Off To The Monterey Jazz Festival

Blogging will be light this weekend as 3/4ths of the Holy Coast clan will be headed to Monterey for the "Next Generation" weekend of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Every year the top high school jazz bands audition to get a spot at the festival, and for the first time, they've invited six junior high bands to perform. My son's band from La Paz Junior High in Mission Viejo auditioned and won a coveted spot on the program. They'll perform on Sunday morning.

I'll have the trusty laptop with me in case inspiration strikes, but I wouldn't expect a bunch of political stuff here until Monday.

For nearly 31 years I've spent part or all of the majority of weekends during the year packing up my stuff and heading off to sing somewhere. As much as I enjoyed that, I'm doing it a lot less this year and have found it's kind of fun to stay home once in awhile. Slowing down my performing schedule has also given me the opportunity to travel with my kids to their performances, and I enjoy that as much as singing myself. Last fall my son and I traveled up to Concord to see my daughter march in the State Band Finals with the Mission Viejo High School band, and now we get to see the boy perform in Monterey.

Maybe I better keep the bus after all.