Not a tourst and some music opportunities...

Sitting at home tonight with a beer and my computer and a healthy to-do list. It's nice to have a relaxing evening in with projections of getting things checked off of that to-do list. Last night Karishma and I took on Chinatown again for dim sum and some Chinatown Ice Cream Factory action. I took a few shots of the moon, it being bigger in the sky than it will be for another 18 years, but not much else. Those didn't even come out right. Even though Chinatown always makes me feel like a tourist when I visit, memories of my high school chorus trip to NYC rushing in the whole time, I still have not been much about taking pics around the city lately. Except when I see something stupid like this:

From Misc. March 2011

Or funny or interesting like these:

Funny Signs

And even then, it's just my phone taking crappy pics because my Canon is too bulky to carry around for recreational photos. Perhaps some day I'll take a day off and shoot some interesting shots around the city.

Me getting a day off just seems a laughable concept nowadays though. I have a ton on my plate that's new this week. Some of this is going to go in the newsletter that I'll send out next week but I wanted to go ahead and drop some of it on you faithful readers.

First, I have a new film scoring gig. The gracious director of "Peeper: A Sort of Love Story," Mohammad Maaty, has a new project he's working on called "Sides of the Track." I'm going to be coming in and writing some Middle Eastern-inspired music for the opening sequence. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm extremely excited to be working with Mohammad again. Watch the youtube video on the Rocket Hub page and pay particularly close attention to what Mohammad says at about 3:19.

Second, rehearsals with Lacy James have been going very well and, in fact, tomorrow, we are hitting our first open mic in Williamsburg somewhere between 5 and 7pm at Pete's Candy Store. I think we're going to rock it out. You are welcome to come out if you are in the area. There's a possibility that I'll eventually be playing on Lacy's new recording as well.

Third, the choral piece is finished and plans to have it performed at the church are underway. Stay tuned for an exact date on that one.

Fourth, Tania and I are coming up with plans for my piece that she will be performing at her concert later in the year. It'll probably be June and we're hoping to book Symphony Space at 95th street.

So, I've got a pretty exciting couple of months ahead of me. And to top it all off, oh-all-right-I'll-tell-you-already: The new website is almost done. That's the surprise I hinted at a few blogs ago. It's on wordpress and we've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks tweaking the look and functionality of everything. Hopefully, fairly soon, we'll launch it.

Meanwhile, I'd better tackle that to-do list I have for the evening. More info and a newsletter to come next week! Before I go, a brief mention of the awesomeness that is Zen butter ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. Go get some!