I’m not going to any details here but the first day of the North Carolina Presenters Consortium was cool! There was an opening reception at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, and then at the hotel there was a big dinner with a whole bunch of excellent performers.  One of the standouts was this Swedish multi-instrumentalist and swing jazz performer – Gunhild Carling.  She played three trumpets at once, really quite a talent.  I also met the VP of the NCPC John Brown, who is a bassist that teaches at Duke University and used to play with Elvin Jones. Very interesting cat. So there was a lot of jazz on the program tonight!

Tomorrow is the pitch meeting for my Altoism project.  I’m a little nervous but this whole experience thus far has been a good one, and it’s definitely gotten me out of my shell a little bit.  I think living in NYC all these years has made me forget that there is a whole world of music outside of NYC with amazing artists and dedicated performing arts industry professionals.  I have to say that that music is alive and well in North Carolina!

What else? Well I am feeling a bit of a fish out of water here, and it is interesting to meet musicians that (of course) have no idea who I am or what I do/play, and after over 30 years of making music I really feel like almost invisible down here.  But that I do not think is a bad thing.  It’s good for my ego and it is completely forcing me to step out of my comfort 100%.  Not to mention it’s a reminder to just go with the flow and enjoy life.  I’m incredibly grateful to have this experience, and I’m hoping that this will lead to some work in the future in NC.

Stay tuned for another SnapDragon video!