randissimo

I thought of you while we were doing the gig.. There's going to be another opportunity to catch Eugene with Trio Globo at Interlochen in September.. http://www.classactsontour.com/artists/tri...o/trioglobo.htm

The air toms are pretty wacky and sometimes drive Jim & Joe nutz..

What that means is I have plastic hoses I shove into the air holes on the shells of my toms and by blowing into the tubes I can bend the tones of the drums up or down. when you blow the pitch bends up, when releasing the compression the pitches bend back down..

This is Arno on Randy's computer.. LAZARO: I thoroughly enjoyed the party at your house Saturday.. Congratulations on your 25th anniversary at WBLV..

Had a really interesting gig yesterday with cellist Eugene Friesen. I was part of an outdoor concert at the foot of the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Michigan. There were two solo cellos, an accompanying cellist, a string quartet, piano, bass, and drums. Some of the pieces performed were solo features written and performed by Friesen as well as solo pieces by the other featured cellist Crispin Campbell. One particular solo piece played by Eugene Friesen was a beautiful and haunting piece inspired by the humpback whales of the Pacific. On this solo Friesen played through some effects pedals. At the end of the first set we played a free improvisational piece and I had a chance to play my "air pressure toms" with mallets. The 2nd piece of the 2nd set was a blues written by Crispin Campbell where I got the chance to do an ad lib harmonica thing with Crispin on the intro.. At the end of the concert there were two feature arrangements for the whole ensemble incorporating South American rhythms.. It was an inspiring day of music.. BIG FUN !! If you're not familiar with Eugene Friesen here's a link to his website. http://www.eugenefriesenmusic.com/recordings.shtml He is also involved in Trio Globo, an eclectic, improvisational trio with harmonica wizard/piano player Howard Levy and percussionist Glen Velez.

Yeah Johnny.. Why just chicken or beef??

Thanks everybody!

Love that picture! Thanks Chris..

Nice drum kit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARAK

The festival being dedicated to Oscar Peterson I am very surprised not to see Johnny O'Neal on the bill somewhere. He IS the only piano player I know who can really play in OP's style.. Jammed with him in Traverse City, Mi back in the summer of '76 when he was only about 18 and he could already play some of OP's tunes like Billy Boy and at breakneck tempos.. I could barely keep up!

Happy birthness WD45

A Chicago drummer I knew named Guy Viverose was working in the house band (that also included Ira Sullivan) in a night club where Lenny Bruce was appearing. One night the CPD came in and busted Lenny for obscenities and even the band got busted because the CPD found marijuana in the dressing room. Guy told me he ended up in the backseat of a squad car with both Lenny Bruce and George Carlin. Carlin was hangin' out in the dressing room and was also arrested by the CPD for possesion of marijuana. He said it was the craziest ride he'd ever had sitting between these two comic geniuses, and both of them were crackin' up the cops in the front seat.. Gonna miss George Carlin..

Joe's right on..

Some musicians have a "Dr. Jekyll- Mr. Hyde" abberation. One example would be Jaco Pastorius. There is a wellspring of stories. I personally know a couple of musicians who have had crazy experiences with Jaco. My cousin Scott, a bass player, was in New York working with Horace Silver back in 1987 when Jaco came in bare foot one night and wanted to sit in and got a bit belligerent when Horace declined his offer. He had to be asked to leave by the management. Jaco had some kind of bi-polar disorder that could be treated with lithium and he too often wasn't taking his meds and drinking.. It ended up costing him his life in that bar in Florida. Jaco forever changed the sound of the electric bass and it's innovative role in creative music. I knew a drummer in Paris who recently passed away and was another example of this. When he was straight and sober was a really nice cat and very insightful and one of the baddest drummers I've ever known. But he would get a jones for heroin and get loaded or if he couldn't get it would drink himself into a funk and either way would get really evil.. Also know a brilliant piano player in Detroit who has the "Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde" problem with alcohol. When he's sober he's a great guy and plays as brilliant as anybody out there. When he's drinking he's bitter and can get loudly sarcastic and confrontational. People seldom call him these days because you just don't know who's going to show up on the bandstand.

You're right... This is the one that I was laughin' about..

You heard him Jim...

Ellen Rowe is a fine jazz pianist in Ann Arbor, Mi and is a professor in the jazz dept at U of M.. And let's not forget Reptet's Samantha Boshnack.. She not only plays great but writes and arranges a lot of Reptet's music.

I like that idea.. But don't you think the cover's kinda groovy, as in Groovadelphia? Indeed.. And it would get us lots of radio play in Philly..

I like that idea..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN..

That's what I said too..