This will be a rather long front page entry.  It's an interesting exercise to review your entire year.  Some things seem like just yesterday.  Others seem like a lifetime ago.   Anyway,  here goes....my 2006 year in review:

At the end of 2005,  I had some throat troubles and hadn't done much singing.  2006 found me on the mend.  I was taking some voice lessons at the Hochstein school of music and was learning how to improve my technique so as not to damage my voice.   This meant a complete change in my singing style.   The old growl was gone.   The new,  smooth Steve West was born.   I was a little nervous about pushing my voice too hard,  but I was lucky enough to get a couple of regular gigs for me down in Swain.  I was playing the Sierra Inn every Sunday,  and hosting the open mic at the ski resort every Monday.  I picked up a few new guitar students,  and I filled in for Keith Harden at Beale Street a couple of times.  I took it as a nice compliment that he thought enough of my perfoming to ask me.  It was looking like it was going to be a good year for me.

February and March brought the opportunity to perform with some new people.  Just to keep things interesting,  I invited some different folks down to Swain and the Chocolate Bar to play.  It was nice getting to work with JoAnn Vaccaro,  Bill Brown, and Nate Coffey, Gordon Munding, Anton Flint, and The Swanson Brothers  among others.  I also continued my partnership with Pete Collin and W.B. Blues.  Bill Brown invited me to come to The Brown Hound in Bristol Springs to sit in with him.  I was grateful for the invitation,  because it led to what has become one of my favorite regular gigs.    I also made some new friends at Lunahsea,  where Georgene asked me to host an open mic for her.  

As springtime started peeking its head out in April,  I was still playing at the Sierra every Sunday,  but the season was winding down.   One Sunday I met Lisa Marino there.   She heard W.B. Blues and liked us enough to ask us to play at her restaurant,  Club 57,  in Hornell.   It has become a fairly regular gig for us,  and we couldn't be happier.   The people there are just great.   As usual,  Pete traded his guitar for a fishing pole once the weather allowed,  so I put my concentration into solo gigs,  and W.B. Blues gigs.    The band was really starting to get tight,  and we landed a job at the Strathallan Hotel in Rochester.  This was really a big jump as far as we were concerned.   They usually have piano jazz,   so we shook things up for them a bit.    They loved us,  and we had a great time.

By June,  we had another Strathallan gig,  as well as a gig at the nearly famous Pollywogg Holler Ecoresort.   Later in the month, my friend Deborah Herbert came home to visit her family from Denmark.   Deb is a remarkable performer,  and I arranged for her to play at Chocolate Bar.   Dave Sharman sat in on jazz guitar,  and my nephew Phil played some tasty drums.   It was a blast.   Phil graduated from high school,  so I was very proud of him.    At the end of the month,  I held my annual Musians Picnic.   I invited a lot of friends to come to the lake and just hang out.  We ate,  jammed,  took a boat ride,  ate some more,  jammed some more,  and had a great day.

As July started,  I had already done more gigs than I did in all of 2005.   It was time for a little rest.  I cancelled all my lessons and scheduled no gigs for the 4th of July week.   It was glorious.   Perfect weather,  and lots of time to relax on the lake.  We did one more gig at Chocolate Bar with Deb.  This time,  Bill Brown and Ross Bracco sat in with us.   The place was standing room only.  Definitely one of my highlights for the year.   I also had a chance to do something a little different.  I played for the residents at St. Ann's Home in Rochester.   I felt really good about entertaining people who don't get a chance to get out much anymore.  I think they appreciated it too.

The rest of the summer just flew by.   I played some outdoor venues with W.B. Blues,  and really enjoyed what I was doing for a living.

In September,  I played the Gallery Night Out at Artisan Works.   I was on the roof with four other performers.  It was a great night.   I was invited by one of the other performers,  Jerry Falzone to play in a group setting later in the season because we had so much fun.   

Pete managed to find his guitar,  and we did a few gigs together as the leaves started to change.    Chocolate Bar started the fall music series and I once again was in charge of the booking.   I also ran into Allison DeMarco and Andy Penner by chance one night.   They used to manage the Big Tree Inn back when they had live music there.   They told me they had opened a new restaurant in Honeoye Falls,  and wanted me to play there.   The Rabbit Room at the Lower Mill is really elegant.  

In November,  I went to The Wave Station and recorded a few Christmas songs.  Nothing fancy,  but I was rather proud that I played all the instruments.   My mom enjoyed the disc,  as it was an early Christmas gift.   I also got the news from Susan Emery that they had decided to close Chocolate Bar at the end of the year.   I had some planning to do.

