duaneiac

The Jazz Loft is now closed. They closed down while I was shopping on the website. I found a few last minute items there, but I wasn't fast enough. They emptied my shopping cart before I could check out and the website is now gone.

This article about Bay Area bassist/bandleader/composer/arranger/educator Marcus Shelby was the cover story of the weekly entertainment guide last week in the San Jose Mercury News: This is the story of a "local guy" who stuck to his guns and made it on his own terms. He's a DIY musician. His name is Marcus Shelby. Twenty years ago, Shelby -- bassist, bandleader, composer, big musical thinker -- was part of the "Young Lions" movement in jazz, recording for Columbia Records and seemingly destined for fame and fortune in New York City. Shelby, however, moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and began gigging six and seven nights a week. He was forging a reputation, teaching in schools and collaborating with theater companies, choreographers, filmmakers and poets, while building a discography focused on grand historical themes in African-American history. He's never left the Bay Area. Lucky us. Read the entire article at: http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_25653482/marcus-shelby-brings-ellingtons-thunder-berkeley

Justin Time For Christmas 2, a compilation of holiday music featuring Paul Bley, Kenny Wheeler, Diana Krall, Oliver Jones, Ranee Lee, D.D. Jackson and others -- currently only $2.92 http://www.amazon.com/Justin-Time-Christmas-Various-Artists/dp/B000009OGI/ref=sr_1_8?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1399236759&sr=1-8&keywords=justin+time+christmas

Another possibility -- the Junior League around here has a big rummage sale every two years. I know they accept (some) furniture because I still have an upholstered chair I bought at one of their sales maybe 12 years ago. It appears the Junior League in many communities do this type of rummage sale, so maybe they would be willing to accept some of the items no one else seems to want. Catholic Charities might accept some of the clothes and household items.

There are not a majority of A's fans anywhere in the Bay Area, not even in Oakland. Sadly, that explains a lot.

I guess it depends how much time you want to devote to this project. The quickest way would be to arrange for Goodwill or Salvation Army to pick up the lot. That's probably the easiest way to dispose of the furniture, futon, toys, shoes and luggage. Around here, these services often don't accept computers, printers, etc. since they are harder to sell as used items. The clothes, shoes and any unopened food products / canned goods might be accepted by a women's shelter. They may also have need for donated computer equipment and office supplies. There are brokers in many areas who will sell your stuff for you on Ebay for a percentage of the sale or a flat fee. You might see if there is such a service in your area if there are any particularly attractive or collectible items that might be worth the extra effort. You may be able to sell the furniture via craigslist, but then you have to set aside time to show it to people and expect that they won't show up (and hope that they won't be armed with a gun if they do show up). You could also see if there is a local church or school with a rummage sale coming up that would accept some of these items.

Well, 3.5 women on this cover I Dig Chicks! -- Jonah Jones

A Touch of Blue -- Jonah Jones Quartet

Now that you mention it, I do recall liking Makin' Love Is Good For You. Maybe I need to listen to it again to decide how much I liked it; it may be the last album of his I liked unreservedly. I haven't heard the album with Eric Clapton and I think I checked out Reflections from the library once, but I don't recall much about it, so it must not have made too much of an impression on me. I have his tribute album to Louis Jordan, Let The Good Times Roll, and it's fun and fine for what it is. His Christmas album was okay, but his voice was definitely showing some wear and tear by that point.

Actually there have beens scribes who (correctly or incorrectly) have pointed out that his LP "The Thrill is Gone" had rather a programmatic title because his albums of that time had already become heavily overproduced and his music by that time had lost a lot of its original impact - and that was in the early 70s!! Am no expert on B.B. King's music (even less of his "later" days) so won't judge this but there seem to be some to whom B.B. King has been going downhill for 40 years! Yes, I'm sure there are always those who question the artisitc validity of the work made by a formerly semi-obscure artist who suddenly has become rich and famous. If the great unwashed masses can appreciate the artist's new work, then clearly it cannot be as pure and meaningful as it was when the artist was recognized only by the cognoscenti. I love B.B. King's older music from the 1950's and early '60's. I love a lot of the music he made after his commercial breakthrough. For me, the last really good album was 1998's Blues On The Bayou.

I thought he was the owner of Palo Alto Records, but Wikipedia says the owner was Jim Benham and Dr. Wong was the artistic director. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Alto_Records

The obit from today's San Jose Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.com/obituaries/ci_25604999/herb-wong-bay-area-jazz-lover-expert-dies I was familiar with his name and the impact he had on jazz as a writer, broadcaster, record label owner and producer. I really only knew him from the annual radio broadcast he did on Christmas morning. I guess he began doing that tradition back on KJAZ some 50+ years ago, but I only heard him during the years he did it on KCSM. That program was a part of my Christmases for many years and I'm glad I got to listen to at least a part of it last year. May he rest in peace.

