Progressing across the north

I'm riding on the ferry to Martha's vineyard as I write this. Portable internet connection is, in fact, a wonderful thing. It was wonderful this morning when I needed a map while I was driving to Woods Hole. It was wonderful yesterday to allow me to work while sitting in 3 hours of traffic on the way to Boston. And I suspect it will continue to be wonderful.

Yesterday was spent with my good friend, Linear Magic Herd. He's in Boston, getting his doctorate in music theory at NEC. Heavy stuff. We listened to a bunch of music and threw tomatos.

The 2 days prior were spent with good old friends in upstate new york. Playing bocce, drinking beer, catching up.

This weekend on the Vineyard, I intend to sleep on the beach, in the sun. (Yes, with lots of sunblock on, mom.)

Ian out!

An adventure begins

Uberjam & I are just finishing up our packing, getting ready to go to Vermont (8:15 am flight on NWA ... that's right, I said NWA)! Just trying to get all my last minute stuff done. But it's OK if I don't - I just got one of THESE fancy things, so I'll have internet connectivity wherever I go.



Today on my drive back to Austin after a day in the Houston office, I got a bit lost (forgot to hang a left on 290 in Brenham, doh). But I just whipped out the trusty laptop, and mapped a route to correct course, with a little help from GPF (a very similar technology to GPS, only with more making fun of you for being stupid). So, anyway, it's already paying off, and I'm sure it'll be a great help on my trip northward.

We hung out tonight with our dear visiting friend Anna. Being with her reminds me of how important it is to keep old friendships alive, even when separated by distance.

I'll likely be journaling about my trip here, so stay tuned. Uh, that's going out to the 3 people who read this blog. You knows who yous are.

Exhausted and busy

Had a crazy weekend. Saturday night, we played a party at the A>S>H>S warehouse that was a) packed, b) full of free food & drinks, and c) wicked fun. But now I feel totally exhausted. I can barely focus on anything today. Stupid not getting any younger.

Spent most of last week in head-down mode, working and editing up our new record, Live at Cezanne. It's gonna be so rad! I'm excited about it. We managed to squeeze 77 minutes on there, though we may have to scrunch it down further if the duplication plant says that's too long. It's almost all piano (vs rhodes or organ) and we all feel great about the performances. Nuje & GPF are mixing tonight, though I won't be able to be there. :(

Our good friend Anna is in town from San Francisco for a couple days, so we're getting to hang with her a little bit too, which is awesome. I'm gonna make some rad salsa cruda and white bean salad tonight for dinner. And then freak out about how I'm about to go out on the road for 2 weeks, and I haven't prepared at all.

BTW, we got a gig at Stubbs! That's a big deal, Stubbs is not an easy place to get in to. Woot. Anybody want to make a road trip for the gig? You can stay at our place.

Swimmin'

Uberjam and I just went for a swim at Deep Eddy. Very nice & relaxing. That's one great thing I can say for Austin so far - lots of swimming holes.

Last night we hit the Alamo for the Dukes of Hazard opening. Chowed down on Beer, fries, burgers (a la veggie, of course) and mozzarella sticks. We had a blast, then came home and fell immediately asleep (beer will do that to ya).

Ooh, I bought a keyboard this morning. Stupid having no self-control when it comes to vintage analog synthesizers.

Now off to make dinner and then go see some music tonight.

Mo & The Lawn

Just got through hanging out with my friend Mo Pair. Mo's an Austin staple, as music personalities go. He's about to hit the road with Groovin' Ground (you Houston peeps, go check 'em out next Friday). Mo's a cool cat. He gave me some Navajo Peyote music to listen to that's totally intense.

Been finally getting back to cooking this week. Made zucchini & black bean quesedillas (yum) and sweet corn soup (nothin' finer than fresh corn soup, I tell ya). And yesterday, some fresh mozzarella sandwiches, and ice cream sandwiches. I don't know if making sandwiches can properly be called "cooking", as it's really more just assembling. Oh well.

No cooking tonight, though - Uberjam and I are heading to SoCo for 1st Thursdays (a big party they have down there that I've yet to witness). Nice weather today, so it should be good. May hit some art openings too. Jam's been working like a fiend this week, so she could use some downtime.

I've been working too. Mostly on "work" stuff, but also on my humble abode. I spruced up my music room with some foam, got some nice preamps, and have my sights on some good studio monitors, so I can really get down to editing the next DT album, Live at Cezanne. I've only got a week to finish it! I've also been assembling lots of furniture, and I also discovered a whole extra closet in our house that we hadn't found yet. Weird, eh?

And ... We're Back

As it turns out, if you don't pay your web hosting bill, eventually they turn off your web site. Oops. Anyway, all's well now, and we're back in business. (If you sent me any emails at ianvarley.com in the past couple weeks, please resend them, just in case.)

So ... we won best jazz, best funk, and best keyboardist this year! Sweet. I'm the best keyboardist in Houston, um, in Austin.

To all my friends in the greater New England area (NY, VT, MA, CT): I'm coming for a quick visit in late August. So, email me and tell me if there are any particular dates (from 8/17 - 8/25) that you're just dying to have me sleep on your couch. :)