I also listed a bunch of high school jazz festivals on my calendar.  School music programs are really in trouble.  I wish more people would show up to support their local high school musicians.  Schools seem to always manage to find the money to keep athletics alive.  Music and arts programs just seem to always be an afterthought.  It would be nice to see faces in the crowd besides mom, dad and grandma. 

My high school jazz festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 at 6PM.  I will be playing with the high school jazz band.  Jonathan Ragonese is adjudicating the event and will be playing a set with his band.  I’m really looking forward to hearing him play again.  He is a crazy, amazing saxophone player currently studying at the Manhattan School of Music.  If you haven’t heard him play, you need to! 

I was very honored to be asked to play with my band Rhythm On Main during the festival.  I really wish more high school musicians got together to just jam and have fun playing music outside of school.  It doesn’t have to be an organized activity.  I’ve had more fun just hanging out with friends playing music than just about anything else I do.  It will be nice to have the kids at my school hear what my band can do musically, without a school calendar involved.  I would love if more kids would hit me up to just jam.

Spring is finally here people.  As one of my Facebook posts said, “Occupy a Venue – Get off your ass and go to a show!”  You won’t be disappointed, and maybe I’ll see you there!

He is coming in April to the Forum in Harrisburg.  I already got my tickets.  Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to meet him again.  Playing with him would be even better.  Who knows. . . .

This is a snippet of an article I wrote for the Blues Society of Central PA’s newsletter which was published in February 2011.  I was 13 at the time.  Hope you like it.

“I was excited when my mom told me we got tickets to see BB King at the Hershey Theater for Saturday, January 8, 2011.  We went with our friends Chub and Jimbo.  We were all very excited.

When we got to the theater we saw a lot of people we knew.  There were some people there from the Blues Society and some people I had played guitar with before. 

 Then it was time for BB!  There were many, many cheers when BB got to the stage.  He played his guitar, Lucille.  It was a great show.  He did a lot more talking then playing but he was so cool!  I was very happy when he played “The Thrill is Gone” at the end.  

When the show was over everyone rushed to the stage and BB was throwing out guitar pics and other stuff.  By the time we got to the stage he was leaving.  We decided to head out too.

Once outside Jimbo noticed that BB’s bus was sitting in the alley beside the building.  Chub said BB’s bus was his castle.  There was a line of people waiting to get on the bus.  We thought we would just get in line and try to get on with them.  “It’s worth a shot”, I said.  As we arrived the door of the bus opened and the people started getting on.  But the door closed as soon as we reached it.  At that point we thought it was over.  But then a guy on BB’s bus opened the door again, pointed at me and motioned for me to get on the bus.  Chub came with me. 

We were waiting in line on the bus to meet BB.  We were so excited.  Finally it was our turn to meet BB.  Us and a few others gathered around BB.  He told us stories about a  weekend he spent in jail for speeding when he was young.  He talked about his dad.  He was talking about being in Brazil and how they speak Portuguese.  Every time he would say something funny he would laugh and say, “There, we shared a laugh!”  He signed some stuff for us and I told him I played the guitar and that I loved the blues.  He said, “Don’t just play blues, play everything!”  Then he told me to stay out of trouble.  “It’s easy to get into but hard to get out of!”, he said.  He asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I said, “play guitar!”  He said he had confidence in me and told me someday he would come up to me using a walker and he would be asking me if I remembered him!  He gave me some guitar pics.  When I stood beside him to get our picture taken together he said, “Lean in here like you like me!”  He shook my hand several times.  Then we said goodbye and I said, “I love you man!”

I’m really glad we got in that line for BB’s bus and that I got to meet the King of the Blues!”

Related show

• Artist:
  Ajay Shughart
• Date:
  Sunday, November 18th 2012
  
• Time:
  4:00pm
• City:
  
  Ajay Shughart in
  Carlisle, PA
• Venue:
  Market Cross Pub
• Address:
  113 North Hanover Street
• Venue phone:
  7172581234
• Country:
  US
• More information
• Notes:
  Come out and see Ajay performing the music from his CD (as well as some other great tunes) with Jon Skiff, Joe Mohn and Trent Peechatka. Some surprise guest performers too! Pick up a CD and see the new video! It’s going to be a BLAST!
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

Thanks to Mom and Dad for being so supportive. To all my musical mentors over the last few years: Eric for being the best guitar teacher ever, Mark for letting me share the stage, Beth for teaching me the difference between a guitar player and a musician, Chub for pushing me to write my own songs, Jimbo for encouraging me to be myself, James for being my marketing guru – thanks! Special thanks to Skiff, Trent and Joe for being willing to record with a newbie. You guys were AWESOME! I hope we get to play these songs live someday. And lastly, to the girl in marching band that bought me the frappuccino – you’re the best!