Making your holidays even happier with the release of the "Winter's Tale" CD!

Firstly, I hope everyone is having a great holiday season thus far.

Secondly, I've been having a blast here in Denmark. But, before I can talk about my time here, I have to plug the release of our new CDs for purchase online!

When I first joined back in June, Barrage was in the process of recording the Christmas CD. Though I'm not on all of the tracks (because I was otherwise busy finishing learning the rest of the Barrage repertoire), I was able to record both of the tracks featuring Stig Rossen, as well as some vocals and groups sections on a few other tracks.

So, this moment is especially exciting for me since I'm now officially on a Barrage recording!

Please read the following write-up, penned by Jason, to find out more information about the CD releases.

Thanks everyone! I'll update about our time here in Denmark very soon!

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We are excited to announce that the newest Barrage CD, "Winter's Tale," is now available for sale online!!! This collection of Christmas tunes, done as only Barrage can do them, is sure to bring joy and holiday cheer to your life. This fabulous CD is perfect for listening in the car, at work, at parties ... wherever you want to listen to good Christmas music!! Making this album even more special are the two tracks we recorded with guest vocalist, and Danish superstar, Stig Rossen.

The tracks on this album are:
Jingle Bells
We Three Kings
A Winter's Tale (with special guest vocalist Stig Rossen)
Il Est Ne
Carol of the Bells
Bring a Torch
O Holy Night
Sleigh Ride
What Child Is This?
Christmas Song (with special guest vocalist Stig Rossen)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Sugar Plum Fairies
Winter Wonderland
Auld Lang Syne

You can purchase this brand new CD -- "Winter's Tale" -- at southweststrings.com (http://www.swstrings.com/catalog/showMusicGroup.jsp?groupId=SH-SWC20089&subcategory=All) or barrage.org (http://www.barrage.org/shop/audiocds.html).

Also, now for sale on both these websites is the very newly released "High Strung" album, our latest and greatest high intensity album. "High Strung" contains all the best tunes from our current touring production plus one track that has never been performed on stage! (http://www.swstrings.com/catalog/showMusicGroup.jsp?groupId=SH-SWC20085&subcategory=All)

ANNNDDDD, you can ALSO buy our third new CD, titled "Scrapbook," on these websites as well. "Scrapbook" is a compilation of our greatest hits, and covers all twelve years of Barrage's history. (http://www.swstrings.com/catalog/showMusicGroup.jsp?groupId=SH-SWC20081&subcategory=All)

You can check out samples of music from "High Strung" and "Winter's Tale" on our Myspace and Facebook pages.

Enjoy and thanks for your continued support!!

Arizona missed the memo...winter is supposed to be cold.

What have I learned over these past two weeks? Arizona is warm. States in the Midwest, however, are not.

(For the record, the coldest I've ever encountered was -16 °F, with wind chill, in Boston a few years ago.)

Fortunately, I had anticipated cold weather this winter. With 2 scarves, 2 beanies, a sweat shirt, 2 sweaters, a vest and a North Face jacket, I've been more or less warm (clarification: I did not wear all of these items at once).

We spent the past two weeks winding our way North from Texas, performing in Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. Because we travelled mostly by car (expect for one small portion which was by plane), I saw quite a bit of interstate highway.

I was also able to see some more friends over the past two weeks! In Iowa, Ken and Carmella (parents of one of my best friends from ASU, Sarah Schultes) drove over 2 hours to come see Barrage perform in Des Moines. I was able to get dinner with them before the show, and had a great time being able to catch up with the two of them! Two of my great friends from ASU, Chad Jacobs and Josh Ybarra, both of whom now live and work in Chicago, came to the show in Skokie, IL. I had not seen them since early this summer, and they even gave me a driving tour of the Chicago area!

Josh, me, and Chad after the show.

Thanks again to Ken, Carmella, Chad and Josh for coming to see the show!

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I had originally written this post back in Roscommon, Michigan, but was not able to get it online because of a poor internet connection. Currently, I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark, soon to embark on a 26 day Christmas tour of Denmark with Danish singer Stig Rossen. I'm quite excited to be back in Denmark, because it's such an awesome country. Also, word on the street is that Denmark celebrates Christmas like no other country does--I can't wait to experience the merriment and Christmas cheer!

