Jury duty was a huge waste of time. I spent two days there and was never even called into a courtroom to be questioned for jury consideration. Granted, the last thing I wanted was to be put on a jury, but it seemed like a waste of time for most of us. The positive thing is that it appears that the court system always has people waiting around in case a trial needs to happen. So, if I ever commit some crime (and get caught), I guess I can expect a relatively speedy trial. Or at least a speedy jury selection.

I’ve spent the rest of the week revising the “Sasparilla” parts. Rick Clary is doing the piece in a few weeks with an honor band at Bands of America, plus the distributor needs copies ASAP, so I’ve been cleaning and reprinting everything. (I’ve decided to use a distributor for this piece to help get the word out. I’ll still sell copies directly as well.)

Last week, I wrote a blog entry about a piece by a very promising young composer, Michael Markowski. The piece I heard, “joyRIDE,” is now posted on Mike’s website. I encourage you to check it out. I wish Mike would post a PDF of the score, too!

Tomorrow, AEJ and I are heading up to John Corigliano’s place for dinner and a little R&R. The last time we went up there, he showed us the sketches for “Circus Maximus.” Well, that, and he put me to work, helping to measure his swimming hole:

I wonder what he has in store for us this weekend…