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fasstrack

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Posts posted by fasstrack

  1. 2 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

    If all you have to do is "click on files", then why do you need to set Windows Media player as your default player?!

    Pretty hilarious how you spent so much energy disparaging Apple, yet are having curse-worthy problems with your shiny new laptop that I never experience when using my iTunes library. Perhaps it has been user error the entire time. Ever stop to consider that? 

    No. And did you ever consider 'to each his own?'

    9 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

    I don't think you understand how this works, Joel. You have to have an audio program to rip and play your music. It's not just "the laptop" that will be doing it. 

    I also don't get the extreme hatred for iTunes. For ripping and audio playback, it's just as solid as anything else on the market. 

    Never said I hated itunes. What I did say is 'I don't need it'. I stand by that. Go ahead and enjoy yours, though. Salud!..

  2. 3 hours ago, rostasi said:

    Yeah, it was this that was (and still is) confusing me about Joel's statements,
    but I haven't had to deal with all the excessiveness of a PC since the last century
    that I'm assuming that apparently there are very few basic things that come with
    them now and so I'm believing that Joel really doesn't have any audio software
    and that he's just gonna play his tunes by clicking on individual files. Maybe?

    I have no idea what MG is talking about.
    A computer is not going to spontaneously ask you
    if you want to delete something and therefore you
    say (or press) "yes." You have to want to do this for
    some reason and so you press your "delete" key.
    What's extra great about that simple act is that
    you can even have options or variations on that
    "delete" if you choose.

    As for Apple support, every year for many, many years,
    Consumer Report's annual rating of these companies
    that produce computers has always rated Apple support
    with their highest ratings - always the highest you can get - 
    based on their annual survey of customers. Apple have their
    problems, but it appears that "support" is something that
    many agree is fantastic.

    Yes, click on files. Nothing confusing about that.

    My new laptop is driving me crackers, though (well more crackers than I already was). Among many other anomalies and crazy-making design glitches I wont bore you with, now it won't let me set Windows Media as my default player, instead I have to use a piece of s&&t called Groove Music that wouldn't play a file a friend emailed and won't let me listen to KCR without a whole goddamn rigmarole. Grrrrr.

    Re Apple support: I can only speak from my own experience, and I hated everything about dealing with them...    

    3 hours ago, Scott Dolan said:

    PC's still come bundled with a ton of shit. But I do agree with everything you have said, rostasi. This conversation is seemingly devolving into a couple of old cats yelling "get off my lawn!", only they have no idea if anyone is even ON their lawn, or if they even have a lawn. 

    Look, I'm certainly not a huge fan of iTunes, but these grievances seem almost made up out of thin air. 

    ? Which 'old cats'? What lawn?

  3. Well, lads and lassies it's raised its ugly, meddling head again

    I've been keeping night owl hours of late going out jamming and havng a wonderful time. But my internal alarm clock still seems to be set to ring between 7 and 8 AM.  Wednesday morning I didn't get to bed till after 5 AM. You can imagine the havoc and confusion that wreaks within.

    For example I just arose at 5, having retired around 12:45. Tonight I plan to sit in with Gene Bertoncini, and I wish to be well-rested today.

    It's disconcerting... 

  4. ,,,And if, heaven forbid, you need support you will likely get a snotnosed prima donna infant terrible on the other end of the line.

    That's the experience I had when I owned my lone Mac. Between that and my already alluded to disdain for the late Mr. Jobs and the horse he road in on are the reasons why (I never say never) it's highly unlikely I'd purchase any Apple product again...

  5. No spreadsheets. I ain't that smart, patient or involved. The heavy lifting is pretty much done for you by the program(s).

     

    'They say it's idiot-proof, but I think I found a way to beat it'.

    ---Trumpet player John Eckert

     

  6. 5 hours ago, rostasi said:

    So, each time you want to hear a song,
    you'll be clicking on a file to hear it?

    Sure. Why not? Patience is a virtue---and one I sorely need to learn.

