alocispepraluger102

claire is a beast. ever met him?

ahhhhhh! life is not as logical or coherent as a claire fischer arrrrangement.

aloc was just posing what he thought might be an interesting discussion topic. at age 63 he has no current marital plans. aloc has several friends who have gone into needless serious hoc for engagement rings.

a (relatively) impoverished aloc would(and has) limited his purchases to about a $1,000.

many jazz dj's have had to find another hustle.

just listened to and loved some of his big band recordings from the mid 30's.

I'd say there's a whole 'nother potential iceberg out there, although I have no idea whethere anybody will ever find it: the officiating in the NCAA tournament is clearly rigged to favor the big-name, big-draw schools, and that has been going on for a LONG time. surely not the squeaky clean dukies or the sacred tarheels. remember ohio state in the tourney and odom's recent mugging of another player which wasnt even called flagrant and decided a game? Yeah, there seem to be more and more obvious examples with each passing year. From my perspective as a west coast resident, it's teams like Oregon, Gonzaga and even USC (UCLA is usually escorted through nicely) getting completely screwed over that frustrates me the most. This year, no Oregon player was allowed to touch a Florida player while in the paint. The way the zebras avoid controversy is to call a shitload of ticky-tack fouls against the lower-seeded teams early in the game. Nobody (except the poor coaches, who are basicallly helpless) really notices, and by the time the games are winding down, the lower seeds have foul trouble and/or foul-outs. I've forgotten the numbers now (I posted about it in the NCAA tourney thread), but Oregon was called for something like 35 fouls, while Florida got whistled like 11 times. I think the ratio was almost identical in the USC / UNC game (USC's game was destroyed by foul problems by their best players), and I charted a general trend that went on in the final rounds with regard to all of the top seeds. Like I said, it's been going on for years, but this year it was perhaps more obvious than ever... obvious to me without even going online and digging up the stats. CBS, the sponsors, and the NCAA power elite must be very proud of themselves. it's all about money and tv ratings. i have suspected that the ncaa and tv have subtly been giving marching orders to the refs ffor years. with all the dubious characters around the nfl, it is almost unfathomable that some funny stuff doesnt go on in the nfl, too. even clergy and musicians have gambling problems. why not an nfl ref or coach or two? when money is involved the playing field is never level.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=26163

I'd say there's a whole 'nother potential iceberg out there, although I have no idea whethere anybody will ever find it: the officiating in the NCAA tournament is clearly rigged to favor the big-name, big-draw schools, and that has been going on for a LONG time. surely not the squeaky clean dukies or the sacred tarheels. remember ohio state in the tourney and odom's recent mugging of another player which wasnt even called flagrant and decided a game?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index

dp raises a fine point. bettin' some playera were involved, too?

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....urray_weiss.htm

thanks for the insight.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 04, 2007 Evelyn Wright****Jazz Alive!! Evelyn is one of my favorite vocalists and she'll be accompanied by her wonderful quartet Buddy Sullivan, Tenor Sax Frankie Daniels, Piano Dick Meese, Upright bass Archie Frame, Drums 8:30 PM Adm. $10

http://www.liaoning-gateway.com/7459197263...9/2257075.shtml

the faculty saxtette set a very high standard wednesday night. i am looking forward to the tasteful guitarist mr. hart and his group's live performance.

