So I woke up this morning after a very restless night. Worried about my sister in law and the baby to come. She'd been contracting since Thursday but wasn't dilating. She was very uncomfortable. She went into the hospital yesterday but nothing much was happenning.

We had a funeral to go to this morning - before we left, Neal called and said that Denise's mom didn't want to go to the hospital so if Sue and I wanted to come over - it would be cool! SO we went to the viewing and paid our respects... very sad.

But then we went to the hospital and were allowed to be in the labor and delivery. Denise was unbelievable too- when we got there they had given her an epidural so she wasn't in much pain - just pressure from the contractions. And before we knew it, the doctor was there telling her to push.

We stayed at the hospital til about 3:30 - then I came back for church. Shel and I went out for Chinese food and my fortune read:

You see pictures in poems and poems in pictures. Here's a poem titled Gianni Robert

So this week things are picking up musically.
I’ve been contacting folks to play in the pit orchestra for “Big River” in April at my high school alma mater. It will be a small pit – bass, guitar/mandolin/banjo, drums, keyboards, trumpet, trombone, clarinet/flute/soprano sax. There’s also an “on-stage” group consisting of violin, harmonica and guitar. I’m not sure what the director has in mind, but I guess we’ll figure that out soon. I’ve done shows here for so many years and in so many roles – pit orchestra musician, vocal director, music director, conductor, director. When I attended this high school, we had a solid music program – 110 in the marching and concert band, probably 150 in the concert choir. Today there is no marching band, no concert choir – no music program at all. There is a group that leads worship for liturgies and they do a fine job. Unfortunately, there is not a single musician that attends the school that has expressed interest in playing in the pit this year.

I have another rehearsal coming up for “The King and I” at the local high school. I’ve played bass for them a few times and it’s always fun to get another perspective of high school musical theater -such a difference from my alma mater. At this high school, most of the pit is made up of high school musicians. I believe that there are only 4 musicians that are not high school or middle school students.

And then I had my first acting rehearsal for “Man of LaMancha.” The director blocked the first 30 pages of the script. It was an interesting process for me because I’ve never been the one who was told to cross right or left, upstage or downstage. AN interesting evening! In fact, the director told us that the man who was designing the set was supposed to be bringing a model of it to the practice. Imagine my surprise when a fellow alumnus of my high school and theater days at that school walked in carrying a brief case and a model! He did an amazing job and I really feel that when it is built, it will be an incredible set! Oh, and as he left he mentioned to me that he was dashing off to the high school to pick up his daughter who is in “Big River”.
Man of La Mancha Pictures 2-23-2007
In any case, I am excited and expectant. These next 3 months will be tough but so far am I looking forward to the challenge. Now if I could just figure out whether I have a cold or a sinus infection….

Well, here we go! Our high today was 21°f and that’s WARM. I’m pretty freaked that I have to go out tonight. I realized today how much I hate the cold. I mean I hate when it’s stinking hot too. I guess I hate weather extremes. I never minded the cold because I had a theory that you could keep bundling on clothes and such. Eventually you’d warm up… It just seems like sometimes it’s so cold you can’t get warm. I’ll try not to complain though. Like my 5-year old niece says “I’m hungry. I’m not starving. If I was starving, I’d be dieing.” God bless her little soul.
In any case, I do have to go out tonight. Rehearsing with Ernie for the CD release party on Saturday. It will be fun, but I dread going out once I get home! Also, Dooner will be home this weekend, so I think he is going to come to the gig.
I had my first rehearsal for The Sound of Music at my town’s high school on Sunday. I’m playing bass, which I love to do… and although I hate the show, I realized how brilliant the orchestration for this show is. I got goose bumps (or goose pumps, as the five-year old calls them) at certain points as we were rehearsing. Oh yes, I still hate My Favorite Things and will cringe as I play it, but some of the other music is wonderful.
Tomorrow night, I have my first rehearsal with Burlington County Footlighters, our local community theater group. This is the group I auditioned for and got a part in their production, of Man of La Mancha. It is a small part – just singing in the chorus and playing guitar, but I’m totally psyched to be a part of it. More on that in the future.
Thursday night, I will probably head up to the local Catholic high school, where I will be conducting Big River, a musical about Huckleberry Finn. The music is very cool for that show too – more modern than the other two shows. Some bluegrass and spirituals and then regular show-type tunes. Thursday night is call-backs for the students that auditioned. I’ll poke my head in and see what I have to work with!In the meantime, I’m listening to Rock the House! constantly so that I can learn the tunes for rehearsal tonight. These songs are also incredible – my brother Neal and his friend Ernie have written these tunes for their 5th CD and I think there isn’t a dud in the bunch! The tunes are catchy and the styles range from rock, to ska to jazz to Latin. They are very diverse.