i am shutting down this post in a month or so... please go to http://panland.ning.com to view teh new pan social network

News Years Day 2012! This is a list of projects for me: lose 10 lbs, finish book 2 of christmas favorites, finish redoing book 1 of christmas favorites, write 25 new arrangements of stel drum band tunes, record 2 new cds, finsih praise songs book 2, finsih book 7 of pan tunes. of course the most difficult of these will be the 10 lbs. got to hit the gym this year and play more golf, eat less garbage, and etc..

Christmas time

Hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone. We were snowless here in Haven and the weather has been very mild, great for travel. It was the first year that one child was not at home, very strange...guess that's what happens when life goes on.

I was able to get a few arrangements done and am still toiling away on "the big 5" commission. five different setting for steel drum band and some sort of vocal accompaniment. very "out of my box"...to say the least.

Tropical Shores is putting out another CD called "Steel Drum Paradise" soon... maybe by new years day.

four days off

I had over 4 days off over this thanksgiving holiday and i was able to get a lot of time of the music making machine.. new arrangements of percussion ensembles, a few new singles, and 2 new steel drum band arrangements... not bad for an old guy.

i also got to help jaimie set her gigmasters page for her band (Island shores steel drum band) out of KC. I wish i could have started when she is starting and had the tunes that she has. she also has located some other players in the KC area which should be fun for her. pretty sure she can get some good gigs...maybe she will hire ME now.

Thanksgiving energy

Got a boost of energy lately (maybe because of Thanksgiving) and did a few new arrangements. mostly Christmas oriented due to the time of year, but also some new single playalongs including "Pan in A minor". i really like that tune and it could be one of my new favs.

working to get my daughters steel drum band "Island steel" off the ground and running...seems like she has decided that she is ready to gig.

new look for an old book

I have just recently finished revamping pan tunes 1 with all the sheet music being upgraded to match the already revamped mp3 files. feels good to have it all look the same. now on to the other books. lots of work to do.

i did also manage to write a few new arrangements of christmas songs and some other like "oye como va". "comfort and joy" is my favorite and my steel drum band is playing it right now.

received a big commission work from a good friend in VA which will involve putting vocal parts to a few songs. this will be a new frontier for me but i am looking forward to starting it.

marching season over now and on to concert, jazz, and pep band season.

new stuff

new christmas tunes and a few new regular tunes are on the website. still working on new christmas playalong book though. marching season starting to draw to a close..