The finest of all fiddlemakers Last Updated: 12:01am BST 05/09/2004 Martin Gayford reviews Stradivarius: Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius by Toby Faber According to the great violinist Nicolo Paganini, Antonio Stradivari (better known as Stradivarius), to make his celebrated violins used only "the wood of trees on which nightingales sang". Others have made more prosaic suggestions - that the timber Stradivari employed was soaked in brine, or that it was of unusual density owing to the freezing conditions of the 17th-century "Little Ice Age" in which it grew. Some argue that his wood was endowed with special properties while it was being floated down river from the Alps in the form of logs. But there is still no agreement. Nor is that the only mystery of these antique musical instruments. Their varnish, measurements and internal construction have been minutely examined since the 19th century. And still - 360 years after the birth of their maker - nobody really knows what makes the tone of these old fiddles so marvellous. advertisement Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that there is no "secret".Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) was just so skilful that no later instrument-maker has got close to equalling his achievement. Or so, at least, Toby Faber, the author of this new book, contends. Moreover, "the players who find new instruments work for them continue to be in a tiny minority". One only has to look at a violin to see that it is a product of late Renaissance and Baroque Italy. It has the energetic yet graceful curves of a figure by Parmigianino or a church designed by Borromini. As a famous photograph by Man Ray demonstrates, the swelling curves of the violin resemble a human, especially a female, body. But - as was also true of the ornamentation of churches - the violin was a functional as well as an aesthetic object. Almost every detail was there for a purpose. As Faber explains, the graceful f-shaped sound holes may look as gratuitously decorative as a skein of fluttering drapery on an angel sculpted by Bernini. But in fact it is hard to think of a better aperture from which the sound inside the instrument could escape. Their narrowness makes for strength, the circle at each end prevents splitting, and so on. The violin - and its musical siblings the viola, cello and double bass - were market leaders. They were invented in the 16th century and evolved by generations of craftsmen in the city of Cremona, especially the Amati family. In time, they successfully ousted their more dulcet musical rivals, the viols. Antonio Stradivari was a remarkable man. He lived to be 93, fathered 11 children and made some 2,000 instruments - mainly violins, but also cellos, a few violas and a single harp. He brought the tradition of instrument-making in Cremona to its apogee. But he was a also member of a community striving to improve and perfect the violin. And music, of course, is communal art, to which the composer, performers and instrument-makers all contribute their skills. In this he resembled Italian artist-craftsmen in other fields, all striving to outdo each other, each taking account of the others' innovations. Perhaps it's no more surprising that Stradivari made exceedingly good fiddles than that Titian, say, produced supreme oil paintings. But it was not until after his death that Stradivari's fame truly took off. His work was prized in his lifetime, and as a result he died a wealthy man. Yet it was not until the Romantic period of the late 18th and early 19th century that the full potential of the Stradivarius was appreciated. The power and tonal richness of the Stradivarius made it ideal for many of the great virtuosi of the 19th and 20th centuries. Individual instruments acquired names, histories and almost supernatural reputations. They became extremely valuable, and were consequently traded, copied, faked, and over-enthusiastically restored. In this book, after describing Stradivari's career and the history of the violin before his time, Toby Faber follows the fates of five violins and one cello through various hands, famous and otherwise. The result - though confusing until one has digested a mass of names, both of the internal parts of violins and of Central European musicians - is generally highly readable. It even has a twist or two, as one world-famous Strad is accused of being a forgery, and another turns out to be a case of mistaken identity. It must be admitted that the Stradivarius does not suit all tastes. Paganini himself preferred to play an instrument by Stradivari's rival, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu. There are those who contend that, tested blind-fold, a modern violin may sound as good. But to this day, Faber claims, all attempts to duplicate the old fiddles of Cremona have failed. That is a vaguely comforting fact - like the inability of chemists to duplicate fine wine. But also a vaguely troubling one since, as Faber points out, the old violins eventually wear out. And it is far from clear how they can be replaced. # Martin Gayford is the editor, with Karen Wright, of 'The Penguin Book of Art Writing'. Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright

