Another Edit: The bottom gets a little screwy in that mode and the top in this one is weird. Oh well, just pick on I guess, the other one is easier to read though.
As much as I'm sure you want to know how my first day at the Jazz Festival was I must go in sequential order because of other things that happened before the festival. (Well, I really don't, but you know what I mean.) And by other things I mean another amazing
sunset. It really was twenty different sunsets all rolled into one but now I'm getting ahead of myself if I'm going to try and keep this in sequential order. The wind was blowing very quickly so the clouds and sky were always changing. When I looked out of my grandparents window and saw that it might be a good sunset I grabbed my camera, my mp3 player, and a bike. I took of down the road riding away from the sunset trying to reach the outskirts of town so I could get some nice skyline shots if the sunset was any good. It turned out I was right. Because the clouds were moving so quickly it looked like 20 sunsets all in one! I uploaded pictures of the best parts except for the very best part. I was quickly pedaling away from the sunset to try and get to some different places to take pictures from when I looked up and noticed that 
everything was pink. When I looked behind me the clouds were almost "solid" all the way through except for the furthest point right above the ground that I could see until the earth started to curve out of site. What's special about that you ask? The one part that wasn't "solid" was right where the sun was. It was amazing. I can best describe it as the beginning scene in The Lion King, except pink instead of orange, and a sunset instead of sunrise. But my camera doesn't do well in poor lighting and all the pictures turned out horrible and I only caught the end of it. Oh well, I got some other great pictures still =] After I took all the pictures I came across a cute cat poking its head out of a bush. I tried to take a picture but it came out and started walking in front of my bike towards my grandparents house. It stopped whenever I got too far behind and it was just too funny not to take a picture of. =}
Regaurding the Jazz Festival:After 2 hours of going through the schedule seeing which clinics I wanted to attend and then trying to get rid of all the conflicting dates grandma and I finally had it all sorted out (at least we hope we do!!). Today I went to five clinics, and watched 4 amazing preformances. The clinics I attended today were: "Three Keys to Musical Success" by Byron Stripling. This guy is hilarious and I learned a lot this was definately my favorite clinic of the day. I also definately learned the most from this clinic and it went way beyond my expectations. "Spontaneous Group Improvisation" by Bob Stoloff. This clinic was an amusing mistake. The class description is "Thythmic and har
monic techniques used to create multi-part a capella compositions using the popular 'Circle-Song' format. Come on stage and participate!" I interpreted this as: "In this class I'll get to learn new rythmic and harmonic techniques a cappella (which I also thought implied that it would be a class full of people like myself who can't stand 4 Mhz off pitch and who had enough musical experience to already know complex jazz harmony) using the circle of fourths and fifths." Little did I know that this *really* meant I was going to get thrown into a large room with a hundred and fifty squirmy, loud, 4th to 8th graders and the most experience they had with music was "this sounds consonant, this sounds dissonant, don't ask me why because I have no idea" that could barely clap basic 1-2-3-4 rhythms. The first 10 minutes of the lecture was about sp
onge bob. The next class was "Comping and the Rhythm Section for Your Student Jazz Groups" by Ian Sinclair. This class was exactly what I hoped it would be (much to my relief considering what I had just finished enduring) and I enjoyed it, but not near as much as the first clinic. My next class was "Rhythm Section Grooves" by Bob Stoloff. I was hopeful that this class would be better than my first experience with him. The description was "Bob will discuss lead sheet preparation, rehearsal techniques and time-feel considerations for instrumentalists and vocalists in all contemporary musical styles." It was also listed under the catagory of "Director Helps" which basically means that it was targeted at other music teachers. So I wasn't too worried about having a bunch on loud, ignorant, grade schoolers again. But once again Bob let me down. Honestly man, I don't care if you can immitate Patrick perfectly. I went to your clinic expecting a professional to help me develop my music. I especially expected it to be awesome considering that you're a professor at Berkley where I previously thought going to college. Instead I got "uuuuh, I don't know Spongebob" and "this is cut time, this is double time." I got to listen to some good drum playing but it was not at all what I came to the clinic for. First impressions really are everything, and if people give you a second chance and you still disappoint them 
how can you expect them to come back ? The last clinic of the day was "The Role of the Guitar in the Jazz Band and Small Combos" by Corey Christiansen. This class I give an 8 out of ten. It was good, but not outstanding. After the clinics (by the way, they were all an hour long, first one at 10 am and each on started 15 minutes after the other ended, and they're all over town so we had fun rushing from one to the next. By the end of the day I was ready for FOOD. I got back and got all dressed up nice with a tie, slacks, and button-up shirt and we were off to some sort of celebration about the jazz festival in an art gallery. I'm not sure why we went there or what it was for but there was free food so I'm not complaining =] After that we took a trolly to where the performance was going to be. When we got there my grandpa called mom and "apolagized" that I had only met the mayor and the president of Idaho State University and that he was "sorry" that the governer wasn't there. I met a lot of other important people but they all kind of run together now. Anyway, after exploring backstage (we have backstage passes) we went to the "presidents box" where there were fancy cheezes stacked high and neat on fancy dishes along with several fruits and vegetables (and chicken, but who cares about that?). There were even several buttlers handy all of them "happy to accomadate you." on our seats we got ducks with saxap
hones and chocolates around them in plastic boxes. The performances were awesome, for the second half Marvin Smith from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno even played. He's the most amazing drummer I've ever seen or heard. Half of the time his sticks were just blurs and they all blended together so that it sounded like one long sound. Ralph Moody was also there (the saxaphone player, not the author). After the show grandma bought me a hoodie. It was one of those classic "grandpa sees something that he likes and Phillip agrees with him and later grandpa shows it to grandma and grandma immediately makes Phillip try it on and buys it with no questions asked" kind of things. So all things considered, it was a good day today =P (I mean yesterday, it's past 12:00 now) Sorry about the pictures being all over the place instead of by what they're dealing with, I can't figure out how to change the settings on that. They either all go at the top of look like... what they look like here. Oh well, it's 1:30 am and I'm too tired to try to figure out how to fix it. So you'll just have to figure out which pictures go with what (for some reason I don't think that'll be too hard). Sorry also for however many tyops and mispellings there are in here, I'm sure there are many. I'm on a laptop keyboard and it's 1:30 am ('nough said?).
