Good morning and happy Juneteenth! It's 9:47 on this otherwise dismal rainy Saturday. June 19, 1865 was the date the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862 was signed into law. The real deal seems to have been December 6th of that year, when the 13th Amendment was ratified. But June 19th remains as the date to remember. Better late than never...
La News Musicale. It's a fried telephone book. We gave it a fancy French name and you ordered it! One of my favorite cartoons from the National Lampoon during their heyday. But I digress...
As far as my musical doings lately, it's been a lot of guitar work. Trying to step up the practicing, what with a couple gigs on the horizon. 7/31 at the Old State Capitol on the north side of the Square, 5 to 7 ; 8/31 on the south side of the Square from noon to one; and either 7/12 or 6/16 at The Alamo, 7 to 10.
Strangely enough, all downtown, and close proximity at that. So that's my gig circuit for the next couple months. A far cry from when I first retired, but still keeping my hand in there. One or two in a month is just fine anymore.
I'd really like to be working my own group, which is trio with bass and drums- and possibly a saxophonist. I can think of two who'd fit that bill very nicely. Booking gigs is something I've always hated doing, but I guess I'm gonna have to inure myself to it.
Missing the days of working with Perfect Impressions. A booking agency out of Decatur, for the uninitiated. They would do the grotty work of getting the gigs, and I'd just have to show up and play them. Sometimes it'd be an off-the-rack fit, like a 4 hour gig at the Crowne Plaza on solo guitar during the World Series. Suffice it to say, the crowd was not too appreciative of the poor guitarist up there earning his money the hard way. But they did get me some very nice trio engagements in there- and fairly lucrative at that!
This looks like enough reading matter for you. It's enough writing material for me, at any rate. Thanks as ever for stopping in and reading. I do appreciate it! Happy Juneteenth to you! For now, I'm outa here. More later. PS today's tune is called Good Trouble. I gave it that title after the late Senator from Georgia, John Lewis. Hope you like the tune!