August has been a full month already, with a quick tour to L.A., and now this week is getting busy.  Thursday, 8/12, Manteca Beat Cabaret will host a bunch of music, singers, dancers. It's all at The Carousel Lounge, 8pm-midnight.

Saturday, 8/14, My Exotic Other plays at Gregofest in Lockhart.  Music all day & all night.  Our set is 6-7:15pm.

Sunday, 8/15, I get to hang out with the fabulous Jitterbug Vipers. We play at Hyde Park Grill South, 7:30-9:30pm.

Tuesday, 8/17, I'll be back at Momo's World Music Night with Sangeet Millennium, 10-11:30pm.

After a year of tinkering, the new CD "Tether" is available. It represents a slight shift in my compositions, bringing in styles from around the globe. I have always enjoyed jamming with musicians from diverse backgrounds, sharing ideas and learning from each other. Over the last year I've been fortunate to perform with a number of world music groups based in Austin, including Sangeet Millennium, Ragavatar, Masne Trube, The Just Desserts, Tribal Nation, Ivory Ghost and others. It's a pretty amazing mix, from Latin to reggae to Indian ragas to Balkan brass band and Afrobeat. It seems appropriate that my new project explores world music styles, both because my ears have opened up to these sounds over the years, and because I believe that American music has always to some extent been world music, incorporating and blending musical traditions from many demographics. So I searched far and wide for a band name that would reflect my own perspective, and finally came up with "MY EXOTIC OTHER." I can explain, and probably will, at length and ad nauseum, but hopefully the music will speak for itself. I have listening samples at www.myexoticother.com. The CD is available online through CD Baby. We have done several performances of the new material and it is really FUN! The next shows are August 14 & 19. Check my calendar for details.

In July I will premiere my world music project. Close friends & laboratory test subjects already know about this project. It is an evolutionary step from my jazz group PK Sax, incorporating jazz elements into more of a global music experiment. I have been fortunate to travel and play with many different musicians around the world and my compositions refract a lot of influences. There's also a lot of esoteric ethnomusicological perspective embedded in the music, but mainly it's a freewheeling rhythmic mix of things, which I hope is also fun to listen & dance to. After a lot of deliberation about what to call this project, involving test marketing of cool, imagistic names (which mostly elicited frowns and raised eyebrows), I went for the metaphysical approach. In other words, instead of choosing an exotic image which would invoke far off places, deep-seated emotions, or enlightened spirituality, I decided to invoke the academic catch-all phrase which often describes the human desire for these things: The Exotic Other. But, as President Obama is fond of saying, "Let me be clear. Make no mistake..." This is not just some generic Exotic Other, a pastiche of cliche touristic images that any Madison Avenue hack could slap together to promote some genetically modified pseudo-food-product. This is my own synthesis of sound and fantasy, my own blend of tradition and innovation, my own humble offering, be it grand or grotesque. This is My Exotic Other. I hope you will enjoy it. The CD will be available in July. Until then there are a few samples to hear on the MyExoticOther myspace page. If you go to www.myexoticother.com you will automatically be connected to www.myspace.com/myexoticother. Have an exotic day! PK

Back from a wideranging & wonderful trip to China, and I hit the wall of 100 degree Texas summer.  But it's a dry heave, as they say...

 

Actually, much as I miss China already, it is great to be back in Austin.  It's going to be a busy summer.  My new group "My Exotic Other" will be doing a CD release in a few weeks.  I am recording tracks with Sangeet Millenium, a mix of classical North Indian ragas and jazz fusion, which will be released later this year.  I have a regular residency at the hippest restaurant in Georgetown, TX: La Maison, fine French cuisine in a big ol' historic house, every Saturday evening.

 

I'll be recording some new songs with my classic R&B/soul/jazz/cabaret group Manteca Beat.  Look for individual songs later this summer to be uploaded or downloaded or frontloaded or some kind of offloading using modern internet technology and/or a forklift.

 

Also, various jazz jams in various cool locales, all through the summer.  Check the calendar for details.

I will be in China for the month of May, meeting with musicians and music students, and generally checking out the goings on in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Zhengzhou, and Beijing.

Click on the "Go To Blog" link for my blog which I will try to update regularly.  Have a great month & see you in June!

PK

Like many of us I am sure, I still think at some level that 2010 has only just begun, that there is still plenty of time to figure out and plan what the heck I am trying to get done this year.  It's only January after all... Oops, somehow while I took a quick nap it became the middle of March...

So, South by Southwest is upon us once again.  This year I am playing several showcases.  Sangeet Millenium, a cool Indian/jazz fusion project I have been working with for about a year now, will be at the Copa on 3/19, along with several other Austin world music groups.  Then I will switch gears to play with Larry Lange & His Lonely Knights for several shows around town.

I am on track to release my new CD in April.  This project is a continuation of my earlier PK Sax jazz group.  Pushing further into world music experiments, I have renamed the group My Exotic Other.  Details will be coming soon!  You can get a foretaste at www.myexoticother.com.

 

OK, for all of you for whom Valentine's Day is underwhelming more often than not, this year Mardi Gras practically overlaps it. In fact  it pretty much nudges it aside in a drunken jostle as it ambles down the boulevard, skimming strings of beads overhead and sloshing gobbets of beery foam over the rim of its travel tankard.  Look out Aphrodite, here comes Dionysus, and his kind of lovin' ain't dainty!

Happy New Year everyone, and let's get this new decade going.  I can hardly remember the last 10 years... Something about a wannabe cowboy in the White House and some awkward public moments with The Entire World... but that's all over and done with now, right?  Yep, as soon as we get that thing in Yemen straightened out it's all smooth sailing in the 21st century.  Soon we'll be cruising in our hydrogen-powered hover cars, gazing down at artistic solar panel installations, children playing, la-la-la-la, and so on... I wish.

 

But, be that as it may, we forge ahead, trying first to do no harm, or something like that.  Speaking of forging, I am hard at work finishing my new CD, an interesting blend of jazz and world music.  If you'd like to hear an advance track mp3, just drop me an email.  It will make great listening as you tool around in your hover car.

I am as guilty as anyone of buying into the media-hyped bad rap that Mexico has gotten over the last year.  Yes, drug wars, corruption, tourists being kidnaped, deadly strains of swine flu (oops, I mean H1N1... sorry all you swine and swine-dependent folks out there). 

So when I had the opportunity to go to my cousin's wedding in the Yucatan my first reaction was "Er..."

Then again, we all know that tourist meccas like Cancun are little worlds unto themselves, so it wasn't that big a deal to pry myself out of the comfort of my Austin lifestyle and hop on a plane.  Cancun was everything I had imagined, a cross between Miami beach and Las Vegas.  But it was really quite sedate, not a bunch of drunk American college kids staggering around as I had expected.  The wedding went smoothly, the skies were blue, the sea was gorgeous, everyone had a great time, I had too much tequila.

But the real surprise for me was how easy it is to take a rental car and just go.  My sisters and I went south on the 307 down to Akumal, a beautiful and still somewhat secluded beach town, west to the Mayan ruins at Coba, then back up and over to the colonial cities of Valladolid and Merida on the 108 tollway, finally spending our last night at a cool eco-tourist place (Genesis) in Ek Balam near the Mayan ruins there.  Getting around was much easier than I expected and everyone was friendly and welcomed us wherever we went. 

