Week 2

So it's Wednesday morning of my second week here. Haven't blogged for a little bit now. Had a big weekend and didn't go to any jazz gigs on Saturday or Sunday.

Shannon Barnett, a friend of mine from Melbourne who also plays trombone is here at the moment. We've hung out a bit at gigs and world cup matches etc. She asked me if I wanted to play in a parade with her at Coney Island. I said yes....and if you've had a look at Emily's pics at all you'll see some of the craziness from the day. We went out quite early in the morning to Coney Island so we could watch the socceroos match against Ghana with out leaving halfway through. After the match we did the parade. It's an annual parade and is very very strange in an American way...but it was a fun day and a good experience I didn't expect to have. After the hour and a half train ride home we were exhausted from the day and very sun burnt, so we didn't make it to any gigs that night.

On Sunday we went into Times Square and met up with Andrea and his kiwi friend to watch Italy v New Zealand in the world cup. We then went to Bryant Park for a little and relaxed and then went back to the pub in the arvo to watch Brasil v Ivory Coast. Emily and I weren't sure what gig we were going to see on Sunday night so we decided to see a broadway show instead. We went and saw Avenue Q - very funny show.

Monday we went exploring a bit and got a bit touristy. Checked out Grand Central station terminal and then walked down to the Empire State building. That night we went to another gig at Dizzy's Jazz Club and saw Darcy James Argue Secret Society (big band). Great band.....great players and amazingly written music. We got seated very close to the trombone section which was great for me.

Tuesday I had a lesson with Michael Dease. He's an amazing trombone player. Had a lot of fun at the lesson and got a lot out of it. He passed me a mouthpiece to try and as he passed it to me told me it was a mouthpiece Curtis Fuller gave to him. My jaw probably hit the floor then. At the end of the lesson he played me a bit of his new cd which comes out next month and then played some alto trombone - which he sounded great on playing jazz.

Went out yesterday arvo and had some drinks for Ange and Matt's birthday. It's Ange's birthday today and Matt's is a month from now but he's heading back to Australia soon so won't be here for it. It was a good hang and there were a few aussies there so we had a lot of fun. After all the drinking we walked to the diner that you see on Seinfeld and got some food. Emily and I then went and saw a free gig at Smoke Jazz Club before heading home.

Today will be a big day I think.....pretty nervous about the socceroos game.....but go the Socceroos!! Going to see a free gig at Central Park tonight featuring McCoy Tyner (he used to play with John Coltrane) then maybe off to some other gigs after that. Having an amazing time over here. Will write again soon.

shane.