2026 Life Logs, Day 120: Sam is Home and Jazz is Alive on CC
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Some Rain; High Temp 56, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was all about Sam and Jonah. The Sam part is that Sam got home from the Netherlands this afternoon!!! He is only here until Monday morning when he flies to Seattle to meet up with a friend and drive back across the country with him. But I cannot tell you how wonderful it felt to give him a great big welcome home hug. Heather drove to Boston to pick him up. She sent a picture labeling it, “Proof of Life.”
His flight from Paris went without a hitch, but since Monday when he left Groningen, he has been traveling with a 6-foot-long snowboard bag packed with 60 pounds of ‘stuff’, plus two backpacks and another big bag. He is exhausted, but after a good night’s sleep, he’ll be fine.
The Jonah part of the day was driving with Jed (Heather stayed home with Sam and Ollie) to the Outer Cape to Nauset High School to attend the All-Cape Jazz 2026 Concert tonight. Jazz band students on the Cape go through tryouts and those who are selected come together for two days with guest conductors. With 12 hours of practice with two different guest conductors, a small Cape Jazz Combo performs, as well as the All-Cape Jazz BIG Band.
It is a huge commitment, as the kids miss two full days of school and have to travel from each day from all parts of Cape Cod. But the result was spectacular this year. Jonah played trombone in the big band.
There were 5 saxophone players (2 from Falmouth), 4 on trumpet (1 from Falmouth), 4 on trombone (2 from Falmouth), 2 on drums, and 1 each on piano, guitar, bass, and vibraphone (from Falmouth), plus 1 vocalist. There were also 2 students from Falmouth, out of 6 total, in the Jazz Combo, a drummer and bass player). The big band guest director this year was Dan Gable. In the Boston Globe, he has been hailed as, “the real deal, [a bandleader], that looks and sounds like the 1940’s.” He is a champion of big bands and vintage jazz and shared his passion with the students over the two days. Tonight the 20 students who had never played together until yesterday, performed songs from the Big Band Era like Take it Jackson by Vaughn Monroe, Roll ‘Em by Mary Lou Williams and Benny Goodman, and a World War II song with words you might remember … “Kiss me once, and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again … It’s been a long, long time.” What a wonderful experience for these kids.
