Arts Addict merging with DoubleBassBlog.org
Several years ago (back in 2007, I think–man, does time fly!), I joined Drew McManus’ new cultural blogging network Inside The Arts, starting a new blog called Arts Addict. At the time, I was doing a lot of writing about freelancing, the orchestra business, and crazy stories about gigs I’ve played (all of which are archived here under my Articles page), and this new blog was dedicated to all the non-bass stuff I was writing about.
Ever since starting my new orchestra director life, I’ve found precious little time to write about the topics I was exploring on Arts Addict, and while I’m certainly not ruling out getting back into writing gig stories and reflections on a life in music performance (I still do both, though less frequently than I used to), my blogging is more community-based, podcast-focused, and dedicated pretty much to the bass. For now, at least.
Therefore, it seems to make sense to nix the Arts Addict blog and just incorporate DoubleBasBlog.org itself as a part of Inside The Arts, as the only blog in this network dedicated exclusively to one instrument.
At some point, I may return to the themes I explored on Arts Addict, but we’ll see. I’m finding a lot more career satisfaction in my “new life” than I did as a freelancer, which is great for my psyche and leaving me a lot happier at the end of the day. The only downside (if you can call it that) is that a happy, angst-free life doesn’t make for very interesting blogging! Instead of driving all night and making a few bucks here and there in ludicrous and shameful ways, I go to my great job and do things I like, then come home and hang out with Courtney and the cats. Much more enjoyable, but it doesn’t make for very interesting reading!
So… I’ll keep it to the bass for now. Videos, podcasts, “Top 10″ articles, and that sort of thing. And enjoy life. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
Green Arts Network continues to develop
I’ve been checking in with the Green Arts Network, the latest project from double bassist Barry Green (former Contrabass Conversations guest). This site is growing larger every week and is definitely on my list of frequently visited bookmarked sites. Check it out if you haven’t yet, and check out our interview with this important figure in the double bass world as well.
Here’s a video of Tony Osborne’s Intrada Duet with Barry Green and David Murray (another former Contrabass Conversations guest):
Over 3000 posts on doublebassblog.org
We hit 3000 posts last week, and I was too caught up in holiday activities to notice until today. 3000 posts is, by any standard, a lot of posts! In fact, that’s an average of almost 2 posts a day since I started the blog back in 2005. Since I’ve generally put out only 5 posts a week for the past 1 1/2 years, that giver you an idea of how much I posted in the early days of the blog.
For classic bass blog posts, check out this page–it’s a list and summary of the lengthier posts here on the blog.
Connecting with fellow music bloggers at Midwest Clinic
I spent last week at the Midwest Clinic (an annual Band and Orchestra conference) in Chicago. I’ve been to this clinic several times over the years, both as a performer (we played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Cliff Colnot about 10 years ago) and as a music education student. This year marked my first time as an actual orchestra director, and I really enjoyed checking out the concerts, clinics, and exhibits.
What I enjoy most about these kinds of events (such as the International Society of Bassists Convention), however, is the opportunity to connect with colleagues from other areas of the country. Though I’m new as an orchestra director, I seemed to run into dozens and dozens of people I’ve met through my university work, gigs, and blogging.
I had the chance to grab a quick breakfast with Joe Pisano, a music technology professor at Grove City College who runs mustech.net, a site dedicated to new happenings in the field of music technology, and Andy Zweibel, a music education student at the University of Miami who also has an excellent blog dedicated primarily to music.
It’s always great to meet in person people that I know well from the blogosphere. If you haven’t checked out mustech.net before–please do so. It’s an amazingly comprehensive site, laid out magazine-style in a very appealing fashion. Highly recommended reading–I’ve been checking out Joe’s posts ever since I began blogging five years ago.
You can find Joe and Andy (and me as well) on Twitter if you’re that type of person. 
John Adams joins the blogging world
Composer John Adams has started a blog. Called Hell Mouth (great name, don’t you think?), at present it covers a variety of musical and non-musical topics.
Here are a few that I connected with:
Great stuff all around. In addition to working with John Adams while I was in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, I played the Chicago premiere of Nixon in China a few years ago, with the dynamic and always captivating baritone Robert Orth playing the part of Nixon.
Incidentally, I also played a new Michael Daugherty piece called Letters from Lincoln with the Elgin Symhpony, and Robert Orth served as the voice of Abraham Lincoln as well. I wonder what the next presidential-themed piece featuring Robert will be? Truman? Roosevelt? Or how about James K. Polk?
Speaking of James K. Polk (man, is this blog post wandering!), I Googled “James K. Polk” in order to snag a clip of the fabulous They Might Be Giants tune of the same name, and I stumbled upon this funny/strange performance of TMBG performing said tune at a Borders Books & Music with a pack of children dancing. Not what I was expecting…
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