Now I am hooked, and want to go back to explore the Yucatan peninsula more.  If anyone would like to sponsor a travelling musician and aspiring travel writer, I promise to bring back trinkets and many pictures!

Traditionally, it seems, the winter holidays begin the day after Halloween, when all the cool decorations and candy go on sale, and we accelerate towards the New Year in a blur of turkeys, pumpkin pies, factory-fresh Xmas trees and hysterical shopping.  I always get weepy & sentimental when the neighbors replace the glowing plastic skeleton with a glowing plastic snowman in their front yard. 

I hope the holidays go well for all y'all, and that 2010 is a good year for all us'all.  I'm hard at work on my next CD, a curious blend of world music & jazz, which should be available in early 2010.  In the meantime, if you haven't checked out my holiday CD, "This Time Of Year" please give it a listen at CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com).  You can buy it online there, or just drop me an email and I'll have one of our elves mail you a glistening copy for your holiday enjoyment.

First off I want to thank everyone who has been attending our monthly First Tuesday Jazz Jam at Kickbutt Coffee.  The crowd is bigger each month with a nice mix of musicians, intellectuals, slackers and local characters, which is just what I had in mind when I started the project.  June 2 marked our first anniversary!  The next jam will be Tuesday July 7.

Second, I have been playing for several months now with a very cool group, Sangeet Millenium, which explores classical Indian music fused with jazz and other world musics.  I'm learning more about ragas.  I had done a little ethnomusicological investigation into the mysteries of Indian music years ago, which consisted of a class with UT's resident raga-ologist Steve Slawek, as well as watching a number of nimble and nubile Bollywood stars wiggle their way through incomprehensible plotlines.  And of course lots of naan bread...

Friday June 5 I will be playing a wonderful show with Sangeet Millenium that will feature stars in the local constellation of world music, including Oliver Rajamani, and Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami, who plays a mean harmonium as well as sitar and vocals.  Check out the Sangeet Millenium website for more info:  www.sangeetmillenium/org.news.

 

Memphis Train Revue is going strong, playing parties around Texas.  We will be hitting the road (actually the tarmac) in July to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Not that Texas in the dead of summer isn't a beautiful place to be, but I can't wait!

 

I had a dream the other night that I was driving on some lonely Texas highway on the way to a gig. I passed a motorcycle, a modified hog with monkey bars. I looked to my right as I drove by and saw that it was George W. Bush with his hand on the throttle and a baby on the seat in front of him. W's rebel flag do-rag whipped in the breeze. He looked tanned and relaxed, without a care in the world. The baby looked equally unconcerned. I wanted to do something, yell, "Careful!" or grab the baby before something awful happened. But, as is often the case in dreams, all I could do was watch. So I woke up and made some coffee and watched the reassuring Gwen Ifill lead the calm and well-modulated talking heads of Washington Week in Review. The main topic was President Obama in Latin America. After my disturbing dream, the thought came to me that yes things are very messed up, yes the rich corporate elite still run things and yes, Obama is no leftist, but: Things are so much better. Getting better all the time... Yes, there is a bunch of crap going on in the halls of power. Yes, Obama has corrupt corporate sycophants on the payroll. Yes, most of the crimes of the Bush administration will not be investigated, let alone prosecuted. Yes, the corporate war machine rumbles on in Afghanistan. Yes, questionable compromises are being made every day. But every day there are small seeds being planted, and just because they are overshadowed by the corporate greed games, doesn't mean they aren't real. Obama is a politician, and he is playing the game that politicians play. He pretty much spelled it out during his campaign. He will do what he can and the more active and vocal we are, the more he can incorporate our voices, our agenda, into the political quilt. Obama isn't W, riding a hog down the highway, and we aren't the baby on the seat. And this isn't a dream, good or bad. It is just the way the world works.

Manteca Beat Videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=manteca+beat&aq=f I admit it, I am techno-dimwit. I seem to be a good five years behind the curve when it comes to new gadgets, toys and consumer market technological timewasters. I held onto my LPs long after everyone went to CDs, then I got rid of my LPs and cling to my CDs long after everyone is going retro and getting LPs again. I only recently got an ipod, etc., etc. And then there is the world of internet software... a daunting megamart of things that I should have but I don't even know how to pronounce their names. **************** Well, I have managed in spite of my luddite tendencies to upload some video on YouTube, If you'd like to check some of Manteca Beat in action, replete with burlesque dancers, Hawaiian dancers, and even a chanteuse, copy & paste (as they say) this link: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=manteca+beat&aq=f

As the Austin music community shifts into high gear for SXSW, many of us hometown heroes have ambivalent attitudes about the whole freakshow. On the one hand it is exciting, there's a lot to do, music to hear, people to meet, stuff to learn. On the other hand we still have to make a living, go to our gigs, teach lessons, find parking, etc. ________________________________________________________________ But once I got over the Cinderella Syndrome (hoping with clasped hands and fluttering eyelashes that I would be discovered by some music biz mogul and whisked off to a castle in the sky), I have learned to enjoy the circus for what it is. We are lucky to be making music, and lucky to be at the center of the maelstrom once a year when the world comes to Austin and checks out what a cool thing we have going here. So put on your wristband or badge if you've got one, squeeze into those tight black jeans/ gangsta hoodie/ frayed quasi-ethnic cultural accessory and laissez les bon temps rouler! _______________________________________________________________ This week I have a variety of shows, and if you stop by, please say 'Hi": Tuesday, March 17: New Music Night at Kickbutt Coffee (5775 Airport Blvd). 7:30-10pm. Friday, March 20: Manteca Beat plays at Thom's Market (1418 Barton Springs Rd Austin, TX 78704). 7-8:30pm. Saturday, March 21: PK plays with Sangeet Millenium at the Whip-In (1950 S I H 35 Austin, TX 78704). 6:00-7:30pm. Sunday, March 22: Manteca Beat plays at Central Market North (4001 N. Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX 78756). 12:30-3pm (brunch).

After a great winter holiday with family and friends in Beaver Creek, CO, I landed back in Austin hitting the ground running, as they say.  One of my favorite sayings (courtesy of 3Mustapha3) sums it up: "Forward in all directions!"

 

Friday the 13th (boo!) sees Manteca Beat in a new setting:  Kirby's Steakhouse in San Antonio.  Then, leapfrogging over that ambiguous and eel-like holiday Valentine's Day, we play a brunchtime show at Central Market Westgate in South Austin.  It's a great, relaxed gig where all ages can do their thang.

 

My new project Saxophonic, a saxophone quartet put together with my stalwart colleague Thomas van der Brook, will make a special appearance at Kickbutt Coffee (5775 Airport Blvd.) for the New Music Night which occurs the Third Tuesday of each month.  However, I won't be there as I have to shoot a video for Manteca Beat.  The wonderful saxophonist Greg Wilson will be subbing for me.  Check it out if you can, 7:30-ish.

 

Friday Feb. 20 sees the return of the PK Trio at Aces Lounge, backing up the sultry Southern Sirens Burlesque Troupe.  It is an experience!  Showtimes are 11pm and 1am, so knock back an espresso and make a night of it.

