hicks on the section with me. They both played Lead Trumpet on the Harry James band at various times during the 70s and were able to offer a little personal insight into one of the greatest trumpet players of all time! I should also give a shout to Mark Lusk, who played Bass Trombone in Hershey; a thoroughly nice guy and a wonderful player. He previously played on the Woody Herman Band in it’s last incarnation under Woody’s baton along with my most recent teacher; the formidable Roger Ingram.
We’re back to UK dates for the next week and a half although I’m taking a break from “The Pack” to go on a short tour in Austria with the wonderful trumpeter Thomas Gansch and his band. I’m sure much fun will be had, much beer consumed and many photos taken. The photos, at least, I’ll be able to share on here and I’ll try to keep up with that upon my return. It’ll be a busy few days which see me heading to Southampton on Wednesday for the show, on to Vienna on Friday (early) morning, back to Leeds on the following Wednesday and then up to Edinburgh in time for a Thursday matinee. I then finish out the week in Edinburgh before returning to Cleveland to play the last fortnight on the US Tour.
Life, as you can see, is crazy right now so apologies for the recent lack of posting and I’ll try to get back on top of it when I get back to just touring in one country for a while in the summer!
Brian Lynch wins Grammy!!
Feb 12th
I’ve blogged, from time to time, about my friend and fellow trumpeter; Brian Lynch, and more specifically about his recent Artistshare Project.
I’m pleased to see that the resultant CD; “Simpatico”, won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year at last night’s awards. This is not only suitable recognition for a wonderful recording but also a long overdue serious accolade for a masterful and largely unsung musician.
Congratulations Brian! Beers are on me next time I see you…
Some Big News
Jan 8th
Happy New Year!! I realise it’s been exorbitantly long since I’ve written anything on here and I have a bunch of stuff to post in the near future. To be going on with I should mention the significant event of the festive season.
The news is that Cynthia, my girlfriend of 7 years, and I got engaged!!
I finally got around to it during our visit to Cyn’s family in LA in the run-up to Christmas. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to be all traditional and ask her Father’s permission first. It was a hectic time for him; her sister had got engaged the day before!
The comments of friends and family upon hearing the news were fantastic, including many that made us laugh out loud. For posterity, we thought we should record some of them and this seems to be an appropriate forum. Here they are:
- Larry (Cyn’s Dad) – “Are you serious? …Well, it’s about time!!”
- Caryn (Cyn’s Mom – to Cyn) – “Both of you in 2 days… Now I’ll never be able to retire!!“
- My Dad – “Well, I can say that from my point of view, it’s fabulous news.“
- My Mum (to Cyn) – “So he finally came to his senses…“
- Carolyn (my sister – to Cyn) – “That’s wonderful… I’m inheriting a big sister.“
- Richard (my brother – by drunken New Year’s text message in typical fashion) – “…Congrats on getting engaged! I’m not proud of this but I did jump up and down clapping my hands like a lord of the gays when I heard! Great news…“
I’ll post more of these as the (soon-to-be) missus reminds me of them.
Good To Be Back In The UK!!
Oct 19th
I’m just back in from playing a Rat Pack show in Darlington this evening. It’s really been a pleasure to get back and play with one of the British bands. The last two weeks have been an eye-opener in terms of the cultural differences between UK and US musicians; it seems, in short, that as I suspected over here we’re very good at playing things straight off and making them convincing, while in the US they tend to warm up to the music over a longer period. Therefore, despite having some great guys around me, we never really got the show up to the musical level I’m accustomed to in either San Antonio or Des Moines, before we had to move on. Conversely I went back in with a band comprising many friends, but who don’t necessarily play the show that often, and we roared!! Many thanks to Andy Flaxman, Keith Hutton and Bruce Douglas (aka The Trombones) in particular, who have frankly restored my faith in that instrument. Unusually, I’ve found the Trombones to be the weaker of the sections over in The States thus far.
None of this should be taken as any kind of negative by anyone looking in. I’m intrigued to see how the musical experience rounds out across the country as we visit different cities in the coming months. I certainly hope that the musicians we’ve met so far prove to be indicative of the general standard nationwide. If so, the coming US tour dates will continue to go as well as it’s started!