Manny Laureano

Well, we did it...

After Doc's show last night, I went to the home of one of the orchestra's bassists and proceeded to have the time of my life with my inner teenager.

I woodshedded all of Lew Soloff's licks yesterday afternoon as well as the day before and went for it. All I can say is that anybody who can think like that (when he was improvising said licks) is a monster. They are artfully crafted at a split second's notice and impressively logical, which is all to say that it falls very well under the fingers. I was joined by several students from the U of M for the BS&T tunes and the Chase ones as well. Their improv skills were so clearly refined where there was a clear transference from idea to reality. Very cool to listen to these students go at it.

We started with Lucretia MacEvil and then went to Get it On. I took a tune off as the band played 25 or 6 to 4. I got to check out two of my orchestra colleagues, Mssrs. Sundstom and Herring, playing the bone parts. My bass playing colleague, Bill Schrickel, laid down some very nice lines and our timpanist was sitting on drums. The vocals were performed by the wife of our principal trombonist! Laurie Wright sang her butt off! If only the OH public could have seen us. I don't have any more 70's clothes so I took off my suit jacket from the previous gig w/ Doc, opened my shirt, and tied my tie around my head, bandana style. If I can get still photos, I'll try to find a way to put them up here.

The best part of the night? Minneapolis' finest knocking on the door because the neighbors were complaining.

The officers came in and were smiling because they were into it but had to register the complaint. We got in a reading of Spinning Wheel and God Bless the Child before we shut it down.

It was a great night... sing alongs and such. What a beautiful attempt at a bunch of old farts desperately trying to cling to their youth on last time while we still got the chops for it!

One last thought... you guys that play in rock bands for a living or regularly... you're dead on about the sound levels. Absolutely do the earplugs thing. One night, okay... no big deal but if you've got the drums and bass behind you each weekend or so, you really might want to think about it.

I LOVE THIS JOB!

ML

Bear

I'm jealous.

Rimshot

Book 'em, Danno!