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GregK

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  3. What is your typical morning meal?

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    ***I'm interested in the recipe Larry.

    Take two scoops of (ideally) freshly ground coffee (or however much it takes to brew a good strong cup for you) cover the ground coffee with water in a one cup metal measuring cup or pot and boil the coffee-water mixture on the stove, making sure that it doesn't boil over. Meanwhile, place a fine-enough mesh strainer over your coffee mug and when the coffee-water mixture begins to boil, pour it through the strainer, leaving the grounds in the strainer as the coffee essence drips into the mug. Then pour enough milk to fill the mug through the grounds that are still in the strainer, remove the strainer, dump out the grounds, and put the mug filled with the coffee essence/milk combo in a microwave and heat to taste -- about 1:40 does the trick with good-sized coffee mug for me. The results are like rocket fuel. Of course, all this only makes sense if you like a coffee-milk mixture. A sprinkle of cinnamon in the bottom of the mug before you begin can be nice. If all this sounds complicated, I do it rapidly and often more or less in my sleep.

    The idea of boiling coffee, I've been told, is regarded as barbaric by the French, but this method was taught to me by a talented female violinist who spent a good many years in Finland.

    Interesting, but maybe this is Nordic coffee, as Finland isn't part of Scandinavia.

  9. Is the Detroit Jazz Festival worth the trip?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    I went last year and was floored by how vibrant, alive and engaged with the community it was. In some ways it felt like I was going to a festival in the heyday of the music. The music felt very alive, and not like a museum or a quiet polite orchestra performance. The festival itself seemed to take over a third of the downtown area, enthusiastic crowds for endless blocks in any direction. Extremely diverse crowds of every age, class, race, it felt like the entire community really embraced it. There were plenty of the traditional faces you'd see in the festival crowd, people who grew up on the music and diehard fans, but there were just as many people who probably did not consider themselves "jazz fans" but were just as engaged, enthusiastic and respectful.

    I booked a relatively cheap hotel right less than a quarter mile from the main stages, using Expedia or a similar site. I was surprised and very impressed with that portion of downtown Detroit. You can see the city really has a rich history and the many buildings downtown were very impressive in scale, but also in the beautifully diverse architecture and history. The city felt like a lost treasure.

    I realize the real problems the city has, and that everything might not be as clean and nice on weekends when they aren't hosting the jazz festival but it felt more like Manhattan than the bleak and decaying city that I'd imagined based on a couple of prior visits to venues on the outer rings of the city. The city was easy to get around, which is refreshing in comparison to Chicago. They had some cool coffee shops and restaurants too. I had a great memory my last night of the festival, doing an impromptu three mile walk down the main strip with my girlfriend, from the restaurant back to the hotel. We walked past a Tigers MLB game as it was letting out, a bunch of theaters, all while watching fireworks along the horizon on one of the most beautiful nights of the year. It really made me a fan of the city and I root for Detroit to start to turnaround like other rust belt cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh are slowly starting to do.

    Seeing Ahmad Jamal perform at a packed and enraptured crowd was in my top three all time musical experiences. Similar to Chicago, it really made me a proponent of free outdoor urban festivals that fit into the community.

    Where were these coffee shops and restaurants??! I've been there many times over the past 14 years and have yet to find any coffee shops or restaurants even open in the evening, other than the sports themed pubs immediately next to the baseball stadium.

  11. allmusic.com

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    Just get ad blocker ... makes life so much easier :)

    It was my go-to-place on the internets for plenty of time, but nowadays often you get more accurate and complete info on discogs, wiki or of course on specialised discography pages. Allmusic is still visitied often, but the lack of meaningful reviews and inaccurate/messy info regarding line ups, recording dates (they keep mixing them with release dates) makes it bit of a nuisance. Some good reviews are to be found there, for sure though - Eugene Chadbourne for one, or this dude calling himself "arwulf arwulf".