-PK

The music business is nothing if not fluid.  It's kind of like Texas weather, as the saying goes.

After a great run at the Roux Restaurant on 6th street, Manteca Beat is no longer doing our Wednesday Happy Hours there.  The club is going through some changes, mainly as a reflection of these hard economic times.  They had to close the kitchen and other remodeling concepts are on the way.  We hope to be playing there again later in 2009 after their new concept takes shape.

In the meantime, I am expanding the Manteca Beat show to include soul singers & cabaret dancers for special events, though we will still perform as the classic quartet for local shows.

The PK Trio is going strong, backing up the Southern Sirens Burlesque Show at Aces.  I'll have some video footage available soon, so keep checking the website for links.

I am also delving into several creative projects, playing with the Saxophonic Saxophone Quartet, the Sangeet Millenium ensemble, and some other experimental music groupings.  I am hosting the Third Tuesday New Music Night at Kickbutt Coffee, to showcase some of these projects.  This is in addition to the First Tuesday Jazz Jam at Kickbutt Coffee.

My regular gig with the Memphis Train Revue is going strong.  We tend to play private functions around Texas but we are in the process of finding a monthly public show at a venue that can host a 9-piece soul band. 

Next week, January 20, will be a very special day as a new administration gets sworn in.  Hopefully we'll be doing less swearing than the last 8 years.  I'll be celebrating with some new music at the Kickbutt that night, so come join me if you can!

2008 is winding down, but it was quite a busy & eventful year.  I hope all my friends can look back at it and have some good memories...  Onward into 2009!

My new CD of winter holiday music, "This Time Of Year." is all mixed & mastered and going to press as I write this. I will have the CD available online through CD Baby, and in Austin stores soon. You can also contact me directly if you'd like one. It's a mix of traditional Xmas & Hanukah offerings, plus some originals, done with a jazz approach. Even if the Christmas season brings out the Grinch in you, I think you'll like these sounds. It's a mix of 90% creativity, 9% nostalgia, and 1% outright sentimentality. I have a couple sample MP3s loaded on the Manteca Beat Myspace page: www.myspace.com/mantecabeat. The songs are "Holiday Reunion" and "Greensleeves." I hope you like 'em. -PK

This fall has brought me several new & exciting music projects. In September the PK Trio (sax, bass, drums) began a residency at Aces Lounge on 6th street in Austin, backing up the fabulous Southern Sirens, a scintillating burlesque troupe. It's a mix of classic and contemporary jazz & tease. Check my calendar for show dates & times. I'm also working on a saxophone quartet project, and collaborating on a jazz sax & traditional Indian music, as well as some special shows with my contemporary jazz group PK Sax, and some new compositions which I hope to record soon. My weekly shows at Roux Restaurant with Manteca Beat are always fun. Special thank you's to my friends who have been stopping by. Also a shout out to AB Shutterbug Photography for some great pics of the shows. Now if I can just get through ragweed season without my nose falling off.... -PK

Depending on your profession, religion, or plain ole biorhythms, the week may start on any given day. Many folks view the sabbath, or similar set day of worship as the end of the week, the time for reflection, deep thoughts, barbecue, and just being thankful you made it through another week. Of course that special day can also mark the beginning of the week, a day when you get your head straight, think about what you want to accomplish, and then get set for the starter's pistol. As a teacher, I dip into the memory bank and recall my days as a student. Monday was definitely the beginning of the week, full of sharply defined moments: the shrill of the alarm clock; the sinking feeling of watching the classroom clock strike 9am as the teacher's voice began drilling into your brainstem; the thud of homework crushing your freedom.... But as a musician my week doesn't have that clearly defined beginning and end. As we sometimes say in the business, "Every night is Saturday night and every morning is Monday morning." In other words, each day may start with a groan, but each night may recede into a mist of endless possibility. The musician may get to sleep until noon, then shuffle lazily to the kitchen for coffee, scratching and yawning languidly all the while. Or the musician may drag his sorry carcass from a lumpy couch after snatching a few puny hours of shuteye, in order to make an early morning gig, flight or (God forbid) a morning music lesson he forgot to write in the appointment book and now the soccer mom is urgently rapping on the front door while little Johnny quizzically holds his alto sax case and wonders why Mr. Teacher is answering the door in his underwear.... All this purple prose is by way of an introduction to a new and defining project which I signed onto a few months ago. It is an exciting project, and if nothing else will help to define my week. Every Friday and Saturday my new group, the PK Trio, will be performing at a brand new nightclub in Austin called Aces Lounge. The kicker is that we will be backing up a troupe of talented burlesque dancers known as the Southern Sirens. I have a feeling that Sunday is going to return to its formal position as End Of The Week, because as the song goes, "Sunday I get my rest, 'cause Monday's a mess." Since Friday and Saturday are the main performing nights for musicians, there will be some flexibility in the personnel. I have a roster of great drummers, bassists, and saxophonists, who will all be doing their stint in the PK Trio. We have been shedding on the material, working out the arrangements (every little bump and grind), and this week the beat hits the street. Classic jazz & classic burlesque. Come check it out. Details: The PK Trio backs up the Southern Sirens in some sultry burlesque routines at the new Aces Lounge, at 6th & San Jacinto. The special premiere is Wednesday 9/10/08, starting at 9pm. The PK Trio will then perform every Friday & Saturday for the regular burlesque show schedule.

Labor Day slapped us across the chops at a run, like a marathon runner grabbing for a water bottle, and suddenly it's September.  Many music projects made for a busy summer.  It seems like just a few days ago that I was stepping off the plane back from Hong Kong, but it has been 4 months already.  I was planning to return to Asia this fall, but now it looks like early '09.  I miss the dim sum!

In the meantime, the election season is upon us.  Many friends have remarked on how it seemed like the presidential campaign has been going on for 2 years, and yet it is only now that the candidates can really debate each other, and 2 months seems like a short time for the serious in-depth discussions that need to happen.  Repetitive soundbites will no doubt dominate the airwaves, but we can only hope for some actual substantive policy statements from Obama & McCain in between the weekly tabloid scandals, right-wing innuendo shows on cable and radio, and Wolf Blitzer blitzing us with computer graphics and action-cam angle shots.  Show biz!

I wanted to send a special thank you to everyone involved in the monthly jazz jam I am hosting at Kick Butt Coffee! The jam is held the First Tuesday of each month, from 8-11pm. Check details at www.kickbuttcoffee.com. Also, the folks at Kick Butt are very good at posting video clips of their events on YouTube, and there are some tasty songs from previous jams posted there. August 5 saw the third monthly jam and it was a great party. I had a stalwart rhythm section helping me out, with John Groves on keyboards, Harold McMillan on bass, and Jimmy Fenno on drums. They had never played together before, but sounded smooth and seamless. Even though I had some computer glitches and wasn't able to send out an email reminder for the jam, many friends showed up, so I guess the word is getting around town that the First Tuesday Jazz Jam is a cool happening. For the numerous players who showed up and contributed their musical energies, milles mercis! Also, there may be some pics of the event available soon, so stay in touch and I will try to get them to you. I envisioned the Jazz Jam as a community event, open to all ages of listeners and players, and we have had some young jazzophiles coming out to get their feet wet, as well as grizzled veterans of the music biz. The atmosphere is friendly and the joint gets jumping. Of course, the fact that Kick Butt has a liquor license helps, but it is really the varied personalities and wonderful enthusiasm of everyone involved that continues to make First Tuesday such a cool thing to do. Next month's Jazz Jam will be September 2nd. See you then! PK

May 4-6 2008.

