Bright and early tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I’m flying to Atlanta.  I have a residency for several days with both Georgia State University and the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble (MAYWE). Lots of rehearsals and other fun things coming up, all of it culminating on Monday at 8pm at the Rialto Center for the Arts with this crazy program, called, by them, “MackeyFest” :

Asphalt Cocktail (Georgia State University, conducted by Robert Ambrose)
Concerto for Soprano Sax (GSU & Ambrose, with Jan Berry Baker, saxophone)
Aurora Awakes (MAYWE, conducted by Robert Ambrose)
Undertow (MAYWE, conducted by Laura Moates Stanley)
Damn (with Kenneth Long, clarinet)

Wow, that’s a whole lot of me. I’ve never had a concert of just… me. It’s an honor, but also more than a little intimidating. With so many pieces back-to-back, the audience will be able to figure out all of my little tricks (both intentional and accidental) that I put in every piece. I can hear the under-the-breath mid-concert mumbling already… “Oh Christ, he’s doing that crap again in this piece, too. Oh look — more 7/8! La-de-friggin’-dah, isn’t he fancy? What. Ever.” And that’s just what I will be saying.

In all seriousness, if you find yourself in Atlanta on Monday night, I hope you’ll come. I mean, it’s MackeyFest ’09! Word is that the ensembles are doing a great job. Should be fun (and probably drummy!).