randissimo

Anybody in Detroit? Pops will be hangin' with me at the Cliff Bells gig July 13 and will have his horn with him.. We start around 9:00 pm ..

Pops was asking about you...

For anyone interested these are the gigs my pops is doing while home in Michigan.. Arno is 79 young this year and isn't showing any signs of slowing down.. And he brought that beautiful Selmer Mark VI tenor previously owned by Stan Getz.. July 6 we'll be at the Firefly in Ann Arbor with the fabulous bassist Paul Keller. it's a quartet and downbeat is at 9 pm.. July 7 is in Saugatuck at the Saugatuck Women's Club. This show is an allstar rhythm section featuring Paul keller, pianist Dick Reynolds, vibist Jim Cooper, and myself. There will be two sets starting at 8 pm. July 9 we're back in Ann Arbor at the Firefly with PKO, Paul Keller's killer big band. Arno will be the featured artist. This is truly Arno's element! He has toured and performed with Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, and Harry James. PKO is one of the finest jazz big bands in the country and this one is going to be a jammin' night! Music starts at 8 pm. July 20 We'll be at Bistro Bella Vida in downtown Grand Rapids. This is our last gig together and will be an informal jam session night. Steve Talaga will be on piano, Charlie Hoats on fretless electric bass, and again myself on the kit.. Bistro has excellent Italian food and a good wine list if you come hungry. Downbeat for this one is 8:30 pm. Hope to see some of you!

I'm having no problems now..

I used to hang a bit with Donald "Duck" Bailey when I lived in Oakland, Ca from 85 - 89. A great musician and a nice cat.. Used to get calls from him once in a while when he needed a sub. Many don't know that "Duck" is also a fine chromatic harmonica player.. One night at the New Orleans Bar & Grille I played a gig with "Duck" and Eddie Marshall (another great bay area drummer). Besides drums, Eddie Marshall can also play bebop on a plastic recorder and swings his ass off! It was pianist Dick Whittington's idea to get drummers who could actually play melodic instruments together with him and a bass player . I had my marine band harps with me and we all took turns playing and alternating on the drum kit. We had BIG FUN. I wish I had a recording of that night. Another interesting thing about "Duck" is the angle at which he typically tilts his snare drum. He has it at an extreme angle tilting down and away from himself like a marching drum. About the cymbals he uses, he had Paiste, maybe a Sabian, and Zildjian cymbals and just played whatever sounded good to him. I haven't seen "Duck" in a long time and unfortunately don't get out to the Bay Area much anymore.

Me too... Oh well, guess there'll be a series of movies in the theaters starting next year maybe..

Jim? Joe?

Rick can be reached at 504.896.2393; e-mail: rick@superflypresents.com I called that number and it doesn't ring through, I instead got a recording stating that the number does not take incoming calls.. NOW ISN'T THAT CONVENIENT! I also got a BIG chuckle out of this: How many musicians do you think want to play that festival? It's one of, if not the, biggest festival of its kind in the country. You're right Jimmy, all points taken, though the irony that this cat would even bother posting a phone number (and it was obvious as well to me before I even called it wasn't his personal number for the reasons you stated ) in the interview amuses me.. My question is how does a band like ourselves get a slot at this festival??

Rick can be reached at 504.896.2393; e-mail: rick@superflypresents.com I called that number and it doesn't ring through, I instead got a recording stating that the number does not take incoming calls.. NOW ISN'T THAT CONVENIENT! I also got a BIG chuckle out of this:

Do they mean a $25 cover charge with a two-drink minimum in some sloppy, smokey dive with a tiny stage, bad PA, and the people behind you jabbering incessantly over the music? Word..

Thanks Chuck:)

Sure would be nice to play at that festival.. Bonnaroo won't even give us the time of day...

YUM !!

...hey, that's everywhere ain't it? Not here in Michigan, though with the gas prices I net close to that sometimes when I do an out of town hit..

I'm listening right now... YEAH JOE !!!

Word... I lived in Oakland from 12/85 to 11/89 and though there were many things I loved and miss, there were many things I too don't miss like the congestion, cost of living, earth quakes, and the $40 jazz gigs..

And I had the toothache from hell that morning..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO! I BELIEVE IT'S NUMBER 30..

Sounds like a Tim Dorsey book...

Wow, I haven't heard of District Six since May, 1988 while playing a jazz & media festival in Tubingen, Germany. I was there with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. We were touring Germany and Austria performing an anti apartheid play, "The Mozamgola Caper", a musical comedy lampooning the US government's unsavory business ties with the apartheid government. The festival that day featured not only our show, but had bands and artists from South Africa, and District Six was one of the featured bands and they played great! I used to have a cassette of their music and really dug their sound! I'd love to find Cds of their tunes...

I want that on a T-shirt!! You know there's a Randy Marsh on SP..

That would be the previous wimpy guitarist. I picked it up from that end by myself many a times.