Birthday Present

I went to Murlin Heights church for a performance with the Sinclair Gospel Choir. The church was hosting a big banquet and we were the entertainment. When I got there, I noticed that the director placed the bass amp facing backwards! I shot him a look. He walked over and he said that we needed to talk. Previously, I sent him a copy of 9/23 post entitled, "My Kingdom for a monitor". In there, I mention how horrible the sound mix was at our last performance. I think that it's important to tell the director if something happens badly to give him (or her) a chance to fix it.

This was a first.

I played the entire 90 minute concert with the bass amp turned toward the back wall!

After the concert, I asked some friends in the audience if they heard the bass. They said, "Oh, were you playing?

Ouch!

The only saving grace was that the church had a grand piano that was in tune. The pianist still keeps banging away at the lower keys, but the timbre of the piano didn't clash with the bass lines that nobody heard.

If you are reading this and know of any other musical group on the planet earth where the bass player's amp is backwards, let me know.

enough on that!

So why did I title today's post, Birthday Present?

Yesterday, I was a little upset about my musicteachers911 podcast dropping from #2 to #3 on the iTunes store. The reason is that when we had the 9 day power outage, I missed posting two episodes. I would like it to be #1 by New Years Day.

To put it back on top, I scheduled two interviews..... back to back..... right after my UD big band rehearsal.

They were:

Mike Finkle of MusickEd.com who wrote an online instrumental method book, and Joe Pisano from mustech.net. He is a giant in the music technology field.

Both interviews were amazing! These two are the best that music education has to offer.

Anyway.........

Both interviews were going so well, that they lasted over an hour each! Since I try to keep the  podcast episodes under 40 minutes, Both guests will be featured over two episodes each.

My Birthday present is that I now have enough interview material to last a month!

Happy Birthday to me!

Sunday, I play again with the Sinclair Gospel Group. If the amp is backwards this time, I am turning it around myself.