After a strange first day in Taipei, I made contact with a Coline, a friend-of-a-friend and fellow musician (she teaches piano).  As with so many moments on this trip, I was extremely fortunate to find such a wonderful tourguide and sympatico soul.  She reached me at my Royal Garden Hotel room in Banqiao, and instructed me to meet her at the Zhishan metro stop.  I got there before her and, not knowing what she looked like, made strange and disconcerting eye contact with a number of women before one approached, smiling. 

Coline had a plan to show me more of the scenic parts of Taipei, so we continued on the MRT red line up to Danshui which borders the Danshui River (it's the northern part of the smelly Dahan River that I had encountered the day before), but broader and empties out into the ocean after the Fisherman's Wharf area.

We walked through the Metro Park, through a plaza where an elderly flute player serenaded us, and on to the boardwalk where vendors had street stalls, crowds of people strolled, and children ran around playing and adding to the chaos.  We stopped at a cafe for fruit smoothies, and then walked on and discovered various historic sites built on a hill overlooking the water: the Red Castle, the Hongmao Castle and the Huwei Fort, all with complicated histories involving the Dutch, Spanish and English in their various colonial expansionist intrigues.

As the evening descended we wandered back along Zhongzheng road (or perhaps Zhongshan road?) which, Coline informed me, has one of the oldest night street markets.  The street was filled with stalls and vendors, many of whom were selling deliciously aromatic street food,  But once again I resisted temptation, me and my sensitive gwai lo tummy.  It was a good thing, because I saved my appetite for an incredible meal at a famous dumpling restaurant called Din Tai Fung, where I ate possibly the best dumplings in my life (I hate using superlatives, since taste buds are so fickle when you're hungry, but man those dumplings were good!)...

Later we strolled through the grounds of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, all lit up and doing a good job of being awe-inspiring in its sheer size and austerity.  I said to Coline that it would make a good concert space and she replied that groups do perform there, on the expanse at the top of the long steps.

We parted ways at the MRT stop and I wended my way, still full of dumplings, back to my little room at the Royal Garden.  The next day I moved to another cheap hotel, this one on the east side of town, near City Hall and the Taipower building, just to get a change of scenery.

Monday it rained, but it was a good day to go museuming, and Coline had a plan.  We met again at the Zhishan metro stop, but this time she had her trusty white Honda, and we drove east to the National Palace Museum, an impressive plaza and building that houses Chinese art and artifacts from contemporary exhibits all the way back to about 6000 b.c.e.  As always with Chinese museum exhibits, I learned much about the various dynasties, and I forgot a good 95% of it ten minutes after leaving the museum.  Coline had learned in school a mnemonic system for remembering the dynasties, but of course I forgot that as well.

Coline had to go teach some music lessons, so I meandered through the exhibits on my own for another hour, dodging Chinese and European tour groups, then strolled in the rain to a bus stop and found a bus back to the MRT line, made it back to my hotel, had a noodle bowl at a hole-in-the-wall lunch place, and crawled back to my room for a quick nap, before getting ready for the evening's events.

Once again Coline collected me in her white Honda.  We went to a trendy eatery called China Pa, which featured a local Taiwanese jazz band (playing jazz standards), had another delicious meal, then we moved on to Brown Sugar, the premiere jazz club in Taipei these days.  I had met some of the band on Saturday night, so tonight they brought me on to play a couple tunes before the resident chanteuse took the stage.  I was happy to see Coline digging the music, and as the night stretched on, we stretched out at our ringside table, me luxuriating in a 12-year-old scotch, she sipping on some strange green-tinged fruit drink.  I was getting into the Taipei groove, and it was a shame I had to leave the next day, but already I was thinking about my next trip back.

