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taz_39**Disclaimer** The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer. DO NOT RESHARE ANY PART OF THIS POST WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thank you.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was here with Tootsie in 2023 (Part 1 and Part 2 of that visit.)
TL;DR Highlights included eating at Arsagas, Hail Fellow Well Met, and Little Bread Company. Visiting Ozark Natural Foods, visiting the public library which is one of the top-rated in the country, eating ice cream made fresh in front of me, and signing a wall tag at the Watson Center (which I look forward to finding again tomorrow!)
A nice slow morning of breakfast, packing, and running through my masterclass once before we loaded our things onto the bus. When we travel by bus my usual routine is to be on time for the luggage call, put my suitcase under the bus, use my backpack to hold a seat for myself (important because I get motion sick easily,) then go back to my room for another 20 minutes to mess around or eat lunch until it's time to go. This time we were leaving right at noon and I didn't want to delay housekeeping, so I brought lunch to the lobby and ate it there. The bus ride was uneventful and only 2 hours long.
We arrived at the company hotel which is 6 miles from downtown. You may recall that I am trying VERY hard to avoid carpools and long commutes on this tour. To that end, I've booked an airbnb! My space wasn't ready yet so I killed time in the hotel lobby for 30 minutes or so, then Ubered to the airbnb location. There was a lock box with a key that was easy to find and so was the space.
For safety reasons I won't share exactly where I'm staying yet, but will share that it feels luxurious! The most important thing is it's close to the theater. There's a nice view, I'm walkable to all of the awesome restaurants and thrift stores in this college town, and there's a living room and a fireplace (which I have no idea how to operate.) Best of all there's a washer and dryer IN-UNIT! Wow! And all of this only cost slightly more than the company hotel! This is already a GREAT birthday gift to myself.
That's right, this week is my birthday! The big 4-2, on Wednesday.
Anyway, dropped my luggage and walked to Ozark Natural Foods. They carry a lot of awesome local goods. This time I picked up sourdough blueberry bagels from a local bakery, sweet potato soup from a local farm, and some chai spice almonds from Minneapolis. And Olyra crackers but they're not local :p
They also carry products that I love that are difficult to find, like Freshé tuna meals and Wild Planet shredded beef and Poshi pickled veggie pouches. I'll write reviews of the local stuff by the end of the week.
Carried my groceries home. On the walk back I found this sticker on a concrete wall:
(PROFANITY WARNING!!!)
(PROFANITY WARNING!!!)
Then I did an Uber to Whole Paycheck too because the co-op hadn't had some grocery standards.
Ate dinner, unpacked, settled in, and chilled.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
I forgot to mention yesterday that our French hornist will be out for the next two days :( I don't really know why but hope she's all right.
I *think* I slept well? The bed was comfy. A train went by late at night, but considering that I used to live in train yards that's a non-issue. Made myself a nice breakfast and enjoyed stretching out on the couch. Mmmmmm luxury :)
Finished Pittsburgh Foodie Finds (I'm on a roll!!) and did a masterclass run-through. I'm consistently between 46-47 minutes, which it turns out will work out just fine because one of the other presenters cancelled and I'll get to poach a little of that time to add to my Q&A. Perfect! For me anyway :p
After lunch I walked to a nearby family-owned drugstore because I'm almost out of earplugs (and just to go for a walk. It was 50 degrees!!) Did not find earplugs, and decided to continue on back to the co-op to get a birthday treat for myself for tomorrow. I will have to pick up the goodies for the band tomorrow and that's a walk in the opposite direction, so I realized that now was the best time to do this. After much faffing and indecision I settled on a lovely chocolate espresso cupcake, as well as a bottle of sparkling blackberry water because why not. Yay treats!
I went to the theater early to scope it out. By luck I was there at just the right time to catch our logo truck pulling around the corner.
Inside I quickly remembered the layout of this small theater and found the pit.
Someone has put a stuffed Garfield in the drum booth! I think it was Tiff (Assistant Sound.)
