Watertown, NY

Here are few shots from our concert in Watertown. This was a special stop because it is so close to Fort Drum. There were lots of signs that it was a military town and I kept having the famous cadence that talks about 10th Mountain Division pop in my head. 

Here we are in the performance hall. It's hard to believe that tour is winding down. We have about a week left. It seems like it has flown by again! 

The next day we left early for an en route afternoon concert. Here I am clutching my Starbucks at a rest stop somewhere in New York.

Plattsburgh, NY

The band left Burlington and ventured to the other side of Lake Champlain for a concert in the lovely town of Plattsburgh. The weather has decided to take a turn for the amazing and I thoroughly appreciate that! This concert was hosted at Clinton Community College. One of the organizations responsible for bringing us here was a Veterans organization comprised of students currently attending the college. Most of them are combat vets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I got the chance to talk with the founder of this group, a former Marine, before the show. Pretty cool! 

Plattsburgh was also a notable tour destination because the Best Western we stayed at had, hands down, the best Continental Breakfast so far. 

St. Albans, VT

During my time in the Field Band I've played in many basketball courts, but our concert in St. Albans was my first on a tennis court! We had a great audience who filled this huge indoor recreation center. 

There were several talented students sitting in with us on Washington Post. During intermission some of them jumped in and played a trombone duet Carmen and Wes had brought along. 

We had a Maintenance Day in Burlington, VT and I took the opportunity during our time off to go skiing. This was the second time in my life that I have ventured onto skis. I'm not a particularly graceful person to begin with, and I was more than apprehensive about how this experience would go. 

Luckily I had such a great time. I was with a fantastic group of people who made sure to help me get accustomed to the technique. I fell so many times that I lost count, but it was total fun and by the end of the day I started getting the hang of it.

Here I am following a total face-first wipe out. 

I spent a lot of time falling and getting up. It has been two days since the trip and I am STILL completely sore. It's a good sore though- being in the beautiful Vermont mountains, breathing fresh air, and getting one heck of a workout was fantastic! 

The following day I was up early to perform at a local school for some enthusiastic brass students.

Sometimes we may not have the largest audiences... as you can see from this picture. But it was a fun clinic nonetheless, and hopefully they enjoyed our performance and learned some things along the way. 

Laconia, NH

Our performance in Laconia was cancelled, but this gave us the opportunity to break into small groups and visit different locations. My group went to a VA hospital in New Hampshire and played for a fantastic group of Veterans. They seemed to enjoy the music a great deal. 

Here is a picture of the Woodwind Ambassadors answering questions after they finished their show. 

That evening we were back in Concord for the night. I had dinner at Cheers with some friends and couldn't resist posing by this very Hooah sign they had.  

Sanford, ME

Our final performance in Maine was at a PACKED high school gym. This crowd was off the charts- I don't think I'd ever seen so many standing ovations during a concert. This picture only shows half of the audience. We were basically surrounded on three sides by swarms of people. It is great when so many folks can make it out to support us and the Army! 

Here is the band's display that I am in charge of setting up every night. The final product looks fancy and put together, but it is assembled from many different parts that break down for easy transport. I will try to get a shot of it before I put it together next time. 

Here I am having a little fun on the mixing board. I love our audio guys- Johnny & Howie. They both make me laugh constantly.  

I've been working on my card skills this tour. Here is the lobby group that likes to get together in the evenings. One of the interesting things about touring and performing every night is figuring out how to wind down afterwards. Concerts are very high energy and it is difficult to come back to the hotel and just go to bed. Playing cards is one of the ways I've been trying to decompress. 

Fairfield, ME

We are now in Maine, definitely the farthest North I have ever traveled in my life! Luckily, the weather hasn't been too bad. Don't get me wrong,  it is still cold, but it could be SO much worse. I'm finding Maine to be a beautiful state. The forests remind me of Texas. 

Our concert in Fairfield went very well. The Adjutant General of the Maine National Guard, Major General John Libby, was an honored presence at the event. He spoke before we began the concert and I really enjoyed what he shared with the audience.  

Chris and I played our solo on this concert. Here we are posing with Major Pulver, who conducts the piece. Every performance feels more comfortable and the crowds always seem to enjoy it. 

Somebody on the set-up crew managed to get ahold of some plastic teeth so we had a good time fooling around with those. Here I am with Charles displaying our improved grills.

