2009.5

So today we're half-way through 2009... six months down and six to go. I've been living on dry-land a little over a half a year now. Just yesterday I caught up with an friend I met while I was working on cruise ship and was reminded how happy I am to not be doing that any more. It's been a great year so far.

I just updated my myspace site with some gig dates. It's been over a year since I've posted dates there. It might be kind of a waste of time since I'm not sure if anyone really surfs myspace anymore. I guess it's more of a way of me to stay organized than anything else. Some of the start-times that I posted might be wrong, but I think most of the dates are correct. I'm really looking forward to the "Pickin' in the Park," series and I'll get to play two of those dates this summer.

I had a great time in back in the Fraser Valley last weekend and a really great time in Telluride the week before. I finished up one of my two summer classes yesterday down in Denver. The summer is shaping out really nicely so far, and I'll try to write more about some of the funner stuff as it comes around.

Summer

I just got home from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. What a great time. Yesterday was the longest day of the year, but it went pretty quick.

So I'm spending most of my time in Denver these days, but I'll be back in Grand County this weekend to play with Hunker Down on Friday and Saturday up in Grand Lake. I'm also really looking forward to some gigs with Mike Music and Tammy Yurich this summer. My summer schedule is thankfully filling up, and I'll post some dates on my myspace site some time soon.

I'm also taking on new students for private music lessons. If you would like to take lessons or know someone interested in lessons, please e-mail me at yaniv34@gmail.com

My favorite musician

My new favorite musician is Katie Glassman. As a violinist she's unbelievably versatile and shows virtuosic facility while staying tasteful and true to her music. She's a great songwriter and her songs show a deep harmonic understanding supporting her heartfelt and resonant lyrics. Her singing voice beautifully blends the tenderness of a young girl with the sexiness of a grown woman. She plays with many different groups around Denver, but has two bands of her own called Impromptu and Pickin' on the Porch. You can check out her websites at these addresses:

www.katieglassman.com
www.myspace.com/katieglassman

I'm also completely in love with her and I feel like shouting it from a mountain-top, but maybe this is just as good.

Quote

"There is no five second rule in India."
--Talia

Quote

"Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A welder, a carpenter, and electrician. They don't necessarily need to retire. People who have jobs on an assembly line, or are doing some kind of drudgery work, they might be thinking of retiring every day. Every man should learn a trade. It's different than a job. My music wasn't made to take me from one place to another so I can retire early."
--Bob Dylan

Update

I just reworked my website a bit and simplified it. There is a new "recordings" page which has links to sites where some of my music can be purchased.

The ski season in Winter Park is coming to an end. This Sunday is closing day, and I'm excited to play music at the C-lot party. I had been at every C-lot party since 2002 up until last year, when I was at sea (not C) and missed it. This year may be a snowy one, but I'm psyched to be there again. I've been back in Colorado about three-and-a-half months now, and I've had a pretty good winter. I performed with the Grand Theatre Company one last time for their final season which finished a few weeks ago. We put on a show called "The Best of the Best" featuring scenes from their previous shows over the past four years. The theater in Winter Park was a special place and I'm sad that it's closing. I'll miss it.

I've also been playing steadily with Hunker Down all winter. Last Tuesday we played at an event promoting the guitar building program at Red Rocks Community College. I'm actually building a guitar through the program, and I'll hopefully have it completed by the middle of next month.

There have been some other new developments in my life that are incredible and change everything, but I'm not going to write any more about that here.

Wood for the Fire

Hunker Down's new record "Wood for the Fire" is official released as of last Saturday's concert. For now, the easiest way to get is here:
www.cdbaby.com/hunkerdown

The album will be on iTunes in a couple weeks. I played upright bass on the record, and I'm psyched with the way it turned out. Here's a link to a article in the Ski Hi Daily News about the record:
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20090206/AE/902069979/1069&title=Winter%20Park%2FLive%20Music%3A%20Good%20friends%2C%20good%20tunes%2C%20good%20times

Quote

On India:
"Everything is still very surreal and I often feel like I'm in a movie set, but it's when I'm sitting in ridiculous, chaotic traffic among auto-rickshaws and mopeds carrying up to 4 people with cows in the medians and monkeys sometimes running along the fences while dusty little kids taps on the windows and try to sell us bobble-head doggies or magazines, it starts to get a bit more real!"
--Talia