Cumparsita Cats Video

Carmen’s new composition performed live at the Mercury Room.

Kansas to Denver

After our gig in Champaign we made a nine and half hour drive to a campsite in central Kansas. So far, Carmen is the self appointed Tetris master of car packing. Her goal is to get at least 2 inches for Andy to see out the back window.

In the car, we entertained our self with a Pat Metheny marathon through northern Missouri (in honor of his home state), a discussion about time beat division in Tool’s Lateralus, a delicious car lunch of sprouted grain tortillas filled with avacado, pepper, tomato, black bean salad, and a critique of the live recording from the previous night’s performance.

When we arrived, Kansas was beautiful and a steamy 104 degrees!

We woke up early the next morning and drove six hours to the trail head for a one and half mile (with 1,000 foot gain!) hike to an Appalachain trail style shelter west of Denver.

The Cowboy

We just played a really cool show at the Cowboy Monkey in Champaign, Il and it turns out there really is a Cowboy Monkey! Whiplash! He was a monkey trained to ride on a Border Collie in rodeos. Check out whiplash

Thanks to Joe Grohens for setting this up!

Lots of enthusiastic dancing!


and…thanks to Jackie Wypij for the beds and a fantastic breakfast in the morning! Off to Kansas….

2nd U.S. Tango Tour

Well, its been 3 years since we “officially” toured for tango and we are almost off for a two week whirlwind of milonga performances across the country. This year’s adventure will take us to the southwest!

We’ll be driving a newly purchased 2004 Ford Focus Wagon that will eventually carry 5 people plus music and camping gear!

Check the map to see where we will be and don’t forget to visit again as we post entries from our travels.


View larger map

The Gig Itinerary:

8/8 Fennville, MI
8/11 Champaign, IL
8/13  Denver, CO
8/14 Glenwood Spring, CO
8/15 Salt Lake City, UT
8/17 Ventura, CA
8/18 San Diego, CA
8/20 Corrales, NM
8/21 Albuquerque, NM

The Crew (Photos courtesy of David McGowan):

Carmen (flute): Tour Manager and group elected leader of the band

Andy (guitar): Tour Driver and keeper of all things in time and distance

“Jean” Luke (guitar): Tour Comedian and source of unshakable camaraderie

Dave (guitar): Tour Fisherman and keeper of superpowers in case we need them

Avik (dancer): Tour Swiss Army Knife and keeper of innumerous finely tuned skills

D’Arienzo in the Headphones

This past month while Andy has been teaching summer music theory courses at GRCC, I have been working on commissions for our dancer/musician friend Nick Jones and his tango group Orquesta Tipica Natural in Denver, CO. Here is my arrangement of Canaro en Paris based on a D’Arienzo orchestra version from the 1950s. Click on the link to listen along while you flip the pages! Use the icon at the bottom left navigation bar for a full page view.

Listen to Canaro En Paris

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