Monday, December 12, 2005

Gratitude Gig, Student Recital, Greetings from Calcutta

Hello,

Well I have made it safely to Calcutta and will be here for the next 8 days. I have been keeping an extensive journal and I plan to post it on here soon, so I will not get into details right now. Let me just say that I am in some sort of tabla players heaven and I can't stop smiling.
Before I left things were more than a little hectic, as those close to me know. I had a gig last Friday with the Gratitude Steel Band in Dearborn. It was a international Christmas celebration. Any time I play with Gratitude and it says international on the bill, I know that I must bring my tabla. When I showed up to the gig I realized that I had forgotten to put my tabla in the truck. I made some calls and tried to get someone near the area to reach me. In the meantime I set up my drumset and realized soon enough that I had also forgotten to pack my cymals. ouch. I put in an emergency call to Ann Arbor and got a hold of my friend Ashish. He picked up my cymbals and tabla and arrived in Dearborn 2 minutes before showtime. I owe him one for sure. The gig went great and I said goodbye to the band until New Years Eve.

On Sunday the 4th I held my second student recital. I had been hard at work prepairing for the event at Oz's music environment. There were twice as many performers as the summer recital, so I had to build a stage to allow everyone to fit. My friend Paul Doepfer came by on tuesday night and we built it in no time. The recital went great. There were 16 perfromances in all. As soon as I can get my laptop hooked up to the internet I will be uploading all the audio, which I know many students are eager to hear. So keep checking over at http://johnchurchville.com. In the meantime, I will be spending my days amongst the greatest tabla players in the world and soaking in the rich culture of Calcutta. I should have the journal in here soon with pics and all, so please check back.

Thanks for reading,

John

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