Tonight myself and about 30 other local jazz musicians presented Kelly Dean with his belated 40th birthday present, an iPod. He’s really wanted one of these for the longest time and the look on his face when he got it was amazing. Things were put together relatively hastily, starting when he left for a 5 day cruise on Saturday with an idea. Got in touch with Dana Rogers and she was a huge help in contacting so many people, in fact the majority of the musicians who donated she called. Kel had a gig tonight with Erin Wright at The River Café on Montrose, which turned into a birthday celebration, culminating with the presentation of the iPod, which had been hidden inside a Vaio box :). Pictures will go up tomorrow morning. I’d like to thank the following people, a veritable who’s who list of Houston jazz:

Dana Rogers
Gilbert Sedeno
Anibal
Martin Langford
Brennen Nase
Jose-Miguel Yamal
Harry Sheppard
Deborah Dunlap
Thomas Helton
Sharon Montgomery
Yvonne Washington
Mike Wheeler
Jesse Simon
Duwayne Massey
Don Slocomb
Keith Karnaky
Doug Driesel
Cindy Scott
Joe LoCascio
Kenny Cordray
Keith Vivens
John Calderon
David Caceres
Dr. Robert Morgan
Andrew Dean
Mike Reed
Robert Ceballa
Jeff Lippart