News February-March 2009 The New Breed Jazz Jam Session, which has existed in Madison for years and years, moves to the Cabana Room, under Samba on Gilman Street. I have been asked to be the group's full-time drummer, after splitting the job for a couple of years. Beginning January 21, and now extended in perpetuity, or at least until we hear otherwise, the show starts at 9pm om Wednesdays with a set from the New Breed Quintet, and continues until 11:30 with jammers playing with the band. No cover! January 2009 The Active Percussion Duo has teamed up with the Madison Children's Museum for an exhibit of unique and newly created interactive percussion instruments. The exhibit will be open from Monday, January 5th at least until Saturday, January 10th and perhaps longer. The Active Percussion Duo will present a concert that will include these instruments on Saturday, January 10th, at 2:00PM at the Chlidren's Museum. Geoff's contribution is called the "Table of Wonder" and Michael's is "The Drums of Mystery." So go check 'em out with your kids. November 2008 The new CD, Sharing a Head, from Amy Curl and Dan Kennedy has finally been released. I play drums on the disc, which was recorded at Smart Studios here in Madison. I am particularly fond of the material on this disc because I was involved in co-writing the tunes with Dan, Amy, and Sean Michael Dargan (who plays bass on the disc) in some workshop-type sessions that we did a while back.   November 2008 The Madison for World Health CD is out. I'm playing on the tracks by Eric Hester, Mark Croft, and Curl-Kennedy. It's a benefit CD to support those touched by AIDS/HIV, Malaria, and TB in Madison, Africa and beyond. Their web site is www.madisonforworldhealth.com. The CD release show, which it looks like I won't be able to play due to prior commitments, will be at the Majestic Theater here in Madison on December 6th.   November 2008 I have signed on to play drums for the new show "Blasphemy" from the creators of "Walmartopia." This three act musical, written by Andrew Rohm and Catherine Capellaro, will be at the Bartell Theater in Madison every weekend in January 2009. The band also includes Biff Blumfumgagnge and Drew Szabo.   October 2008 My friend Charlie Kohlhase asked me to arrange three Tomato Box pieces for the group he directs at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge Massachusetts, as a featured composer for their Fall semester. I settled on three works that were intended for Tomato Box but have as yet not been recorded, including: Systems Consideration, The Brightness of These Surfaces, and Earnest Teen Anthem. All of these were written in 2003, or before, and haven't really gotten much attention since then. It was good to revisit them in this way. In fact I have been inspired to do some more arranging of older works and additional writing for a larger ensemble, working title: the Tomato Box Ten. So that may appear on the horizon at some point.