Los Angeles to Fresno

Sunday was a fun day. I went to Scott Brannon's studio (see previous post) and was amazed what this cat is doing musically. (I've been in California for nearly a week now, so I'm like totally sure I'm using the word cat properly.) Seriously though, Scott was amazing. He's a fellow drummer/hammer dulcimer player and has developed a style of simultaneously playing bass and drums. You'll have to see this to believe it. The five short hours we had available went by too quickly, and we barely scratched the surface of what we could do collaboratively. I look forward to working on future projects with Scott.

Before I knew it, I was on the bus headed to Los Angeles. This was one of our rare daylight bus trips and we all wish we had more of them. The scenery along the California coast line was beautiful, and since we didn't have to worry about bothering anyone who was trying to sleep, we cranked up the volume in the back lounge and enjoyed some music. The ethnic and cultural diversity on this tour is great and so is the music we listen to on the bus.

It was cool and mostly cloudy as we pulled into the Hollywood Bowl parking lot. I quickly found my way to the stage to find that the lack of floor space necessitated a little rearranging of our setup. I was wedged into a tiny space and had to be careful not to step backwards and into Ming's keyboards. There was plenty of room to play though. The sound check took longer than normal and even though the sound never seemed quite right through our headphones, I was told by those who'd seen multiple shows that it sounded great out front. One person said they thought we sounded better there than anywhere they'd heard us.

The outdoor setting was great for photography, and I have the best pictures so far from the tour to ready to post - taken by me, Walter, David and Brad. Unfortunately, my internet connection here in Fresno is slow so I'll wait until we get to Sacramento, Wednesday, to upload them.



Angie joined me for my day off in Fresno Monday, and we took a long drive through the orange groves and vineyards at the foot of the Sequoia National Forest. We eventually found our way nearly 7000 feet up the mountain and in the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. I'll post more of those pictures tomorrow as well. The picture to the right is of the Tennessee Tree in Kings Canyon. Yes that is snow on the ground and yes, I'm wearing a t-shirt. Oops, I wasn't prepared for that!

We play tonight in Fresno and then board the bus for Sacramento. ¶ 7:11 PM