Outside the ground is wet, thanks to “the biggest October storm since 1962” around these parts. That’s a mixed blessing in the state that has had so many fires recently, with ridgetops burned bare and the potential for mudslides increased.

Meanwhile my musical endeavors continue on their slow and merry way:

• SNUG is in a bit of a stand-by position, as we try to find a new bass player. We’ve been working on recording some better demos in the meantime, with yours truly playing bass as well as guitar, and I think they will probably see the light of day pretty soon.We’ll also be doing a gig at the Shougun House Restaurant in early November as an acoustic act (which SiBon calls the GNUs rather than SNUG acoustic… don’t ask me…).
• I had two jazz gigs materialize out of the blue in September, one at a small restaurant in Foster City, another at Santana Row in San Jose. I’ve been mildly working myself back around to doing more playing of this nature, and while perhaps premature, it was a good to do them (and if I waited until I was “ready” in my mind, I might never get out there and play).
• I have been to the Little Fox jam on Wednesdays and the Old Princeton Landing jam on Sundays as often as possible, as usual.
• In my practice I’ve been trying to focus more on playing along with backing tracks. I tend to do that sporadically and I think it will be to my great advantage to do it as regularly as I can.

I also have a couple of music shows coming up that I’m excited about. Two of my favorite guitar players are coming to town. This coming Sunday I’m going into San Francisco to see Adrian Belew and his power trio at Slim’s. On Friday, November 6, I’m also going to go into SF to see Pat Martino at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater. 2009 continues to be a good year for guitar performances.