Sunday, November 11, 2007

Thank You, Friends

I got to play music today for the first time in quite a while. My friend Bob, whom i've known and with whom i've played music since 1983, is a member of an improvisational group called Conduit based in Falls Church, VA. They invited me to sit in with them. Well, to be truthful i kinda asked to sit in, but Bob would have asked me in a heartbeat if he had known i was ready to get back in to playing. Since the kids came along it has been hard to schedule the time to play, so he was used to my period of inactivity.

Anyway the other guys in the group, JD and Ted, were very nice and welcoming. They used to be a quartet, but one of their keyboardists left the band a few months back. Since then they have enjoyed being a trio but they also like having guests too. So i got to be the guest on Conduit 23, that's right the twenty-third CD the band had made. The modus operandi of the band is that they record everything they play, and they free-improvise all of it too, which is what mine and Bob's band Unola did as well.

I thought it went fairly well, even though i haven't sat down at a drum kit or picked up a guitar in months. But of course when recording, there is a big difference between how it sounds in the room and how it will sound on the playback. We'll have to hear how it turns out in a few weeks when JD has a chance to mix it all down. Thanks guys! And thanks to my lovely wife for herding our kids alone for the afternoon and into the evening so that i could indulge myself in my favorite artistic activity.

4 comments:

Kelly O said...

No problem, babe! I'd love to see you play music more regularly, and it was fun having some one-on-one time with the kids.

Unknown said...

How cool!

nylonthread said...

Hey Todd! I'm super-happy for you that you got out and played with Bob!!! Really. I hope the recording mix sounds sublime.

Kelly and I had lots of fun herding all four of the kids at the Watkins Park farm! It was a nice afternoon for all. (Except Dash, maybe. His coat sukkd.)

TFO said...

poor Dash, he had a rough time with his sucky coat. Thea often doesn't want her coat these days, but we haven't had to force it so far. we let her go out without it and then she usually wants it right away. but sometimes kids get cold and still don't want them...it's tough.