Got my space set up nicely and went back upstairs to find the bottle filler, Company Management (must--steal--CANDY), and our dressing room, which is conveniently in a sort of break room with tables and counters and plates and plasticware and everything I'll need to share treats with the band tomorrow. Lucky! Eventually I found the trunks and dug my stuff out of mine. We had sound check and it was fine, our horn sub did an amazing job considering that she's sightreading. Tim (trumpet) and I were talking about times we've had to cover other horn or trumpet books when someone was out sick and a sub couldn't be found in time, and it made me remember that I have the trumpet and horn books! Now my new project is to put those on my iPad, look through and figure out which solo/important lines I could cover on trombone, bookmark them, and print them so they'll at least be ready to go if such a thing happens. I hope it doesn't, but we are less than a year in and already several people have had unexpected call-outs. Better safe than sorry.
The evening show was just fine. Our horn sub was great, there are so many incredibly exposed and prominent solo horn lines and she absolutely nailed them. She's in again tomorrow (good, she can enjoy the charcuterie with us :D )
In closing, I found the Tootsie wall tag! It is one of my favorites. It is inspired by a line from the show:
"I spent the night doing the Dirty Dancing lift with my cat. Turns out...he isn't very strong!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: My birthday! Plans are to work on my usual things, watch The Muppet Show which is airing with new episodes on ABC tomorrow, download those horn and trumpet parts, and eat my special birthday treats :) We have one show in the evening, and I will bring treats to share with the band.
Thursday: A two-show weekday, so no plans.
This post covers Monday and Tuesday.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
MONDAY
Fayetteville, Arkansas. I was here with Tootsie in 2023 (Part 1 and Part 2 of that visit.)
TL;DR Highlights included eating at Arsagas, Hail Fellow Well Met, and Little Bread Company. Visiting Ozark Natural Foods, visiting the public library which is one of the top-rated in the country, eating ice cream made fresh in front of me, and signing a wall tag at the Watson Center (which I look forward to finding again tomorrow!)
A nice slow morning of breakfast, packing, and running through my masterclass once before we loaded our things onto the bus. When we travel by bus my usual routine is to be on time for the luggage call, put my suitcase under the bus, use my backpack to hold a seat for myself (important because I get motion sick easily,) then go back to my room for another 20 minutes to mess around or eat lunch until it's time to go. This time we were leaving right at noon and I didn't want to delay housekeeping, so I brought lunch to the lobby and ate it there. The bus ride was uneventful and only 2 hours long.
We arrived at the company hotel which is 6 miles from downtown. You may recall that I am trying VERY hard to avoid carpools and long commutes on this tour. To that end, I've booked an airbnb! My space wasn't ready yet so I killed time in the hotel lobby for 30 minutes or so, then Ubered to the airbnb location. There was a lock box with a key that was easy to find and so was the space.
For safety reasons I won't share exactly where I'm staying yet, but will share that it feels luxurious! The most important thing is it's close to the theater. There's a nice view, I'm walkable to all of the awesome restaurants and thrift stores in this college town, and there's a living room and a fireplace (which I have no idea how to operate.) Best of all there's a washer and dryer IN-UNIT! Wow! And all of this only cost slightly more than the company hotel! This is already a GREAT birthday gift to myself.
That's right, this week is my birthday! The big 4-2, on Wednesday.
Anyway, dropped my luggage and walked to Ozark Natural Foods. They carry a lot of awesome local goods. This time I picked up sourdough blueberry bagels from a local bakery, sweet potato soup from a local farm, and some chai spice almonds from Minneapolis. And Olyra crackers but they're not local :p
They also carry products that I love that are difficult to find, like Freshé tuna meals and Wild Planet shredded beef and Poshi pickled veggie pouches. I'll write reviews of the local stuff by the end of the week.
Carried my groceries home. On the walk back I found this sticker on a concrete wall:
(PROFANITY WARNING!!!)
(PROFANITY WARNING!!!)
Then I did an Uber to Whole Paycheck too because the co-op hadn't had some grocery standards.
Ate dinner, unpacked, settled in, and chilled.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY
I forgot to mention yesterday that our French hornist will be out for the next two days :( I don't really know why but hope she's all right.
