I know the key to getting website hits is to keep it current, with cool and interesting posts, or at least something to momentarily distract websurfers from the daily drudgery, in between latte sips. And so the role of musician increasingly comes to include data entry, which is the kind of thing I became a musician to avoid. But like I always say, “I’m not complaining, just describing.”

Well, it has been a busy 6 months, not just for me but for most of my friends. Zipping to & fro, trying to keep one’s balls in the air (or perhaps spinning plates would be a less problematic metaphor), finding more and more arcane ways to pay the bills.
I had several good roadtrips this period: June/July in San Francisco with the Broken Clock Cabaret; August in Los Angeles with the Golden Arm Trio; and September/October in NYC & Boston with my own project Manteca Beat.

Some of the musical moments include: Various states of inebriation and debauchery with the No Salvation Army Band as we tried to keep up with stage performers’ craziness… A quick recording session in L.A. with guitarist Tommy Kay…And my dad’s 80th birthday party courtesy of the Harvard Chemistry Department. I got together with pianist (and former classmate) Joseph Reid and we played some cool jazz while the scientists waxed eloquent over cocktails and memories.

I also had an enjoyable radio interview with Bob Putignano of 88.1 in New Jersey, played some cool shows and re-connected with some Texas ex-pats who are honing their music chops in the Big Apple.

Back in Texas, both my bands PK Sax and Manteca Beat have been staying busy, playing club dates and private parties. I also got to hang out with oud maestro Marcel Khalife and his group when they played in Austin. Really nice people and great musicians.

Along with swanky shows with Memphis Train Revue, and some serendipitous calls to play with other Austin bands like Hot Wax, Take Five, Stephanie Bradley, Austin Hot Trax, Groovin’ Ground, Jon Emery, the Jazz Pharoahs, and other hepcats, it has been a busy, busy fall.

Of course Halloween is the main holiday in Austin, and I celebrated in style at the Enchanted Forest. Many fantastical costumes, as well as the dependable standard fantasies: pirates, cats, sexy nurses, sexy stewardesses, naughty schoolgirls, and a surprising number of sexy Raggedy Ann’s… It’s good to see that tradition still counts for something around here.

Now that November is here, it is just a fast downhill rush into the holidays…tryptophan, tinsel, and New Year’s Eve tiaras, and then onward into 2008!

-PK