AllenLowe

it's yours -

been away, eh? well, to save you time, I'll sum things up: 1) Benson sold out 2) Benson made a lot of money 3) Steven Allen didn't like George Benson 4) Benson and Leni Riefenstahl once went on a date, but things didn't work out, as she thought he was Jewish -

Motorola -

too much Republican gear - everybody knows that Hollywood movies are all made by liberals - gotta plug that little doo-hickey into something more moderate, increase the sound levels liberally, and put all the screens and speakers to your left - and everything will be just fine -

by the way, Al Gaffa worked a lot with Al Haig in the 1970s - great player, and ALWAYS used to complain about Ray Brown, interestingly enough - said he hogged the harmony and the rhythm, drove the rest of the rhythm section crazy because didn't leave any space -

don't know if anybody mentioned the Duke Ellington small group session (can't remember the title) - best thing is a Duke blues in which the melody starts on a major 7th -

hope it's not one of those joints that Slappy White used to talk about - where every hour or so "they took an intermission to pull out the dead and wounded."

I don't know - the shiksas will love it -

hey, Steverino was kosher, to paraphrase Lenny Bruce - as for that blues gig, Texas-style - first, make sure they bill me as: "Blue Boy Jew Boy: the New Boy ain't No Goy" I'll take Saturday, but maybe, just to be safe, we'll just do a sound check and then go home -

now that's blues: http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/share/scrapb..._your_Uncle.mp3

allright, rising to the challenge - go here for some blues of mine - http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/share/scrapb..._your_Uncle.mp3

though I was never sure if he meant James Brown the singer, or Jimmy Brown the football player -

and don't forget the famous Downbeat Blindfold Test, in which Mingus thought I was James Brown -

because I'm so funked up -

1) Pacific Ocean Blue -Dennis Wilson yes, the reissue of the Dennis Wilson LP, and yes, I know, I should have listened to wiser heads here who warned it wasn't very good - ok in spots, but not worth the $23 I paid for it - HOWEVER, it is 2 cds, and you don't know any better, so I'll sell it to you, in MINT shape, for $16 shipped media 2) Ornette Coleman: Town Hall 1962: ESP: STILL SEALED one of the new ESP reissues with great sound - somehow I ended up with 2 copies of this; it is still sealed so what a deal - $11 shipped media prefer paypal - my paypal address is alowe5@maine.rr.com (email me at same)

well, I find Benson as funky as a girl scout troop in Greenwhich, Connecticut - problem is, I'm a more funky guitarist than he is, so if I wanna hear it second hand, I just put on my own CD -

well, maybe I overstated my point; in that case, apologies to Leni Riefenstahl - all seriousness aside (as Steve Allen ALSO used to say) I was just responding to the insertion of Triumph of the Will into the argument (actually over-rated, I've always thought, though it uses some fascinating cinematic techniques); truth is, I just get tired of the Benson rationale, sounds too much like Kenny G; as Mad Magazine might have said in its Truth in Advertising feature (wherein people actually told the complete truth), why doesn't he just get up and say: "Look, motherfuckers, I was tired of starving my ass off, and you morons don't come to clubs or buy enough records to buy me a piece of used dog shit; so leave me the fuck alone if I choose to make a living playing crap, it's my crap and if I wanna play crap than I'm gonna play crap, if you don't like it kiss my solid-state rectum."

well, as Steve Allen said, your case needs a rest -

thank you Tom - let me know when it airs - and yes, I think it is the latest issue, but I have not seen it yet, they sent me a tear sheet - frustrating living here, as everyone knows by now, but now that I have a few good reviews, it's time to get organized and maybe work a few gigs (not in this state, though) - problem as well is that, this being Maine, I basically have no band. The guys from around here with whom I recorded generally don't call me, and it just gets to be too much work getting the very-talented 20 year old bass player that I rehearsed with a bit this spring to return calls/show up at the gig - I book him more than 20 minutes ahead and he forgets. I have found a good singer and a good trumpet player, however, so will see what happens. also, not coincidentally, I can sell copies of JIH for $12 shipped - 2 cds, includes a picture of me suitable for framing - email me at alowe5@maine.rr.com glad to hear, Chris, that I can inspire other national and ethnic groups to voice their protests -

"fucking George Benson pop record... to Triumph Of The Will." well, as the only person here who has actually written a song about Leni Riefenstahl, let me say that she and Benson have a lot in common; both rationalize what they do as being in service to some greater sense of the world, and both are completely deluded -

well, I'd gone there on summer vacations for a while - and then I was renting - now I'm going on squatter's rights -

looks more like a little POOP of ice cream -

it's a very rich suburb of NYC -

just watched the Benson-McLaughlin clip; give me a break, awful stuff by Benson, this proves if you don't use it you lose it - Benson plays cliches interspersed with rapid nothingness. Even his sound has become a solid-state mass of pretty mush. You cannot go home again, especially after you've made a lot of money playing crap - and don;t compare this to early r&b; Benson cannot touch that music for touch and feeling, time sense, rhythm, or soul. His is the soul of Scarsdale -

crap, crap, all crap. dishonest crap. calculated crap. boring crap. annoying crap. stupid crap. crappy crap. but, to borrow from another recent thread, this is just my opinion. And who would take the opinion of a guy who is out-matured by a 4 year old?