Sunday, March 22, 2009

Disney World







Just back from Disney World last night, after an 11-hour drive from Orlando. We had a great time, and the weather was perfect. Crowds were outrageous, though. Even so, with Fast Passes we never had to wait more than about 30 minutes for anything we wanted to do, and the crowds thinned out later on in the week.

One of the highlights was The American Idol Experience at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's exactly like the real thing. To audition, you have to sing in front of a music director for screening, then if you're one of the few that pass (they pass only 40 in a day out of 250-400 that try out), you have to audition in front of the Producer to see if you're one of three people that sing in front three judges (one of which plays the jerk) and an audience of 1,000 that vote on a winner. There are 4 such live shows per day, and the winner from each compete against each other at the 7 p.m. finale, where the winner gets a golden ticket to move to the front of the line at a real American Idol audition anywhere in the country. Caitlyn and I both tried out (no upper age limit), but Sarah was too young (14 min) and Chris opted out. You can only try out once per day, and on the third try, Caitlyn passed the first screen and made it to the Producer. She got some great feedback but didn't quite make it all the way to the stage. Still, it was a huge thrill for her to be in the top 10% that tried out that day, and a great experience for her.
Another highlight (except for the ridiculous traffic) was watching the shuttle Discovery launch from Cape Canaveral. It scrubbed the week before, so we got lucky and witnessed the nighttime launch last Sunday. It was a spectacular sight, but unfortunately the wind was at our backs so we didn't get the usual roar.
Watch for more pictures on Facebook and/or through an invitation on KodakShare.












Friday, March 20, 2009

JRJO

One of the best musical projects I have been involved with lately involved recording and performing with the Jeff Richmond Jazz Orchestra last fall. Jeff is a doctoral student in music composition at UN-L, one of Paul's good friends, this band is one he put together to record his music and to play for his dissertation recital. We did one rehearsal, and then played the concert the next weekend. Jeff had it professionally recorded and released on his web site. The compositions are cutting edge - and the band is one of the best I have played in, with ringers brought in from Kansas City and Tampa, and many of the best players in Omaha and Lincoln. Paul has a couple of nice solos on the recording. Check it out:

Jeff Richmond Jazz Orchestra