Tenor Jerry Hadley dies at 55 Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic Wednesday, July 18, 2007 Tenor Jerry Hadley, whose voice was heard at top opera ho... (07-18) 11:17 PDT -- Tenor Jerry Hadley, whose light lyric voice and engaging stage personality enlivened his contributions to both operatic and crossover musical performances, died Wednesday at a hospital in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was 55. Mr. Hadley had been in the hospital since July 10, when he was admitted after shooting himself with an air rifle at his home in Clinton Corners, N.Y., according to New York police. On Monday, he was removed from life support and given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. In a business marked by petty jealousy and back-stabbing, Mr. Hadley boasted a reputation as a kind, open-hearted and down-to-earth performer and colleague. Press reports said that in recent years, as his career declined, he suffered from depression and financial difficulties. Mr. Hadley's career was a frustratingly inconsistent one, marked by lustrous, fluent singing and awkward missteps -- sometimes during the same performance. At its best, as in a magnificent account of the title role in Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" at the San Francisco Opera in 1996, his singing combined freshness of tone, emotional vividness and a gift for sumptuous phrasing. Reviewing his 1988 Opera debut in the title role of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress," former Chronicle Music Critic Robert Commanday praised his "smooth and mellifluous voice" and his dramatic alertness. Three years later, he gave a winsome performance as Tamino in Mozart's "Magic Flute." But Mr. Hadley was also prone to oversinging, with results that could be strenuous and out of tune. In his last San Francisco Opera appearance, as Julien in the 1999 production of Gustave Charpentier's "Louise," he struggled to sing the role's high notes or to create a believable character onstage. Perhaps the most distinctive quality of Mr. Hadley's career was the ease with which he alternated between traditional operatic repertoire and lighter or more popular fare. He made important contributions to prominent recordings of Jerome Kern's complete "Show Boat" and Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" and "Mass." With his boyish good looks and appealing energy, he was a natural choice to sing the role of Shanty, the hero of Paul McCartney's autobiographical "Liverpool Oratorio" in 1991. And he was game for more outlandish projects as well, including such recordings as " Symphonic Music of the Rolling Stones, " a 1994 disc on which he sang an orchestral and choral arrangement of "Sympathy for the Devil." In 1999, Mr. Hadley created the title role in John Harbison's opera "The Great Gatsby" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A 2002 revival marked his final appearance there. Mr. Hadley was born June 16, 1952 in Princeton, Illinois, and grew up on the family farm there. His father's family had been farmers, but music was a central part of the legacy from his mother's Italian family. "My grandmother played sort of honky-tonk piano, and we all sang," Mr. Hadley recalled in a 1988 interview with The Chronicle. "My mother and her brother had had a tap-dancing act that performed all over central Illinois; they were even approached by Kay Kaiser to appear on his College of Musical Knowledge, but my grandfather wouldn't allow it. "My earliest operatic recollections are from my Italian great-grandfather, who survived into his 90s, when I was 11 or 12. He was a rabid opera fan, and he listened to the Texaco broadcasts from the Met every Saturday. We all sat around, and he would sing along with all the arias in his high-pitched elderly voice." Mr. Hadley rediscovered opera as a student at the University of Illinois, beginning with a performance as Tamino for which he had auditioned on a whim. After appearing for several seasons with the New York City Opera, he made his European debut in Vienna in 1982, and sang frequently throughout Europe and the United States in the ensuing seasons. His appearances with the San Francisco Symphony included two notable stints as the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony -- once in 1992 when Davies Symphony Hall reopened after an extensive acoustic renovation, and again in 1995 during Michael Tilson Thomas's first program as music director. He also sang the title role in Berlioz's "Damnation of Faust" as part of the Symphony's 1994 French Festival, and sang in performances of Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and Britten's "War Requiem." E-mail Joshua Kosman at jkosman@sfchronicle.com. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/18/DDG

wasnt that a koto, on sahara?

...at what point did young aloc start discussing himself in the third person... RIP John! a norman vincent mailer affectation, he states. normy was a big ticket item in that day and time.

