Bradley Leighton got his pilot’s license earlier this year and he’s now a member of the Flying Musician’s Association. FMA is having a Fly-In MusicFest so Bradley booked a tour based on getting to the event and back, with gigs at all the places where he needs to gas up. He will be performing both contemporary and straight-ahead music as well as meeting with students at several schools for workshops. We urge you to bookmark this or add this blog to your RSS feed; we will be blogging the entire trip every day, including photos of all the stops along the way.
Come out and hear him, buy a CD and help to get the word out. Check out the Fly-In Musicfest November 7, 2009 8am – 6pm
Fort Worth Spinks Airport (KFWS) Fort Worth, Texas
~ brought to you by ~ 
Flying Musicians Association, Inc. Two Passions – One Goal – Bringing Aviation and Music Together
“Pilot Musicians sharing their passion while encouraging and educating youth in the science and art of aeronautics and music.”
~ in conjunction with ~
Alexei Sultanov Foundation “Alexei Sultanov Foundation is about inspiration, love, and never giving up. The mission of the foundation is to provide financial, emotional and psychological support to musicians and other performing artists who are no longer able to perform and make a living due to severe illness or injury.”
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Fly-In Tour Schedule for Bradley Leighton:
November 5 Roswell, NM Pecos Flavors Winery, 305 N Main, Roswell NM 88201 575-627-6265 5-7.
November 6 & 7 – Flying Musician’s Fly-in MusicFest – Spinks, TX see above for more info
November 10 8:00 a.m. – Covington Middle School, (workshop) Austin, TX
November 11 8:00 a.m. – Bedicheck Middle School, (workshop) Austin, TX
November 11 7 – 11 pm Brooklyn Jazz Café 1701 South Lamar Street Dallas, Texas 75215 (214) 428-0025
November 13 9 – midnight Scat Jazz Lounge 111 West 4th Suite 11 (downstairs), Ft Worth, TX 76102 (817) 870-9100
November 15 11 am – 3 pm Sunday Brunch Sugas Deep South Cuisine and Jazz Bar, 461 Bowie St. , Beaumont, TX 77701 Phone # 409-813-1808
November 17 Rio Rancho Public Schools – clinic – Albuquerque, NM
November 19 Home to San Diego
Bradley is a Yamaha Performing Artist
Bradley’s main webpage is at www.fluteguy.com – click here to get there fast.
To read more about the miracle of Bradley’s Neck click here
DAY ONE – A DELAY already? YEP
PILOT’S LOG – SEE BELOW
6:00 a.m. There’s fog; we’ll have to see how long it takes to lift. More later…
10:00 a.m. The guy who used the plane to go to SF on Tuesday, still isn’t back. We’ll have to take another plane. This the Cessna 172N that will be our best friend for two weeks.
"DaPlane"
During the flight from Carlsbad to Phoenix, we saw a lot of cool things; 
All I can see for my seat
Farming in circles, New Mexico
8:00 p.m. – Belen/Alexander, New Mexico… A day of one thing after the other.
We flew to Phoenix, had ideal conditions and arrived there around 2:30. Still hoping to make Roswell, we made a quick pit stop, gassed up and took off. We saw different forest fires and saw a fire in a small town. To make a long story short, there was no way to have enough time in the light of day to get to Roswell so we stopped at dusk in Belen, New Mexico. Found a fabulous B&B and they were kind enough to pick us up and bring us here. I’ll post some photos tomorrow; I’m really tired and want to hit the hay. All is well; a very fun adventure so far. Just really bummed that we missed the Pecos gig. We’ve talked to them and we’re hoping to do it at a later date.
More tomorrow. Gotta get some rest. 
DAY TWO -
10 Comments
Friends – well, it’s foggy. AND the plane isn’t back yet from a trip north so we are heading over there as planned, around 8 to be ready to turn it around as soon as we can. A tiny delay but we feel good that it all might still work for today. Downbeat is at 5:30 in Roswell, so we still have hope of making it out on time. I will post later today as we get closer. — Donna
Day Two – Friday – A Beautiful Day of Flying
Don’t think we can make it all the way to Spinks. Gonna stop in Sweetwater, TX for the night, get up early and head to Spinks on Sat.
Hope to post photos tonight.
Day Three – See my posts under “Tour” to the right – Day Three was quite the day getting to the Festival – total cloud cover for most of the way. Bradley did a fabulous job getting us through the clouds, under and around them to make a perfect landing. It turned into a beautiful blue sky day but apparently these clouds are normal for the morning. Photos in our POSTS…
Monday – kind of a high ceiling but we’re going to give it a go to get over to Austin. Bradley has two middle schools to do clinics in on Tuesday and Wednesday. Might go to the Elephant Room for a jazz jam tonight. Will keep you posted.
Been a few days since we’ve “commented.” Bradley has posted though some Pilot’s Logs on each of the posts I left regarding each day we’ve reported. Last night’s gig was fabulous. The owner asked for him to play two nights in December so we’re working on the details now. I’ll attempt to put some fun photos up now.
We’re in Beaumont, TX right now – watching the weather to see if we’ll be able to fly out when this gig is over. We’ll be heading to the Fort Worth area – hopefully to the Spinks airport, where we started our Texas leg. We will hopefully be able to gain a lot of ground tomorrow, Monday, towards Albuquerque. I’ve taken the Tucson gig off the list – the guy in charge of that venue at the Sheraton never bothered to return my phone calls or emails so we’re not planning to go there. We will still go to Tucscon to see friends and relatives but just not working it. Hope all is well for you.
Doesn’t look like you’ll be back for your lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Hey all… this girl can cook a mean turkey dinner with all the bells and whistles. Hang in there Bradley and enjoy the tour. We’re all thinking about you two.
Hi Bradley:
I’ve been following your progress. Sounds like a great adventure. See you soon!
jw
Hi Shelly and all,
Well, here we are on Day 14. We’d love to be on our original schedule but we had a hiccup of major proportions today – don’t worry – it could have been worse. The cowling has come loose from the engine portion of the plane and we’re stuck in a hangar at Albuquerque FBO Cutter. They’re so great; they were the ones to call us this morning and tell us about it so now we’re waiting on the parts so we can continue to finish the trip. After speaking to Dave & Lori tonight I know that they were planning to see us tomorrow but alas, we just cannot get there soon. We may get out tomorrow or if the parts come in late in the morning or the mechanic has issues with the replacement and fixing, there just won’t be enough time in the day for us to get there – SO – we’re hanging loose. Being patient, AND ever so grateful for the blessing of that piece of the plane not coming off during flight and causing us to make a landing in a field some place unknown… stay tuned. The adventure in many ways has just begun! Shelly – we will be in Seattle (flying commercial!) for that turkey dinner. You know the drill! Our best to all of you.
Hi,
I found your page completely by accident. I like your website and your flying/performing tour. Great idea.
I am a musician by trade, but I’ve been a helicopter CFII and airplane CFII for many years.
Keep up the good work!
Randy Waldman
http://www.jazzpilot.com