    Arwulf Arwulf was a DJ on a local NPR station (WEMU in Ypsilanti) for a long time, until he quit a couple of years ago (or he was forced out by the station's slow but sure shift from classic jazz to smooth and vocal jazz). He would play the really old stuff, the very early recordings, ragtime, etc.

  12. Stockholm record/CD stores?

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    Not to my knowledge. However, Andra Jazz is also cash only.

    The owner started out with a bookstore at an other location, but shifted towards records some time in the 80s. I first visited that shop around 1990.

    The owner, now in his mid 70s, had a reputation of making customers who didn't have a clue, who complained about the prices or those who simply showed bad taste in music to feel uncomfortable. He had strong views and wasn't afraid to discuss them. Usually, you might not want to mention that you were looking for CTI albums or an Oscar Peterson "best of" collection.. On the other hand, if you showed real interest and had an open ear for things outside the mainstream, he'd help you expand your horizons. He's gotten more mellow through the years, though.

    During my years as a student when I had more time on my hands, I usually got stuck there for hours every time. There would often be guests, chatting about music and conducting endless blindfold tests. I've never seen anyone beat the owner when it comes to recognize anything jazz related ever put out on vinyl. At other times there would be a game of chess going on, with concentrated, quiet men, smoke from hand rolled cigarettes lingering over the shop and some unexpected free jazz record in the speakers.

    That shop cannot survive without its owner, and when it folds Europe will have lost one of its greatest jazz shops. Visit while you can!

    Sounds like an interesting place. I'll try to go while I'm there. Too bad about the cash only, though. I'm planning on using a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, for most purchases.

  14. Stockholm record/CD stores?

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    I'm going to be in Stockholm for a conference at the end of June and was wondering if there are any recommendations for stores that still sell physical discs containing music (CDs, etc.). Should I expect to be able to find Hat, or even ECM discs in a store there?

  20. neil young, audiophile

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    Can't think of any sensible explanation for putting out an otherwise unavailable recording ('Time Fades Away') in an LP only release as part of a set with 3 readily available recordings other than: a) a desire to produce something exclusive for those who like to own exclusive things; b) Neil's legendary bloody-mindedness.

    I'll wait. It's probably not that great a record anyway!

    The reason it hasn't come out to date is that it's Neil's least favorite record. I like it, though it's a mess. It's interesting as much as a psychodrama as for the music. Neil's doing too much drugs, he fires his friend Danny Whitten on the eve of a huge, high-profile tour, Danny then dies by his own hand, and Neil has to go out and face huge audiences expecting to hear Harvest. The record is an incredible document of those encounters.

    As for the format in which it's being re-released, it's been noted since the '70's that those 4 records are "of a piece" - call it The Danny Crronicles (I know, I know, Bruce Berry too). It's the journey of a man going through hell, and emerging the other side.

    As for why now, and in this format, it's for Record Store Day. it's good to support the survival of record stores.

    Not exactly. He hasn't reissued it yet because of the way it was mastered. The recording and mastering were done straight to the CompuDisk (or what his producer David Briggs called the CompuFuck), so there is no way now for it to be remastered, remixed, anything. He has said that it would sound terrible on CD.

  21. Anthony Braxton

    in Artists

    Posted

    is anyone a Tricentric foundation subscriber?

    I'm interested in getting hold of a subscriber-only downloads of some London concerts I attended. Has anyone already dl'd them as I'd be interested to know what the quality's like.

    Mind you I'm not sure they'll be worth the annual subscription

    I was until they moved from $7.99/month to $100/year. If I could break that up over months I would do it but I don't really have $100 to blow at once. I'm sure there's a good reason they did it that way, but it's a little frustrating.

    Exactly my situation. Can't drop $100 like that.

  22. neil young, audiophile

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    I don't know about the technology involved, but I wonder how much of Neil's hearing is left after 45 years or so of playing concerts, etc.

    Not much. He developed some loss of hearing during the Weld tour in 1991. Not surprising, since that was Crazy Horse's loudest and most intense music

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