Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Patio Fun August 2009 At Franky & Annette's At The Signature Club Of Lansdowne


I found this advertisement on the internet today. I'm certainly looking forward to "patio fun" and hope there will be good crowds on these Sunday evenings at Franky & Annette's at The Signature Club of Lansdowne.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Jazz Presentation At Clark County Public Library


A couple weeks ago I had a great time at the Clark County Public Library playing and sharing musical experiences with old and new friends. I enjoyed seeing John Maruskin, Jeff Sames, Michelle Sames, Kyle Fugate, and others.



John, my college "Creative Writing" teacher, invited me to present a program of music and stories. He emailed the day of the performance to check on any last minute items that I might need. With tongue firmly in cheek, I replied to him, writing that when I perform, it is necessary that the employer provide me with a deli tray, M & M's (no red ones), Snapple Diet Peach Tea, and a Balinese massage. Below is a photo of what John had waiting for me at the gig.


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Meeting Twilight's Michael Welch At The Signature Club


I had a fun gig tonight at Franky & Annette's in Lexington's famous Signature Club. We had a good and enthusiastic crowd. Later in the evening the cast of the upcoming movie "Unrequited" came to the club.


Michael Welch & Me

It was a pleasure meeting "Twilight" star Michael Welch, who is a leading actor in the new movie "Unrequited". Everyone enjoyed Franky & Annette's great food and I had a lot of fun playing music for the event.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Smokey Robinson Set To Play 2009 Rosemary Clooney Festival In Maysville, KY

I always look forward to playing in Maysville on Rosemary Clooney Festival weekend. Past festival concerts have featured Michael Bolton, The Pointer Sisters, Neil Sedaka, Roberto Flack, and others. This year will be extra special, as the legendary Smokey Robinson will be the featured performer. Some of the hits he has been a part of are Bad Girl (1959), Way Over There (1960), Who's Loving You (1960), You've Really Got a Hold on Me (1962), What's So Good About Goodbye (1962), I'll Try Something New (1962), Mickey's Monkey (1963), I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying (1963) I Like It Like That (1964), Ooo Baby Baby (1965), The Tracks of My Tears (1965), Going to a Go-Go (1965), My Girl Has Gone (1965), (Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need (1966), More Love (1967), Just A Mirage (1967), I Second That Emotion (1967), Special Occasion (1968), If You Can Want (1968}, Baby, Baby Don't Cry (1969), The Tears of a Clown (1970), I Don't Blame You At All (1971).

It will be fun to meet him and to enjoy what promises be a great concert. The concert will be Saturday evening, September 26, 2009, in downtown Maysville. Click here for ticket information.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Saxmandavid Twitter Posts

I am giving this Twitter thing a try. I will post some one or two sentence entries at various times each day. I have included a feed of those entries in this blog. These entries are shown in the right hand column of this blog, beneath "My Music", for friends who would like to see the posts, but don't particularily want to join Twitter at this time.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

A Different Fourth Of July In Downtown Lexington

In a way it's kind of sad. This year there will not be music in downtown Lexington performed on the street corners by members of the American Federation of Musicians. I have played in various musical groups in downtown Lexington on every Independence Day since I became a professional musician in the early 70's. Dad has played the downtown festivities for about fifty consecutive years. This year the musicians have been told by the city that there is not enough funding available to pay the union musicians.


I remember some years having to carry multiple instruments for a variety of gigs. Several times I would have to carry a baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, and clarinet. Sometimes it would be raining and sometimes the temperature would reach 95 or 100 degrees. It was hard work carrying those horns all over town. I worked gigs with Ed Minor's Big Band, Men of Note, Swingmasters, Polytones, David & Dad Duo, Courtney Bonner Big Band, Lexington German Band, Jazz Arts Foundation Band, and various others.


The Men of Note, Downtown Lexington Independence Day, Circa 1990

The pay for these gigs is very low, in fact, they only pay the minimum union scale. I would think to myself each year that it was not worth playing the jobs due to the low pay, tough parking, the lugging of the horns, and the uncomfortable weather. Each Independence Day I would vow not to work the gigs the following year. Of course I always ended up playing them, as I didn't want to break tradition.

Instead of working these gigs today, I am sitting here in front of my computer on 7/4 at 9:00am writing this blog entry. Man, I should be playing at the bus depot right now with the Lexington German Band. When that is over, I'm supposed to be playing with the Lexington Concert Band. After that comes the parade and playing on the float, and then the big band & jazz gigs begin. Now that they are gone I'm thinking that it really wasn't that bad lugging all those horns in the heat of the day all over downtown Lexington. I wish I was there today vowing to never play the gigs again.