Anaheim to Pasadena

I'm updating this journal early Sunday morning - early for someone who didn't get to bed until 2am that is.

The audience was off the charts for the show last night at The Pond in Anaheim. I didn't understand why the arena had such a strange name until I noticed the banners there for the NHL team, The Mighty Ducks. Duck pond, I get it. After the show we boarded the buses and headed for Pasadena and our hotel. Here's a picture of Alfreda using her new iBook on yesterday's trip to The Pond.

Fellow performer and hammer dulcimer virtuoso Scott Brannon lives near here, and is picking me up in a little while so we can spend the day swapping war stories, ideas and playing some music. Check out Scott's web site here. I highly recommend his cd, Expeditions. Thank you to fellow player David Cohen for getting Scott and me together.

We have an early sound check this afternoon at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. I've never been to "the bowl," but I'm told fans love it, lighting and sound crews hate it, and musicians and promoters pray for good weather. The forecast looks good for tonight, although it may be a bit cool. This is our first and only outdoor venue on this tour. It should be interesting.

I've played outdoors hundreds of times so I'm very aware how temperature and humidity affects a hammer dulcimer's tuning stability. I know I'll spend intermission tonight re-tuning.

Angie, my wife, is in the process of flying across the country today. I'll meet up with her in Fresno tomorrow morning. I'm very much looking forward to spending time with her as she travels with us for a few days.

It is a beautiful morning here in Pasadena. I took this picture of a bird that was singing outside my window, but I'm not sure what kind it is. Please email me if you can identify it. Also, if you're new to this journal, or if you are a regular reader and haven't identified yourself yet, take a moment and do so today. My email address is dan@danlandrum.com - or you can click here.

If you haven't listened to samples of my music -or better yet, ordered a cd, then what are you waiting for?!?! Thank you for reading - Dan ¶ 7:12 PM