I *think* I slept well? The bed was comfy. A train went by late at night, but considering that I used to live in train yards that's a non-issue. Made myself a nice breakfast and enjoyed stretching out on the couch. Mmmmmm luxury :)
Finished Pittsburgh Foodie Finds (I'm on a roll!!) and did a masterclass run-through. I'm consistently between 46-47 minutes, which it turns out will work out just fine because one of the other presenters cancelled and I'll get to poach a little of that time to add to my Q&A. Perfect! For me anyway :p
After lunch I walked to a nearby family-owned drugstore because I'm almost out of earplugs (and just to go for a walk. It was 50 degrees!!) Did not find earplugs, and decided to continue on back to the co-op to get a birthday treat for myself for tomorrow. I will have to pick up the goodies for the band tomorrow and that's a walk in the opposite direction, so I realized that now was the best time to do this. After much faffing and indecision I settled on a lovely chocolate espresso cupcake, as well as a bottle of sparkling blackberry water because why not. Yay treats!
I went to the theater early to scope it out. By luck I was there at just the right time to catch our logo truck pulling around the corner.
Inside I quickly remembered the layout of this small theater and found the pit.
Someone has put a stuffed Garfield in the drum booth! I think it was Tiff (Assistant Sound.)
Got my space set up nicely and went back upstairs to find the bottle filler, Company Management (must--steal--CANDY), and our dressing room, which is conveniently in a sort of break room with tables and counters and plates and plasticware and everything I'll need to share treats with the band tomorrow. Lucky! Eventually I found the trunks and dug my stuff out of mine. We had sound check and it was fine, our horn sub did an amazing job considering that she's sightreading. Tim (trumpet) and I were talking about times we've had to cover other horn or trumpet books when someone was out sick and a sub couldn't be found in time, and it made me remember that I have the trumpet and horn books! Now my new project is to put those on my iPad, look through and figure out which solo/important lines I could cover on trombone, bookmark them, and print them so they'll at least be ready to go if such a thing happens. I hope it doesn't, but we are less than a year in and already several people have had unexpected call-outs. Better safe than sorry.
The evening show was just fine. Our horn sub was great, there are so many incredibly exposed and prominent solo horn lines and she absolutely nailed them. She's in again tomorrow (good, she can enjoy the charcuterie with us :D )
In closing, I found the Tootsie wall tag! It is one of my favorites. It is inspired by a line from the show:
"I spent the night doing the Dirty Dancing lift with my cat. Turns out...he isn't very strong!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday: My birthday! Plans are to work on my usual things, watch The Muppet Show which is airing with new episodes on ABC tomorrow, download those horn and trumpet parts, and eat my special birthday treats :) We have one show in the evening, and I will bring treats to share with the band.
Thursday: A two-show weekday, so no plans.
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Date: 2026-02-04 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-02-04 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2026-02-04 07:41 pm (UTC)I love how prepared you are about everything! You are doing so much prep for this masterclass! As a former professional public speaker I didn’t do nearly as much as you are and I think you’re doing really awesome! Also what a great idea to figure out what could be covered by trombone on horn parts!
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Date: 2026-02-04 08:01 pm (UTC)The thing is I have done several of these masterclasses, but they were always casual format. I didn’t have a PowerPoint to follow, and I didn’t have a time limit/always had at least two hours to work with. So I did not need to practice for those casual presentations.
These are different. They are for large universities, and I am presenting between other performers or presenters, so I have to make sure that my presentation fits within a certain timeframe. And knowing that, I want to make sure that I touch on key points and don’t waste time rambling or going off on tangents. I would hate to accidentally cut into someone’s time or miss out on a major topic because I spent too much time on a side story!
That’s why I am practicing, because I didn’t know how fast I would have to speak or what information I would have to exclude until I timed it. And rehearsing what I’m going to say increases the likelihood that I won’t get sidetracked or lose my train of thought :)
Really it is just like practicing an instrument or a piece of music!
It is actually really common on gigs like this for musicians who play similar instruments to exchange parts in case of an emergency. I can read trumpet parts, so if anything happens to the trumpet player I can literally reach over and grab his book and switch between his and mine, and do an acceptable job. But French Horn is in the key of F and I can’t transpose it on sight. And the horn part has a lot of solos too. So I am only downloading the solos and prominent parts that I can cover, transposing them, and then if anything happens with the horn I can pull that part out and have it alongside my own music. Hopefully I will never have to use it!