The continuing adventures...

So far so very good on this spring break adventure. I am absolutely loving my smart car -- have traveled over 400 miles so far and have been achieving excellent mileage. I'm saving the gas receipts and keeping track of the miles so I can give out a final total at trip's end. I will say that driving route 6 through the parks, mountains and charming old towns and villages got me the best mileage yet. At a top speed of 55, going through high winds and some snow flurries, then on into brighter and warmer weather, the smart was shifting for the best mileage and certainly got it. For that stretch of the highway, we managed 334.9 miles on 6.557 gallons of premium (93). That's 51.07 mpg! Wow!

Of course, the true smart enthusiasts will caution that mpgs must be measured over time for a true average. I think the new gps system helped with the mileage. It made me constantly aware of the posted speed limits as I drove into and out of towns and along the way, all the while informing me of my actual speed. I found that I was always working to achieve the posted limit and not go past it. Oddly enough, the only other smart car I have seen along this journey suddenly appeared in my rearview mirror on old route 6.

The car did great through the Endless Mountains (sounds like a place in Middle Earth) and on up to Albany and Troy, where I stopped to stay with my good friend Ron, an actor with New York State Theatre Institute. Then yesterday afternoon, I drove down a beautiful highway on the eastern side of the Hudson to NYC and on to Brooklyn. From totally rural to the most intense urban streets in this country!

Tonight I'm off to see the Dred Scott Trio at the Blue Note. Two shows, one at 8 and one at 10:30 PM. I've been a fan of Dred's music since the good old days of Third Plane at the Bauhaus in Akron. Have been looking forward to this night for weeks now! More later -- gotta go have some great jazz!

People Makes Crazy

When Japanese audiences listened to Pimp the Cat the response was overwhelmingly positive. One new fan wrote, "When people listens to your CD, people makes crazy." I'm going crazy over it too, listening to the band's latest release, "People Makes Crazy." Streaming audio of some tracks from the CD are available here.

Pimp the Cat's music is a melding of four very talented musicians with diverse tastes and influences. They feed on the grooves of jazz and progressive rock. The tunes take you on long journeys, jams that pull you in and along for an incredible ride. Very visual stuff, which is the way I like my music. I haven't seen these guys live yet, but I note that there are some upcoming shows in NYC:

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
BB King's Lucille's
Times Square
New York, NY
http://www.bbkingblues.com/
December 1st Saturday Night,
the late set at The Bitter End 147 Bleeker Street West Village

Dred Scott, the keyboardist, spent some time in Akron, attending the university and studying with Pat Pace, the legendary Akron jazz pianist. I met Dred one night at the Bauhaus on Main St. He was in a band called Third Plane, along with guitarist Wilbur Krebs and percussionist JoJo Brigandi. No Akron band ever equaled their brilliance. I hadn't listened to much in the way of jazz until I met them, but I got hooked. Third Plane was jazz and beyond. They'd transform themselves into alternate bands, and all forms of music were fair game.

Every Wednesday, I was down at the club for Third Plane night. Eventually I became their "manager" and publicist, and they let me perform my little acts of performance anarchy in between sets. Meanwhile, the band was constantly creating new music, that engaged all the senses with an artistry that could and still does take my breath away.

I treasure the years they were in Ohio. The band moved to San Francisco, and then became tri-coastal. I keep hoping for a big reunion show here in Akron one day. Meanwhile, I keep going to NYC to hang with Dred and hear his latest music.

When not playing with Pimp the Cat, Dred plays with many other musicians and groups, including his own Dred Scott Trio. His MySpace page is here and you can order from his back catalogue of amazing CDs here.