As a sidenote, it's about 5:30 a.m. here. Why, you ask, am I up at 5:30 a.m.? I've actually been laying awake in my bed since 3:00 a.m., unable to fall back asleep due to jet lag. After a long day of international travel and less-than-desirable sleeping conditions (i.e. on a plane through the night), I couldn't help but fall asleep around 9:30 p.m. last night, which is incredibly early for this on-the-road lifestyle; since I'm used to only getting about 6 hours of sleep a night, my body had had enough by 3 a.m.

This situation is further complicated by the fact that Jason is still asleep...which means I can't really do anything somewhat productive that would require light and/or noise-making because I don't want to wake him up. Fortunately, for my mental health and sanity, I realized that I could use my laptop (which doesn't require a room light) and finish typing up this post (I'm not a heavy typer, so it doesn't make much noise).

...and that is the story behind this post.

The Last Bit of Texas: "When I was in Barrage, there was this girl named Alicia..."

This final week in Texas has been a most memorable one.

We spent three days in Corsicana, Texas, a small-ish town about an hour south of Dallas. For two days, we played 45-minute sets at the local high school, not only to perform for students from all over the area, but also to promote our show which was to be held at the Palace Theatre on our third night in town.


The theatre was a really great place to play, not only because of its small, intimate size, but also due to its history. It was originally home to Vaudeville shows when it was erected, but over the years was both an adult movie theatre and a vacated building various squatters called home.

Right next to the Palace was probably the coziest coffee shop I've ever visited in my life, appropriately called the Two Doors Down Coffee House. The owners treated us to some incredible coffee before the show and even played our new "High Strung" CD over their speakers. The quality of coffee was so high that we couldn't not return for lunch the next morning on our way out of town. (If any of you ever happen to be in the area and stop by, make sure to get the homemade granola--it's unreal.)

Two nights ago marked Barrage's return to Abilene High School, in Abilene, Texas, home of Revolution, a fiddle group that focuses on alternative styles, much like Barrage. It was a blast playing with the kids there, and the crowd was brimming with enthusiasm. More or less, it was a perfect environment for Alicia to play her final show with Barrage. Alicia's probably most well known for Asturias, one of my favorite songs to play in the show--unsurprisingly, she nailed her final performance.

Celebrating Alicia's final night in town.

Alicia--thanks for all have you have done for Barrage over the past three years. As both a fan and (now) member of Barrage, it's been a pleasure getting to perform with you and hear you play! You are a remarkably talented individual and stellar violinist, and will surely go on to great things. Best of luck to you in all that you do!

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle (or 6) in the band.

Is there a better way to celebrate civic engagement than to update my blog? No...probably not (except maybe voting...that's a pretty great way to celebrate civic engagement too).

I had a short break back home in Arizona (which explains the lack of blog update), during which I was able to see quite a few of my friends, practice violin, pick up some new repertoire, and even get a lesson with my teacher from ASU! Also, I had the opportunity to see the Grammy-winning new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird at ASU. Though I usually prefer my music tonal, Eighth Blackbird blew my mind with their well-polished, entertaining, and incredibly insightful performances, and made this usually inaccessible repertoire very enjoyable.

Currently, I'm in Coriscana, Texas, and have performed in Austin, Freeport, and Houston over the last week.

This past week has been pretty intense, as Alicia will be leaving Barrage at the end of this week (to return to school at Vanderbilt University). In order to remedy that, Brian Hansen, Barrage's choreographer, came on the road for a week to help us re-choreograph the show for 5 violinists instead of 6. Over the past week, the 5 violinists would have 4-6 hour rehearsals during the morning and afternoon, and then we'd perform either the 5 or 6 person show at night (to get some 5-person performances under our belt while Brian was still around). As a result, the other violinists and I all find ourselves with sore arms and legs, and very mentally drained--but hey, that's what it takes to get a 5 person show ready for the road!

