It’s been a surreal year so far, but only if you pay attention. Most days I just hunker down and get some work done until it’s time to eat. But seriously, we all find ways to cope, and music is the thing, more and more, that sustains me. Which leads me to the subject at hand: February doings in the music scene.
I’ve been very fortunate to have a fine weekly residency at the Skylark Lounge, going on almost a year and a half now. Each week I have a different theme with some great musical guests. So far this year I’ve had Oliver Rajamani, Sara Riesner, Rick McRae, and the list is getting longer.
Feb 22 will be a Mardi Gras Warmup Party, with plenty of New Orleans Jazz & Funk. In March some of my special guests will be Julie Slim-Nassif, Alex Coke, and Joanna Ramirez. So we will be presenting all kinds of great music under the jazz umbrella!
As a sideman, I’ve been doing some really interesting projects as well. Valentines Day I played with the Golden Arm Trio for a special screening of the silent film Wings, and for the last chunk of February I’m part of the pit orchestra for the musical Prohibition. Check my website calendar for details.
The year, surreal, orange-hued and full of social turmoil, nevertheless proceeds apace. And the band plays on!

January 2017… Well, of course that inauguration thingy happened on the 20th, and then the huge women’s march on the 21st. Not to read too much into that weekend, but we may be living in a world of intense extremes for the foreseeable future. It could be healthy, a stripping away of illusion, an appreciation of the things in our lives that really matter. Or it could be like a scene from a bad 1950s sci-fi movie, mobs of panicked citizens running screaming through the streets, chased by a giant radioactive spider. Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, my shows at the Skylark Lounge continue to go really well. I appreciate my friends and fans coming out and supporting us every Wednesday. I know it’s hard work, sitting in a dimly lit bar, drinking, eating pizza, clapping sometimes at the end of a song. It’s not something that everyone would do, and your commitment does not go unnoticed!

For those who missed some of our shows, or want to relive those fleeting moments, we are videotaping when we can, and we will be posting the highlights on YouTube. You can keyword my name, the Skylark Lounge, or go directly to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAUQr4NzZdp98pT08-gmGKQ.

January show highlights include:
January 11 – Spotlight On The Blues
January 18 – Manteca Beat featuring the music of Mose Allison
January 25 – Global Jazz featuring Oliver Rajamani

Though my life seems to be mainly a set of weekly tasks mixed in with waving at friends as they days fly by, I do like to look over my shoulder at what we have all accomplished, experienced, enjoyed, and survived. I try, like most of my friends, to have some sort of vague plan, a “big picture” of sorts, and to scribble down ideas, lists and diagrams in an effort to organize the chores of the day, week, month into a game plan, a larger raison d’etre, even if this is mostly illusory.

Standing on a philosophical mountain top, arms akimbo, looking over the past, and then gazing into the hazy future. It feels good to do this periodically, and especially at the end of the year, even if calendars are an arbitrary measure of one’s life.

So, what to say about 2016? Yow. But there were some notable personal advancements, even if the world seems to be sliding off the back of the giant turtle that supports it.

My friends know I have been spending a lot of time with my parents as they have gotten to a ripe old age. They spent last winter and spring with me in Texas, while we made repairs and upgrades to their house. Now they are back in their own home, comfortable, and that feels like a major accomplishment. Those of you helping to care for your parents know what I’m talking about.

I finished 2016 with my annual Festivus Celebration (this was the 5th year!), a benefit for Austin Children’s Sheleter. We successfully raised $600 after expenses, a new record for P.K.S.A.X. and Team Festivus!

Over the last two years I have been involved in a book project, overseen by my friend Robin Moore in the Ethnomusicology program at UT. The topic is music curriculum in the 21st century. He graciously invited me to contribute a chapter as a working musician. The book is now ready for publication and should be out in spring 2017.

As an offshoot of the book project I participated in a panel on music pedagogy at the annual conference of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Not only was it intellectually stimulating and inspiring for my own musical research, but I was happy to reconnect with friends and colleagues in academia, some of whom I hadn’t seen in decades!

So as I stand on my imaginary mountain top, staring into the mists of 2017, I’m fairly invigorated, ready to work on music, teaching, writing, moving the ball a few yards down the field. Back into the trenches!
PK

O

March is marching on through.  As usual, staying on top of gigs, recording projects, and the general mayhem of daily life feels like an Indiana Jones escape scene, giant boulders, poisoned darts, snakes and the rest.  But we soldier on!

The weekly Wednesday shows at Skylark Lounge have been going very well.  I’m amazed by and grateful for the talent and hard work my musicians put in to make each show special.  For those fans who can’t make the shows, we are trying to get some decent video at each one to archive the performances.  Email me for details.

SXSW is swinging through, like the traveling circus it is.  I have a few shows this week, but the real fun is schmoozing with folks visiting from various corners of the world.  So far the highlight has been the Pakistan music folks, part of the Foundation for Arts, Culture & Education (www.face.pk).  Wonderful people and excellent musicians!

After the SXSW dust settles, I’ll be starting a new residency at a great new Italian restaurant in my neighborhood.  Check out Gino’s Vino in the Mueller development.  I’ll be there March 22, jazz & pasta!

As I grow older (gracefully, I hope), I’m finding it helpful to organize each new year by blocking off some challenging creative projects.  That way, as the days flow into weeks, the weeks into months, in a blur of making-the-donuts tasks and deadlines, I can lift my head out of my foxhole and keep some perspective.  Oh yeah, I got that thing done (wrote a song, got dental insurance, planted a garden, etc.).  I think it’s a truism that time speeds up as you grow older, so we gots to make the most of it!

That said, I have gotten a few good things done in these first few months of 2015 (besides getting dental insurance):  Wrote 5 new songs with lyrics (I look forward to playing them at my shows soon); recorded an original classical-based quintet (“Serpentelos” – available soon!); played a great Mardi Gras show with the new and funky band Gumbo Ya Ya; played a wonderful set with Marcia Ball (which brought back some great memories) at the HAAM 10th Anniversary Celebration; and I’ve been having a lovely time most Friday happy hours at C-Boys, playing with the Jitterbug Vipers, part of my extended dysfunctional musical family, who I love dearly.

So SXSW is next on the horizon, which nicely bookends March.  Until then, it’s back into the foxhole for me!

PK