I moved to Austin in 2007 and the first musician — and I guess the first non-coworker — I met was Paul Luedke. We met through a post that I put on Craigslist where I mentioned I was looking for like-minded musicians to perform with and listed just a couple of my influences on trumpet. He had a lot of similar influences and we’re around the same age so we immediately became friends.

I started hanging out with Paul and tagging along to his gigs with a band that he co-founded called about:blank. The band would let me sit in here and there and then at one of those gigs I met a sax player named Marcus Cardwell, who I’m now neighbors with. Meeting Marcus became the jumping off point for many friends and musicians I would meet shortly thereafter. That moment is really a big reason why today I’m as much a part of the Austin music scene as I am (though that’s a longer story for another time).

For me, playing with about:blank was always slightly uncomfortable and new. I don’t know what you’d call their style of music. I’ve heard it described as “funk/jazz”, “acid jazz”, “acid jazz with a bit of ska dabbled in and cooked over medium heat”, and a few other things along similar lines. Whatever you call it, it’s never exactly the style I would form a band around and so it was always exciting to play with them because the unfamiliarity with some of the musical styles that their music is based off of, like ska, often made me feel like I was getting my ass kicked right on stage in front of everyone.

Some time after I started sitting in with a:b, Paul left the band. I guess I was probably the logical choice to replace him, but I was pretty busy with my own projects. I was, however, able to step in on a couple of gigs officially as their trumpet player, including their CD release show back in 2009. The guys in the band are some of the nicest musicians you’ll ever meet and they make good music that people like. I think that’s a goal a lot of musicians have.

However, all good things must come to an end. After six years of making music, about:blank will be performing their last show ever tonight at the Elephant Room starting at 9:30p. There’ll be a lot of special guests, including yours truly. I hope you can come out and enjoy their music in a live setting for one last time.