Elissa

Just walked down to get a pop at the little bodega in the lobby of my high rise midtown office bldg and the fella who cleans the marble floors by the elevators round abut this time was listening to Nancy on his little boom box. We had a little a moment for her. My mom must have had every Nancy record out thru about 1975: Nancy and Frank - that was my mom's record collection. Personally though, I'll never get over how much I love her Never Will I Marry on that duet with Cannonball.

The Minutemen on the order of hundreds of times, and Saccharine Trust - I was a little late to see the Germs, but I knew all the words to Lexicon Devil by the time I was 13... I think I remember Charlie Haden showing up to some of those downtown Saccharine gigs when they'd just pitch a big extension chord out the window of a loft and 10 bands would play in an empty lot...

lol Allen what a great collection of quips. I'm ordering a cd tout suite.

I used to see him weekly in the eeearly 80s (god this is mortifying) with Missing Persons. I grew up in LA, OK??? and ya, was young enough then to like the GoGos, and soon the Peppers who we used to go see every Wednesday at the Music Machine when all they'd wear was a sock each... Soon though, I heard Thelonious Monk on the radio and didn't care about all that anymore. He's ok for a fusion player. Would almost like to hear him on just a ride, hi hat, snare and bd too.

it was how he felt about bunnies that threw me.

By only the most tangential of relations to this topic: I was thinking of Frank and his post-Wild era today, because when I came into work, first thing I was debriefed on was that a co-worker, who we all liked a great deal but who'd been missing a week or two, seems to have turned up in Texas (someone found this out when they Googled him!) collared by cops while apparently on his way to Mexico fleeing child molestation charges. Could be another fellow - there were no pix - but same name, similar dates etc... Odd.

My first ever review - sorta. Just a comment really, on a listing, but an articulate one! Glee

Well, I've done my first 3 performances (ever) and have 5 more to go this run: Wed - Sun at 8. Hope some of you will come and say hi. Incredibly much fun. Such a wonderful cast and crew and so, so much fun to work with my brilliant husband. Amazing to think this is the start of us doing work we love together for the rest of our lives. Ideally. There have been about 20-30 people there each night - the space seats 65. But I've been really happy with it. Out of all the people I've invited, the 2 people who showed so far are the big beautiful security guard from my office building and the guy in my office who does the mail room. No family, no friends - kind of hilarious actually. But still really fun. My husband is so proud of me and - in truth - his approval means more to me than anything. The fellow I had ordained to marry us is a very fine actor and he's playing my 6 shrinks in this play. His wife came the other night and she has a huge career - TV (a couple Emmys), Broadway(2 Tonys), film... She loved me! Really nice to be embraced by a community to which I'm so new. My husband has been such a trooper thru this too. The operation he had in December didn't really work and he's going to have to do it AGAIN the day after we close. Which means another week in the hospital and 6 weeks off his leg to let it heal. Amazing spirit the fellow has. Do let me know if you make it by. And thanks for your support.

Lucky to report that we've had a few miracles come to pass. The fellow playing my husband and my sons in the play (two of whom try to kill me, one of whom becomes my patient when I become a shrink!) has come on as a producer and brought goodly scads of funding. And as of today we're rehearsing in the theater. Y'all are coming, right?!? Tix and more info here.

Documentation: The band was Alex Blake and Victor Jones

I went with "Our Love is Here to Stay" too, but have to admit that one of the day's highlights was Horace Silver's "Song for my Father," to which I danced with both my dad and my father in law when he cut in.

Do they think it was the same kids both times/

First rough draft of site recklessplay.com Do tell me what you think.

QRT is code for...?

Louis Hayes has a fine Nat tribute band I've seen a couple few times, with Vince Herring, Jeremy Pelt, Rick Germanson and (often) Gerald Cannon. p/s did I mention I love louis hayes?

I thought of this sweet lil comment last night when a friend said her little sister asked her if she was a fan of "The Lonliest Monk's" music.

You'd think it were opening night, what with my little heart pounding and my nerves all abuzz. But no, it's just the first time we're assembling all the cast (4 Actors Studio members, 1 fellow who teaches at the Neighborhood Playhouse) to meet, get cozy with eachother, and do a table read - which is when you just read the play all the way through. For auditions you'll hear people encourage you to 'just walk in and own the room' - but that's not the issue really, since we'll be gathering at my house. In an hour and a half. Which reminds me: I've got to clean up a bit and get some treats. Course, I'm still at work for another 20 minutes (with my tummy in knots.) Though my rock, the director, my husband, is better than he's been the past few weeks - his operation was a full month ago - he's still on crutches and fairly incapacitated. It takes 6 weeks for the titanium spike to fuse with the femur, so he's still got two more weeks off of his leg. And of course he's picked today to go off the pain pills. Initiation by fire, eh?

As to Redman fils: on second thought why say negative things.

Third vote for Bass Line.

I don't think I feel this way about many jazz musicians, but if I never hear Joe Lovano again it'll be a-okay with me. To me, his sound is like that of a huge towel fallen into a tub of dirty water.

Amen. I like the props he gives Andrew Cyrille though. That man can pretty much play as far in or as far out as he chooses and independently keep about 5 rhythms going at once. I remember at the Billy Higgins appreciation, just before he left us - Cyrille played maybe the most beautiful music of the day - and it was fairly straight ahead. But do you think it's right to say that no major writer recognized that the drums had taken on a role equal to that of any other instrument by '64? I mean, first of all, as far back as Max and Brownie that seems to have been pretty clear, if not much earlier - as Allen says, with Papa Jo. And to say that it wasn't until Graves accomplished it - well that seems a little precarious to me, not least because if you return to say Congo Square in New Orleans, where you might say jazz started, back there the drums were pretty dominant. Or maybe I'm just really old fashioned?

I like Eva too. Plus, she can act.

So sorry to hear that Ubu. May another wonderful cat be lucky enough to find you soon.

Cuban sandwiches: Homemade mayo. Homemade turkey breast, brined for a few days and then pan roasted, a la Michael Roberts' Parisian Home Cooking. Homemade pork loin, brined for a few days; set an herb mix for a day or two; then roasted. Arugula. Guacamole. "Grilled" on a cast iron skillet with a pan smashing them down. Husband and guests quite satisfyingly in ecstasy. Must say though, it's a strange affair to cook all that meat n' stuffs without tasting any of it. I'm still vegan.

Thank you for all your good wishes. 4/7 of the parts cast now - all with really phenomenal actors. One a member of the Actors Studio, one a member of the Edge Theater - also good cause they'll help bring people to warm the seats while we're up. Inch by inch as they say... Also found a wonderful fellow who I hope will stage manage and assistant direct, who knows both the theater and the director. You guys are all coming into town for it, right? Just saw Steppenwolf's August: Osage County here. Amazing. Hope that style of theater has a resurgence - the kind of showy, 2-dimensional acting and directing - I call it Egyptian - that's been so popular of late leaves me chilly.