I hope he doesn't get kicked out of the band again...

We painted the new house today!

Should have made pictures but I didn't.

No worries, tomorrow I will.

We didn't plan it this way, but it turns out that the living room is going to be a somewhat 'Rastafarian room'. (Yes, red, yellow, and green) It's not the bright versions of these colours though.

The red's rather terra, the green is very green though, but the yellow is more of an 'old' yellow.

It's nice. The living room has a warm feel to it. It's not done yet, but we're ahead of schedule, so that's good.

After the painting I had a reunion rehearsal with the very first choir I ever sang in. The choir my dad sang in, my mom sang in, and all my sisters sang in. It was a really good reunion. Everything came back so easily; the songs, the feeling, the pleasure... like nothing or no-one had changed.

The reason for this reunion is, that the church that I was brought up in, where I spent a great deal of my childhood and holds a lot of memories, is going to be broken down. A good reason to get back together one more time. It was special.

After the rehearsal, my mom took me to see a show in 'The Anton Philip Zaal'. I'd never gone to see a show there, and didn't know which show I was going to see, but mom asked me to join her and I hadn't had a night out with mom in ages, in fact, just her and me, I think this was the first time.

When we got there the music sounded rather 'fusion-ie'. To be honest I wasn't sure if this was going to be my kind of music, but we went in as open minded as possible, and decided we could always leave early if we wanted to.

We stayed till the end. Well, until DJ Maestro started playing, we didn't stay for that, cause by then it was rather late. It was terrific. Not only was it terrific, but I recognized the guy on Trombone (Patrick).

Patrick used to be in a band called 'Olabola'. He played trombone in that band and it was clear he loved the music. His eyes would close and he'd just literally dive into the sound, loose himself in the groove, and do it in a such a way that you felt where he was.

He grabbed your attention. And the beautiful thing was the he wasn't trying, he was just enjoying the vibe.

At some point he was 'kicked out of that band'. The attention he got, caused friction, and that was the result.

After this happened, I was fortunate to see him at another show and we got the chance to talk. I'd worked with some of the people of this show, as I had done with some of the people in 'Olabola'. I knew I'd still see them, but after this show (which was kind of a one off) the chances of me seeing him were slim to none. So we exchanged numbers. I told him I was working on some stuff and if ever I needed a trombone player I'd be sure to call him.

5 years pass, and I find myself in 'The Anton Philip Zaal' looking at a band with Patrick in it!

As I said, the show was terrific. They had 5 horns, 3 on percussion and one on guitar. It was wicked.

Beats were changing rhythms were impossible to follow and the vibe was good.

The show was about James Carter, JC meets Suriname.

And James Carter was interesting, did some very creative things, but my attention was more on Patrick. I was feeling everyone and everyone was good, but Patrick was Patrick.

I saw him disappear in the music again, and just PLAY. He was making music; harmonizing; adding little riffs and notes.... but inside the music, not onto the song, if you know what I mean...

He kept it relatively humble, till he played his own solo.... LOVEly. Simple, but special, you just FELT him. Superb.

Now, what put me off James Carter was his ego. I can put it another way, but that's the truth.

I know musicians 'battle' in music, but this wasn't a 'battle' kind of show. Yet the next solo was for James, and you heard, felt and saw him prove a point. As much respect as all the other horn's gave him, he did not give any back. The feeling of 'making wonderful music together' was not there.

After the show Patrick walked up to us to thank us for the 'giving back' and enjoying the show so much. He hadn't recognized me yet, so I referred to Olabola. He looked, smiled, and said.

"I still have your number in my phone. You said you'd call whenever you'd do something, and you never did!"

I was dumbstruck. We'd only had 1 talk, 5 years ago, and here he was, showing me my name in his phone (yes: Grey, Nyjolene that was me... and I hadn't said my name) with my old phone number.

We didn't talk long, but I gave him my new number, took his, and promised that I really would call when I'd put up something jazzy.

It's a small world, but it's really cool if within that small world, even the people that hardly talked, still stay connected. Now I've got to keep my promise...

I feel another project in the air..... hahahah