“24” was a bit better last night. I like this whole “the president is an evil, evil man who has risked destroying the country just for the sake of securing our supply of oil — and he must be brought down” plot. There were still problems, though, as if the writers don’t know their own rules that they’ve established in previous seasons. Too many people had already died so that Jack could get that recording, and he lets Henderson get away with the tape just so Jack can try to save Audrey?! Sorry — Jack’s #1 reason to be alive is to save the country at any cost, and as quickly and efficiently as possible, no matter who gets hurt. This is the second time this season they’ve broken that rule. (The first time was when Jack agreed to save that little girl before getting the evidence against the President. Give me a friggin’ break. And then that chick gives up Jack’s location?! Lame, lame, lame.)

So, what “24” character am I? Well, I don’t know about this…

What’s funny here is that if I changed one answer — making my favorite color “black” instead of “royal blue” (which isn’t really my favorite color anyway, but “chartreuse” wasn’t listed) — then I actually would have been Jack Bauer. So little separates the evil of Sherry Palmer from the good that is Jack Bauer. So very, very little.

I didn’t take many photos of my trip to Florida last week, but I have a few…

Here’s Phil Obado, the conductor of the University High School band, making a few last-minute adjustments during the dress rehearsal.

Phil saying a few words at the start of the concert.

Dave Waybright, director of bands at University of Florida, saying a few words about the importance of commissioning, and the future of wind ensembles.

The concert was a lot of fun. Phil and his group performed “Strange Humors;” Michael Markowski’s work, “Shadow Rituals;” and “Redline Tango.” It was probably the most relaxed concert I’ve ever attended, and I think the audience really appreciated that.

Dinner after the concert: a tasty burger.

The next day, I rode with Dave Waybright from Orlando (the location of University High School) to Gainesville (the location of the University of Florida). After a nice seminar with Dave’s graduate conducting students (great questions and conversation), I had a nap back at the hotel, then headed to dinner with Dave. We had some tasty Asian food. Here’s my salad…

… and here’s my shrimp in spicy miso sauce.

The next day, the wind ensemble rehearsed “Turbine.”

Post-rehearsal, a refreshing beverage at a local hot-spot. That enormous glass does not contain water…

And then the nachos arrived! Tasty.

On Thursday night — the concert! UF has two concert halls. For this concert, they used the more intimate space that, as far as I can tell, used to be a church. Here’s a shot of the balcony — the same balcony where, last year at this time, the UF wind ensemble performed Corigliano’s Circus Maximus. (You’ll note that for my performance, the 11 antiphonal trumpets were notably absent. Maybe I should add those to “Turbine…”)

As I mentioned the other day, the performance of “Turbine” was FANTASTIC. The whole group is great, but wow, the trombones and French horns were just about the best I’ve heard. I can’t wait to get a copy of the recording. Waybright is a towering figure — he must be over 6’6″ — and he conducts without a podium, his arms seemingly able to reach the back of the ensemble. The performance sounded fantastic, but it was also a lot of fun to watch. Waybright looked like he meant business, and he shaped the performance with clarity, precision, power, and an amazing amount of delicacy.

The flight back to LA took for EVER. I left the hotel in Gainesville at 11am for the 2-hour drive to the Orlando airport. (Thank you to Chris Sharp for the ride!) I reached the airport to learn that my flight was delayed over an hour, meaning I’d miss my connecting flight in Dallas. After much reshuffling, I eventually arrived in LA at 8:00 PM Pacific time — 11pm Eastern, meaning a 12-hour trip, door-to-door. The flights, fortunately, were smooth — but the on-flight cocktails may have helped. This may be my new method of self-medication when I fly. Perhaps the follow-up to “Turbine” could be called “Beverage Cart.”

My next trip — on April 30 — is to Commerce, Texas, to work with Jeff Gershman’s group at Texas A&M Commerce. In the meantime, I’m going to try to make some progress on my next piece — the slow high school level piece. I purchased some new samples last week — Project SAM True Strike Percussion and their SAM Trumpets — and ordered the Vienna Symphonic Library Saxophone sample library this morning, so I really don’t have much excuse about not being equipped to write the piece. The danger is that I’ll write things for the samples, not for the group — like I’ll end up taking too much advantage of the software. The percussion library, for example, has a full “instrument” called “brakes and metal trash,” with individual patches like “scrap heap” and “tubes and metal.” Drool…

DAMN that concert kicked ass. I’ll write the full Florida debrief — with some photos — when I get back home, but I had to write a mini-entry this morning. Last night, Dave Waybright led the U. Florida Wind Symphony in their premiere of “Turbine,” and it was fan-friggin’-tastic.

The depth of talent on this roster is impressive, but nowhere as much as the horn section. I’ve haven’t heard a French horn section this good since ASU a few years ago. (I want those two horn studios to have a Battle of the Horn Bands.) The French horns at UF are so good that I wanted to head home and rewrite all of my horn parts just to make them more worthy of this group. They played Turbine last on the program — after 2 solid hours of big, high, loud horn playing — and they didn’t seem to be the slightest bit fatigued. Turbine requires them to play way up on high A’s and B’s at the end of the piece, and they sounded completely fresh and strong, nailing every entrance. I don’t remember the last time I heard a concert with extensive horn playing, and not heard a single flub in the section. And it’s not just that they didn’t flub anything; they nailed everything. It was like somebody dropped the Chicago Symphony’s horn section onto the stage in Gainesville.

The wind symphony is going to record “Turbine” on the Mark Custom label in a few weeks. That is going to be sweet.

And now, I head home. First, a two-hour car ride to Orlando, and then a flight from Orlando to Dallas, then a plane change for the flight from Dallas to Burbank. My last landing in Burbank was the scariest I can remember in a long time (sharp turning while rapidly descending over mountains and encountering heavy turbulence — I’m not a fan), so I may liquor-up in the airport in Dallas. That may help me sleep on the flight, too. It’ll be a 9-hour trip, door-to-door. Fun, fun!