Then we snuck up on one of our awesome drivers. It took him a minute to notice that something was different. I wish you could see Scott's teeth in this picture, it was pretty funny. 

Plaistow, NH

I wasn't able to get any pictures from Thursday's stop in Plaistow, but we had a great concert. The hosts were absolutely marvelous. The setup crew had a homemade pasta + meatballs dinner waiting for us! On the road a good hearty meal (non ramen or PBJ) can be hard to come by. We definitely appreciated it! This was our last night staying in Lowell, MA as well. Next we are heading to the great state of Maine! 

Worcester, MA

Our concert in Worcester on Wednesday was a special treat because of the breathtaking Mechanics Hall. This venue was so lovely that the band even had our official photo taken on stage! Chris and I played our duet and, with the way the seats were arranged, I was able to see several audience members in the front row enjoying the piece. It's great when you can make that connection with people.  Making the night even better, my friend Danny was able to come to the concert. We both grew up in Willis, TX but he now lives in Boston. Meeting up with friends on the road is the best. 

A big part of what the Field Band does is educational outreach. Our chamber group, tentatively named "Brass Five," was a part of that effort on Wednesday when we went to Dracut High School to play for some awesome brass students. 

We did a 45 minute performance/clinic and they really seemed to enjoy it. As you can see this quintet doesn't have your standard instrumentation. We've got two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, and euph. It's a pretty cool sound and the group is a blast to play with! 

One of the pieces we did was an arrangement of Simone Mantia's classic theme & variations piece "Auld Lang Syne." Here I am jamming out on some of the technical licks. 

Andover, MA

On Monday we left Providence and headed back to Massachusetts for a concert in fabulous Andover. One thing I love about this part of the country is that history just seeps from the buildings and the streets. Andover is an old and beautiful town and I love imagining it as it would have been in the 17th century. 

Providence, RI

The band enjoyed an extended stay in Providence, Rhode Island for the past few days. It certainly was nice to be rooted in one spot for a time, and the city was fabulous. No shortage of great pubs! 

We were performing as part of the National Association for Music Education Convention. The concert went well and I was able to meet some great people. Here I am posing with a totally jammin' tuba-euph quartet that was doing a little musical panhandling outside of the hotel. These guys rocked out Spinning Wheel. I have a special place in my heart for bringing tuba-euph to the streets. Definitely been there! 

We had our first Maintenance Day on Sunday and I was able to get down to Boston to catch some of the St. Patrick's Day Parade! Of course there were tons of bagpipers and other traditional Irish groups. I also loved the big VFW presence, I yelled lots of HOOAHs throughout the day. 

It is many a low-brass player's dream to see a giant pint of Guinness roll down the street, and I was able to catch up to it for a little photo op. 

The parade also featured several small groups that had tuba players. This guy was probably my favorite. It was a great day and definitely got me in the mood for St. Pats!

Foxboro, MA

Foxboro was one of my favorite stops of tour so far. The weather was very cold but the crowd was so friendly and pumped up. Look at that huge mass of people! There were a lot of Veterans at this performance and I can't thank these heros enough for taking the time to come hear our show. We are doing a Beatles medley that seemed to go over really well on this concert. It was also fun to see all the people in New England Patriots gear. It made me get a little excited about the next NFL season.... this is the year the Houston Texans win big, I can feel it...(also, Go Ravens)! 

Erika and I posed for a quick shot before the concert began. 

There is nothing quite like the feeling of realizing that there is free hot pizza waiting for you at the conclusion of a long concert. We were very appreciative of the grub, as you can see from my huge smile! 

Concord, NH

The drive from Vermont to New Hampshire was gorgeous. It was the most picturesque winter scene I could imagine. This was my very first visit to the "Live Free or Die" state and I really enjoyed Concord. This first picture has the state's Capitol Building in the background. The whole downtown area was lovely and full of fun things to do. 

Somebody at our Holiday Inn has a great sense of humor. The sign reads: 

"Happy Birthday Chuck Norris!" I had to get a typical Chuck pose with it in the background. 

Our concert was in a beautiful hall that was packed with excited people who came to see the show. A full and lively house always adds so much to the energy of the performance. 

The set-up job for this concert was a little bit of a challenge. Everything had to be brought to the stage level using a big lift. Here are some of the crew working hard trying to get things in order. 