5/4/08 i arrived yesterday in taipei and found a bus from CKS Airport to Taipei for about 130NT (around $4-5). i had reserved a room through the internet at the Royal Garden Hotel in Bangqiao (of course, they had no record of my reservation, but they had a room available, and it was the same price as the internet rate, around $50). the bus dropped me at Bangqiao Station, i was surrounded by taxi drivers all wanting to grab my luggage, but no one spoke english and no one knew where my hotel was. it is on Wun Hua road, which was just one street over, but of course i didn't know that, so i relented to one especially confident taxi driver who promptly took me across town to the wrong hotel (Royal Forest or something). there i was able to get directions from the concierge and took the MRT back to Bangqiao station, and walked the 4 blocks to the right hotel. the whole day was like that. i took 3 taxis and each time they delivered me to the wrong address. i ended up walking about 5 miles altogether, from where taxis had dropped me to the correct address. part of the problem (besides the language barrier) is that most streets are divided not only by East & West, but by sections (Section 1, 2, 3 etc.)... it was an interesting day, full of accidental tourism. the moped/scooters here are ridiculous! every intersection i see a pedestrian almost getting knocked over, and the entire city sounds like a swarm of giant bees. maybe someday they will have electric scooters and it will be quieter! after checking into the Royal Garden (a pleasant, place with clean modern rooms), i decided to be a tourist, walked to the metro (MRT) station, took the blue line to Taipei Main Station, which seemed like a centrally located artery, followed the green exit signs up & up, and came out in a disgusting noisy & dirty intersection bordered by highway flyovers, construction sites, heaps of construction debris, and what looked like some kind of post-atomic mound of slag. so i went back down into the safety of the underground, and followed signs to the Taipei City Mall, which turned out to be a vast underground shopping mall filled with hundreds of small stores selling thousands of pieces of cheap crap. now i am genetically predisposed to buy cheap crap, especially if it is shiny and made of plastic, but i had bought so many trinkets in the past 2 weeks, that i was able to resist temptation, and just soaked up the ambience. shoppers swarmed around me, couples, jabbering teenagers, wizened elders, screaming children. i knew i could only take a few minutes of this cultural experience, and i was suddenly feeling famished. i followed my nose to another exit. i thought maybe the food smells would lead me to restaurants on an upper level, but when i climbed the stairs (another Mayan-esque endless staircase, like the other hundred or so i have climbed since arriving in Asia), i came out in a city bus terminal, with off-duty workers sitting on blankets and strips of cardboard, eating homemade lunches out of cannisters and tupperware. so back down into the bowels of the earth i went. my logic was this: people are down here shopping; they must get hungry, therefore there must be some food booths nearby, since wherever a crowd congregates in Asia, someone is going to be selling food. i was not wrong. i had to walk about half a mile past all the shops, but eventually i found the food area. by then i was getting weak with hunger. i passed one lace that looked good, with big color photos of bowls of steaming things. but outside this booth was a blind guy sitting on a box, singing pop ballads karaoke-style through a piercing amplifier, so i moved further down, found a quaint little joint and had a plate of what turned out to be chicken curry with a side of seaweed eggdrop soup. the soup was good, the curry was edible. Renewed, i was now determined to get above ground. from my (fairly confusing) tourist map, i figured i was nearby the Dahan River, on the west side of the city. it looked (on the map) picturesque, with bike paths, and intriguing green areas with names like Taipei Cinema Park and Longshan Riverside Park. what could go wrong? i walked to the end of the mall, went up, and once again was surrounded by noise, construction and debris. there seemed to be something resembling a sidewalk on the other side of the highway, so i went down again, crossed under and re-emerged, like a Greek hero from Hades (well, maybe i exaggerate slightly), and continued my trek toward the river. dodging scooters (they not only own the roads, they also seem free to drive on the sidewalks and through pedestrian crosswalks, and the sidewalks are jammed with parked scooters so that walkers have to weave between them like timid deer negotiating a game trail), i crossed one final street (the pedestrian "don't walk" sign consists of a counter, giving you anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds to make it across the scooter-infested intersection, replete with a little green computerized stick figure who starts at a lope and finishes at a dead run when then counter gets below 10 seconds...a very realistic depiction i soon learned). I edged my way past a concrete wall, and there i was, on the bike path next to the Dahan River. except the Dahan is really a mudflat, reeking of organic silt and who knows what kind of human additions to the greasy soup which was the river proper. maybe they're having a drought, i thought, trying to acclimate to the peculiar fecund odor. i walked along the riverbank, passing a few walkers and joggers who glanced at me quizzically on their way. even though the bike path is set away from the busy streets, the scooters were not to be avoided, because there is a special small thoroughfare next to the bike path, reserved just for scooters. and they make good use of it. scooters zoomed along in an endless procession, hundreds, thousands of them, like a military convoy. if tensions between Taiwan and the mainland ever do erupt into actual combat, Taipei will be prepared with its Scooter Cavalry, a highly trained moped force, able to harass and annoy anyone, friend or foe. i finally gave up on the picturesque river walk, managed to find a pedestrian walkway across the scooter highway (literally going through a hole cut in the concrete barricade under an overpass, wandered dazed and confused for another hour, past small urban temples, where the familiar scent of incense temporarily stilled the stale city smells, through outdoor nightmarkets just beginning to come to life. i found a cool shirt for 100 NT (about $3.30 american), a CD with a picture of beautiful Chinese women holding traditional instruments (can't go wrong with a picture like that), and eventually found the Longshan Temple MRT stop. Longshan Temple seemed to be more of a city plaza, with the trappings of traditional Chinese temple architecture, but done in modern materials, concrete, steel and green-hued plate glass. no incense burning here. i descended into the comforting underworld, so quiet compared to the Land Where Scooters Rule aboveground. the Taiwanese highspeed trains are amazing, so quiet, efficient. the only jarring note is the electronic signal when the train doors are about to close: like a 1950s raygun sound from a bad sci-fi movie. all in all, taipei is not as easy to get around compared to hong kong, but i am finding pockets of cool and interesting culture. most of the people i met don't speak english (except for one very nice gentleman i met on the MRT who directed me to the transfer train to get to Zhongshan, where i had hoped to find the Living Room on Nanjing Road East...another failed endeavor, as i ended up in a rabbit warren of sidestreets filled with clubs that sounded like hip jazz clubs but were in reality some kind of topless/hostess/karaoke schtick for lonely businessman), and the street names in english vary from map to map and sign to sign, so no one is clear what street you are asking for unless you can show them the chinese characters (note to self: learn chinese or get a native speaker to write down street names in chinese before going out). it's definitely a place that needs more time to explore than my short 3-day junket. my first night, i managed to get to Brown Sugar, the main jazz/funk/soul nightclub and talked with the band. they seemed to be the house band, backing up an American soul/disco diva named Paula Michelle. they invited me to sit in on monday (i guess it's more of a laid-back jam night than the weekend), which has been my general modus operandi in Asia to meet players and learn about the music scene here, so all the difficulties in getting to the club seemed worth it.

