Photo by Leon Wise, taken after the concert at Heron Point on Thursday evening. Though the theatre continues (this weekend and next), the demands (of just performing) are less. Now at this point, and post-family vacation, it feels like I am transitioning back to "normal". It also feels like the "momentum" remains broken, and not yet back to my performing "best" (whatever that means). One gig at a time.

We opened this weekend. Everything came together just when it needed to. Today was our strongest by far. In my role of traffic cop (responsible for getting the pit band to "groove", while maintaining the connection with the actors on stage), it is now becoming more comfortable to deal with this while actually "reading" music (follow the dots) :) My initial work was with the cast, several weeks ago, in working out the vocal parts. The singers then being prepared, it came time to work out the musicians to the point at which I promised the cast we would be for them: a "groove" to grab on to (while I also pointed out that this comes - ideally - from each individual participant, reaching out to "hold hands" at a common place). Some actually get it (all I can hope for), and tonight we proved that we can pull the notes off of the printed page and play as we feel it, and the singers/dancers can lock in with us, and feel secure in the support. Of course, I may have no idea what I'm even talking about - but everyone agreed we rocked today! 2 weekends left - hope you can come! church hill theatre website

A few days off with my family - in Niagara Falls. I was here when 13 years old, and no one else in my family has at all. Before circumstances changed, which resulted in my needing to come off the Midiri cruise (happening now), Carol had already secured vacation time from work. The good part is now we could go somewhere as a family (almost - our oldest, Joe Jr, is now entrenched in work). Tomorrow we will drive away from the falls area and into Ontario a little bit. this will allow us to experience Canada as more than a resort strip resembling Atlantic City. It's nice being with my family - and a "civilian".