A few nights ago, my friend Ellen from ASU, who is now studying viola at Rice, came to the show in Houston. Ellen and I actually go way back, having both competed in the Arizona State Old Time Fiddle Contests years ago. It was great being able to see her after the show, especially because she gave me a tour of the music school at Rice!

Thanks Ellen!

The next few weeks look to be exciting as we continue travelling around the States. Then, we leave for Denmark at the end of the month, where the 5 violinists will be performing with Stig Rossen on his Christmas tour. It was difficult to pack for this tour, since I've never really experienced cold like a Denmark winter...but I hope that I've packed warmly enough.

And in other exciting news, the new Barrage "High Strung" CD was released earlier this week!!! As of right now, it's not yet available online. As soon as it's available online, I'll make it known here on this blog.

For now, it's time for me to get back to watching the election coverage!

Back in the States

As October begins, I'm forced to face a few realizations:

1) I haven't updated this blog since nearly a month ago.

2) I haven't done the best of job taking pictures over the past month...whoops.

As it turns out, there's significantly less to photograph when travelling in the US. When abroad, I very much felt a sense of responsibility to take bunches and bunches of photos. But here in the US, we don't do as much sight-seeing, so there aren't very many remarkable things of which to take photos. Plus, much of our time is spent travelling in vans, at a venue, or in hotel rooms.

However, this past month has provided me with some interesting happenings, and the opportunity to connect with some friends on the road.

When we arrived back in the USA, we played our first show in Great Neck, NY. The venue was pretty incredible (the stage was on the edge of a lake, so the audience saw a lake behind us as we performed), but the best part was getting two days off in NYC. As this was my first time to NYC, I was quite excited to see the things I've heard about for so many years (i.e. Times Square, Central Park, Juilliard, etc.).

The first day off in the city was quite overwhelming, seeing as I've never really had the opportunity to function in a city where public transit (or walking) is the norm. Thankfully, Annette spent two years in NYC going to school, so she was able to show me the ropes of the subways, which were very confusing at first. I spent much of that day just walking around (with a map in hand), frequently stumbling upon landmarks. For instance, I had entered Times Square from a peculiar direction, so I didn't even realize I was in Times Square at first. I was looking around at all the tall buildings and signs thinking to myself, "Gee...this must be something important," when I finally recognized the iconic intersection for what it really was.

Later that night, Andy, Sarah, Charlie and I went to go see "Spring Awakening" on Broadway, which won the Tony for Best New Musical a few years ago. Not only was it an absolutely incredible performance, but it just so randomly happened that Sarah had a high school friend in the cast. We're sitting in the audience watching the show, when she leans over and whispers, "Oh my gosh...that's my friend Morgan from high school!" Afterwards, we met Morgan at the stage door for a few minutes, and then it was off to hang out with one of Sarah's other friends from high school, Cory. In another most random of occurences, it just so happened that Ben Bailey, comedian and host of Cash Cab on the Discovery Channel (one of my favorite shows on television), was performing at the comedy club beneath the bar in which we were grabbing a bite to eat!

Carnegie Hall.

Times Square.

Juilliard.

Radio City Music Hall.

Sarah and Morgan after "Spring Awakening."

With Ben Bailey at some random bar in the city (thanks to Cory for taking the picture!).

Outside "Tom's Restaurant" from Seinfeld (Mom and Dad, this picture's for you!).

The other neat thing that happened in NYC on the second day off was reuniting with my violinist friend Nick Pappone, whom I met back in the summer of 2002 at the Idyllwild Music Festival in California. Nick was my best friend at camp that summer, and though we only were able to hang out for two weeks, we've been trying to meet up for multiple summers since then, with no luck. Now that Nick goes to school in Manhattan, we were able to meet up for the entire day, and he showed me all around his life in NYC. It was a pretty wonderful reunion, seeing as it had been 6 years in the making!

With Nick and his friend Grace at a Thai Restaurant in NY.

With Nick on top of Rockefeller Center late at night.

I definitely had a great time during my first visit to the city, and hope to go back soon!

Since NY, there have been three really memorable points of the tour back in the states, thus far.

