It’s a quiet day here at the NGW campus in Elgin, IL, as we await the arrival of the faculty. The IL campus is soo wonderful. Located at Judson University, Scott and Diane (the directors of Conference Services) always make our jobs easier than ever. They store our amplifiers and office supplies during the year, they have the dorm list ready to go before we arrive, they have our office set up with all of our boxes when we go there to set up…not to mention that they are two of the nicest and most organized people I’ve ever met.
The dorms are pretty unique: once a 7-story hotel, each dorm room is, essentially, a hotel room with private bath and enough dorm beds, dressers, and desks for three students. There are ethernet jacks in every room, and a keyed elevator to get to our floor, for extra security (even though I’m pretty sure that the crime is pretty low around here – and even if it wasn’t, the security in this place is tight!).
Jason Shadrick (the head director) and I arrived in Chicago’s O’Hare airport on Thursday morning, picked up the rental van, and headed to Jazz Record Mart, where I got a sweet Baby Doll T-Shirt with Blue Note Records artwork on it. (Note to musicians: if your band sells Baby Doll t-shirts at their gigs instead of the shapeless t-shirts, more women will wear them.) Then it was a quick burrito at Chipotle and off to Judson to meet with Scott and Diane, our new Assistant Director, and the RAs for the week. This is the “Dream Team”; we finished all of our prep work by lunchtime today, and have had the afternoon off. I practiced, took a quick nap, and now I’m writing to you. 
I never thought I would be a “director”, but I enjoy it; besides, I’ll be teaching at NGW’s Purchase, NY campus August 9-14 (and it’s not too late to take my jazz guitar seminar if you’re interested!) as well as Berklee College of Music’s Guitar Sessions August 19-22, as well as a few gigs in August, so it will be a music-filled summer no matter which way you look at it.