an alov fav, and a way to pay tribute: http://flyingdogales.com/cut-gonzo.asp this flying dog gonzo imperial porter is awesome Brewers Toast Hunter Thompson Posted by William Brand on May 24th, 2005 Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s death at 67 by his own hand on Feb. 20, 2005, has inspired two of America’s more adventuresome breweries to make beers in his honor. Lagunitas Brewing, of Petaluma, CA. has just released Gonzo, a high-powered,ale that looks like it may have the legs for a couple of years aging. Meanwhile, Flying Dog Brewery in Denver is just now bottling an Imperial Porter, in his memory. Flying Dog, of course, has a close connection with Thompson. The stories change along with the years that it happened from time to time. But there are a couple of things that are certain. Hunter and Flying Dog co-founder George Stranahan and artist-illustrator Ralph Steadman (well, maybe he was there), were drinking beer at the Woody Creek Tavern in Woody Creek, a hamlet near Aspen, where they lived. Either they got the idea for a Flying Dog or the idea for Road Dog Porter at that time. Here’s is the version e-mailed to us today: “Gonzo energy has been racing around the Flying Dog brewery like a three-legged dog on acid for over a decade now. Brewery founder and fellow renegade, George Stranahan, was Hunter�s friend and neighbor in Aspen, Colorado. The duo met up with gonzo artist Ralph Steadman in 1991 at the Woody Creek Tavern in what the brewery infamously refers to as, �the meeting of minds�. “No one knows exactly what transpired that night but the result was Road Dog Porter and the first, authentic, gonzo beer label illustrated by Ralph Steadman and Hunter�s quote, �Good People Drink Good Beer�.” Gonzo Imperial Porter was brewed with black, chocolate and crystal malts, hopped with Millennium and Cascades. “We tried to make everything about this beer Gonzo, which explains why we�ve already had one run in with the authorities,” brewery president Eric Warner said in a statement. “The Tax and Trade Bureau took issue with a quote from Hunter that we put on the label, which says, �I hate to advocate, drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity but they�ve always worked for me�. Seems innocuous to me but the TTB didn�t see it that way�. The brewery’s press release adds: “Gonzo Imperial Porter has been brewed with black, chocolate and crystal malts and hopped with Millennium and Cascades. Like Hunter this beer is intense and complex and at (9.5% ABV) it�ll bite back if you don�t give it the proper respect. Would Hunter have approved? Well we�ll never know for sure, however, a swarm of bats was seen hovering over the brewery the other day, so the folks at Flying Dog are taking that as a thumbs up. Tony Magee, founder of Lagunitas Brewing here in the Bay Area, can’t claim such a close connection. But, he says, “it’s good to have heroes.” And Hunter Thompson was one to Tony and to a lot of us. Most of us never made it to Las Vegas in 1972 to the Republican National Convention and covered it, reportedly, stoned on super acid. But we could read along and we did. Here’s Tony’s own homage below the Gonzo label: About the beer: It’s nearly as big as Hunter Thompson was. It’s 8.5 percent ABV with a huge, malty taste. There may be hops, it’s probably massively hoppy. But it’s so malty, it may take a year of aging before the beer finds its hop-malt balance. So, buy one for the shelf, one to drink and one to save and savor later. Dropping back to the dog…, I place Flying Dog’s best efforts in the same category as Lagunitas and a handful of other fine American Breweries. I’ve always loved Flying Dog’s beer. Their 10th anniversary (in Denver) special: Wild Dog Double Pale Alewild , released during the GABF in 2004 was easily one of the best America beers I’ve had the good fortune to sample in many a year. If only, I had had the sense to buy two bottles and keep one for aging. Drat. Here are my tasting notes from October, 2004: This is extreme pale ale, in honor of Flying Dog’s 10th anniversary ale. It’s enough to drive conservative Brits wild. This is hallucinogenic stuff — Cascade hops pour out of the glass and circle the brain. It’s hugely hoppy at 85 International Bitterness Units (Bud has 11 IBU), but at 9.5 percent alcohol by volume, there’s enough malt to balance the hops. Well, almost. Haven’t tried Imperial Porter yet, but, needless to say, I have great expectations. This comes from Flying Dog: If your state is not on our (beer distribution) list call your senator and demand justice, or just give Artic Liquors a call in Colorado and they’ll ship you out as many four-packs as you can handle. The cost of two four-packs including shipping is around $28. To order please call Arctic Liquors at 1-877 817-9463. The collectors edition bottles (750ml) signed by Ralph Steadman will be available from our tasting room on Fri, June 17 (Fathers Day) at 12 noon. These will be priced at $30 per bottle and sold on a first come, first served basis. An unsigned version of the 750ml bottles will also be available from the tasting room for $15 per bottle. The brewery adds that Porter sale proceeds will help fund the Gonzo Memorial Fist on Hunter’s Owl Farm Estate in Woody Creek, Colorado. “The huge stone column is reputed to reach a height of 150 feet and will be crowned with a giant red fist.” Unveiling will be at a memorial in August with several hundred (thousand) of Hunter’s close friends, including Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson. Sonny Barger’s not invited. If you don’t get that, check out “The Hells Angels,” the book about the Oakland, CA Hell’s Angels, published in 1966, and one of his best. Proceeds from the sale of both the four-packs and the 750’s will go towards building the Gonzo Memorial Fist in Aspen. Don’t forget the T-shirt, design by Steadman, portion of the proceeds goes to the fist.

