My birthday weekend continues with a gathering of my friends at BJ's in Cerritos for lunch. My friends, Kimberly, Dave, Stephen and John, took the time out of their day to spend hanging out with me for my birthday. It was a lot of fun catching up and laughing.
In the evening, my family (AD, JK, DD and Mom) and my friend Dave went to The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach for The Comedy and Magic Club's 26th Birthday Bash. It is when there are 20 comedians that perform in one night. It was a really good show and it was really funny. When you have a birthday there you get a balloon filled with confetti popped over your head with an announcement to the audience and a great tasting sundae. Thanks to DD and AD for making that happen.
I got up around 10a and Adam and I got right into it. We played our music for each other and talked about many things. It was nice to spend a day with my brother.
At around 6p I went with DD to the Spaghetti Station for dinner and then went dancing. I even got to dance West Coast Swing and Hustle with a fun and great dancer. It was a great way to end the day on my birthday.
Today I flew down to Long Beach. The place were I grew up and will always be and feel like home no matter where I live. DD picked me up from the airport at about 8:30p. We met my friend John for dinner at Hof's Hut. DD then dropped me off at my brother Adam's apartment where he let me stay the night so we could spend more time with each other.
Here are this week's Tonight Show Headlines.
Headlines
One of my favorites this week:
Award-winning film and TV composer Jerry Goldsmith died July 21 of cancer in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 75.
I had the opportunity to meet him a few years ago when I saw him conduct his music with the Pasadena Symphony. I even got his autograph. He was an amazing and versatile composer and he will be greatly missed.
Here is a little background of Goldsmith.
Goldsmith's long and distinguished career included a best original score Academy Award for the 1976 movie "The Omen." He also received several Academy Award nominations for best original score, including "Mulan," "L.A. Confidential," "Hoosiers," "Poltergeist," "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Chinatown," "Patton" and "Planet of the Apes."
Additionally, he won four Emmy awards for his work on the television series "Star Trek: Voyager," the 1981 miniseries "Masada," the 1975 TV-movie "Babe" and the 1974 miniseries "QB VII."
Born in Los Angeles on February 10, 1929, Goldsmith began his composing career in the late 1940s in radio and television. In the 1950s, he wrote music for such radio shows as "CBS Radio Workshop" and "Romance." He went on to write music for numerous TV series, including "The Twilight Zone," "Perry Mason," "Gunsmoke" and "Dr. Kildare."
Goldsmith also composed the fanfare for the Academy Awards television broadcast. His most recent score was for the 2003 movie "Looney Tunes: Back in Action."
He is survived by his wife, Carol, and five children.
Here are some more links about him.
Filmtracks' Tribute to Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith - Film and TV Composer
For breakfast/lunch we went to The Strand and ate at Mod. It is a nice cafe. We both got a wrap which were very good. Then proceeded off the island on the I45 to the Hobby Airport. DD went to his flight to Long Beach at 5:35p and I left for Oakland at 6p. I had a stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The same kind of stop I had in Phoenix on the 21st.
Then off to Oakland. Here is a view from the airplane.
We ate breakfast/lunch at pancake house and then headed north to check out Tiki Island. All I could think of while driving on the island was 
"In the tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room."
While there we saw houses along the water that were raised on stilts and a balcony over the water. Underneath the balcony were boats raised up above the water.
A view of Galveston Island from Tiki Island.
From Tiki Island we went to Pelican Island. On this island is the ocean oriented branch campus of Texas A & M University. We then went back to Galveston Island and headed west Seawall Boulevard,
passing though Jamaica Beach, over the San Luis Pass and stopped at Surfside Beach.
We took a walk out on the jetty. The coast wind was still warm and humid, but it was a nice view.
We then drove up to Houston. DD said, "It looks just like LA."
On our way back we saw a very unusual car. The driver was sitting way high up over the car.
Then back to Galveston to eat at Fish Tales Seafood Grill.
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I had to get up way to early. 4a is about the time I tend to go to bed when I am immersed in composing. My shuttle arrived to take me to the Oakland Airport. I flew Southwest to the Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas making a stop in Phoenix. It was a stop not a flight change. People going to Phoenix deplaned while those of us going to Houston stayed on the plane. We waited about 10 minutes and then people from Phoenix going to Houston "planed." (Hey, it could be a word.) DD came from Long Beach to meet up with me in Houston. We drove the I45 to Galveston Island. We ate at an OK Italian buffet place and then back to the Hotel.
Today was the last show of the Musical, "Honk!" It was fun playing for the show. For a commuity theater production with the cast age range from 7th to 9th grade, they did well. The acting and the set were well done. The look of the show was better than some high school performances I have seen.