4/28/08 it is about 10:30pm on monday. quite a day. i am relaxing now in my fancy room at the Hotel Taipa Square, on Taipa island in Macau...oh boy, too much to reconstruct... i left my little room in the Chung Kiu Guesthouse in Hong Kong Mansion in Causeway Bay, about 11am, took the MTR to Sheung Wa, the last stop on the Blue Line, where the Ferry to Macau is. $134 HK got me a ticket on the TurboJet. i buckled up, ate my chiffon banana cake (basically like angel food cake), and watched the HK island give way to the south china coastline. this went on for a half hour, misty green hills studded with creamy white boulders, then the open water. i was surprised how much stuff was floating by, mostly clumps of seagrass, but also trash from humans, all the way to Macau. i dozed off for a minute and suddenly awoke when the boat revved down the engines to come into harbor. we disembarked, i pored over my Lonely Planet guide while waiting to get through customs, then went to an ATM. the directions were hard to follow, but i was able to figure out i had the choice of 100 MOP, or 500, so i took the latter. it came out as one bill. about the same rate as HK dollars (i later learned you can use HK dollars n most laces in Macau). i thought about taking a cab to the low-rent area, but i didn't want to hand him a 500 MOP bill. i wandered outside to see if i could buy something, but there wasn't much aound except for hawkers sticking handbills in my face and yelling "Taxi?!" i didn't want to deal with them so i pulled my little rolling bag (with my soprano case strapped on top), down a ramp. i thought it might lead toward town, but instead i came out in a bus parking lot. a guy was holding up a sign that said "Free Buss To Venetian Hotel" and pointing toward the bus. from my map it looked like all the casinos were in one area, and from there i could hoof it to the cheaper hotels, so i got on the bus. we set off, heading toward town. you're a genius Paul, i thought to myself. then, just as the bus neared the casino strip, it made an elaborate U-turn and headed onto a causeway bridge. now i was somewhat disoriented. i knew we were going to another chunk of land. maybe macau was just a bunch of peninsulas, but i didn't think so. sure enough, when we arrived, it became apparent that the Venetian Hotel was a new mega-casino in Taipa. oh well. i got off the bus, pulled my roller across the parking lot, as everyone else headed toward the hotel lobby, and struck off for the skyline, a mix of old buildings and, behind them, high rise apartment buildings. i followed signs to Taipa Village, which was a set of old small structures from Portuguese colonial days. i went the wrong way and ended up in a park, retraced my steps and entered the old town. very cool. cobblestone streets, back alleys, then a main drag full of restaurants and people hanging out. most of the restaurants were closing up (2:30pm, time for siesta), but one place called Fringi's was still serving. the woman, Margaret Yeung, was very nice. Her husband Francis Souza runs the place, and his nickname is Frangi. i had the lunch special, filet of sole with mushroom sauce, spaghetti with oil & garlic, and a cup of Earl Grey tea. it was deeeelicious. i explained to Margaret that i had just arrived and was looking for an inexpensive place to stay. she used to be a travel agent, and her eyes lit up at the prospect of working her magic. she got on the phone and came back to tell me that the Grand Hotel had a room for 650 MOP, but if i went through a travel agent (back at the wharf in Macau) it was only 450. i didn't really want to go all the way back to Macau at this point, but i felt bad after all her efforts so i decided just to walk to the Grand and take the higher price for a night. as i rolled my bag down the sidewalk, i thought "mabe i can find an internet cafe, book my own reservation and get the lower price." brilliant. i followed margaret's directions and promptly got lost. i wandered through various neighborhoods, past school kids getting out of school, women carrying groceries home, and after about 15 minutes came around a corner and saw a Best Western hotel, but a really fancy one. i went into the lobby, plopped down on a swell leather couch, got out my macbook, and went to work. after 20 frustrating minutes (all the hotels were booked, or they needed 2 days advance for internet reservations), i gave up on the Best Western and everything else, except one place came up as available: Hotel Taipa Square, on Rua de Chaves. i filled out all the info, including my credit card # and clicked OK. they said a confirmation email would go to me. i checked my email. their email said, "we are working on your reservation; it may take up to 24 hours." not so good. i packed up my stuff and rolled on down the road, figuring the hotel would be back toward Old Taipa. after getting lost again, rolling my back past many quizzical locals, i found another hotel and asked the doorman for directions. he was a very nice young chinese gentleman, and pointed me in the right direction (i wasn't far off) and i was soon there, along with 100 chinese tourists, whose bus had just arrived. however, after a 15 minute wait, the desk clerk, a nice chinese gentleman who spoke english very well, with a cockney accent, said he couldn't find my reservation, but there was a room available, for 600 MOPS. i took it. after filling out the paperwork, he handed me my key and, as an afterthought, mentioned that there was some renovations going on, so there would be "a certain amount of noise." as i expected, when i got to my room, the walls were literally vibrating from jackhammers and rivet guns. of course, of course. but i had a room all to myself. it just sounded like i was back in hong kong. i took a hot shower, hung up my wet clothes (from the laundry i did last night at Hong Kong Mansion), after asking the front desk if they had laundry facilities (no they did not - they send out to a laundry service for the guests). i dressed and hit the streets, ending up back in old Taipa after getting lost a few times. but now i knew the way, and Taipa was starting to feel like an old friend. i ate dinner at trendy bistro called E.S. Kimo. i had the curried pork chop and lemon mango tea. the curry was a little spicy, but there was enough rice to tone it down. all the dishes seemed to come with half a preserved egg. but i was an old hand with those, so i neatly broke it into manageable chunks & mixed it into the rice. Mmmmm! after dinner i strolled through old Taipa toward the newer casino strip, on which the Venetian held pride of place. i passed an ice cream shop that i had stopped at earlier in the day (when i asked the counter girl if she knew anyplace that had wi-fi. she looked at me blankly and said "no english"). the same counter girl was there, a plump cute chinese girl with hair dyed auburn. i suddenly had an urge for an ice cream. there were sorbets, mousse, and something called serruda, which turned out to be basically mousse with a little flavored powder sprinkled on top. i had a coffee serruda and it hit the spot after all that curry. i strolled through the alleys between the small mildewed pastel houses, eating my cup of serruda with a tiny spoon. the town passes by a square, after the shops with their bright neon and blinking lights. here it is even more old-world. old men play games like dominoes, old women gossip, and some young group was practicing in the open space of the square (later i realized they were training with chinese swords). i wended my way back past the park with its large pond of water lilies and wild grasses, crossed the big street and went into the lobby of the Venetian. guards in yellow jackets and black pants maintained strategic positions throughout the property. my visceral musician/cockroach instinct was to act invisible, expecting to be stopped at any moment. but i drew no notice, and ambled on through the huge ostentatious lobby to the huge ostentatious mall walkway, and into the ridiculously huge ostentatious casino proper. yes it's bigger than Vegas. they pulled out all the stops as far as size and architectural hubris. later, walking around the outside of the complex, i realized that it is a fullscale replica of many of the buildings in Venice (unlike the Vegas down-sized versions of the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building). the sheer scale of it all, the amount of materials, natural resources and labor involved, is quite nauseating. i found i little to no desire to actually gamble. i wanted to find the music. there was a stage area, but nothing was going on there. i took the escalator (semi-circular escalators, imitating those sweeping staircases of yore!) to the second level, gawking at the ceiling full of renaissance knock-off paintings), and asked 2 security guards about the music. between them they had enough english to indicate that music started at 9pm. it was only 8:45 so i strolled around the canal area, an indoor stream that circles the 2nd floor, replete with gondolas and gondoliers which you can rent for a short ride and photo op. the ceiling above was painted blue with small puffy clouds, and lit to appear realistic. i had seen this effect already in Vegas, so i guess it is now standard casino chic. downstairs again, i had the first of my evening's three encounters with strange woman. from my peripheral vision i noticed a woman moving in my direction. it wasn't until she rubbed herself against my arm that i realized she had singled me out. she was a very cute chinese woman, glamorous in an understated way, and she smiled and said to me: "Massage?" I noticed she was holding a pad of paper and a cellphone. For some reason these details made the whole enterprise seem very complicated. I stalled for time and said back to her: "Massage?" She nodded and explained: "You want massage?" Yes, yes my soul cried. But I politely shook my head and murmured: "I guess not." She maintained her poise, balanced between seduction and business, smiled and said., "Okay, luck to you," as she moved on to other prospects. i gave a feeble wave of farewell. nine o'clock came and went and the bandstand remained empty. i figured either there was another secret bandstand somewhere on the premises, or more likely there was only music on the weekends. while i was ruminating, two cute chinese women passed me. i recognized them from earlier in the evening, because one had said "hello" to me, practicing her english i figured. now she recognized me and we smiled at each other. they approached. "Where you from?" the talkative one asked. she had long wavy hair while her silent companion had long straight hair. "U.S.A. Texas," i explained. "You play casino?" the talker continued her interrogation. "No, i came for the music," i replied. "You play casino, i help," miss talker went on with her sales pitch. help me lose my money, i thought. we chatted in this way for a few minutes, her trying to convince me that i should let her help me gamble, me asking if she knew where the music in the casino was happening. i managed to explain to her that i was playing music in hong kong, that i had friends playing music here and that i wanted to find them. "You friends play casino? i help." her name, appropriately enough, was Join, and she hailed from Nanking. as far as i could understand, she and her sister (the silent one, who didn't speak any english), were staying in macau or living there indefinitely. we agreed that if i found my friends in macau, i would call her so that she could help them "play casino." meantime, i gave her my card with my website and she said she would "listen my music." two pros at work, that was us. my final female encounter of the evening came after i left the casino. i walked out the main lobby, and then had to circle around to the west side to head back to old Taipa. on the way i passed groundspeople wearing surgical masks and straw coolie hats, emptying trash cans, sweeping up stray bits of nature that had blown onto the fantasy complex. then i came upon a fullscale replica of the tower in the piazza of St.Peter, the one where Casanova was held prisoner. but this one had an escalator going up into it. i took it up and discovered the tower was merely a connecting passageway to more of the casino strip. maybe the tower itself held offices, rooms full of accountants adding up casino receipts, held prisoner not by order of the Vatican but the almighty dollar. the pond was full of chirping and croaking things as i retraced my way back. so far i had only seen one mosquito, and i had slacked off in my resolve to marinate in bug repellent to avoid malaria, dengue fever, and all the other horrible pitfalls of travel that the nurse back in Austin had warned me of while jabbing me with vaccines. but my luck for the journey held, and i remained mosquito-bite-free. the road back went through a traffic roundabout with an ingenious twist. in the middle of the roundabout was a plaza, with a fountain, accessed by underground walkways. i thought i was walking into a parking garage but it was merely a concrete throughway supported by concrete pillars, going under the street and coming out into the plaza. in the U.S. this dark underground corridor would have raised my hackles, but here people were walking their dogs, women were sitting chatting, and school kids were making their way home after a pretty late evening (it was about 10:30 by now). i also passed a park with a cool innovation, one which will no doubt hit the U.S. in a few years: sturdy metal gym equipment, exercise machines that one sees in the trendy membership gyms, but available to all in this public park, painted bright yellow, and looking as fun to use as swingsets and jungle gyms. i was close to my hotel when i passed a cute chinese woman pulling down the metal shutter of her shop. i passed on by, but then noticed she had stopped and was shaking the shutter. it seemed to be stuck halfway down. i hesitated, then figured, why not, and approached her, making pulling gestures to ask if she needed help. she shook her head, but then pointed at something on the ledge of the shutter. it was a dead sparrow. "i cannot!" she exclaimed. i looked at her blankly, and she pointed at the dead bird again, hugged herself and made shivering motions. either the bird made her cold or afraid. gallantly i found a piece of paper lying on the sidewalk, scooped the sparrow up in it (visions of avian bird flu notwithstanding), and deposited it some feet away behind a potted plant. the woman was overwhelmed with gratitude. "thank you! thank you!" she repeated, bowing profusely. i bowed back, saying it was nothing, nothing at all, my pleasure, etc., etc. it turned out she spoke english fairly well. her name was Kitty ("like Hello Kitty" she explained with a smile), and she ran a cellphone & sim card store. she knew a number of musicians & singers who came to Macau to perform, and got their local sim cards and phones from her. i gave her my card, she pledged that she would remember me forever for my fortuitous appearance in her time of need (evidently she was afraid not only of dead birds, but live ones as well. not mice, not rats, not even bats, but only birds. interesting...), and she promised to look into the casino music schedule and email me her findings. all the while bobbing her cute pageboy haircut and smiling. we said our goodnights, and i wended my way home, feeling the hero, rescuer of damsels beset by dead sparrows.