I didn't know that. Can someone recommend an album that fits that description? expression, his last album, and had, among other things, some very contemplative sounds from the flute piece, 'to be.' the flute solo at the beginning of 'to be' leaves an indelible imprint in the mind. expression is rarely heard these days. The tunes from John Coltrane's Expression album are from Coltrane's last two recording session recorded shortly before he died in July, 1967. Coltrane was suffering from incurable liver cancer and knew that he was dying at the time of these recording, although he told almost no one of his condition. Despite the evidence of his own mortality, Coltrane invented amazing music almost up to the end. I've always thought of this album as Coltrane's musical last will and testament. Carl Sagan's crew at Jet Propulsion Laboratories compiled an album that was attached to the Voyager space probes which would represent the best musical utterances of all of humanity, because the Voyagers were going to be the first man-made objects to leave the solar system. I've always felt that Ogunde from this album should have been one of the recordings that was included. It is a short performance, less than 5 minutes. I feel when I listen to this that Coltrane was trying to sum up his entire life in this one short performance. His sound is incredibly large and lyrical and centered, with a huge vibrato. Soloing, he shows his incredible mastery of harmony and rhythm, floating away from the theme and then returning to it twice. He ends the piece with a seemingly endless flow of fast pitches that he breathes at a whisper. No one has shown this kind of mastery of the tenor saxophone in the 33 years since Trane's passing. Offering and Expression both share a similar kind of plan. They both start with lyrical, out of tempo melodies, that Coltrane varies very freely. The drummer, Rashied Ali, rolls lightly in accompaniment and Alice Coltrane plays arpregiated harp-like piano. After several repetitions of the main themes, Ali swells up like a storm and Coltrane turns to duel with him. Coltrane plays circular roll-like figures in the middle of his horn that sound like he's imitating Ali's drum figures. He constantly breaks free of these loops and screams high or drops low on his horn, sometimes seeming to play in the high, low and middle registers all within the same beat. At the end of each duel, Alice and Jimmy Garrison re-enter and Coltrane returns to the main theme of the pieces, each time like the sun breaking through storm clouds and shining like glory. The fourth piece on the album, "To Be" is one of the few performances where Coltrane is recorded playing flute. I've heard that he was playing a flute that he inherited from his friend Eric Dolphy for this. His young friend, Pharoah Sanders, accompanies on flute. The piece maintains a single slow mysterious mood for all of its 15 minute length. I don't usually listen this much, since it's not as substantial a piece of music as Ogunde, Offering and Expression. Coltrane's music can seem dangerous at first. You need preparation. It's a little mean for me to make Expression the first Coltrane album that I've written about. This was his last recording. He used every bit of his musical knowledge to make it. Coltrane's music is strong stuff. If you are unprepared, it may overwhelm you and leave you bewildered. Here are some things you should know. He could play very fast. Listening to Trane, you have to give up the idea that you are going to catch every note as it blows past you. Instead, the notes melt together and give you a composite feeling. There is a lot of evidence that when he was playing his fastest he was playing notes that outline a chord so you can hear him play chords against what his piano player was playing. He invented a new sound for the saxophone. He came from a family of black preachers and his saxophone sound emulates a preacher who is feeling the Holy Spirit,especially in his later recording. In every period of his career he had a high keening sound on tenor saxophone. By the early 60's, he had mastered ways of producing multiphonics (notes that sounded two or three notes at once). He was able to bend his notes to find blue sounds at any instant in his lines. He could change his range so quickly that he could honk a low note and scream high in just an eyeblink. He's a portal through which African ideas entered Western music in a very strong way. His favorite drummer, Elvin Jones, played polyrhythmically (multiple rhythm streams that maintain more than one pulse at the same time) and with great intensity. Elvin was playing on his drum set what an African drum ensemble with four or five drummers would play. Elvin was always changing the flow of the rhythm as Trane soloed and would change his accompaniment for each soloist in the band. He and his quartet played like they were having a four way conversation, where everyone had space to say something at any moment. Trane would go high and Elvin would cymbal bash to send him higher. Elvin would roll and Trane would play a repetitive rolling pattern to match Elvin's figures. Elvin would play a pattern on his low drums and Trane would honk low to get down there with him. At the strongest moments, all four men would together spin the music like a giant man, whirling, getting ready to throw a huge weight for miles. His sound was very vocal. He wasn't trying for the clean sound that Westerners idolize. He was willing to moan, sob, shout and scream with his horn. Please join our community at SongTrellis. Our contributors welcome your comments, suggestions and requests. As soon as you join the site (or login if you are a member) a response form will appear here.

didnt know that till i dug some potatoes , + dirt is dirty.

a young aloc was sitting in a jazz bar(we had them in those days) just before noon when the bartender told him john coltrane had passed away. at that time trane was aloc's favorite musician in the world and had been for quite some time, and still is, and he was buying every new coltrane release. after trane passed away, other than expression, aloc didnt purchase much more coltrane music. he was only interested in what john wanted released, although the coltrane-monk find is a beautiful revelation.

michael vick indicted by federal grand jury: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBN...EMPLATE=DEFAULT