On a high

I’m on a high as I write this. I’ve just played my first performance in the USA. The USA is the home of jazz, of course, so I am wont to be a little tame. But it was fun and I trust I represented Australian (Canberra) jazz well enough. It was a nice little outing playing Real Book charts. The bar was friendly, the music was pleasant and the company was great. Thanks to Juliette for the loan of the bass, to the fellow players for the outing and to David and Adriana for the great conversation. Much enjoyed. The place was the Takoma Station Tavern and they have a jam every Wednesday night. I also noticed another local venue called the Bohemian Caverns which has some impressive artists visiting (Eubanks, Turré, Moran appear in the next month). They were staging poetry that night and I might have got there but I was enjoying the playing too much.

Washington DC is an easy, interesting, international city. Here’s just one other pic of a socio-political nature. We walked past the White House north entrance. This is the business side: the south faces the Mall and is the tourist side. There was a demonstration against the tar-sands oil pipeline (a big climate change issue in the US). Protesters were being arrested continuously (Darryl Hannah, James Hansen and Bill McKibbon had been arrested in recent days) but I also spoke to a woman who has been protesting against nukes on this spot since 1981: Conchita Picciotto. You have to admire the commitment.