Day 4

God holidays are great. Slept again till 11. I love it! Alana hasn't slept till 11 her whole life! We went back to The Kitchenette for a great breakfast once again. The granola at this place is really happening. We then went downtown to 425 Lexington Avenue to hear a free concert by a fantastic alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo. He had a killing band with him. Jon Webber on bass, Joe Magnarelli on trumpet and Joe Strasser on drums. They played standards and swung their asses off. Its a shame more people don't hear DiRubbo because he really is a fantastic alto saxophonist. It was very cool, the concert was right in the middle of this courtyard right downtown and everyone was on their lunch break just hanging out listening. There was a little book fair going on to so Alana checked that out while I took in the jazz! After the show we hooked up with Strasser. This guy is such a great guy! We hopped a cab with him and went down to his apartment in the Village. I really wanted Alana to see it because his place is so cool. I mean its right in the Village! Strass had an appointment so he pointed us in the 'cool' direction to walk in the Village and we basically killed about 3 hours just walking around, checking out all the shops and restaurants. The Village is really one of the coolest places on the face of the earth. Im sure its not what it was in the sixties but still very very cool! Lan took a picture of me in front of the Village Vanguard! We were gonna head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but decided we were to tired. We took the subway home, had quick nap and then once again it was off to Smoke! David Berkman's Quartet was doing a live record and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene was playing He was nice enough to get one of us on the list which was very cool seeing as it was $25 to get in. The food once again was incredible. I had the burger with salad, yeah that's right SALAD. Alana had the chicken. Jimmy came and hung out with us and is really a sweet sweet guy and he plays his ass off. Im hoping to get him to Vancouver in the new year. The highlight was drummer Ted Poor. This guy is so young and sounded so freaking good! A fun night, good music, good food and good company. We got a little lost on the way home and ended up in some questionable areas but nothing serious. We were only lost for a few minutes and then got back on track. We came home and watched 50 First Dates and went to bed!

Today, well, Alana is really really excited. We're heading to New Jersey to go to the Princeton Record Exchange. She can't wait. Then we're heading to Birdland to hear Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Cameron Brown and Jimmy Cobb. We got guested for this one to! Nice!