Sabbatical year 2014-15

It has been a busy sabbatical year.  I've done a ton of traveling (with Karen at my side).  First of all last summer we went to the International Trombone Festival Conference in Rochester.  Got to see a lot of great players and I was lucky to have a very positive review of my CD Salsa Norteña in their journal.  Last January I put a band together in San Diego to perform my music at the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in San Diego. 

We also spent a few days in Vegas where I got to hang out with my sister for a few days.  She happened to be there the same time as us and I got to see her for the first time in almost 5 years.  Following that I went to the NAMM Conference in Anaheim.  That was an incredible event with over 96,000 attendees.

In March we went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and we both took Spanish immersion classes at the Solexico school.  It was very intense and we spent 4 hours a day, 5 days a week in the classes.  It really helped my Spanish and I wish I could keep taking classes.

Finally, we spent the first two weeks in June traveling to South Carolina and participating in The Savvy Musician in ACTION music entrepreneur workshop at the University of South Carolina.  It was one of the most intense things I've ever done.  I learned a lot that will come in useful when I do my music biz class at SUNY Plattsburgh this fall.

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