The show was performed here.
Here is the inside of the theater.
Today I went with my friend Lauri to Angel Island which is 10 minutes away from Tiberon by ferry. While on the ferry we had a nice view of the bay and the Golden Gate.
We arrived on the island and began the 4 mile walk around the island. We walked clock wise around the island. We could see a nice view of east bay.
We stopped at this table to relax and eat a lunch that she had packed. A turkey sandwich, carrots and chocolate cookies.
The new immigration facilities opened on Angel Island in 1910 to replace the old cramped quarters on a San Francisco pier. Most of the immigrants were from China. Here is the Immigration Station.
Continuing around the island we could see Fort McDowell located on Quarry Point.
We then stopped at Quarry Beach to view the bay.
I walked out on this.
To see this. While I was standing there it actually felt like I was standing on the water.
Continuing on around the island, we say a view of Point Blunt. The US Coast Guard is located there.
Here is the Golden Gate Bridge viewed from Angel Island.
With concern mounting over threats to the Bay Area from Confederate sympathizers and naval forces, the federal government established Camp Reynolds.
Here is a view of Camp Reynolds.
Here is a view of the bay. Tiberon is on the right. Sausalito is on the left. Mt. Tam is in the distance.
Here are this week's Tonight Show Headlines.
Headlines
One of my favorites this week:
I found an ad on craigslist for a percussionist to play the pit orchestra for the Novato's Young Artist Repertory Theater's presentation of the musical "Honk!" - a British Smash-hit retelling of the Ugly Duckling Story. I am playing drum set, suspended cymbal, claves and shaker. It is nice to be playing percussion in a show again. The musicians had our 1st rehearsal at 2p today and our 2nd at 8p. The 2p rehearsal was the casts dress rehearsal and their 1st time running through the show straight through. It was also my 1st time seeing my percussion part so I got to sight read. I did pretty well. What made the 2p rehearsal even more interesting was that we had an audience. It was a couple of elementary school classes. They were a quiet audience.
The show looks good. The cast is made up of middle and high school kids. There are some good actors in the cast. They all look so cute in their outfits.
Now the musical itself. The story is ok, the music stinks and the lyrics are just cheesy. It has that same typical musical sound that D-Land uses all the time in their recent animated movies. So predictable and so pretty. . . pretty boring. But as a musician I can play anything as long as I have cool parts to play. I did not have to rehearse the musical for over a month like the cast does. I just have to hear it for 4 shows which are on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
So for the next 4 days I will enjoy playing percussion and contributing to a regional premiere of a children's community production.
This weekend's exciting adventure began with driving west on Sir Francis Drake to the city Point Reyes Station and then up PCH (highway 1) to end of the Tomales Bay at Willow Point.
During the summer it is always foggy in the bay area but it did not stop me from having fun. I still took many stops on the way up. Here is a view of Hog Island which is in Tomales Bay.
Here is a view of Preston Point with the Keyes Creek moving toward Tomales Bay.
Here is a farm view on the east side of PCH on the way to Bodega Bay.
"Cow!"
"We've got cows!"
A panoramic view of Bodega Bay.
A view of the fog over the Pacific Ocean.
A view of the coast at Bodega Head.
I then continued north on PCH to Salmon Creek.
Just north of Salmon Creek is a view of Salmon Creek Beach.
Just north of Salmon Creek Beach I stopped and got out of the car to view a pretty sunset while the music of A. C. Sharp was playing out of my car.
It was a perfect soundtrack to a perfect sunset.
I went dancing at the Allegro Ballroom. I go dancing there at least a couple times a month. This time I invited a friend. I took the hustle lesson and she took the tango lesson which were taught in separate rooms. I learned some cool new hustle steps which I used when the ballroom dancing began. She already new some salsa so I showed her some basic foxtrot and hustle steps. Then she was off dancing with other dancers. There was not as many people as last week by I still danced a lot and got free cake. Yummy.
I just finished an a cappella vocal jazz arrangement of Laura by David Raksin. It is arranged for SSATB choir. The piece was finished today at 10:46p.
The details are:
Duration: 2 Minutes
Number of measures: 39
Number of pages (Score): 4
Yesterday I was invited to a party which was held in a mansion in Sausalito. We could see the ocean though windows facing the bay. It was also a really nice house. We had food and wine while viewing the water. At 9:15p we watched fireworks from the balcony that were launched off a ship in the ocean. We were pretty close to the fireworks and had a great view of them. They were very pretty. When they exploded, the sound of the explosion bounced off the hills behind the mansion which created a nice effect. What a great way to spend Independence Day.
This is a view of the bay from the bedroom.
Here is a picture of an old style tall ship.
