Time for the annual (or at least every 18months or so) update on the goings on of my musical and family life.

In the past year, I have achieved one of my biggest goals as a musician and that is to make my living by only playing music.  It has taken a lot of hustling and more than 1 or 2 bad gigs, but it is a great feeling to be able to focus entirely on playing (and writing, and booking gigs, and writing promo material, and sending it out, and walking the dog, and fighting the IRS, and the City of Chicago, and . . .)

My quartet, cleverly named the Dan Effland Group, has played some really nice gigs in the past year and only 10 months after recording it our first CD is nearly ready to go to the printers.  I should have a few copies in the next month and hopefully I will find a label to help me do an actual release in early 2008.  Keep your eye out at an amazon.com near you.

I am also just starting a new trio which will focus on the blues-soaked music of Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Smith, Hank Mobley, and others.  The line-up is myself on guitar, Lauren Cohen on bass, and Mike Schlick on drums.  We are starting a twice–a-month residency at Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge as part of their “Blue Monday” series and hopefully both the series and the group will develop into something long-term.

My ongoing project with Rose Colella has really been going well.  We have played a ton together in the last year and are really sounding good.  If you have not heard Rose yet, please come out to one of our gigs because she is really one of the best

Another group I am involved in, Trio Departure, has just finished an EP and hopefully will be hitting the Chicago circuit again in the next few months.  Also, Mandy and the Bluegrass Bandits will be starting to play and record again soon (now that Amanda Crumley herself is returning from her stint in Japan) and I would be remiss not to mention how great it has been to play a bunch with Elaine Dame recently.  I really appreciate the work and Elaine is an awesome singer. Check her out!

On the family side of things my wife and I have been fostering greyhounds the past two months and that has been a real trip.  They are wonderful animals and there are a lot of them that need homes.  Check out the site www.greyhoundsonly.com for more info.

The final thing I want to mention is that I have been volunteering as a gruntworker and musician for the Obama for America campaign.  This election coming up, and it is coming up soon, is very, very important and in my opinion Barack Obama is the right person at the right time.  Please check out www.barackobama.com if you are not already a supporter and if you are please consider donating your time (and even money) to the campaign.  We need all of the help we can get!

All the best,
Dan