It is May 1 here in Hong Kong. A big holiday, so many visitors from mainland China. I had spent several days in Macau, and when I returned to HK is was hard to find cheap accomodations. All the guesthouses listed in the Lonely Planet guidebook were filled, but I finally got lucky: At the last guesthouse I tried, 2 other tourists were talking with the landlady. She was booked up, but she called a friend who worked for a guy who owned some apartments, etc., etc.. I ended up in a 7th floor room with a bed one step up from an army cot, a shared bathroom, usually occupied by some mysterious guy with a smoker's hack, and I was damn grateful to be there! The ferry from Hong Kong to Macau only takes an hour and costs about $20 U.S. A very cool excursion. The old Portuguese settlements are now totally surrounded by huge apartment buildings, and the coastal land is being engulfed by mega casinos, but the whole experience is somehow magical. I got back to HK in time to get to the Gecko Bar in the Mid-Levels area, and jam with great jazz players in a tiny, ridiculously cramped but boisterous room. Many beers later I found one of the ubiquitous red & white Toyota cabs, and wended my way back to Causeway Bay. I was on my little cot before 5am, and got a good 5 hours sleep before my flat-mates (the hacking smoker, and a Bengali family visiting on business), began the morning noise rituals. I'm going to miss Hong Kong!

After 10 days here in Hong Kong I have somewhat settled in, developing those daily habits which we all need, no matter where we find ourselves. It's easy to walk to places here, once you get used to the hilly crowded streets and thick air. The Mid-Levels Escalator is a good landmark, and my mental map of the island centers on it. You go down it to get to the MTR Central station (the underground train), and from there you can hop over to Kowloon, or head to the eastern or western parts of Hong Kong island. My friends here keep telling me to check out the outlying islands, a nice change of pace from crowded HK. So far I have just seen Lantau island, where the airport is located. I have locked in to the Mid-Levels area, playing with great musicians here, since a lot of the nightlife is jammed into this part of town. It's a little like Manhattan's East Village. Some of the clubs with good live music are: Vibe, Peel Fresco, Makumba, The Cavern, and the Melting Pot. It would be easy to spend every night just hitting the clubs in Mid-Levels, but I heard of some joints in the Wanchai area, so I hope to make it over there soon. This week I traded the bustle of Hong Kong for the bustle of Bangkok, a whirlwind 3-day expedition that left me exhausted but wanting more. Bangkok is to Hong Kong as Los Angeles is to Manhattan, spread out with no discernible urban planning. My indispensable native guide Linda found us a good deal at a boutique hotel called Siam on Siam, across from National Stadium, and right next to the Sky Train. The Sky Train is the best way to get around during the day when traffic congestion is at its worst. By night the cute pink cabs can actually get around, and they are cheap. The first night we checked out the Bamboo Bar, a swank jazz lounge located in the Oriental Hotel. The house band is comprised of a stoic Russian combo, excellent musicians all, who back up touring jazz divas. The sax player Marat told me they have had the gig nightly for 10 years now. Nice work if you can get it! The current diva was Frankye Kelly, a wonderful vocalist with hints of Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, who hails from the Bay Area back in the U.S. of A. She is in residence at the Bamboo Bar until June. She welcomed me to sit in with my trustworthy soprano sax, and we traipsed through some classics like "The Nearness of You," "Take The A Train" and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise." Good stuff. The next night, after a ridiculously pampering 2-hour traditional thai massage (check out Healthland Spa when you make it to Bangkok), we hit the Saxophone Pub, which lives up to its name. It looks humble from the outside, but inside it is a 2-level rambling refuge for bohemians of all stripes, dark wood with all kinds of music-related paraphernalia nailed, hung and strewn about. The food was great (spicy just to the point where I felt like a lightweight), the musicians were heavy hitters, and the Tiger beer came in ceramic horn-shaped mugs that made you want to toast Odin. The first band warmed up the club with classic swing, then guitarist/vocalist Osoth, a.k.a. Hank The Groove, bumped up the energy with a fantastic ensemble that dipped into classic soul/funk/fusion. All the players had impressive chops, but solos by the the drummer and congero were pretty jaw-dropping. Hank was nice enough to invite me up to jam on "Pick Up The Pieces," and we closed the joint down, drinking more Tiger beer and talking jazz.

