In my efforts to remain more than just a “guitar player”, I occasionally dabble in the more “civilian” pastimes. One of those is mahjongg.

Despite having played mahjongg since 2002, I am still pretty horrible at it. My friends are very understanding, though, and through thick and thin (i.e. grad school) they put up with me and teach me the rules all over again. This Monday we will play mahjongg again, the second time in a month, so hopefully there is chance of improvement…

Happy New Year, everyone! I know, I know, it’s been a long time…but it’s a new day, new year, new decade, even, so here’s a new post.

I was looking at last year’s posts and realized that there was only a dozen or so. I hope to fix that this year!

The year is already off to a great start. New Year’s Eve was spent with our good friends Cindy and her daughter Lydia. Every year (since 2000!) it’s the same lovely tradition: a cheese plate with olives and what Andrey likes to call “smashed fig” (pressed fig with almonds), followed by a delicious seafood bouillabaisse with parmesan-toasted baguette “croutons”. We watch the ball drop on TV (this year on a live internet feed instead), have a champagne toast, and play a game of Scrabble or Monopoly for the next few hours.

The last time I had a gig on New Year’s Eve was for the millennium. At the time, I was working as a secretary and my boss needed a band to play a New Year’s party at his country club in Long Island. Even though I am primarily a jazz musician, I promised to put together a band that could play “dance” music. We ended up playing more old-school soul music (as opposed to the “Electric Slide”) but it went well, even though there were some moments that were a bit stressful when people were makingrequests and we didn’t know the tunes. I swore it would be my last gig leading a “club date” band as it’s not my forte, to be sure!

I’ve been unemployed on New Year’s Eve ever since, and to be honest, it’s fine by me. I still have memories of struggling to find a cab while schlepping my gear; being grabbed by the waist while on stage by a drunk audience member at Louisiana Bar and Grill in 1997 (screaming at him got his hand off me right quick); getting a funny feeling when the vocalist sang a particular line in the tune “Old Folks” (”someday they’ll be no more Old Folks”) only to find out that my Aunt Alice had passed away sometime that evening. Not the greatest of times, to be sure.

The only “club date” band I play in now is one that only plays a very specific repertoire of Motown and old soul classics, and whoever hires us can request songs in advance, but there are limits as to what we will play. This has made those gigs few and far between, but always a ton of fun for both the band and the guests.

Anyway, back to New Year’s…so I slept kind of late today (10 a.m.), got up, practiced, had breakfast with Andrey. We have no plans today – not even my usual gig at the synagogue is happening – so I’m home enjoying the sunshine, the quietness of the day. I’ll pick up my guitar again after this and write some new music.

Speaking of new music, Deathblow got together the other day to play three new tunes of mine, and it was pretty fabulous. Michaël, Sean, and Satoshi are just incredible musicians who aren’t afraid to participate in shaping the course of how the tunes will go. They never cease to surprise me with what they can do with a simple lead sheet of mine.

Deathblow has a gig at The Stone coming up, which I’m super excited about. The great saxophonist/composed Matana Roberts curated the month of January at The Stone, and she asked us to play on Tuesday, January 12 at 8 p.m. We’ll have mostly new music.

We’re also playing at the 2010 Winter Jazz Fest on January 9 at 7:45; we have a 40-minute showcase where we’ll play our four strongest tunes. This one’s going to be great, too as we’ll be sharing the night with a bunch of other great bands such as Elliot Sharp’s Terraplane and The Claudia Quintet. I’m looking forward to both listening and playing!

I hope that your New Year’s Day is a good one. ‘Til next time…