    And I believe you can 'select all' to play an entire CD you've burned, plus 'create playlists' and libraries. It's quite versatile, actually...

  7. I just got a 1 1/2 pound laptop and soon will have a CD-DVD Rom drive. I'll be able to burn any CD I own or order onto the hard drive and listen to it anywhere.

    No use for itunes here, and if it's one of that prick Steve Jobs's offerings, like Bush the Elder 'I say it tastes like broccoli, and I say the hell with it'...

  8. I recommend going to catch him if in the Apple. If so, run, don't walk.

    I finally got to perform with him last night at Smoke. He sang and lit up the stand. He swings so much with just his voice that he swung an already-swinging band even more. Band, audience, me wearing huge smiles the whole time.

    He also just may be one of the top jazz pianists in the world right now.

    Regular gigs are Saturday night at Smoke and Sunday night at Smalls. Going for another dose this Saturday with gtr,..

     

     

  9. I stumbled into a JALC rehearsal (2004, before Time-Warner). They were rehearsing Peace, by Ornette, Wynton had written a chart with a great sax soli.

    Sitting in a corner, quietly listening while stroking his chin, was a certain Ornette Coleman. 

    I approached him and said:

    'Mr. Coleman, at first glance your music wouldn't seem suitable for big band'.

    He nodded, thought for a moment.

    'That's the thing about music: It's so....'

    I was hanging on his words, could hardly wait for him to finish the sentence. Was expecting a word like 'pliable'.

    'Democratic', said Ornette Coleman...

     

     

  10. My old friend (trumpeter-arranger/composer) Tim Ouimette calls them 'Polish red notes'. They are little anomalies that offset a chord by not exactly 'belonging' to it. Like little, attractive wrinkles.

     

    An example: Benny Golson, Out of the Past, has one I love: an A natural against a straight Ab7 (no b9), coming from Eb Min7 (5th bar from the end of the form). Works great, and 'rubs' against the chord beautifully. Perhaps he was foreshadowing the next chord (D Min7)?

     

    That's what I'm talkin' about! That's writing.

     

    Any other examples you care to name?

  11. Gentle bump: gig is tomorrow night.

    Update: Alessio Menconi and Kevin McNeal have been invited to sit in, and have confirmed they are coming. There may be other surprise guests whom I also invited. The main event is still Sean and myself, and I have a bunch of new material to try out---plus Sean also composes, and quite well.
     

    Hope to see some of my O friends there. Or please pass the info on, so the event may be well attended.

    Thank you in advance,

    Joel

  12. 9 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

    I took sax lessons breifly with Joe Cunningham of the Blue Cranes.  He did a great job transcribing Ayler's "Ghosts" for me.

    Wow! 

    That reminds me of Andrew White's Andrew's Music. He took off maybe hundreds of Coltrane solos. He advertised himself as 'Transcriber, janitor, mail boy.

    I wrote away for solos once. Some cost like $5, other short ones were like 7 cents. Weird.

    I bet he worked his ass off on those solos, though...

     

  13. 4 hours ago, paul secor said:

     

    I'll bet that Denis Charles could play more music on a snare and two cymbals than a lot of others could play on a full set.

    Could be. Haven't heard many drummers using that set-up...

  14. 4 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

      On a related topic, I'd still love to read a book about all of the incredible teachers in the 1930s/40s/50s African-American school system who played such a big role in developing the musical talent of those generations. 

    A good idea. They are heroes.

    I'm so lucky. Aside from the aforementioned there was Chuck Wayne, Jimmy Raney, (unofficially but greatly) Eddie Diehl, Barry Galbraith, before that Carl Barry---and that's just guitar. For writing: Manny Albam, John Carisi (one lesson, then he went into a coma), and especially the great Bill Finegan (who I so adored, and who never charged me a dime for lessons). Every one a special person and a giant in some way---at least to me.

    What can I tell you? Though I may not be a major 'success' in the way it is often gauged, I am tremendously rich in the people I've known who helped mold me.

    Like I said, lucky as hell... 

     

     

     

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