Christmas has come and gone, and some time has elapsed since my last post. I spent most of last week in Washington, D.C., visiting my friend Kathy. It was a great time–fun, relaxing, interesting, invigorating, and best of all, shared with someone close to me. Kathy teaches voice at Levine School of Music and has an extensive background as a vocalist and actress. She”s smart, talented, interesting, beautiful, classy, down to earth, wise, generous, tenderhearted, and overall, simply a flat-out wonderful person and dear friend. What a treat to get a taste of D.C. with her as my guide and companion! We took in a terrific production of Fiddler on the Roof, enjoyed dinner and a world-class Cuban jazz band at the Smithsonian, strolled through Annapolis, and spent plenty of time just chilling out, watching DVDs and talking. We both needed that down-time, time to simply be.

Around half a year ago, Kathy got into swing dancing, and it has really lit her fuse. If there”s one thing I love, it”s seeing another person discover something that makes her come alive, and dancing has done that for Kathy. I mean, the woman is into it. Besides being a whole lot of fun, dancing has provided Kathy with a safe, wholesome social outlet as a single woman. Being gregarious by nature, she meets plenty of people.

Recently, at the request of the host, Kathy sang “Santa Baby” at a dance party. A gentleman named Darrel, who plays keyboards for Chuck Berry, enjoyed her performance and invited her to sing at the blues club where he plays and where a lot of the folks in Kathy”s dance crowd like to do blues dancing. When Kathy mentioned I”d be visiting, Darrel said, “Tell him to bring his horn to the club.” So of course I did.

The thing about the blues is, it”s universal and crosses all genres. It”s the one thing all musicians who play in a popular vein understand. Jazz, country, folk, rock, R&B…it doesn”t matter what your bag is, blues is still blues. It may get dressed up in different stylistic and harmonic attire, but strip it down to the foundation and you”ve still got twelve bars, a I-IV-V chord progression, and the blues scale.

I had a blast sitting in with Darrel and his band, particularly since he played in jazz-friendly keys. We started off with “Night Train,” then kicked up the tempo with the next tune and kept things moving for the rest of the set. It”s so nice to be able to go to another city, sit in with a band, and immediately get on the same page with the other musicians. What a great feeling!

But the best part was when Darrel called Kathy to the microphone to sing “Santa Baby,” to the cheers of her dance crowd. Mind you, now, for all her flamboyance, Kathy is a modest lass–but she can do “sultry” in a way that left me envying old Saint Nick. What a shining star! And what was particularly nice was that, after knowing each other for a year, she and I finally got to make music together. For me, that was hands-down the highlight of the evening.

Playing music is a pleasure almost anytime. But when you can share the experience with a close friend, it becomes a form of communication, an added form of connection, a special link of mutual joy and satisfaction. It just doesn”t get much better than that.

Alpena, Michigan, has a good brewpub, the Fletcher Street Brewery. It also has the Northern Lights Arena, where I”ll be playing tonight with the Rhythm Section Jazz Band. I call that a fine combination: a fun gig followed by a beer worth drinking. As a dabbler in homebrewing, and having a best friend who is growing into a marvel at the craft, I love a good beer–the operative word being good.

At Pauly”s, one of my favorite beer stores located in Lowell, I marvel whenever I see people standing in line with a twelve-pack of Bud. Pauly”s has an incredible selection of craft brews. When I step inside, I instantly feel like a kid in a candy store. Stacy, Pauly”s wife and an avid homebrewer, has done a fantastic job of stocking their store with a huge array of truly beautiful ales, lagers, and lambics. Going there to buy mass-produced American Pilsner is like going to a Bass Pro Shop to purchase a twenty-dollar fishing pole. Sure, you can buy one there, but for a few more bucks you can do a whole lot better.

But I digress. What I want to point out is the progression from gig to brew. I can”t say for sure that I”ll make it to the Fletcher Street Brewery tonight–the gig ends late, and I”m feeling under the weather as it is–but I can just about guarantee that while I”m on the job, I won”t be drinking. On rare occasions, I may have a single draft if I come across something that piques my curiosity, but one is my limit. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I”m a bottled water or ginger ale man. I like to keep my faculties sharp so I can play my best. That”s my personal preference. From my perspective, professionalism involves showing up not only with my instrument, but also with a clear mind.

Not that I have a problem with fellow musicians who imbibe. I do have a problem with musicians who get drunk on the job. Most, however, are responsible people who play just fine and don”t go beyond the pale. My point isn”t to moralize, but to define a priority. The music comes first.

When I”m on the job, I”m there to play–and I love to play. There are few things I”d rather do. Everything else can wait. Fletcher Street Brewery will still be there tonight when I”m finished. I look forward to sampling their IPA!