What a week!

Well, it has NOT been a quiet week at Lake Jamalong... it has been one of those weeks you should be careful about wishing for. But I love it! Monday started with a long drive (the second half of my trip home to Roswell from family reunion in Baltimore) then a nap, then driving to downtown Atlanta for a rehearsal, and finally home. Thank God no lessons that day; I love 'em, but I needed the nap instead. Tuesday was my usual slammer; up early to catch up on email and research for my radio show, then drive to the Radio Sandy Springs studio, do the show, grab a quick lunch to eat on the way back to Roswell, then a full slate of lessons until 8PM. Then over to Marietta for the Tuesday jams at Nik's Place (which happened to be totally supernova that week, see my previous blog post from that night titled "Hoolawd!"), and finally home by about 03:30. Wednesday was another mostly full slate of lessons, then over to Tavern On The Bridge for my duo show with the fabulous Andrew Black. Thursday was a morning of errands & minor chores, followed by a day of lessons, then home to pack for a road trip. Friday, drove to downtown Atlanta again to join a band (the leader of which has asked not to be named in my email reports) for a road trip to a gig in south GA. Gig went great, packed up & sound asleep by 02:00, only to get up at 05:30 for the trip home (no complaint there, I wanted to be back early). Back in time for Saturday lessons at 11:30, mostly full until 5. Home, change clothes, drive to Decatur for a brief show with Unnamed Artist at Maddy's 3rd birthday party. Caught the last of a hot set by Chicago Joe Jones, then Barry Richman Band, then our turn, and finally got blown away by the headliner, Francine Reed with Java Monkey. (Marvin Taylor has joined Barry Richman, Mike Martin, and a few others as one of my guitar heroes!) Home, nearly immediate sleep, then up Sunday morning for a jazz gig downtown with Will Scruggs, Zak Pride and Ben Taylor. Home, a quick nap, and down to The Langford for the Sunday evening jams, where a burst of climactic energy brought my unusually busy week to a loud happy close.

Don't misunderstand, I have no complaints about any of this blessed basketful of work. Well, maybe a chuckling grumble here & there, who'd be human without one or two, but nothing that even I could take seriously after saying it. To be a musician entrusted with a workload like this is nothing short of deeply gratifying, and I thank every single one of you who makes it possible. It's such a cliche' to say "I'm not worthy", but... well, thanks. Really. While driving, I listen to lots of books (hardly ever music, you figure out why) and I'm almost to the end of a really good biography of Mark Twain. I'm sure he has written something somewhere about being tired and happy; he was, after all, the equivalent of a rock star in his day and went on exhausting tours for weeks at a time. Find what he said, and I'll second it.

And now, believe it or not, I'm off to bed before midnight. Tomorrow is another of my infamous Tuesdays. I hope to see you at the Tuesday jams, and the Wednesday duo. You know the details. G'nite!

PS, it's mathematically probable that someone will get some wrong impression from something I've written. Simple arithmetic, coupled with my less-than-perfect writing skills. Let me just cover this by saying I'm sorry for whatever you thought I meant. And don't think that I'm far too busy for whatever project you were considering me for, let's talk about it first.