We're settling in to our Oakland existence for real now. LOVE it here!!! Much has been gained by being in close proximity to the bulk of my musical collaborators. And speaking of one of them, drummer/percussionist Sam Ospovat and I have completed our duo recording, Passwords, which we've elected to release solely on bandcamp (this online music distribution site). The whole album of 7 tracks will sell for a mere $5. It features some originals (including some freely-improvised stuff), jazz standards, etc. We're releasing it on Nov.1, mostly because I made the licenses for the rights to the 3 standards we do start on Nov.1, for no good reason. But the website is already up, though not yet visible to all. As to other collaborators, The Holly Martins (Vogler,Knudsen,Benedict) have been hard at work on some new material, some of which we premiered at a recent show at the Jazzschool. We're set to do a few more gigs before the end of the year, one of which will feature us playing the music of SOMEONE ELSE. On the listening front, I've been completely obsessed recently with the late great MC Big Punisher (aka Big Pun); CHECK HIM OUT ON YOUTUBE NOW!!! Also from that same idiom, I'm realizing even more the magnitude of the genius of J. Dilla; I'm convinced that he will be viewed as the Mozart of our time, say, 100 years from now. And then I've been digging WAY into Franz Schubert. Endless!!!!!