Current Projects #1 - R~U~Us and Bekka Live

Not a lot of blog posts lately, I know. The day job has been taking a lot of time/focus, and we also have a couple of creative projects under way. Most immediately, Monday night (Feb 11) is the debut of our new band, R~U~Us. We've been playing together for a while in various incarnations, but this round is our first public appearance with a name and new goal. This first gig is in support of our most excellent vocalist and songwriter Bekka Eaton. Her day job is as a theater prof at Miami University, and she has been asked to present some of her original music and creative material at the new Miami Hamilton Downtown storefront. So we've been working feverishly for the last couple of months - arranging and learning these challenging, atypical (in a very good way) tunes. I worked with Bekka on a larger production of her original material - entitled Bekkaland - a couple of years ago. It was one of the first events presented at our new local community arts center. This iteration is a smaller scale, more intimate experience, and the kickoff for our group of motley musicians - Deb, Bekka, Janet, Steve, Yvan and myself. We hope to play out and about perhaps a couple of times a month at most. Not a heavy commitment, but enough to keep us learning interesting music. One of the more enjoyable new experiences for me in this project has been writing cello parts for Janet. I know enough music theory to be dangerous, but typically don't use written music much these days. So it's been a healthy challenge to get back into that realm, with the able assistance of Sonar and a few other computer music applications.

Come see/hear us, ya hear!