“Oh, your life must be SOOOO glamorous!!”
Any full-time musician traveling to eke out a living has undoubtedly heard this phrase hundreds of times in response to the requested description of where they’ve been and where they’re going next. Any full-time musician reading this knows the bubbling statement above is four stars to the right of Neverland.
This month’s column illuminates the fatuousness of the well-meaning enthusiasts’ viewpoint, while sharing a story that could only have happened in the PSM (Pre Smart Phone) era. To continue the allusion I started above, I’ll include the sound emanating from the belly of the Disney version of Captain Hook’s nemesis:
Tick…tock…
In the 1990s-2000s, the highlight of every July was a trip to perform in CA at the Mammoth Lakes Jazz Jubilee. I appeared there as part of the Titan Hot Seven and Ivory&Gold®. In 2002, Anne and I were invited to perform the Wednesday night opening in the upstairs bar at Whiskey Creek as half of a quartet Flossie and Ken Coulter, the Festival Directors, concocted called “JAMS.” The other half was comprised of another husband-wife team, our good friends vocalist SherriLynn Colby-Bottel and banjo/guitarist Matt Bottel, from the Blue Street Jazz Band. The name of the quartet came from the first initials of our names (Jeff, Anne, Sherri, Matt). After this gig, we reordered the names accord
