Hey there, folks!
2010 got off to a bit of a slow (and snowy) start, but things are starting to kick into high gear now. A few highlights:
On Saturday, February 28, the 24th annual Washington Area Music Awards (or "Wammies") were held at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia. I'm happy to report that, once again, I was honored with two Wammies from my colleagues in the greater Washington musical community. I was given the Wammie for "World Music Instrumentalist" for the SEVENTH year in a row, and "Peace, Love and Coffee" became the 4th album by The Alexandria Kleztet to receive the Wammie for "World Music Recording."
Plus, it was a pretty busy night for me, because I was also the leader of the pit band for the awards show. That's right -- I was the guy cutting off everyone's acceptance speeches! For the occasion, I threw together an all-star conglomeration of some of the area's best and brightest musicians: trumpeter Justine Miller, trombonist Brian Priebe, pianist Sean Lane, guitarist Phil Mathieu, bassist Scott Harlan, and drummer Wes Crawford. We called ourselves "Seth Kibel & DC Time Machine," and we played a wide variety of material associated in some way with our nation's capital. It was our debut gig, and since I seldom get calls for bands that play both John Philip Sousa and Chuck Brown, it was also probably our farewell performance.
In other news, I want to hip everyone to the brand new album from SONiA & disappear fear. It's called "Blood, Bones & Baltimore," and it's really an amazing record. And I'm proud to report that I'm all over it! I urge all of you to check it out!
