Jam Camp 2007!

Okay readers, if I say that this past week was amazing, I think it'd probably be the understatement of the decade. But it really was! AMAZING! This is what Jam Camp is: Sponsored by The Music School, Jam Camp is a program that focuses on Jazz and Rock music. Professional musicians come for a week and teach the students how to jam. Held at the wonderful music facilities down at Snow College, the music is free to fly.

In other words, you pay to go play with musicians who have recorded and are professional. Throughout the week, they get to know you on a first name basis. Its really cool.

Every night the faculty put on a concert, and they were ALL amazing! I can't even begin to describe how it felt in that concert hall every night. The personal energy was mind blowing.

Who was the faculty anyways. Huge names like:
Wycliffe Gordon
John Beasley
Ron Blake
Brian Bromberg
Corey Christiansen
Chris Slade
And some not so big names, but awesome anyways:
Kelly Fox
John Rhodes
Chris Merritt
Mike Tobian

So Yeah, It was sick, playin' with these cats! (Sorry 'bout the Jazz Lingo, been talkin' it all week!)
So of course I'd take my camera. Here's a Plethora of photos that I took (not even close to all of 'em though. . . . only the best!!):

The first sign we saw at Snow College, indicating
that we needed to angle park.

The first friend we made at Jam Camp while waiting
in the registration line: Charlotte.

My bed in our apartment. Notice said PJ's and said hippo.
(Inside Joke. . . .)

This is an example of actually Jammin'. During sax master class
we were playing long tones. There's me in the background!

Jake Veeloo (spelling?)
Need I say more. . . .Yes?
Okay, he's one of the best "young" sax players in Utah.
You could say he's an Idol for me. . .

This is a rare photo of Ron Blake, Bari Sax player for the Saturday
Night Live Jazz Band, playing the piano. Crazy musicians!

John Beasley has a lot under his belt. Not only did he record the piano parts
for numerous movies including "Finding Nemo" and " A Bug's Life" but also does a lot
with the American Idol band. He's a pretty big name! A good man!

This is Tyson, James, Ron and I after one of the "Nightly Jam Sessions."

Another rare shot of a musician playing an instrument of his own, Wycliffe
Gordon is actually quite good at playing the drums.

Now this is an interesting character: Brian Bromberg. Brian is probably the
best bass player I've ever heard. He's played with Horace Silver,
Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, etc. Excellent!

A beautiful pose by me. NOT! :)

This is a long story. It involves a PB&J sandwich and Wycliffe Gordon. Ask
me to tell you sometime!

These musician's really don't like to play their own instruments.
This is Corey on a bass guitar.

My hair was hot that day.

Okay, this one's a bit hard to see, but I'll explain. The drum instructor was the
legendary Chris Slade. For those of you who don't know who he is, he's
the drummer for the band AC/DC. Need I say more?

Jonathan Lindberg. . . another great young sax player I look up to

This is my new found friend Jessica. She plays Alto too. We
were in the same "Big Band." Good Player!

This is McKay and I standing with Sir Gordon. McKay didn't go to Jam Camp,
and he missed out big time. (Gotta rub it in more McKay! haha!)

Our final performance! This is our Big Band playing "Pass the Peas." The
close to an amazing week!

So that's just a taster for all ya'll! You can never know what its really like though 'till you experience it, so go next year! It's worth EVERY PENNY! If you wanna see more pics, talk to me, I've got plenty.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I"ll be thinking about this for a long time. Aspire Higher! Yay! for professional musicians!

Brayden

I'm Leaving. . .

Well folks, Summer is here, which means that summer camp is here. Tomorrow, (Sunday) I report to Camp Maple Dell up Payson canyon for a few weeks. Next week is "Staff Week" where everyone on staff trains, and then the scouts pour in. I'm home on Saturdays. So yeah. . . .I'll talk to everyone when I do. :)

PROM!!!!

No, thank YOU!!! It was amazing and I had an incredible time with you, Brayden! Everything was perfect... and you're just wonderful! *big hug* <3 ya!!!

My Job?

So, I've already done a blog on my job before. . . .that was when I loved it. After about two months of working at OfficeMax, I believe I'm starting to dislike it more and more (some days). Why is that?

I'm pretty sure it has to do with how my day at work goes, EVERY SINGLE DAY!! I walk in, (dreading what will happen again) and Danny will tell me I need to face the back isles. Facing is not fun at all, its the process of walking thourhg and checking that every item is hwere it suold be and pulled out and re stocked. Sometimes I get to sell in "UPS" areas, but not much. These are the days when I hate my job.

Then there are other days, like today, where work was fine. We did freight, but for some reason, I wasn't miserable.

I think there are some days where I am happy, and some days I hate becuase of the people I'm working with. I tend to find that working with Danny, I don't really like those day, but working with Andrea or Becca, its a lot better. Kinda crazy.

So thats that.

HDTV

Okay, its been a while, so here it goes: Last year, back in October, we decided to remodel our family room. New paint, new furniture and new entertainment system. Everything was brand new. We got a new couch, new carpet, a new entertainment center, and best of all, a new HDTV!! I was so excited becuase the Nintendo Wii was coming out soon, and we could also have HD quailty picutre in our house, with the surroud sound and all. Well, here we are, 7 months later, and guess what: we still don't have HDTV. Nor do we have surround sound. WHY?!?!

Once, I thought about rewiring everything so that we'd at least have surround sound, but it gave me a headache, so I decided not to. I guess I'll have to wait for the pro on that one too. But surround sound is so cool.

So I've decided that basically, its on my dad's part. He's got all the money, and user accounts, and fun toys, so yeah. Like I said above, theres really nothing I can do about it. I dont think it has to do with price, becuase we just got a new lawn mower, and stuff. That has nothing to do with it, but anyways. . . . I think its just the fact that when you get an HD satelite and reciever box, you buy it on loan, which means you rent it basically. And once, I heard my dad say that he hates that. Truth is, you can't get an HD box for purchase, they are all to rent. So either we wait for HD TV (which I'd rather not do), or we rent HD TV. I acutally think that its on my dad's list of things to do right now. . . . as I type. It may be sooner than I think. It's so close, and yet so far. I'm crossing my fingers.

Band Tour!!!!

So we went on Band tour. It was AWEsome to say the least. Basically theres too many stories and things to put in a post, so if you want to hear about anything, just ask me. Like the time at the hotel on the first night when. . . nevermind, just ask me. And now. . . the pictures!

This is our lovely Red Bus, and our driver was Joe. He was awesome.

Mike right as we were leaving. . . you should have seen him at the end of the trip.

McKay in the morning. . . Lovely!

Our room, after the first night. Ask me (or Bryan, or McKay, or Jason) for the story, you'll really want to hear it.

This is how I woke up that morning, with my bed torn apart.

A sideways picture of me playing pinball in the middle of nowwhere. I almost set a high score!

Our first few minutes at Disneyland. McKay was excited. Jason wasn't. (Just kidding!)

Two very nice (and pretty *blush*) ladies sitting at a park bench. I think they were excited too.

Us heading right into the Matterhorn Mountain Cave. Its a great ride!

Us in the Middle of Disneyland. Sorry 'bout the sideways.

The same picture a few seconds later. . . notice McKays patriotism. Hahaha, just kidding!

Billboard sign for the Broadway musical: Wicked!!!!!!!

Aubree after I poked her. This was in Las Vegas.

So that was it! An awesome trip. I'm done now. Ciao!