International Man of Mystery & Music After years of talking about it (until close friends rolled their eyes), I finally put together a trip to Asia. Stops will include Hong Kong, the Philippines, mainland China, and Taiwan. I plan to catch up with old friends, expats from the U.S. who have made their home overseas, and check out the various music scenes going on. It will be a mix of ethnomusicological fact-finding, meeting and jamming with various musicians, learning new music and writing new tunes, and hopefully establishing ongoing musical and cultural connections. I plan to bring back new ideas and directions for my music from this adventure. I think it will be an exciting spring & summer. While I'm gone, my band Manteca Beat will continue the regular Wednesday happy shows at Roux (214 E. 6th st.), with my great sax-compatriot Mark Kazanoff filling in for me, along with Rodney Craig on drums, Larry Eisenberg on bass, and Adam Sultan on guitar. -PK

I have been in Hong Kong about 5 days now, just getting used to the island and the constant bustle. As I said to a few people, it is like a mixture of Manhattan, San Francisco and Istanbul. I'm staying in the Mid-Levels, which is up and up the hill from the harbor about halfway. There is a central staircase and escalator (I think it's the longest continuous escalator in the world), though the escalator stops running after about midnight, just when one is staggering home from the bars. I found some great musicians and party animals at a jazz club called Vibe, and jammed on some standards with them. There are many little cafes tucked away in the winding streets and alleyways. Each night I discover a few more. The weather is a little sticky and warm, sort of like Texas in June. A typhoon was predicted for this weekend, but so far it has only brought a cooling light rain. The air quality is a little funky due to the heavy industry pollution blowing in from southern China. Hong Kong itself doesn't spew out much in the way of factory fumes, but the car & bus exhaust tends to hang in the air. It takes a little getting used to. Between that and my initial jetlag, the first couple days were a bit surreal. The food is great. I have been pretty conservative so far, mainly noodle bowls and dim sum. There is an amazing array of street food like grilled octopus, stinky tofu, fish balls, and various internal organs of various animals prepared in various ways. So far I have resisted the urgings of my local friends here to indulge in these delicacies... Speaking of food, I think it's time to get away from the computer and hit the streets. There's a place nearby with great seafood congee, or so I am told.... -PK

SXSW 2008 swept through town, leaving most of us with a persistent ringing in our ears.  I only was able to check out a few out-of-town bands, because the week just got too busy, playing with Memphis Train Revue, Golden Arm Trio, Alpine Express, The No Salvation Army Band, PK Sax, and my compatriots in Manteca Beat.

Thanks to the folks at Roux Resaturant (214 E. 6th st.) for their enthusiasm.  Manteca Beat played 3 times there during the SXSW week, and it was a really good fit.  The New Orleans atmosphere, cajun/creole menu, and laid-back party attitude made it a pleasure to play our own mix of blues/jazz/latin/cabaret music for the people.  Manteca Beat starts a regular Wednesday happy hour at Roux this.  Come on down and feed your need.

 [For a fuller description of the SXSW 2008 week, check out my blog page. - PK]

Even though it has been really cold & rainy for what seems like endless days and nights, the beat goes on.  I am working on the next Manteca Beat album, booking shows for my groups Manteca Beat and PK Sax around Texas, and playing in all the various nooks and crannies of Austin that feature live music, with various groups.

Check out Memphis Train Revue when we play Speakeasy, which is usually once a month on a Friday.  Great dance music from a great band which tries to do justice to classic Motown, soul & funk.

Also, the last Monday of every month I play at the Elephant Room with the Austin Jazz Band.  The AJB is a big band made up of some of the best jazz players in Austin.  Showtime is always 7-9pm.

Please check my calendar for other shows.  Even though I have been cutting back on the coffee, I try to stay alert, do my obligatory data entry, and keep things updated.

Ciao for now, and stay warm!

Manteca Beat has gone international.  Toronto Exclusive Magazine held an awards ceremony in October and Manteca Beat won in two categories: 

1) Best International Blues Group;

2) Best International Blues CD/Album.

Check out T.E.M. at http://www.torontoexclusive.com/awards/internationalnominees.html

Thanks to Peekaboo, Ruben, and all the artistes involved in the Dos Equis burlesque campaign. We had a wild time introducing the masses to the art of the tease, and the art of the grease (courtesy of my tenor sax). Stay tuned for more details and pics.

the new website is up and running.. hooray! let us know what you think via the form on the contact page

After years of talking about it (until close friends rolled their eyes), I finally put together a trip to Asia. Stops will include Hong Kong, the Philippines, mainland China, and Taiwan. I plan to catch up with old friends, expats from the U.S. who have made their home overseas, and check out the various music scenes going on. It will be a mix of ethnomusicological fact-finding, meeting and jamming with various musicians, learning new music and writing new tunes, and hopefully establishing ongoing musical and cultural connections. I plan to bring back new ideas and directions for my music from this adventure. I think it will be an exciting spring & summer. While I'm gone, my band Manteca Beat will continue the regular Wednesday happy shows at Roux (214 E. 6th st.), with my great sax-compatriot Mark Kazanoff filling in for me, along with Rodney Craig on drums, Larry Eisenberg on bass, and Adam Sultan on guitar. -PK

After years of talking about it (until close friends rolled their eyes), I finally put together a trip to Asia. Stops will include Hong Kong, the Philippines, mainland China, and Taiwan. I plan to catch up with old friends, expats from the U.S. who have made their home overseas, and check out the various music scenes going on. It will be a mix of ethnomusicological fact-finding, meeting and jamming with various musicians, learning new music and writing new tunes, and hopefully establishing ongoing musical and cultural connections. I plan to bring back new ideas and directions for my music from this adventure. I think it will be an exciting spring & summer. While I'm gone, my band Manteca Beat will continue the regular Wednesday happy shows at Roux (214 E. 6th st.), with my great sax-compatriot Mark Kazanoff filling in for me, along with Rodney Craig on drums, Larry Eisenberg on bass, and Adam Sultan on guitar. -PK

After years of talking about it (until close friends rolled their eyes), I finally put together a trip to Asia. Stops will include Hong Kong, the Philippines, mainland China, and Taiwan. I plan to catch up with old friends, expats from the U.S. who have made their home overseas, and check out the various music scenes going on. It will be a mix of ethnomusicological fact-finding, meeting and jamming with various musicians, learning new music and writing new tunes, and hopefully establishing ongoing musical and cultural connections. I plan to bring back new ideas and directions for my music from this adventure. I think it will be an exciting spring & summer. While I'm gone, my band Manteca Beat will continue the regular Wednesday happy shows at Roux (214 E. 6th st.), with my great sax-compatriot Mark Kazanoff filling in for me, along with Rodney Craig on drums, Larry Eisenberg on bass, and Adam Sultan on guitar. -PK

the new Manteca Beat CD is out and available at CD Baby... It features 14 cool tracks, all with a little grease. Get your copy today!

I have been in Hong Kong about 5 days now, just getting used to the island and the constant bustle. As I said to a few people, it is like a mixture of Manhattan, San Francisco and Istanbul. I'm staying in the Mid-Levels, which is up and up the hill from the harbor about halfway. There is a central staircase and escalator (I think it's the longest continuous escalator in the world), though the escalator stops running after about midnight, just when one is staggering home from the bars. I found some great musicians and party animals at a jazz club called Vibe, and jammed on some standards with them. There are many little cafes tucked away in the winding streets and alleyways. Each night I discover a few more. The weather is a little sticky and warm, sort of like Texas in June. A typhoon was predicted for this weekend, but so far it has only brought a cooling light rain. The air quality is a little funky due to the heavy industry pollution blowing in from southern China. Hong Kong itself doesn't spew out much in the way of factory fumes, but the car & bus exhaust tends to hang in the air. It takes a little getting used to. Between that and my initial jetlag, the first couple days were a bit surreal. The food is great. I have been pretty conservative so far, mainly noodle bowls and dim sum. There is an amazing array of street food like grilled octopus, stinky tofu, fish balls, and various internal organs of various animals prepared in various ways. So far I have resisted the urgings of my local friends here to indulge in these delicacies... Speaking of food, I think it's time to get away from the computer and hit the streets. There's a place nearby with great seafood congee, or so I am told.... -PK