The Art of Slowing Down
Though this post’s title could easily be tied to a post about slow practice or something like that (which would make a good future blog post!), I’m actually referring here to the deliciously laid-back summer schedules that I’ve managed to get away with for much of my freelance career. While I have certainly had [...]
Blogging on the beach
While it may seem like a strange activity (and, looking around, I certainly seem to be the only guy with a laptop out here!), there is a certain kind of strange satisfaction that I get writing out on the beach, surrounded by nothing but Lake Michigan’s sandy shores and the spruce and pine forests [...]
The real cost of driving to gigs for the freelance musician
Check out the gig commuting cost calculator by Drew McManus here and determine if you should really be taking that gig.
A recent feature in the Chicago Tribune (Sunday, April 13, 2008 by Jim Mateja) about the actual operating costs per mile for a variety of different vehicles caught my eye–not surprising considering how much [...]
Dreaming of fun in the sun
The nasty cold and never ending snowstorms seem to have finally ebbed for this season (knock on wood!). What a winter! I seem to have become fixated on the bad weather this season, and for good reason!
New York Philharmonic basses backstage in China
Double bassist Kirsten Paige forwarded me this striking photo of the New York Philharmonic’s bass trunks backstage at the Shanghai Grand Theater during a recent tour. NY Phil bassist Bill Blossom can be seen in the background opening up his trunk. No bassist in their right mind would use these metal coffin for [...]
Double bass airline transportation alleviated for Berliners
The following information was forwarded to me by Erik Dorset from the Akademie für Alte Musik in Berlin:
I am happy to write here that we have found a solution to our double bass problem for the upcoming USA-Canada tour with the Akademie in April. Although Continental Airlines [...]
A Week in the Life Part 2 - Parking
Read Part 1 of this story here.
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All things being equal, it is almost always a better deal to accept in-town work rather than out-of-town work as a freelancer. The pay is usually better, the hours are usually shorter, and the artistic quality is usually higher.
The one big bummer with working "in-town", at least in Chicago, [...]
On the road….again
As I started to drive up to Milwaukee to begin my annual Nutcracker run, something suddenly struck me–I hadn’t left the state of Illinois since the summer! In fact, the furthest I’d wandered the whole fall was to take a few trips to Elgin, just 35 miles away from my lake front home.
The last [...]
