The remainder of 2014 has been a continuous, awesome, sometimes bizarre adventure. Since my last update:
•I officiated the wedding of two of my close friends. It was really cool and intensely emotional. Aw.
•Progger played some thoroughly enjoyable shows, notably with the incredible new musical entity called Knower, and has been working on music for a recording session at the end of this month.
•I took part in a performance by the brilliant songwriter Kate Kay Es at Rockwood Music Hall, and it was a beautiful experience.
•I got to know two awesome new dogs in my life: my parents' wee terrier, Callie (who is actually an Ewok), and my new dingo-looking buddy Paolo in Austin. I am dog sitting Paolo right now and he is my homey. We walk a lot.
•I decided to spend the month of December in Austin in order to develop new music with the original Progger crew, record it with audio and video crew, to reconnect with my Texas musical family and friends, and to get out of the cold temporarily. The weather has been incredible.
This year has been challenging, eventful, busy, and overall extremely good. The coming year looks like it will present some interesting and rewarding new paths to Progger, and, in addition to the adventures with my band, I look forward to playing with some of the fantastic new artists I've met over the past months. Unsurprisingly, the cultural environment of New York is energetic beyond any other city I've gotten to know. I'm thoroughly enjoying the continuing effort to bridge the cultures of New York and Austin, and to be able to physically spend time in each of those cities to a large degree. With luck, I'll be passing through many cities in between during 2015 while working out some new sounds and compositions.
Progger is going into the studio on December 30 to record some new music, but also to capture as much of the process as we can on video. My brilliant friend Andy LaViolette, the videographer responsible for all of Snarky Puppy's viral hits, will be shooting video for us, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the results.
Most importantly, 2014 sent some beautiful and brilliant new friends my way. If I were to encounter half as many in 2015 I'd still be extraordinarily lucky. New friends and old friends make life good.