monic techniques used to create multi-part a capella compositions using the popular 'Circle-Song' format. Come on stage and participate!" I interpreted this as: "In this class I'll get to learn new rythmic and harmonic techniques a cappella (which I also thought implied that it would be a class full of people like myself who can't stand 4 Mhz off pitch and who had enough musical experience to already know complex jazz harmony) using the circle of fourths and fifths." Little did I know that this *really* meant I was going to get thrown into a large room with a hundred and fifty squirmy, loud, 4th to 8th graders and the most experience they had with music was "this sounds consonant, this sounds dissonant, don't ask me why because I have no idea" that could barely clap basic 1-2-3-4 rhythms. The first 10 minutes of the lecture was about sp
onge bob. The next class was "Comping and the Rhythm Section for Your Student Jazz Groups" by Ian Sinclair. This class was exactly what I hoped it would be (much to my relief considering what I had just finished enduring) and I enjoyed it, but not near as much as the first clinic. My next class was "Rhythm Section Grooves" by Bob Stoloff. I was hopeful that this class would be better than my first experience with him. The description was "Bob will discuss lead sheet preparation, rehearsal techniques and time-feel considerations for instrumentalists and vocalists in all contemporary musical styles." It was also listed under the catagory of "Director Helps" which basically means that it was targeted at other music teachers. So I wasn't too worried about having a bunch on loud, ignorant, grade schoolers again. But once again Bob let me down. Honestly man, I don't care if you can immitate Patrick perfectly. I went to your clinic expecting a professional to help me develop my music. I especially expected it to be awesome considering that you're a professor at Berkley where I previously thought going to college. Instead I got "uuuuh, I don't know Spongebob" and "this is cut time, this is double time." I got to listen to some good drum playing but it was not at all what I came to the clinic for. First impressions really are everything, and if people give you a second chance and you still disappoint them 
how can you expect them to come back ? The last clinic of the day was "The Role of the Guitar in the Jazz Band and Small Combos" by Corey Christiansen. This class I give an 8 out of ten. It was good, but not outstanding. After the clinics (by the way, they were all an hour long, first one at 10 am and each on started 15 minutes after the other ended, and they're all over town so we had fun rushing from one to the next. By the end of the day I was ready for FOOD. I got back and got all dressed up nice with a tie, slacks, and button-up shirt and we were off to some sort of celebration about the jazz festival in an art gallery. I'm not sure why we went there or what it was for but there was free food so I'm not complaining =] After that we took a trolly to where the performance was going to be. When we got there my grandpa called mom and "apolagized" that I had only met the mayor and the president of Idaho State University and that he was "sorry" that the governer wasn't there. I met a lot of other important people but they all kind of run together now. Anyway, after exploring backstage (we have backstage passes) we went to the "presidents box" where there were fancy cheezes stacked high and neat on fancy dishes along with several fruits and vegetables (and chicken, but who cares about that?). There were even several buttlers handy all of them "happy to accomadate you." on our seats we got ducks with saxap
hones and chocolates around them in plastic boxes. The performances were awesome, for the second half Marvin Smith from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno even played. He's the most amazing drummer I've ever seen or heard. Half of the time his sticks were just blurs and they all blended together so that it sounded like one long sound. Ralph Moody was also there (the saxaphone player, not the author). After the show grandma bought me a hoodie. It was one of those classic "grandpa sees something that he likes and Phillip agrees with him and later grandpa shows it to grandma and grandma immediately makes Phillip try it on and buys it with no questions asked" kind of things. So all things considered, it was a good day today =P (I mean yesterday, it's past 12:00 now) Sorry about the pictures being all over the place instead of by what they're dealing with, I can't figure out how to change the settings on that. They either all go at the top of look like... what they look like here. Oh well, it's 1:30 am and I'm too tired to try to figure out how to fix it. So you'll just have to figure out which pictures go with what (for some reason I don't think that'll be too hard). Sorry also for however many tyops and mispellings there are in here, I'm sure there are many. I'm on a laptop keyboard and it's 1:30 am ('nough said?).Random Poll: Is this duck made out of chocolate or is it rubber? Grandma thinks that it is chocolate because the rest of the stuff inside of the plastic box around the duck is all made by cowgirl chocolates. I also noticed that it has something under it possibly to keep it from melting and sticking to the bottom of the plastic box. Also, why would they give us rubber duckies at as fancy of seating as we were at ? But it *looks* like rubber. It weighs as much as a rubber duckie. And there are no marks anywhere inside of the plastic box that would mean it was chocolate. And I've never heard of a chocolate duck before either. But then again, there are marzipan pigs in this strange world so anything is possible. So, is it chocolate? Or is it not? Put your answer in the comments and I'll open the box sometime in the next two weeks and see if it's chocolate or not. Until then, it will remain closed.
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