Dateline: CoachUSA, somewhere between Brewtown and O'Hare. I've long held the belief that work/life balance doesn't occur on a daily basis, but rather happens over longer cycles. During some stretches work hums along and activities outside of the workplace are at center stage. At other times, though, work requires a greater commitment of time and energy, with little regard for 5:00 pm or the modern day concept of the five day work week. I'm in one of those stretches now and it's good. The downside, of course, is work on Breathe has taken a backseat for a bit while I've been in a heavy travel cycle and working late and on the weekends. This cycle will ultimately complete, I'll have my evenings and weekends back, and I'll be in the studio soon.

This explains, of course, why I haven't been posting lately; no tangible progress has been made in terms of recording. It doesn't mean, however, that Breathe isn't continuing to morph and mature, it's just all happening in my mind. My vision of what I'm trying to accomplish on this project is coming into greater focus. I'm anxious to begin realizing that vision.

In other news, Guitar Circle of Chicago is ramping up for a fresh period of activity. Our aim is to get our collective chops together, perform several live shows over the coming months, and record and release a collection of our original material. It's an exciting time for the Circle as we move forward with two adjustments. First, our primary work will now be as a quartet and that requires an adjustment to how we approach the repertoire. Second, while our primary focus will continue as an NST-acoustic guitar ensemble, we're looking to experiment with instrumentation more than we've historically done; I will be tapping on some pieces based on the successful experiment at our Angola show. We're also looking for opportunities to bring additional musicians into our performances, including percussion.

I am delighted to enter this next phase of activity with the team. It means, of course, a significant investment of time on technique and repertoire. Although it may appear on the surface this will conflict with my work on Breathe, I am at my musical best when I am immersed in my Guitar Craft studies. Bring it on!

I have a killer concert schedule lined up for April, beginning tonight:

• 04/02/09 - David Fiuczynski's KiF in Burlington
• 04/03/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/04/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/05/09 - Marillion in Montreal
• 04/11/09 - Kansas in Milwaukee
• 04/14/09 - Wilco in Milwaukee
• 04/15/09 - Bryan Beller in Chicago
• 04/17/09 - Adrian Belew in Milwaukee
• 04/18/09 - Jeff Beck in Milwaukee

Most excellent!