It’s been hot and sticky for the past few days in New York — a typical NY summer. It’s weather like this that makes me want to move to a nicer climate.

In the past few days, I’ve learned of two exciting upcoming performances — both with H. Robert Reynolds! Bob is going to conduct “Redline Tango” with the National Honor Band at Carnegie Hall next Memorial Day weekend, and on October 6, he’ll conduct the piece with the Oberlin Wind Ensemble. I did my undergrad at the Cleveland Institute of Music, just up the road from Oberlin, and AEJ’s brother attended Oberlin, so I have a definite place in my heart for that school. I’m sure it’ll be a hell of a performance. It’s amazing to have Mr. Reynolds as a champion of my music.

I can also think of some of these performances in a different light: performances by rivals. As a student at CIM, Oberlin was kind of a rival school, only because it was a major conservatory just a few miles away in the same state. (I kind of suspect that it was the one-sided type of rivalry, though — kind of like my “rivalry” with Steve Mackey, whom I consider my nemesis, simply because we share a last name and we’re both composers, but I’m relatively sure that Steve doesn’t concern himself too much with what “the other Mackey” is up to.)

Another rival performance this fall is at the University of Michigan. Don’t tell my friends from Columbus, and especially don’t tell those who attended Ohio State, as there isn’t a bigger college football rivalry than Ohio State – Michigan.

I kind of think, though, that if CIM and Oberlin had football teams (or sports, for that matter), their football rivalry would challenge any other.