I was fortunate to sit down at RockyGrass with Greg Liszt of Crooked Still and Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions band for a lengthy interview for Banjo Newsletter. Also have upcoming interviews planned with Ivan Rosenberg about his latest amazing CD "Clawhammer and Dobro" and Noam Pikelny on recording with the How to Grow a Band project with Chris Thile et. al. If interested, subscribe to Banjo Newsletter. It is well worth the $26.

Working as a medic at Primal Quest was an incredible experience. I was in the Moab area for about 2 weeks providing medical care for these impressive athletes. The course entailed 450 miles of running, kayaking, swimming, biking, canyoneering, and more. Also excessive heat, no sleep, intense terrain, massive vertical feet of gain, insane ropes courses, and the list goes on. If you own a TV, you might watch for this on ESPN 2 this October

Here I am telling these folks they have to poop in a bag and carry it out. Notice the look on their faces.

In the 100+ degree super arid heat, you just could not hydrate enough.

Check out the Listen page for some free downloads from recording sessions and gigs at the Banff Centre.

I am heading out to the Utah desert for 2 weeks for the Primal Quest adventure race. WMI of NOLS has a partnership with Primal Quest, and I have been selected to brief teams on heat illness, and also work as a medic at check points and transitions areas.

As this week plays out, I was lucky enough to be a part of a performance of 2 poems by William Carlos Williams set to scores by Dan Shaud, the French horn player in attendance at Banff. It features spoken word, improvised sung choruses, funk grooves, shouted lines, weird banjo licks, and other creative ideas. Quite an amazing piece. I also played as part of a combo that premiered an Astor Piazzolla piece that I arranged for jazz combo. I find Piazzolla quite inspirational as he took what some might consider the small and limited genre of Tango, and he saw unlimited potential. He composed countless scores that endlessly stretched the boundaries and definitions of Tango. I hope to have some of these tracks on my new website in the next couple/few weeks.