halloween, tailgate & scarlet knights football...

Howdy folks!

Time for another written contribution to this weblog. People have been screaming for news and other things, and I am no longer capable of ignoring that. ;)

Last weekend (oct 27-29) I got a good tast of what partying in America is like. Don't worry - I didn't drink too much or anything.

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Friday 27 I went to a party with Kyle and his friends Dana and Matt (who all come from Wayne, where I stayed my first days in the U.S.). Kyle is friends with a girl, Haley, who lives just 3 blocks down the street from where I live. Haley and her friends live in this big house with a nice living room and big basement.
Anyway, I sort of knew it was going to be a halloween party, but I didn't know that the 'dressing-up' part of halloween is taken so serious here. Luckily I wasn't the only one NOT wearing a costume. Dana and Matt also didn't. Kyle grew a naughty moustache, put on a sweatshirt and big sunglasses, so he looked like the unabomber...
For the rest everybody had a costume. Some nice ones, too. One guy wore a skirt and an short shirt, put on lipstick all around his mouth and had two small tails. When I looked at him he said, "hi sweetheart, how're you?" - I said "I'm fine, honey!". Also a lot of other freaky stuff came by. Some guy told me that for girls, halloween is an excuse to dress as slutty as possible. I could see what he meant.
The thing with party's here is, whoever wants to come, comes. I guess around 1.30 am there where around 60 people in the house, really crowded. It was fun, anyway.
I woke up the other day feeling a bit sick - There's a hip thing here in New Brunswick called 'fat sandwiches'. For $5 you buy a long piece of bread, with everything (fat) on it you can imagine. When you are sober, these things don't go trough your mouth so easily. Nevertheles, after you drink a couple of beers and feel really hungry, a fat sandwich is a blessing for mankind. But the stomach still doesn't like this the next morning...

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Last sunday, oct 29, I went with friends to my first American Football game. Rutgers has one of the better college football team in the country, so it's a really big thing around here. The stadium is just a 10min drive from my house, and it's a place where 41500 people fit... Anyway, Matt (tenor sax player) invited me to go. There where plans of drinking beer and having a barbeque before the game. I thought, O.K. although I had no idea where we were going to do this. I thought at somebody's house. We met at school around 4pm, and then left with 7 people to the parking lot of the stadium. Here it became all clear to me. With big games like this, people gather on the parking lots, and setup barbeques (grills), chairs, and coolers with beers. Party on the parking lot.. how romantic! At first I found it a littlebit odd, but it turned out to be really nice! so this is called tailgate partying. Nice sausage and beer smells arise from in between the cars. caps&trunks function as tables. Matt made some really nice saugages and salsa sauce, he's a great cook.
After this happening, we took a shuttle bus to te stadium, and the good thing here is, the buses AND the football games are FREE for students! That's really nice, like the bus I take from my home to school. There's one every ten minutes (evening 20 minutes) and you just hop-on. they run till 2am every day!
The game was nice, I kinda like american football. There's a lot happening and it's really brutal! Anyway, it was nice to watch but it was damn freezin' up there!
After the game we went to a popular bar in New Brunswick called 'Harvest Moon', a really nice place. Have your I.D. ready, you're not coming in if you're not 21!

-->> look to the pictures to get an idea where I'm talking about...

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of course the music has been going on, as usual.. inredibly bizzy with too much stuff!!!
It's rather hard to find a balance between practising, jamming and going to concerts. There's just a need for everything!!!
Last week's monday I went to play on a NY jam session for the first time, in Smoke (105th st.). I knew Steve Davis was there so I thought it would be nice to see and hear him again. He was there as a guest of the John Farnsworth Quartet (Joe Farnsworth on drums, Carlton Holmes on piano, and John Webber on bass).
I played two tunes, and got good advice from steve (what to (not) do on a NY jam session).
Ben van Gelder also appeared in the club, he played a couple of tunes too. He studies at the New School in NYC.
On a jam in NY, you write your name on a list, and the session leader calls your name.
I am planning to go more often to these sessions, the drummer from my combo (Rudy Royston) goes there often to play. He's a really nice guy, and enchourages me to go with him and play. He plays now with Javon Jackson's band.
I don't have so much to add to this info, the christmas record has been cancelled and scheduled upon march or april 2007. Due to too little preparation time. There's a recording of the our first big band concert, I might put something of that in the net, although I didn't hear the recording yet.
Oh yeah, we play with the trombone group at cecil's jazz club this monday... Is going to be nice! the nicest chart is a Carl Fontana solo (on undecided - up tempo) harmonized for trombones. Everybody doodles!!
I'm thinking what to talk about right now...

I have to say I'm having a great time over here, the music is killing, the vibe is really strong. Also I met really nice people over here, both to play and to hang out with.
Conrad's dedication to teaching is overwhelming. He is giving so much!
Because there's so much to do, I don't feel homesick any time, although I have to admit I miss Afke in the first place, and my family & best friends in the second. (and the dog of course!)
I am looking forward to chrismas, and share all my new experiences here. For this is a lifetime experience! I still want to thank all the people that made this possible.

So folks, check out my pix and have fun!!
I hope you enjoy reading my concers!!

all the best, best wishes,

Vincent