Category: Out & About

It Won’t Be Long

Now, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we had just gotten to the La Quinta in Metairie and crashed out.

So, the guys got up and went to the club to set up and do a sound check. Crystal and I hung around the hotel and played on the computer and called around to see if the local stores had a Wii. We started getting hungry so we headed around town to find something to eat. Since Crystal does NOT do seafood, we had to find something that was gonna be good but the place didn’t smell of seafood at all. Kinda hard to find when you’re in Louisiana, let me tell you. So, we finally decided on Chili’s. Yes, I know – we drove all the way to New Orleans to eat Chili’s. Well, when your friend gets ill just from the smell of seafood, you kinda have to go with something that is familiar. Anywho, I had some good salmon there so it’s alright. 😛

We found a truck painted like a zebra!

So, we got back to the hotel and got dressed and ready to go out. We were going to take a taxi the 12 miles to the club but there was a THREE HOUR wait for any cab in town. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. We decided to go ahead and drive my car. It’s only 12 miles and if we really needed, we could catch a cab on the way back (might be easier) and go back to get my car later. I looked up the directions to the club, loaded it into the iPhone and we were on our way.

We missed the first turn that was supposed to take us the highway. At this point, we should have known what was to come. I think we got distracted from all the fireworks (and our chatting and laughing) that were going on around town already. We found IH10 East and headed towards the Warehouse district. One of the direction turns on the iPhone was kinda confusing and I missed how long we go before the next set of directions. Somehow, 9 miles on IH 10 East turned into 3 and we thought we missed our exit. We went about 3 or 4 more exits, just to make sure and when we got to the Superdome exit, we decided to get off and turn around. Alright, I’d like to note that we were going EAST on IH10 to get to the warehouse district and the club. When we turned around and were on the access road, every entrance ramp to IH10 was for Eastbound. To get back to where we started, I needed to go west, right? So, I’m looking for an entrance ramp to IH10 west but there were NONE to be found. The only thing we saw was cops arresting people on EVERY corner and tent city under the highway. 😈 We got kinda scared, actually. We kept driving and found a gas station to find out anything about where we were in relation to where we were going. I just had to plug that into the iPhone with where we were going and we could have gotten new directions. No, SCARY GAS STATION!!! We finally got directions back to where we were going an got on the highway going the right way. We called Carlos, who had his GPS and helped us get to the right exit, which was TWO EXITS farther than the Superdome exit we originally got off at!!! Oh geez!

Needless to say that we were pretty shaken up and ready to get our drink on. We found parking and the club and ended up beating the guys there by a few minutes!! We walked in “with the band” and didn’t have to pay the $65 cover and still had access to the open bar everyone else got for their $65 cover. The bands were awesome and we had an awesome time.

We finally got there!! All smiles!

Next time, the video of the band playing, pictures from the Howling Wolf and what we did after we left Howling Wolf, as well as the adventure on the drive home. Stay tuned!

Love you, mean it!
~C

Ticket to Ride

The trip to New Orleans was without a doubt, the best New Years I remember. And I do remember what all happened on this trip. 😉

Well, let’s start from when I woke up at 2:30 am. My alarm goes off, I snooze twice and just as it’s about to go off again, Crystal comes pouncing into my room and on my bed. I think I had the most horrified look on my face – she freaked me out. And so the giggling begins! We packed the last few things, loaded up the car and headed to South Austin to meet Carlos and the boys. After we get the dog back in his house and solve a little bit of drama, we all get on our way. Crystal and I are so excited that we seriously can’t stop giggling…the entire way there!

The drive through Texas was fairly uneventful, except all the laughing. I have NO idea what all we were laughing about but every time we made a stop, the guys would get out of the car and we’d be laughing. I had to assure them that we weren’t laughing at them at all! When we got to Lake Charles (actually a town called Westlake, LA), we all decided to stop for a stretch break…at the Isle of Capri Casino! Carlos & Fernie played some roulette and Crystal & I tried our luck at blackjack. We were hoping to sit at different tables but there was only one $5 table so we ended up sitting next to each other. I tell you what, regulars at this casino just talk and talk and talk! We almost couldn’t concentrate. Then, the lady next to me started giving me (us) hints on how to play our hands and between that and hitting SIX backjacks, I was up $45 by the time we were done…three hours later! Unfortunately, Crystal was down $15 but she was sitting in a really bad spot. All the good cards just seem to bypass her. 😦 We couldn’t take any pictures inside the casino so we took one on our way out.

Then, we were back on the road. Carlos hadn’t slept since the night before so he crashed out in the back of their SUV. That left Fernie to drive them and I was back behind the driver’s seat of The Honda.
Hi Fernie!!