First: getting a day off in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, which was spent sitting on the beach (it's important to note that this was my first time touching the Atlantic Ocean). The night before, we were also able to go see Sam Bush in concert--it will certainly go down in my books as one of the most amazing concerts I've ever attended. If you ever get an opportunity to see Sam Bush, go.

On the beach on Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Second and third: I've had quite a few friends come to the show! Ashley Scheffer, one of my best friends from ASU, wins the award for "First Friend to Come See Me Perform in Barrage." Afterward, I got to hang out with Ashley and check out her new apartment near Ohio State University, where she currently attends medical school. Then, in Annapolis, Maryland, two other ASU friends, Matt Cicinelli and Emma Krebs, came to the show! And not only did they come, but they also brought (to my surprise) two other friends from ASU, Julie Johnson and Alan Clifford! (Julie also brought her boyfriend, Derek, who so kindly took the picture of me and the four others--thanks Derek!) The four of them are all currently working and/or going to school in Washington, D.C.

Needless to say, it was great to be able see some of my friends on the road!

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To end this post, I'll share a few facts:

Days on the road: 58 (since Aug. 8th)

Shows performed in the USA (since Sept. 1): 18

States in which we've performed: NY, WV, MI, SC, IN, OH, CT, NJ, MD, GA, TN and AL

Objects signed other than programs, posters, CDs, and DVDs: 3 violins, 2 cello cases, 1 violin case, 6 or 7 arms, 2 stomachs, 1 chest, 2 treasure trolls, 2 pairs of jeans, 1 digital camera and mulitple t-shirts

New foods I've tried since joining Barrage (that I can recall offhand): Indian, Thai, Lebanese, Persian, Korean, Indonesian, Greek, schnitzel, seafood (i.e. mussels and crab)...and probably more that I can't recall at this moment

New favorite food craving, which was developed on the road: dumplings

France & Italy

After finishing up in Denmark, we drove down to the border between France and Italy, where we spent the next few days. The first night of the two-day drive we stayed in Speyer, a small town in Southwestern Germany. But we didn’t get to Speyer by driving on just any freeway—we got there by driving on the Autobahn, the German freeway where large portions have no maximum speed limit. As seen below, Hidayat had quite an exciting time driving really fast. The speed shown in the picture is about 188 km/h, but I think the fastest we went was about 210 km/h (which is about 130 mph).
On the next day of travel, we ended up driving through four countries: we had lunch in Germany, a snack in Switzerland, a snack in France, and then dinner in Italy. When we stopped in Switzerland to eat some cheese, we happened to be next to a huge lake in the middle of the Swiss Alps. Naturally, we had to hike down the side of the mountain to get to the lake (the whole thing was very reminiscent of the famous shot from “The Sound of Music,” when Julie Andrews is singing in the middle of tall fields of grass in the mountains).

Alicia and I took a break to have fun on the see-saw in the middle of the Swiss Alps. 

The rest of the drive through Switzerland was really exciting for me, because I recognized quite a bit of Geneva from when I visited Switzerland back in 2003 with the Arizona Ambassador Choir. If you ever get an opportunity to visit Switzerland, go, because the Swiss Alps are among the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen. The most exciting part of the drive, however, was when we had to drive up through the mountains to cross over to the French side of the Alps. Not only was the drive awesome (and scary), but it provided us with a beautiful view of the Swiss countryside.

We arrived at Chamonix that evening, and then proceeded to drive through a 30 km tunnel through the mountains to get to Courmayeur, Italy, where our hotel was located. By this time, the sun was completely down, so we had no idea how beautiful the mountains were until the next morning when we woke up. The following are some pictures of Courmayeur.

Looking out of the hotel window. That night, we performed in the Celtica festival, which was located back in Chamonix. Celtica was run by a Celtic clan based out of the Aosta Valley (the region in which Courmayeur is located). From what I understand, the members of the clan are legally citizens of Italy, but they don’t necessarily consider themselves "Italian." The show that night marked the beginning of what would be an incredible set of days with this clan. That night in Chamonix, we were set to perform on a stage in the town square at 10 p.m. As the night waned on, however, a storm started to set in and the rain showed no signs of letting up. Because we had a covered stage, we still had to perform. Much to our surprise, there was still a crowd left by the time 10 p.m. rolled around. Even with the weather, the teens from the clan (some of whom were barefoot and and none of whom had umbrellas) danced in front of the stage for much of the show, soaking their tartans in the rain and puddles! It was quite an incredible experience from our end, seeing an audience dedicated to having fun under less-than-desirable circumstances (i.e. rain). [Thanks to Matt for all of the pictures taken during the show!] 

