And again, 5,6,7,8...

It has been hot and sultry all day, the kind of day in which just breathing is exhausting. I promised yesterday to writeabout today's rehearsals, and would have done so hours ago, but when Igot home, I sat down for a moment - that was my tactical error - and wasoverpowered by a sneak-attack nap. I woke up again still in the chair,book open in my lap, spectacles askew. A pretty picture!

We had a JaLaLa rehearsal this morning with our band (YaronGershovsky on piano, Steve LaSpina on bass, and Deric Dickens on drums),and another rehearsal this afternoon just for vocals. The new materialis terrific and difficult. It's still settling in. The more familiarmaterial from the Mercer CD has developed a little creativity creep hereand there in the vocal harmonies. That's inevitable - at the moment, JaLaLacan only exist in the spaces left blank on the calendar by the New YorkVoices and Manhattan Transfer, so we have not sung together sinceFebruary. Repetition is the handmaid of memory, and we've not yet had alot of repetitions. And, because all of us are quick harmonizers, if oneof us makes a mistake - not that we ever do, but just pretend,OK? - the other two singers will fill out the harmony so fast a listenermight not hear that anything odd has happened. Without periodic review,the spur-of-the-moment parts become the parts. So we had toclean that kind of thing up, keeping the happy accidents and losing thenot-so-happy ones. Finally, we put together the set list. We accomplished a lot, and laughed a lot, and ate fresh ripe cherries and drank tea, because we three thatgood food shared is part of the harmony.

Just a few more days now until the concerts at The Egg inAlbany on Saturday and at Birdlandin NYC on Monday. You still have time to get tickets (and I still havetime to figure out what to wear).