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Transmitting from Las Vegas, NV... I 1st played here exactly 30 years ago with disco queen Gloria Gaynor (remember "I Will Survive"?). Now I'm here with Liza & will be back again on Thanksgiving week. I have some nice memories of times spent here, especially with Gregory Hines in the '80s & '90s. With Greg, many times we were the opening act which consisted of exactly 35 minutes on-stage each night. That's it! For the rest of the day, you're free to do as you please. Talk about a paid vacation!! Sometimes a professional musician's life ain't so bad! Of course, you have to balance it out with all of the dues that one pays. Things like long gigs with little or no pay, gigs with little or no audience, people in the business who are less than honest, bounced checks, etc. etc. One of my favorite dues paying experiences was having to wheel my entire drumset across the West Side Highway in NYC, after getting the directions confused as to where my gig was. I was wheeling 5-6 pieces of equipment alone, all over lower Manhattan, trying to find the club or restaurant where I was supposed to be. Don't remember if I made it on time or not......or how about getting a flat tire on the way to a gig in the middle of a rainstorm & having to change it in the pouring rain, by myself, while dressed in a tuxedo! I was not a pretty site upon arrival! Still, I must admit that the good times have outweighed the bad & I consider myself a very lucky guy in the music business. I've worked with some amazing people & continue to do so. Tomorrow it'll be another 3AM wake-up call to catch a 6AM plane to Lincoln, Nebraska. Dues, yes, but the happy kind as I'll be attending my sister-in-law's wedding. Should be fun.

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