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12/28/2015

Hi friends, with 9 days off work I am a little stir crazy by day 5. The holiday festivities were fun and family filled. Too much delicious food and sweets as usual. But now in the lull between Christmas and New Years I am starting a new project.

I have launched a new Spotify playlist. Partially out of shameless self promotion, and partially out of the sense of a need for it. There are a lot of awesome spotify created playlists out there but most of them are filled with well known established names that are represented by labels or managers. My playlist does include many well known established names, how could it not as they have been great influences in my musical life. But it also includes lesser knowns, friends of mine, me, music I find interesting...

This will be a continually updated project. I stole the title "Indie Classical" from a current playlist. There are debates as to whether or not we like this name, but in a world that demands labels I feel it's the best we currently have.

I'm sure I missed many of my friends, if you have an album on spotify that is hard to categorize please do let me know! If you have any recommendations, contact me! I will try to add 1 new track a week, I feel this is a very ambitious goal but there is a lot of music out there I have no idea exists, it will take some digging but I think it will be fun.

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Life in vegas

12/11/2015

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Hello Friends! I promised an update on our life here in Vegas so far and here it is. I still miss everyone in CT and New England a great deal but things are starting to pick up here and the sunshine is wonderful. Although, from what I hear it has been a mild winter in Hartford this year. I finally move to escape the snow and they get a relief. Well, I am happy for you. However, I don't have to wear a jacket yet during the day if I don't want to so that is nice.

I have been hired to teach at 2 studios, Nevada Music Academy and Brill Music Academy. Things have been picking up at NVMA a lot in the last couple months. I have added flute to the list of instruments I teach which has been a fun addition. Things are a little different here, they don't start band until middle school so I don't have any elementary aged students yet but I already have some adults. I am also taking a more active role in the business and will be helping develop some additional programs as the studio grows. I get to go to the NAMM convention in Anaheim, CA in January to learn more about music business. I'm very excited about it because I have wanted to go for a decade! And maybe I'll run into some of my old Tucson music folk there.

Daryl and I are both part time faculty at the College of Southern Nevada. This semester we taught online history of rock classes and next semester we will be doing it again and adding music appreciation. The MA classes will be in class lectures and we're pretty excited for that. I am grateful to be using my musical knowledge in another capacity.

My performing opportunities have changed a bit out here as well. I am still getting to know the lay of the land and where I can perform so I have taken a small break from the looping project, plus that duo concert last month kept me plenty busy for a while! But I will get back to it soon. Daryl and I are continuing our duo project together. We have a couple commissions coming in next year, one from Ken Steen and one from Thomas Schuttenhelm, 2 Hartt faculty members we have a great amount of respect for and whose music we love. We are also working on adapting "Nausea" by Brendon Randall-Myers (composer of "Salvage" from the album Beautiful Mess), originally for distorted bass clarinet and drum machine, to a live version for tenor sax and drummer. I am also subbing in with a big band called the Mellowtones and the Summerlin Saxophone Quartet. I didn't get to play jazz during my grad degree and it's nice to get back to my early years. I am playing bari in both groups. It's super fun to lay down the low end again.

Daryl and I also adopted 2 cats in October and NV SPCA. Sadly one of them was very ill and died 2 weeks after we got her. We did everything we could for her and she spent her last few days on an IV and feeding tube at the vet. She died before they could figure out what was wrong with her. It was pretty tragic for us. We fell in love with her so quickly. But our second kitty is doing her best to give enough love to make up for our loss. She likes to play with random objects, like Daryl's cymbal felts and nail files. She chirps and meows a ton, especially in the morning when she cons Daryl into giving her wet food every day. Her new favorite spot to cuddle is on my outstretched legs, especially when I am on the computer, she is actually there as I type this. Her name is Evey and she is pictured below.

Well, I can't imagine much else to say after all that cuteness. It's nice to be near family, Daryl's family is very loving and supportive, and my mom and sisters are just an hour plane ride away now! And I must reiterate, the sunshine is marvelous. No more snow! Also, stay posted for a website redesign in the near future!

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Playlisting

Life in vegas

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