Thursday, November 04, 2004

Checking In

Wow...four days since my last post. Anyone who doesn't see me regularly in person probably thought I got abducted by aliens...

Actually, it's just been a really busy week. I was up way, way too late on Tuesday night watching the election returns; it's a good thing that only happens every four years. As you know, I don't talk politics on this blog (it has to do with being a teacher, since we're supposed to at least give the appearance of being apolitical), but suffice it to say, with the race as close as it was, I was on pins and needles like most of the rest of the country that night.

Last night, I had enough Latin music for the next month or so, I think; I was at the Syndicate for Lab Band Night during The Hang™, except this week, it was two specialty ensembles: the Jazz Repertory Ensemble (or Jazz Rep for short) and the Latin Ensemble. Jazz Rep was extremely cool; this semester, they're focusing on the music of Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal. It was great stuff, varying in texture from a three-horn combo to a full big band with vocalist (the vocalist, by the way, was all kinds of amazing; her being in the band was almost like having a second lead trumpet, and she did lots of interesting things with her voice). The Latin ensemble came out and did, well...more Latin stuff. They definitely had some cool rhythm section stuff going on, but after 2 1/2 hours of the same genre, Halfling and I were all Latin-ed out.

Today was the last Thursday to sleep in late, as the public schools that are on trimesters change their schedules next week...but even though The Hang™ will have to end a bit earlier, it will also likely be able to start earlier too, as Marathon Wednesday should be reduced by an hour or so.

And that brings us up to now; not much else going on at the moment. Oh, check "Upcoming Gigs" portion of the sidebar; Shelley's doing the big band thang again next week at Django.

(I might add in a Quote of the Day if I can remember what it was...man, I'm tired. Heh.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when are teachers supposed to give the appearance of being apolitical? I thought teachers -- college ones especially -- had a duty to be flag-burning war-protesting Bush-bashing tree-spiking America-hating self-loathing true-to-life Marxists.

GP

Kev said...

I think that's only political science profs that do that. ;-) Plus, remember, I do a lot of teaching in the public schools where the parents pay me directly; I'd hate for anyone to see a sign in my yard that was counter to their own beliefs and pull their kid out of lessons because of it.

Is that cowardly of me? I don't think so. My friends know where I stand politically; it's no more the business of anyone at school than who I might be dating or what my bank balance is. If I wanted to talk politics online, I'd start another blog under some sort of made-up name, I suppose...but for now, I'm happy--like most of the country, I'm sure--to give it a rest for a while.