The next day we traveled to St. Pierre, Italy, which was about 30 minutes away from Courmayeur by car. We were still in the Aosta Valley, but this time had new incredible sights outside our agro-tourism hotel up in the mountains:

That night, the clan invited us to join them for a bonfire in the forest back in Courmayeur. We weren’t really sure what to expect, other than incredibly cold weather and food. When we arrived, we first learned a traditional Celtic tune by ear from a bagpiper, with whom we would later collaborate the next day. The clan showered us with drinks, delicious food, homemade nutella, and some amazing pork, which had previously existed as an entire pig roasting on a spit. After consuming huge portions of delicious food, we sat around a fire with the clan and jammed out with a harp player, a whistle player, and a few drummers (including one who was playing the boran, a traditional Celtic drum). After enjoying food, company, and live music, we participated in the bonfire portion of the evening. A few of us, along with many of the clan, were given torches with which we marched through the woods to the beat of drums and a bagpipe. Once we arrived at the bonfire site, we all gathered around the skeleton of branches that would soon become the bonfire. The clan leaders read traditional Celtic texts and put their torches at the base of the braches to light the fire. Then, one by one, everyone who had a torch was invited to put his or hertorch into the bonfire if he or she felt moved to do so. The bagpiper and drummers jammed out the whole time, and once everyone had thrown their torches into the bonfire, we were led in a Celtic dance around the bonfire.

Alicia and me with our torches.

Sarah throws her torch into the bonfire.

Shortly after fully lighting the bonfire, we had to head back to St. Pierre, though the bonfire party reportedly continued until about 4 a.m. Needless to say, partaking in the evening’s festivities was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had the opportunity to do. However, the awesomeness of that night was soon to be outdone by the awesomeness of the next night. We had one more show to play back in Courmayeur (still part of the same festival), but this time it was in a tiny, intimate outdoor theatre in the center of town. In the afternoon, we did a small 20 minute show as a teaser for our show later that night at 10:30. The teaser must have worked well--not only was every seat filled, but a huge group of the clan members had shown up and they were all standing to the left side of the stage. Whenever anyone would have a solo, the Celtic teens would scream for us to go over to their side of the stage, where it seemed as though a mosh pit was only seconds away from breaking out. After an exhilarating show, we got the opportunity to participate in what was, for me, perhaps the most unique experience I’ve ever had in music. The tune we had learned from the bagpiper the night before was a tune the clan sings whenever the entire clan is together. As I was told by a clan member, usually upwards of 200 musicians will cram onto a stage to perform the tune in what is essentially a huge jam session. Along with 6 or 7 drummers, a killer harp player, a bagpiper, and two other violinists who had performed earlier in the evening, we jammed on stage to this one tune for about 15-20 minutes (and the tune itself is probably only 45 seconds long), with different sets of musicians taking turns each time we repeated the tune. Meanwhile, the entire clan (and some non-clan audience members) were swaying and singing along. This sounds really corny and cliché, but people say that “music is an international language”—for me, jamming and singing with the Celts made that statement unbelievably true.

Thanks again to Matt for this picture!

After the show with Federico, Claudio, and Stefano (some of the Celtic teens).

The clan.

With Alicia, our interpreter while we were in Italy.

The next morning marked the beginning of five days off in Italy, which I spent with Matt, Alicia, Tim, Kristina and Jason, backpacking around Florence, Rome, and Venice, staying in hostels and traveling by train.

When in Rome (and Florence and Venice)…

Standing on top of Il Duomo, in Florence.

The sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence.

In front of the Colosseum in Rome.

Inside the Colosseum, ready to take on the gladiators.

The Palatine (a hub of Ancient Roman life).

A view of the Papal Gardens from inside the Vatican Walls.

The Vatican.