Autumn 2008
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I’m pleased to report that Amadee Castenell is back playing music again… (after recovering from quadruple by-pass earlier this summer) and sounding incredible as ever! As always, I’m looking forward to playing with him again up at The Grog on 10/5. I’m also delighted to report that the Aruda brothers are getting back on their feet after a horrific fire took their Somerville home on the 17th of August. Keep the donations coming! Please visit www.arudawakening.org for more info.
On the ‘Tough Love Trio’ front, stay tuned for an additional page to this website that will be solely devoted to that group. For now there exists a myspace page: www.myspace.com/toughlovetrio with song samples, pics, bio, etc. More to follow. It’s always great to play jazz with Blake & Mike. Not only are they highly skilled on their respective instruments, they are the honest kind of artists who strive to get inside of the music and serve it as well as they can – no matter what ‘external circumstances’ are or aren’t happening. Anyhow, we’ve had some nice gigs at The Beehive (Clarendon St., Boston) over the past few months, but so many of those have been coming in at the last minute! And of course the private functions are always a good time. I hope to have some more public performances for this group that I can post on the gigs page in the not to distant future.
On the freelance front, I’m especially grateful that this summer’s bookings were plump with good gigs, notwithstanding the fact that so many this year have been coming in at the last minute. After discussing this with other musical colleagues, I quickly gathered that I’m not alone in this. As the economy has been markedly soft for a long time, it seems that folks are taking longer to settle on the ‘nice-to-have’ events – like musical entertainment. The arts have always been first to take a hit in a softening economy, and last to rebound when things start looking upwards. RJ Rabin, fellow drummer [NYC], recently wrote in an email “Steve, my book fills up only one week ahead of me; I never know where I’m going to be.” Again, taking stock, while always looking to do more, I’m very grateful for the work I have.
Please remember to vote on 11/4!
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