PASIC etc...

I saw and heard some great things at PASIC. I really enjoyed Keiko Abe's Saturday concert (in addition to her Thursday performances). John Riley's clinic was great. Tom Burritt played an awesome new piece by Thom Hasenpflug and I finally got to see Kai Stensgaard play.

Percussion Construction launched my new signature line of mallets. I'm really happy with how they turned out. They sold well and the people that tried them out at the booth seemed to like them. A new Percussion Construction website should be up in a couple of weeks so you can have a look at them.

I also found out that my good friend John Parks will be giving a solo recital at Carnegie Hall on May 4th of next year. He'll be playing my piece Vertical River on that recital and I'll be there to stand up and wave to the audience after the last note.

I also managed to get sick at PASIC, but I 'm back up and running now. Just a couple of days of teaching, a few rehearsals for Hansel und Gretel, and Thanksgiving will be here. We have some friends coming into town for a vegetarian thanksgiving and some early shopping on Friday morning. Probably won't buy much. It's just fun to go to the Waffle House at 4:00 am and then get in line with the people that really are buying lots of stuff. You can meet some very excited (and very crazy) people that way. I can't wait!