Friends are the key to life. Especially when we realize that our famies can be some of our best friends. Hanging out with Rob and Andrew last night was such a blast and then walking in the neighbourhood this morning and stopping to talk to a Randal and Sharon along the way made the blue sky and mild weather even more magical. Sure I love, email, the web or reading the paper occasionally but talking with friends in person can never be topped.

As I check my email this morning I am reminded that being on the "other side" of booking gigs is a strange place to be sometimes. I just told one of my peers that I am "all booked up". This is a strange phrase as they would probably be suprised or disappointed to know that minutes later I may book someone else.

This used to bug me so much when talking to festivals etc. Now I see what they might have meant. I may be booked up for guitar players, or for people who have already played the club, or for quiet trios, or for groups playing a certain type of repertoire. In other words, booking is a big ongoing puzzle that I really don't understand. Trying to walk the line of financial success at the door and interesting, creative jazz music is a challenging one. I still have a lot to learn and figure out about this little part time job.

Anyways, I hope people realize that there is no shortage of good musicians for me to book, I am just looking for the right pieces to the Red Guitar puzzle.

tim