Happy New Year to you all,

All of us have been busy over the holidays. I had an opportunity to play with a bass player who just moved to town from California, Rob Kohler. The gig itself was no great screaming hell, but Rob himself is a killer player with monster chops, a real pleasure to work with. I'm sure he'll soon become a familiar face on bandstands all over town.

Thanks to Kevin O'day for advice on parking in the Quarter for New Years gigs (his advice was "load in at three in the afternoon and have your wife drop you off and pick you up after the gig"). Hate to rub it in bra, but we found a space fifty feet from the club. A miracle!

Speaking of the esteemed Mr. O'Day, John Dobry has put together a band ("Dobry") with Kevin on drums, Will Buckingham on bass, and yours truly on tenor. We've been playing around town a bit (mostly Banks Street and the Bon Ton) and I'm continually surprised and pleased by the open-ness of club-goers in New Orleans. The band plays a mix of funk tunes, be-bop tunes, jazz standards, and Dobry's oddball, Pat Metheney-esque originals, and the crowds eat it all up. Any other town, they be screaming for Rawk and Roll sixteen bars into "Freedom Jazz Dance." Although I have noticed if we do two Charlie Parker tunes in a row people can get a bit restless. But then we hit it with "Cissy Strut" and baby, everything is just awright.

On the "Professors Of Pleasure" front, we've got some things in development, ie, negotiations with some major jazz festivals for spring touring dates. I won't jinx things by giving out details just yet, but stay tuned.

John Doheny.