Syncope Jazz Band

For the past semester I have been the leader of the Medical student Jazz Band. We adopted the namesake of a previous med school jazz bands from a couple of years back: the Syncope Jazz Band, which is sort of a bad pun on the words "syncope" (medical term for fainting) vs "syncopation" (a style of accenting musical notes off of the beats).

This is my band. And these guys make me proud. We just played our second gig of the year, at the Med Formal dinner/dance this past weekend -- and it was a hit! We played three tunes during the dinner portion (Stolen Moments, Summertime, and Chameleon), and played our "A-material" for the performance portion of the night (Mercy Mercy Mercy, and A Night in Tunisia). Those are links to clips from the original recordings to give you an idea (it takes a while, but the music will eventually start).

It was kind of funny because we played as

This is my band. And these guys make me proud...

background music during the dinner, everybody was busy eating and talking, the odd person listening. As would be expected. Then the performances started. Everyone was dead quiet for these. There was a girl singing opera, a girl belly dancing, a girl hula dancing, and then when the jazz band came on to perform: everybody stood up and wandered around talking!! People must of thought: 'oh the background music is back on.'

At least the table sitting directly infront of the bell of my saxophone wasn't talking. That would have been impossible. They would have had to scream at each other. Hehehhe.

Yummy Sushi

This is a pic of the nummy dinner Carla made for me on Valentine's Day. It was a total surprize too, I came home and it was all ready with candles lit and everything! Here's what was on the menu:

Drink: Silver Jade Green Tea
Appetizer: 6 piece California Roll
Main Course: Thai Peanut Spring Rolls

And here is a video of me with the recipe for the spring rolls!!!

Valentine's Day Card

You know that I've been studying way too much anatomy when the Valentine's Day card I make for Carla ends up looking like this. I think she liked it even though. I decided to portray the heart from the lesser known "back-side" for an interesting perspective. To finish the masterpiece off I coloured it in with both markers AND pencil crayons! Now that's fancy. I even used Carla's crafty-scissors to cut a lower border into the card -- that is true love and dedication my friends.