Woodstock

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I had the pleasure of staying at the Hotel Dylan in Woodstock over the weekend. They must've known I'm a drummer, as I ended up in the Levon Helm room! While in Woodstock, I had the pleasure of hearing the Danish String Quartet at Mavrick Concerts. They were fantastic! I also spent a few days in Saratoga Springs hanging out and hearing the great Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen at CMS at SPAC. Great mini-road trip! 

Live at Sleepy Creek: Otpisani

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Thanks to Sleepy Creek on the Potomac for sending us this trippy video!Brooklyn Bowl: http://ticketf.ly/1QEn3K8

Posted by PitchBlak Brass Band on Monday, June 1, 2015

Birthday Weekend!

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I had an amazing birthday weekend playing music with PitchBlak and seeing friends and family. We did a masterclass at Loyalsock Township High School with its middle and high school jazz bands and vocal chamber choir. In the evening, we performed music alongside each group. Here I am with the two drummers from the middle school band, DeSean (looking thrilled!) and Corrine: 

After spending the night at my amazing sister's house in Urbana, MD,  we headed to Berkeley Spring, WV to play at Sleep Creek's Spring Dig festival. Just an hour from my hometown, my mom, dad, sister, and nephew were able to come to the show. It was my nephew William's first time hearing us play; I was nervous! We busted out his favorite song, Uptown Funk, and he loved it! Here I am ready to camp for the night:

Woke up the next day and I was suddenly 30! Drove up to Pittsburgh to play at Pittonkatonk to an EXTREMELY hype crowd. This was one of my favorite shows I've played in awhile! 

Last night was bananas @pitchblakbrass

A video posted by Hakeem (@hotelyolanda) on

We got back to our host's house (shout out to Tim Wolfson who is one of the best people on the entire planet) and was surprised with a birthday cake! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday weekend one to remember!

Happy birthday @ay_bear :)

A photo posted by Beau Hartman (@ogbeaunaparte) on

Musical #tbt: Page France - Air Pollution (with marimba and vibes)

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I stumbled upon this track last night while looking for an audio file on my Mac. I totally forgot about this recording, which I started in 2011. The band, Page France (whose founding members now make music under the moniker Cotton Jones), was from my hometown and released a few great albums and found great success with touring and licensing. I vaguely remember tracking this at my rehearsal studio in DUMBO and for whatever reason never completed it. Enough years have passed for me to be ok with putting it on the internet even though there are mistakes at the end of many of the phrases. Oh well! It's a simple melody that lends itself perfectly to mallet percussion. Enjoy!

I stumbled upon this track last night while looking for an audio file on my Mac. I totally forgot about this recording, which I started in 2011. The band, Page France (whose founding members now make music under the moniker Cotton Jones), was from my hometown. They released some great albums and toured the country many times. They had a song placed on Weeds, which I think is pretty awesome! 

I vaguely remember tracking this at my rehearsal studio in DUMBO and for whatever reason never completed it. Enough years have passed for me to be ok with putting it on the internet even though there are mistakes at the end of many of the phrases. Oh well! It's a simple melody that lends itself perfectly to mallet percussion.  Enjoy!