Hi there! Apologies for long gap in posts and thanks to Doug Jacques for his remonstration.I took the plunge recently and revived my long love affair with the clarinet. Photos are me sitting in with Red Beans and Rice who have been filling the White Rock Trad Jazz summer hiatus at the Crescent Beach Legion. Photo 1. is me with Gerry Green and Scott Robertson playing Stranger on the Shore(Don Ogilvie and Casey Tolhurst not shown). Photo2. is the whole band, adding Rice Honeywell on Cornet and Ron Minchell, trombone, Jack Stafford is the other clarinetist. Great fun! Aside from practicing I have been working long hours at the golf course, to justify the free golf and continuing to drive cars at the car auction, to keep my job for the winter. We had the WRTJS summer MiniFest in June featuring the 49th.Parallel JB as well as Bria Skonberg's Big Bang JB. Great music! The former JB also played at Bruce McCrae's annual Jazz Picnic. Simon Stribling's NO Ale Stars are back from a successful European stint at the Breda Festival and have been putting out their special brand of Hot jazz at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster. All in all a very busy time. We(the Board of the Vancouver Dixieland Jazz Society)are gearing up for our four day festival at the Sheraton Hotel in Surrey - October 9-11. Featured are Black Swan Classic JB,PortlandOR, Grand Dominion,WA,South Burgundy Street JB, Arcadia CA. Plus a band from Whitehorse, Big Bang JB etc. We are hoping that the recession, new border regulations, and other bad news problems will not reduce attendance too much. The fest is supported by a grant from BC Lottery and other sponsors so we are financially safe. More soon!