Hi guys!

I've just about reached the half way point for my Midwest tour!

To recap: I left Tuesday morning on a Greyhound bus from Chicago, transferred in Indianapolis to a Megabus, where I ran into and chatted with a couple of Indianapolis Symphony musicians (we'll need to start up there soon), and headed on to Columbus.

I met up there with Rick Robinson, bass player from Detroit Symphony and leader of CR Detroit.  The DSO has been on strike for most of the year, so Rick has a decent amount of free time these days to travel around with me and play different CR events.

We had a decent size crew of musicians in Columbus, many of whom were classmates of mine in college.  We played through some standards (Beethoven quartets, etc) and then went on to some of Rick's original music, which incorporates ideas from Latin music, jazz, blues, with classical arrangements and sensibilities.

Its so much fun for myself as well as the other musicians to play music that is totally fresh, new, and exciting.  I think its pretty fun for the audience too!! One thing I've noticed in general is that audiences seem to have more fun when the performers are having fun, so I try to do as much of that as possible!

Our venue in Columbus was Camelot Wines, an awesome little winery where they produce, bottle, and serve over 50 different wines on site, using grapes from all over the world. I enjoyed a nice Argentinian Malbec!

After the session, Rick and I met up with our violinist friend Peter for a bluegrass jam at Dick's Den on the other side of campus.  We each had a few more drinks and ended up sitting in with the band, which was followed by an impromptu duo set where we started with some Mozart duos and ventured into a groovy jam.  It was great fun in Columbus!

We then headed to the beautiful state of Michigan where we joined in the next day in the chamber session at Silvio's Pizza in Ann Arbor.  We were in for several unexpected treats!

This was the venue where 3 weeks earlier, the Cleveland Orchestra was snowed in and decided to enjoy some pizza and play some chamber music on their unplanned off-night.

We didn't get the Cleveland Orchestra last night, but we did get a really good turnout of very talented local players - most of whom were U of M music school students, with a few "apprentices" from Shar Music, plus John Madison, a friend of Rick's and principal violist of the Detroit Opera.

Was a really fun night of chamber music and we were very thankful to Silvio's for hooking us up with several free pizzas for the musicians and an amazing tiramisu cake with the words "Classical Revolution" frosted on top of it - awesome!!!

Definitely stop by and grab a slice whenever you're in Ann Arbor -- www.silviosorganicpizza.com

Rick and I kept it pretty mellow that night, but stopped by Cliff Bells in Detroit to take in a superb organ jam with some of Detroit's most funkiest players - was definitely a treat to hear an meet some of Detroit's legendary musical performers!

I caught a very early morning Greyhound back to Chicago - I'm back here for some family functions which was the original reason this trip was planned!

But tomorrow I'm returning to my other purpose for being out here - I'll be taking a bus to Madison, and will be playing with Classical Rev folks tomorrow night at the Mercury Cafe, which is 1 block from the Capitol.

I'm very excited to be back in the lovely town of Madison and be able to experience the workers' revolution that is happening in the streets.

Saturday is a rest day, and we may do a music / dance improv night in Chicago, which is another idea that originated in SF that is now spreading.

Sunday I'm scheduled to be in Cincinnati for a session at Baba Budan's, followed by Detroit on Monday (Cadieux Cafe) and back to Chicago on Tuesday (The Store, for Mardi Gras)

Then back to SF for more fun and music (and a little bit of traveling to Monterey, where we may try to host the first ever Classical Rev session there).

Fun!!!

Thank you all very much for your pledges so far!

Please continue to support by telling your friends about Classical Revolution and this campaign.

I'm already thinking about planning another tour which will be a bit more extensive and planned out - its great to get a first attempt in - its been real!!

~charith

http://www.classicalrevolution.org

http://www.facebook.com/classicalrev

http://www.twitter.com/classicalrev

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Travel expenses so far:

2/22 Airline ticket SFO roundtrip to ORD $294.94

3/2 Greyhound Express Chicago to Indianapolis $1

3/2 Megabus Indianopolis to Columbus $34.50

3/3 Gas purchase for Rick's minivan (covers fuel for round trips Detroit to Columbus and Detroit to Ann Arbor) $68.19

3/3 Greyhound Detroit-Chicago $29

Total spent so far: $427.63

Remaining expenses: 

Round trip bus from Chicago to Madison $58

Bus from Chicago to Cincinnati $1

Bus from Cincinnati to Detroit 

Hello supporters!

Thank you so much for your pledge!
I really appreciate it.
I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to travel to the Midwest to see friends and family and make music!
And it wouldn't be possible without your support!
I encourage you to tell your friends about this campaign.

I have updated the tour schedule with new dates in Dayton and Madison, and we're getting close on a couple more bookings.
Also I've added a couple of rewards!
Now supporters can sign up to receive copies of the newly released UnderCover compilation CDs that were just released.

This is the product of some late night brainstorming and wonderful community collaboration in which a broad spectrum of bands from the Bay Area each plays a song off a classic album.
The first project was the 1967 album Velvet Underground & Nico, which was hosted by Classical Revolution and featured Charith as musical director.
The second project was The Pixies' Doolittle, which was recorded in January 2011 and performed live on Tuesday February 22nd.
Both albums were recorded by Faultline Studios and released by local label Porto Franco Records.
You can read more info on the albums at www.portofrancorecords.com
For a $15 pledge, you can choose either of the albums, which I'll mail to you.
For $25 you'll get both.
I encourage those who signed up in the $25 group to switch your reward to the CDs.
I'll still post your name and website on our donor page, which will be up by the end of the campaign.

Thanks again for your support!