As we left the concert I caught sight of this awesome marquis. Thank you, Concord, for a wonderful experience! 

Newport, VT

I was also without camera for our performance in Newport, but found it just in time to take this picture of one amazing blueberry pancake I enjoyed right before we left town. It is from the Brown Cow and was simply scrumptious! 

Newport was such a pretty area and the scenery in Vermont was gorgeous. The people were so nice and enthusiastic about our concert as well! 

Potsdam, NY

So for the past few days I've been very upset because I thought I lost my camera. That would make updating the blog difficult, and I really did not want to have to spend the money to get another. Fortunately, I found it hidden in one of my shoes, tucked into my suitcase! 

So I'm back to blogging, but I wasn't able to get any pictures from our Potsdam concert. I am putting up these two awesome shots that Rob McIver captured. I thought I would also take the opportunity to plug his site: 

http://gallery.mac.com/rob.mciver

His work is absolutely amazing!! Everyone should look for him on Facebook under Robert McIver Photography. 

This shot is me talking to some audience members after the show. One of the fun parts about soloing is that you get to mingle and have fun with the crowd after we are done playing.  

Rome, NY

Sunday was a very special matinee concert at Rome's historic Capitol Theatre. This venue was absolutely gorgeous. It made me feel like I was on an old-time Vaudeville stage. That being said, it was definitely one of the more challenging places for us to set up the band's equipment. The ramp we had to use for unloading was extremely steep and the slush on the ground made it slippery and dangerous. Of course, the crew worked together and made it happen.  Here is a picture of the audience waiting to hear our show. The place was packed, including the balcony! 

Things were very crowded on the stage. Here you can see Scott trying to reconcile sitting so close to the trumpets. He is probably trying to figure out how he's going to pick up his tuba without knocking something over. 

Before our show there was an organist who played a great set of fun music. It definitely added to the nostalgic vibe of the theatre. It was hard to get a good picture, but the organ is actually down in the pit below the stage. 

The crowd in Rome was so enthusiastic and supportive! It is starting to get colder now, and I'm getting a better taste of up-state New York. After the concert we had to get back on the road and drive all the way up around the Adirondacks to Canton, which is very close to Canada. It was a long day, but while it was still daylight the drive was beautiful. We saw deer and turkey and lovely snow-covered scenery- best viewed from the warmth of a vehicle in my opinion! 

Albany, NY

On Saturday we ventured to New York's distinguished capitol for an afternoon concert in "The Egg." I caught a picture of the skyline as we were driving in and you can see why that name is very fitting. It was a crazy place. Even the elevators were ovals. It was one of the more interesting buildings I have ever explored. 

So for this tour I am on the setup crew. We actually ride ahead of the tour buses and set up all the equipment the band needs for every concert. I haven't gotten many pictures of it because I'm usually REALLY busy when we are setting up. First the whole crew unloads both of our big trucks. Then I help set up the risers, put out the baffles (sound shields that sit in front of percussion), set up the podium & lecturn, and then assemble our Hooah Army Strong display. This quick pictures is one of the trucks backing up into The Egg's loading dock. 

The concert hall was huge (and egg-like). This is a shot from backstage.  One thing about this venue that was funny to me is that all the elevators had operators. Although it seemed like all they did was just push the buttons to take us to our floors, it was nice to have somebody to help orient us in that huge building. 

Sometimes there are some great props backstage. I might need this sign around day 30 of tour, but for now I'm having fun! 

After the concert was over we returned to the hotel and I enjoyed a night out with some of my buds. 

Pelham, NY

On Friday we headed to New York and gave a performance in Pelham. This was one of my favorite concerts so far because the audience was very enthusiastic. I love looking up from playing and seeing little kids waving American flags and dancing to the music! 

I had to catch up with this man, who was wearing an awesome tie with euphonium-like brass instruments on it.

The concert was held at Pelham Middle School. You know, in the Army we are all about acronyms and the Pelicans sort of have an unfortunate one. They were great hosts and the students that were featured with the band during the concert were really nice. 

I love the American Legion guys! Luckily for me, they are always willing to pose for pictures. 

Here I am with Chris and Scott, two of my favorite people!

I am enjoying New York so far. The people are very nice and have the best accents. The pizza's not bad either! It hasn't been as cold as I was fearing but we are heading Northward soon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the good weather holds up.