I haven't had much to say here about Mainstay Mondays for some time. But that doesn't mean Mainstay Mondays haven't had much to say to me. On the contrary. Over the last 4 years, this project has evolved from a somewhat fuzzy untried concept, to a complex weaving of providential threads. And every time I've tried something new, the boundaries of possibility expanded; benefiting the individual guest artists, our audience, the Mainstay as an organization, and myself. One benefit to me has been the ability to create paths to objectives or ideas or personal goals that would be difficult to accomplish otherwise. In other words, I can force myself to work on something by scheduling myself to have to perform it. The most serious challenge I've self imposed so far was learning the second piano (orchestra) part to Rhapsody in Blue to accompany Woobin Park (who is the real deal classical pianist. I'm not. Pulling music off the page and keeping it straight is the long and winding road for me) last year. I whittled away at that for the better part of a year to finally get it passable. Usually I'm less ridiculous. The last 4 Mondays I've covered Kurt Weill (essentially classical), Floyd Kramer (essentially country), Oscar Peterson (with significantly fewer notes, but still intimidating) and a stride piano laden trad jazz show. Okay, maybe I take that back. One doesn't stay in the business as a gigging musician for over 40 years without being ridiculous, or at least having a high tolerance for it. And let's see, next month I'm accompanying a poet for one show and a comedian for another. There's no hope for me. Grateful for that.