We had a great start to this year’s Rat Pack – Live At The Sands US Tour in the fine city of Atlanta, GA. It was a pleasure to meet and play with all the local musicians, in particular the brass players. My thanks go to ‘Lee’ King and Andy Hagans (trumpets), and Eric, Jason Altieri and Lee Watts (trombones) for making the first week back so easy for me. We had a great time hanging out after the show too!!
One particular thrill for me was the chance to go and help Lee Watts out with coaching the Trumpets at the Wheeler High School band program. Mark Hoskins runs a great program over at Wheeler and we had a great time working with the concert band section. All fine young players whom I look forward to hearing again in the future!
It was also great to have a chance to catch up with some returning Rat Packers. Alonzo Saunders rejoined us for a brief stint as Sammy cover and we even had a visit from Henry Prego; who returned as an emergency Frank cover at the end of the week. Great to see the guys again.
The next leg of the tour took us to St. Louis, MO. More about that shortly…