Night Dancing -- Joe Farrell

That's what I gathered from his autobio as well. His management team had handled his money well and were getting top price for his appearances. This doesn't seem to be a Woody Herman kind of situatioon, where he is so much in debt that he literally cannot afford to retire. The licensing fees B.B. King must get from the B.B. King's Blues Clubs in NYC, LA, Las Vegas, etc. must be a pretty good chunk of change. There are a lot of musicians / singers / performers who live to be on stage, in front of an audience. But at some point, as the deacades roll on and on, if they contiue to perform while their abilities continue to decline, don't they do their own legacy a disservice? Nancy Wilson retired last year and this year we have seen Toots Thielemans and Mose Allison both retire from performing. It is a tough call, I know. I only saw Frank Sinatra once, around 1986, when he was certainly past his prime, but just being in the same venue as him was a thrill and his rendition of "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" that night was one of the finest pieces of "performance art" I've ever witnessed. But certianly by the 1990's his performances, from what I've read, seemed to be more miss than hit and those final recordings, the "Duets" ones, are ghastly. Still, those "Duets" CDs sold like hot-cakes, so who am I to judge? He, of all people, certainly did not need the money at that point, so if he wanted to go on performing and pretty much embarrasing himself, who was going to say he couldn't / shouldn't? Likewise, I only got to see Oscar Peterson play once, after his stroke. He wasn't the player he was before, but he was still damn good and again it was a thrill just to see a live performance by a living legend. Same with John Lee Hooker. I only saw him once, late in his career, and he let the band do most of the heavy work, but there was a brief time when he really got his hypnotic rhythm thing going and he had that audience spellbound. An audience does need to make some allowances for older performers. But at some point, isn't it incumbent upon a performer (or those closest to him/her) to accept that the spirit may be willing, but the abilites are weakening. In the video, the St. Louis critics talked about Chuck Berry who apparently is still doing gigs around town there, with less than impressive results. Perhaps he needs the money, but who wouldn't rather remember him as the rock ' roll god he was rather than a shuffling old man? Some performers can go on and on and really seem to defy the laws of aging. I saw Dave brubeck performe many times in his 70's and 80's and he always put on a good show. Same for Marian McPartland. I don't know how old Charles Brown was when he passed, but he was as fine a performer at the end of his life as he had ever been. Bob Dorough is in his 90's and still going strong. And sorry, but One Kind Favor just did not do it for me. It just seemed tired and kind of sad to end a career on that note, like Ella Fitzgerald's last album

Apparently B.B. King had an "off night" (to say the least) at a show in St. Louis last week. Here's a review of that concert which seems to have generated a lot of internet chatter: http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/reviews/b-b-king-at-the-peabody-how-things-just-got/article_59ade8eb-c431-55de-a138-66925bb8de3b.html After a capable run-through of “Rock Me Baby,” he played “You Are My Sunshine” and asked the crowd to sing along. The house lights came up and King began noticing individuals and waving to them. As the song went around again and again, nattering on for — and this is not a misprint — 15 minutes, audience members began to heckle, yelling out requests or simply calling for King to “play some music!” Some walked out. Apparently today an apology has been issued on B.B. King's behalf for that performance: "The combination of the rigors of the very long drive and high blood sugar due to his medication error resulted in a performance that did not match Mr. King's usual standard of excellence," reads the statement, which was issued on behalf of King by the St. Louis venue. "Mr. King apologizes and humbly asks for the understanding of his fans." http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/b-b-king-apologizes-st-louis-fans-erratic-show-article-1.1758725 It's been maybe 15 years isnce I last saw B.B. King perform, but already then he was starting to slow down. A guy I worked with saw him in concert last year along with Peter Frampton and said B.B. King played very little guitar and most of the show was about Peter Frampton. Has any one else seen B.B. King perform recently? Can this be chalked up to an "off night"? The last CD I heard from him was really quite disappointing, hearing how his singing voice has deteriorated so much. Does there come a time when a performer needs to call it a day or should they continue to perform as long as there is an audience willing to pay to see them?

I saw him at a tribue to Cal Tjader concert maybe 9 or 10 years ago and he was still playing great then. May he rest in peace.

I was at Half Price Books yesterday and picked up a few things. The best buy was this It had been marked down a couple of times and I thought the price was $7.99 for this 4 CD Proper boxed set. When I looked at the receipt when I got home, the cashier had charged me $1.99! I looked at the price tag again and it could be read either way.

I would think any church or school having a charity rummage sale would be able to dispose of them for you. They could probably find some one who would be willing to buy them for a few cents a piece. You might eve try posting them on Craigslist and see if some one whill buy the whole lot from you. Probably not for much money, but at least they would then be some one else's worry.

Eventually, Harvey got too "real" for Dave when he started ranking on General Electric. Dave banned him from the show. I always thought Harvey Pekar was a bit of an ass. It's not like Letterman held GE in any high regard. http://youtu.be/ECz945gq33s http://youtu.be/JMfmOuCy8aI

Happy 67th birthday to David Letterman. Another clip from the "good old days". http://youtu.be/EMP18ekAnFQ

Land of The Lost, Season 1 and 3, $7.99 each http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/land-of-the-lost-3rd-season_025192021008/ http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/land-of-the-lost-1st-season_025192021039/ Roots: The Next Generations, $10.99 http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/Roots-The-Next-Generations The Flash, Complete Series, $10.99 http://www.deepdiscount.com/dvd/The-Flash-The-Complete-Series-6-Discs-883929161652

For a reminder of how funny David Letterman could be, here's his 5th Anniversary of Late Night special Skip the monolgoue which was never the strongest part of his show. The funny happens with the "new products" bit, the Stupid Pet Tricks, the highlights clips from past shows (including guests Harvey Pekar and Brother Theodore), the "Monkey-Cam", Chris Elliot and Larry "Bud" Melman all the way to the end with the singing of "It's A Late Night World of Love". And sitting in with the band -- Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard and Grover Washington, Jr. (on bari!). And here's one of the funniest moments I remember from the show -- a monkey named Sandy took an immediate dislike to the host and repeatedly scared the crap out of him. http://youtu.be/bQfjbYI9sGM Dave and Zsa Zsa's Fast Food Car Trip http://youtu.be/3F6ihYOgruY "We're here at the In 'n Out burger, me and Zsa Zsa. You folks can go ahead and make up your own jokes."