Cylinder at the Sugar Maple 9/11/2009

In January I played up in Milwaukee for the first time - somehow in the 6 years I lived in Chicago I had never made it up there. Bruno Johnson of Okka Disc runs a great bar up there called the Sugar Maple. He has a music room and has been holding concerts for a few years now. After a rehearsal for the large group pieces for a concert at Heaven, we picked up a rental minivan and headed up the 94, through too much traffic, with a stop at a gas station where Kjell and I were approached by a spray-on wipe-off car wax hawker, past the Cheese Castle and finally to Milwaukee. It was our first quartet concert since we played at the Musicians Union Hall in San Francisco back in August - we had some rehearsals before I headed to Chicago a few weeks ago and we had a little time before the show to warm up and run some parts. It was a good concert - a small turnout, but enthusiastic - we played really well. The room is very live, and I think that gave some extra energy to our playing - our maybe it was that Bourbon Barreled Scotch Ale that I had on during dinner..... Afterwards we hung out with Bruno at the bar, tasting some really interesting micro brews from Wisconsin and other parts. Got to bed real late - got up a little too early - felt it on the drive back to Chicago.