meet me in Monterey / Sonny Rollins tidbit

Tomorrow I leave for my first Monterey Jazz Festival and some much-needed vacation, which should at least partially explain the lack of blogging since August. I plan to blog while I'm out there about my daily activities in the South Bay (around Palo Alto and Mountain View - Google and Apple country), San Fran and the East Bay (to meet some writers I talk to all the time but have never met).

I will attempt to take notes on the shows I see in Monterey and any I might see in the Bay Area following the festival (though the chances of that actually happening are fairly low). It should be a lot of fun anyways.

I also moved again since my last post. Pictures soon once they finish painting it and fixing the space up (that happens while I'm gone). I finally have a place and a year lease and can finally stay for an extended period of time, which is better than moving every two-three months, as I have been forced to do recently for various reasons.

On an entirely different note, David Adler, one of my favorite writers and a new Philly friend, wrote an in-depth account of last night's historic concert by Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes and Christian McBride at Carnegie Hall. The first paragraph grabbed my attention immediately:

Last night's historic Sonny Rollins show at Carnegie Hall was, among other things, a terrific and much-needed jolt of New York energy for this writer. Drummer Rashied Ali marched into the Pick-a-Bagel as I was finishing my sandwich. You just don't experience this sort of thing in Philly. With a cursory glance around the lobby and inside the hall, one could spot saxophonists Joe Lovano, Paquito D'Rivera, Antonio Hart, Kenny Garrett, Loren Schoenberg, Bill McHenry, John Zorn (in black leather and red camouflage); New Yorker editor David Remnick; pianist David Berkman; organist Dr. Lonnie Smith; drummer Lewis Nash; guitarists Russell Malone and Pat Metheny. And a good many journalists and critics.

Very inspiring, even though I wasn't there. It really got me in the mood for what I think I'm about to experience out in Monterey.

Ok, off to pack some more. More updates soon.