We looked for alligators…there has to be at least ONE in this swamp!

Before we knew it, we were in New Orleans. We got to the La Quinta (actually in Metairie, LA) and got excited that there was a Denny’s next door. Well, of course there was going to be…La Quinta only means “Next to Denny’s” in Spanish! LOL We crashed out for a few hours after the long drive.

Up next time, trying to find the party! Stay tuned.
Love you, mean it!
~C

I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party

My friend Crystal and I finally decided what we wanted to do to ring in the New Year about 5 o’clock last night. My friend Carlos Sosa and the Grooveline Horns are playing with Dumpstaphunk in New Orleans and said it would be fun for us to come out with them so we left Austin about 4am and now we’re here! Yeah, I’m not kidding. 🙂

It’s been a great adventure so far and we already have lots of fun pics. We have been laughing almost non stop since we woke up at 2:30 am, either!! Check back in for more info and lots of pics when I sober up and get home!

Until then, Happy New Years to everyone!!!
Love you, mean it
~C

Hello Goodbye

I checked out of the hotel at noon and headed to the airport. There are probably 15 or so stops between where I was in Chicago and O’Hare. Despite all the things they say about the EL, they really did try to design it to be a pleasant experience. This is at the Jefferson (I think) stop. Notice the nice tiling on the ceiling and floor.

It was starting to snow when I was on the train. As Chicago is called the Windy City, it naturally was and I don’t know if you can tell in this picture but the snow was actually blowing sideways. The snow was really dry, though so it wasn’t very successful at sticking to anything and holding.

I caught an earlier flight home. Success! It was supposed to board at 1:35 and leave Chicago at 2:05 pm but we didn’t get off the ground until after 3:00 pm. Apparently, before I ever got to the gate I thought was the original one, it had already changed gates once and it changed again about 10 minutes after I had arrived at Gate H11B. No matter, I am in the air, headed back for Austin in the great State of Texas. I took some pictures of the airport pre-security. You’ll see here that it was quite empty. It wasn’t that way when I finally got to the gate(s). In fact, I was trying to figure out how to take a picture without seeming like a weirdo. Couldn’t do it so there is no picture of the chaos at the gate(s). It’s pretty much what you see on TV, though.

I don’t think I blogged at all about my flight to Chicago as it was unexciting but I do need to mention that Paula Crider was on that flight with me. On this flight home are Jerry Junkin and his wife Stephanie. It’s been a UT book ended trip!

There are several dogs on this flight. One is a Rat Terrier and it’s his first flight. They’ve got him a bit dope up on Benedryl. He’s very calm and cute. Seeing how cute this little guy is makes me want a small dog. I’ve actually wanted to get a small dog for quite some time now. I’m really afraid of how the cats might treat it. They are big, bully cats, you know.

The Benford clan (minus Trish, this year) will be doing our annual Christmas brunch at the Austin Four Seasons. I’m really sad that Trish won’t be joining us but I am glad that she will be able to go with Chris to Colorado New Mexico and spend time with his family for the Holidays. They really like Trish and it’s been a rough year for them. I wish them a very special Christmas.

Still not 100% what New Years Eve holds in store. Crystal and I are getting dressed up and going downtown. We just need to make sure that we get our VIPs in order so we don’t have to pay cover. It looks like Martin Montoya will be joining us. Whatever we do, it will certainly be a fun night!

——————————————-
I wrote all the above on the plane. Last night, I set up a flight notification for my original flight. I just got another call telling me that that flight has been delayed until 11 pm (this is the 2nd delay) and it’s gate has been moved for the 3rd time. I sure am glad I flew home early!

Midwest Pictures!!

I made a point to take a few pictures of folks I got to hang with while here at The Midwest. Here are pics of me and:

Jonathan Newman

Jim Bonney

Steven Bryant, winner of the 2007 Reveli Award (Congrats, Steven!!)

Frank Ticheli

Martin Montoya

Amanda & Steve

And of course, John Mackey

I did take a picture with my buddy Daniel Montoya, Jr. but since it was taken by his camera, I have to wait until he posts it before I can post it. I’ve also been interviewed by Jonathan Newman for a podcast he’s going to make available soon so stay tuned for that. Notice that Eric Whitacre was not in attendance? Somehow, we did manage to get his picture in many of mine. Not planned at all…no, seriously!

Guys, it was really nice to meet and chat with you. Good luck with all your compositions and let me know when you write an easier one my band can handle. 😉

I also met lots of collegiate band directors, Jeff Jarvis (who is going to name a jazz piece either Ballad Me or Cathy with a C – LOL), and David Holsinger. Fun, huh?