I wasn’t planning to write a blog entry today, but according to The Counter, my site had 57 hits yesterday. (Counting total hits, like direct links to the blog, etc., there were 104 separate hits, with over 500 MB of bandwidth. I think most of that is from my mom, though. Hi, Mom.) That’s a lot of traffic for this site, especially when I’m not visiting a college campus. I figured I should write something so that visitors would have something new to see.

Hmm… What’s new…

I’ve been making a lot of progress on the new piece. It’s back to being a cowboy polka, and I’m deep enough into it that it looks like it’s staying that way. The current title is “Lone Star Polka.” The structure is Cowboy Song Intro, Polka, slow Cowboy Song “normal” followed by slow Cowboy Song “brothel-style,” then this very cool transition (that I stole from Corigliano) back to Polka Finale. It looks like it’ll be about 8 minutes long, and probably Grade 4+ or Grade 5. (According to this list, it may be a Grade 4+. Regardless, it’s a whole lot easier than Redline Tango.) I expect to finish the short score next week, and then I’ll start orchestrating, which I expect to be a fun project with this piece. (There’s going to be an accordion part, because what’s polka without accordion?!)

On Tuesday night, I took AEJ out for dinner for her birthday. I took some great photos, and I’ll post them in the next few days. It was a perfect meal. I learned that I like venison under certain circumstances, and really don’t care for oysters no matter how they’re prepared. I wish I could afford to eat like that more often.

Tonight we’re going to hear my friend Damien play with one of his bands, the Tom Kitt Band. Damien is a fantastic drummer, and it’s always fun to see him play.