The band took the stage three songs into Frampton's first set. Before them, the arena shook with thousands of fans swaying to the music and holding aloft cigarette lighters. I went from that to 10,000 people. I was a kid in school, scraping to pay my loans, and I went from there to flying in a private plane with seven other musicians going from gig to gig. It probably would have been pretty easy to get caught up in that, but the reality is when I got back to school, I couldn't afford a cab,'' he said.
Balm dismisses the difference.
It's all still playing the trumpet. The difference between Mozart and Mahler is something of a stretch, and this is just more of a stretch,'' he said. Stretching is something he's used to. Currently, he's principal trumpet for the New York Chamber Symphony, the Mostly Mozart Festival and the New York Pops, in addition to playing for the New York City Ballet orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Some of the different styles he plays in get a workout in the piece he'll be performing in Amarillo.