Nice, France was very Nice . . .

Free Jazz every Friday 6-9pm at 400s 180 w

Starting October 1st, I'll be performing every Friday with Hayley Kirkland at Quantum Ultra Lounge, 400 s 180 w Salt Lake City, Utah.

Friday Night Jazz 6-9 PM Oct 1st at Quantum

I have been invited to perform at Salt Lake's newest night hangout, Quantum Lounge. Next Friday, Oct 1st I'm performing with Jeremy Abernathy on Keys, Bart Olson on Drums and Hayley Kirkland singing from 6-9pm. Looking forward to it!

Avenues Street Fair Sept 11th 2pm

Every year I take my kids to the Avenues Street Fair. This year I decided to be a performer, and I will be performing with Hayley Kirkland from 2-3 pm on Saturday Sept 11th, on 7th ave in between I and N streets.

The Fair is a hit with families, with lots of interesting things for all ages . . . from the balloon lady to vintage clothing, live music and ethnic foods, art and information about recycling. Check it out!

The Bayou this week

Thursday Apr 29th we are performing at the Bayou downtown, we performed there on Fox 13 live for "Fat Tuesday" and are excited to play there again.

Music starts at 9pm and goes until last call. The Bayou boasts great food late into the night. 21+

Hayley Kirkland will be performing with me, along with Bart Olson on drums. Check out Hayley and I performing live here:

New Group Featuring Jenna Jackman

I have been collaborating for some time with up-and-coming artist Jenna Jackman, and we are going to begin performing now. Bart Olson and I have been performing together for the past 15 years on and off, and he will be joining us on drums.

We are going for a downtempo, electronica, and trip-hop mixed with Jenna's melodic sensibilities.

Listen to some of our samples here:
http://robbennion.com/jennajackman.html

Standing while working

For the past three weeks, have tried an experiment: to stand up 100% of the time I am working, be it playing music, composing, or working on the computer in any way.

I elevated to standing-height my music keyboard, laptop, and desktop computer using my alto sax case, a cooler, a shelf, and an Ikea laptop table.

I got the idea reading this new york times article about the health benefits of standing up while working, and wanted to try it. That was three weeks ago.

The first week, I have to admit it was a challenge. My feet and joints hurt, especially my hip joint. My feet were not used to it and I had sore feet. But despite the pain and discomfort I felt better than while sitting for extended periods of time. While sitting, I had poor posture, so my back would often hurt after working for too long. No matter how many times I would try to sit up and correct my posture, soon I would slouched back into the chair and didn't think about it again until it started to hurt.

The second week, all the joint discomfort went away. I still felt tired after standing for extended periods of time, but noticed a huge difference in my overall feeling of health, and my legs began to feel rock solid. My back didn't have any discomfort, while standing I have great posture and often move around.

Now in week three, at the end of a long day at the computer I now feel like I just went for a walk, rather than a useless blob with an aching back. When I take the kids for a walk to the playground, rather than feeling sluggish and lazy about it I run and jump around with them, due to a boost in my leg strength and stamina.

I would seriously recommend that anyone who has to be at a computer for extended periods of time try the same experiment: be it writing novels, composing music, customer service, or working in an office; the health benefits are immediately felt.