For December,  I was supposed to be playing at the Sierra Inn every Sunday again,  but we had about three snowflakes to speak of,  so that gig was put on hold until the weather improved (or worsened?)    I put my energy into planning one last hurrah at Chocolate Bar.   I invited all the people who had performed there over the past two years to come back for one last show.   We ended up with aobut nine performers over five hours.   It was a great show that included some interesting collaborations.   We donated all the money raised to the Salvation Army Red Kettle Fund,  so it went to help some less fortunate folks.   I ended the year with a gig at the Springbrook Inn.   Tim was out of town,  so Ross and I asked Gordon Munding to sit in.   It was a great way to end a very productive year.

Here's hoping that 2007 is just as productive,  and twice as fun!

For the last four years,  Pete Collin and I have done a Christmas show.   The first two years were at Canaseraga Hardware & Coffee Company.  Last year was at Boulder Coffee.    This year we planned to do it at Chocolate Bar.   That was before the news came that they were planning to close at the end of the year. 

I wanted to make it a special sendoff,  so after checking with Pete,  I decided to invite musicians who have performed at Chocolate Bar to come back and do a short set.    The response I got was great.

W.B. Blues opened the show with some Christmas Blues.   Ross Bracco then wowed the audience with some virtuoso guitar work on The Nutcracker.    Warren Paul then took the stage and showed us why he was a favorite at Chocolate Bar.  Next came Connie Deming with a performance that can only be described as inspired.  Her rendition of "O Holy Night" to finish her set was absolutely magnificent.   Brian Coughlin was the first performer at Chocolate Bar,  and it wouldn't have been a show without him.   He wrote four very short,  very funny "Christmas Carols"   for the occasion.     Next up were George Hochbreuckner and Jesse Sprinkle.   They held the crowd captive with a Bo Didley style "Little Drummer Boy"  featuring Jesse going to town on the cajon,  a South American percussion instrument.    Tim Shea and Mike Latoski got the crowd going with a mix of originals and some rousing Christmas music.   Lisa Bigwood was next up and boy was I happy to hear that beautiful National Guitar of hers again.   She even pulled out her own poignant version of Little Drummer Boy.    Finally,  it was time for Pete and I to take the stage.   Ross Bracco joined us on bass.    Man,  it was fun.   We did some traditional carols,  some sing alongs, played a nice love song for a couple who was celebrating their 50th anniversary,  and ended the night with our kazoo laden version of Heat Mizer/Snow Mizer   from the old "Year Without A Santa Claus"

We decided to donate all money in the tip jar to the Salvation Army Red Kettle Fund,  and raised about $175 for the cause.

I'll be sorry to see Chocolate Bar go,  but what a way to send them off!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

 I spent just about all day Tuesday in the emergency department at Strong Memorial Hospital.  I'm ok now,  thank you.   Tuesday morning was a different story.  

I won't go into the details of why I was there,  but I would like to publicly thank the Livonia Volunteer Ambulance.   They are a true asset to the community,  and I would strongly encourage anyone reading this to remember them,  or your own local volunteer emergecy responders when you are in possession of a couple of extra bucks.

Since Sept. 11,  we have used the word "Hero" to describe firefighters, police, and other rescue workers.   But the image that commonly comes to mind is these brave people responding to disaster.   We tend to forget that they are there for the smaller scale issues that happen every day. 

I'm going to do my best to remember that too.

I'm starting to feel it.   The holiday spirit, that is.    In the past,  I've felt numbed by this time because stores like Wegmans and Wal-Mart have had Christmas decorations out since Halloween,  or even before.    Christmas music in October does not inspire me.   Instead of getting mad about it,  this year I decided to ignore it.   Which is to say,  if they don't have enough respect for the true meaning of the holiday,  then I choose not to patronize them.    It's kept me in much better spirits this year.

But now,  we're into December,  and I'm ready for a little holiday spirit.  The spell of warm weather last week let us get some decorations up,  and I've started to reherse some Christmas carols.   As a matter of fact,  I even recorded a couple.  You can check out the sounds page to hear one.

 Last Saturday night I was booked to play at The Brown Hound Bistro.   I really like this place and the people who work there,  so I was looking forward to it.   Through some kind of misunderstanding,   Bill Brown showed up, guitar in hand believing that he was booked to play.     I suggested that we split the night.  The Brown Hound isn't big enough for both of us to set up and play together, so we figured I'd do a set,  then he'd do one  and so forth.    That worked out just fine.

At the end of the evening,  the crowed had thinned out a little,  and was down to a few tables who were really listening to Bill finish up the night.    I decided to get my harmonicas out.   That's when the fun began.   Bill and I have played together before,  but it's been a while.    I forgot how much fun it is to play with him.   We ended up playing for almost an hour and a half longer than we were scheduled to play.   The folks at the tables had long finished their dinners but stayed for another bottle of wine.   The waitresses who normally want to get out of there after a long night seemed to be just hanging out and enjoying the music.   There was a woman there celebrating her birthday,  and she told us it was the best way to spend the night she could possibly think of.

The great thing about music is that nights like this just happen sometimes.  If we planned it,  it probably wouldn't have been as fun.   It was just serendipity.