Jason Parker Quartet Tour: Day Eight, Palm Springs

The Jason Parker Quartet hit the road for a two-week tour in May 2010. We were equipped with audio, video and cameras to document the whole experience. You can find all posts about the tour here.

The second week of the Jason Parker Quartet West Coast Tour found us waking in San Diego to the wonderful hospitality of my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Norman. We spent a glorious couple days at their pad in Del Mar and felt relaxed and full of home-cookin’ as we left for the short drive down to Palm Springs.

Day eight was a day off, so we slept late, ate a hearty breakfast by the pool and then packed up the car for the trip. Our new best friend DaVinci the poodle decided he wanted to come with us and jumped into D’Vonne’s seat in the van…it was touch-and-go there for a minute. But we finally got everyone settled in their rightful place and headed out.

We arrived at our accommodations for the next two days, The Ace Hotel, which is an amazing place to stay! It was H-O-T by the time we got to Palm Springs and all we wanted to do was get into our swimwear and lounge by the pool with drinks in hand. But I had a very important errand to run first: I had to go to the airport to pick up my wife, Darrah, who was flying in for the wedding!

A little backstory is necessary here: the whole reason this tour happened is because I was able to book this wedding in Palm Springs, which helped to finance much of the trip. I got the gig through Darrah, as the bride is an old childhood friend of her’s. Darrah was an honored guest at the wedding, which allowed her to spend a couple day with the JPQ! There was much laughing and bonding…

So I scooped up my lovely wife and we headed to the pool. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen two clumsy kooks like us try to get into a hammock with drinks in our hands!

Here is the video highlight reel from day eight:

And here’s what we listened to in the car today. The drive was only about two hours so there wasn’t much, but it was tasty!

1. Gilbert Castellanos – Underground
2. Irving Flores – Recuerdos
3. Funky mix CD complied by our friend Skerik, featuring James Brown, The Meters, Sly & The Family Stone, and more