Greetings!  It's been a little while.  Things have been very busy here between school (I got an A+ on my Music Theory midterm, which should be a surprise to no one!), my day job, trying to get my record finished (the mix for "The Porpentine" is taking a long time), and getting ready for my 30th birthday concert, which is tomorrow night (well, tonight, I suppose!) at The Clash Bar in Clifton, NJ, approx. 6 blocks from the house I grew up in. 

Somehow amongst all of this I even found time to go to Boston to record some piano parts for Beth Jean's new recordings (it was an awesome trip and I even found time to visit Berklee!).

The new band has been working very, very hard and has been giving me every reason to be proud of them.  They're comparable to my Los Angeles band but they started off with the distinct handicap of never having played any of my music before (with the exception of Jordan Shapiro...more on him in a second).  So they had to learn all the most difficult tunes in too short a time. 

My initial thinking, as a bandleader, was that I couldn't go easy on the set list since we're playing for a hometown crowd, so the set list is sandwiched between "The 22nd Overture" and the full version of "The Porpentine."  The rest of the setlist is pretty merciless as well, especially for a band of newbs.

However, I figured the audience would be pretty forgiving, so if we could just, you know, get through the tunes, that would be acceptable.  Well, it became quickly apparent that anything short of absolute perfection would be unacceptable to this group of musicians.  So for the first time in the 10 years that I've been running my own ensembles, the band actually asked me if they could have additional rehearsal time with me...and lots of it! 

Over the last few weeks, I've gotten together with almost everyone in the band for one on one rehearsals to fine-tune sections.  I've been on the phone going over individual notes, they've compared live recording versions of the songs to their studio counterparts, and they've totally done their homework.  We are going to kick some ass tomorrow night!

Now, do I think my Los Angeles band would have approached the material with the same level of dedication and intensity if they were forced to learn the entire show in mere weeks instead of over the course of time?  Yes, I do.  I don't think they'd have been willing to do 10am rehearsals like we've been doing, though!  ^_^

So who is the East Coast version of SPECIAL OPPS?  I'm glad you asked that question!

Chris Opperman (piano)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards, mandolin)
Eric Seiz (electric guitar)
Mike Bomwell (soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophones)
Jesse Krakow (electric bass)
Jordan Young (drums)

For "The Porpentine" we will be accompanied by several alumni from the CHS Mustang Band including:

Ben Brody (french horn)
Joe Verderese (trombone)
Julie Passaro (trombone)
Wes Krygsman (tuba)

One thing I have to mention is that Wes has great tone on the tuba.  Some of the notes he played when we got together to rehearse the brass section just made me go "ooooh" because they were so good.  They're making me want to put my own small orchestra together.

I'm not sure how we're going to fit a 10-piece band on the stage at The Clash Bar, but we'll figure something out...we always do!  ^_^

Well, I ought to head back to sleep since tomorrow is a big day, but I just wanted to make sure I checked in with everybody.  And how are all of you doing?

Music is the best!

Chris Opperman

P.S. KanYe West is no Bob Dylan, that's for damn sure.