Lowell & New York

Traveling once more, and a very good experience and entry into the US via San Francisco. Nice people, if still very busy and slightly confusing . . .
Now completed the first leg of the tour, first to Lowell MA - beautiful little town north of Cambridge and Boston.
Caught up with the good folks of UMass Lowell Music and their wonderful hospitality. They run some terrific degree programs in music education, sound recording technology, music business and performance. Many thanks to Alex Ruthmann and John Shirley:

[A great night out at Boston's Lennox Hotel, w/ an amazing glass of 'The Balvenie']

Then on to New York to catch up with Nora Farrell (now teaching part of the year in our Bachelor of Music Technology program) and Bill Duckworth who's also now supervising some of our QCRC PhD candidates. Thanks for a delicious Thanksgivings Day dinner (that's pumpkin pie, clementines and roasted chestnuts . .!)
Or, as they also call it here – Turkey Day! Pics from the spectacular Macey's Thanksgivings Day Parade:

Flying out today, onward and upward to Montreal & McGill University's Schulich School of Music. Looking forward to it.

Byron Bay BluesFest 2010

Just break from a short Easter trip in beautiful Byron Bay (Australia's most easterly point), and spending a few days at the BluesFest.

Must have ben one of the best line-ups we've seen for some time at the Festival, now in its 14th year with many, many stages and acts to choose from . . .

A favourite with everyone was Dr John and the Lower 911:

And the amazing fingers of Joe Bonamassa:

And many more, just a few here:

The wonderful, The Men they Couldn't Hang (that's Chris Spedding on guitar).

Peter Green (yep, he's still doing it!)

Gypsy Kings.

Lyle Lovett and just a great band.

Béla Fleck's truly jaw-dropping African Project, featuring Oumou Sangarè.

The ever-ready John Mayall & band.

Cyril Neville and Galactica.

Buddy Guy.

But my personal favourite was Jeff Beck . . . in somewhat of a renaissance mode . . with Jason Rebello on keys, Rhonda Smith (from Prince) on bass & vocals, and Narada Michael-Walden on drums.

Jeff Beck's hands . . . the most unusual technique, but oh so expressive, all flesh, no pick . . must come from all that work in the garage with hot rods . .

This particular evening, we were treated to an encore with guest Imelda May . . just a terrific and inspiring artist (who was also performing with her band at Blues Fest). In this shot, they were performing a tribute to the recently passed away Les Paul, doing How High the Moon, and featuring Jeff performing on an historic 1954 Gibson Les Paul Oxblood.

More pics from the Byron Bay Blues Fest here. Enjoy.