Rooster_Ties

Ain't that the truth!! And what's funny is that several very, very well-meaning church members have offered that "their brother-in-law's uncle" who used to be "a bass player in this one blues band" or "play drums behind this one singer 10 or 12 years ago" and "they probably still knows some other musicians around the city"... ...you know, if I have any trouble finding musicians who would want to play on this new series. The truth of the matter is that we really CAN provide a fantastic venue, with great acoustics, and damn near the best piano that most of these jazz players will play in any given year -- and we can probably routinely turn out at least 50 people (paying customers) from the church to every concert (weather permitting), plus another 30 to 70 more from the public (depending on who's booked). And when the weather's good, we ought to be able to pay almost every band $600(!!) -- not just the $300 we paid last night when the city was pretty much closed down cuz of ice and sleet. Hell yeah, musicians are gonna be knockin' on our door. (And they've already started.) I swear, there's real potential here to develop easily one of THE best local jazz series in the entire city -- and that's on real artistic terms, not just attendance for what sells the most. Inside, outside (well, some outside), grease, a little "outside grease" ( ), some 'traditional' every once in a while, a vocalist now and then... And MOST of it with a focus on original material. The only criteria is GREAT music.

Thanks, I didn't think of trying that since it is out of print. Can't hurt. They have replacment CDs for disc's 1,3 & 4. Better jump on that replacement ASAP. No tellin' if they have 20 extra copies of disc #1, or 5, or just one!!

Well, the weather certainly put a dent in the attendance tonight. There were a TON of closings tonight. (Hell, the Kansas City Symphony even cancelled their performance tonight.) But my wife and I still didn't think the driving was all that bad out -- a little slick, but nothing to shut the entire city down for. (She HATES driving in bad weather, and she drove in it two or three times today, without much trouble at all.) Anyway, we had 43 paying customers tonight, plus about 8 or 10 comps for the band, plus another 10 or so worker bees helping put on the event. So there were close to sixty people in the audience (in a room that seats 220 normally), and even with just 43 paid at the door, we were still able to pay the band $300. Not too shabby, I suppose. Not even close to what I was hoping for, but the weather really did us in. I think 75% of the people there were from the general public, actually. Almost ALL of the older people in the church who would have normally attended, didn't get out because of the ice and sleet which was nearly all from the previous day. (Even Barnes & Noble was closed tonight - a mile from the church -- and I've almost never known them to close. ) Not a grand success, but still a nice night -- and the music was great. We learned some things about how a band like that sounds in the room (and some things to learn from before the next concert). And the band told me after that it was still a whole bunch better for them (artistically speaking) than most bar gigs ever are for them.

Good news!! - the weather looks to be "not so bad" today, at least here in the city. A little bit of sleet this afternoon, but nothing even half as bad as yesterday. Some snow is predicted for tomorrow (Sunday), but nothing really for tonight. (Got my fingers crossed!!) If I was a betting man, I'm guessing we'll hit 60 paying customers tonight, and maybe 80?

Donations for the All Souls Bell Choir fund would always be welcome, and we can certainly figure out a way to make that easy to do. We're not selling advance tickets. It's something we've not had much luck with for our classical concerts. People from the church realize that there's no price-break for buying early (or any other benefit to them), so most just show up and buy at the concert (but they are very good about showing up) -- and there's never been an effective method for advance ticket sales for the general public.

Yes, and no. Kansas City appears to be right on the line between simple snow (an inch or two, maybe three), and freezing rain and such. Tomorrow (Friday) will not be very good, especially in the afternoon and early Saturday morning. But things may well be quite a bit better by Saturday afternoon and evening. (Or maybe not. ) Things could be much better than they're predicting, or much worse -- or about the same. Only time will tell for sure. The good news is that even if as few as only 50 people show up, we can still pay the band about $325, and net about $250 for the church (all going towards the bell choir fund). I was hoping for more like 100 people (or even 120!), but even 50 will still make for an "OK" night -- and certainly not a complete washout. Edit: But yeah, I sure am still worried about it.

BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! BILLY HARPER!!! Please, oh please -- let it be so!!!!

I've got one of these!!

"Whether you prefer hand jobs, blow jobs, or Steve Jobs - iSqueegee is here for you."

Nice write-up in the Kansas City Star's regular weekly jazz column today too. Two for the future: Logan Richardson, Jake Blanton represent where jazz is going Still got my fingers crossed about the weather. Not looking as bad as it could be, but still maybe kinda dicy. Edit: Sometimes I'm getting a login-required screen from the link above, so here's the content (as much for my own future reference as anything, since it's only available on-line for one week)...

(on The Tonight Show!! - circa 1990)

Few show-choir kinda of things... ( ) North Central 2006 -- Like a Prayer (Madonna)

Got a nice plug in the Kansas City Star last Saturday, in the "Faith" section (of all places). Much to my great surprise, they even ran a BIG three-column-wide picture(!) of the guitarist leading the group on our first concert (and they pulled the pic out of their own archives, totally of their own accord). I was also surprised to find the same pic in the on-line version of the same calendar section... The Jazz and Beyond Concert Series at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut, will feature Jake Blanton and his quartet at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13. and elsewhere in the same calendar... JAZZ AND BEYOND CONCERT SERIES: Jake Blanton Quartet. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut. www.allsoulskc.org (816-931-6415) (original on-line context)

Hoping for the weather NOT to be ice and snow (or at least not too bad) on Saturday. I think the congregation alone (just church members) will turn out at least 50 to 75 people, as long as the weather is not bad, driving-wise. Hopefully another 40 (or 50?) will turn out from the general public. My goal is to have 100 paying customers in the house, and we'll still do OK even if we only get 75. (And 125 would be GREAT!!) Keep your fingers crossed!! (Edit: They're predicting a "Wintery Mix" for Saturday, as of Tuesday. This far out, that means nothing -- but I'm still keeping my eyes on the forcast each day.)

That be true, that be true. Hope you're havin' a happy day!!

Yeah, that Trad guy must really be racking up the royalty checks.

One other aspect of the impact of technology and music is permanency, and the effect of the lack of permanency in future music “products”. In the future, if most music is pretty much only available in some electronic (downloadable) form – then what will happen to that music (and access to that music) say 10, 20, 30, 50 years in the future? And far future access by future generations – and even access by the people who were interested in said music in the first place?? Many of us here have items in our music collections – physical objects – that are decades old, even half a century or more in age. What will become of “music” in an age where there are NO physical objects to posses?? When one is limited to only that which can be downloaded, stored, and successfully converted or ported to each new technological “doodad” that comes down the pike every 10 or 20 years. And what of the need for reliable storage media, which doesn’t (but inevitably will) become technologically outdated (or worse yet, corrupt) over time?? Will the successful maintenance and upkeep of a good-sized music collection require an ever increasingly complex backup methodology? Or what if that isn’t even possible, with the potential further introduction of copy-protection schemes embedded in the product itself?? What will happen to music that can’t be ported, converted, backed-up, or kept from deteriorating?? Is it just me, or is the musical history of our future seriously at risk??? No answers – just questions.

Jimmy, from a few years back... CLICK

Hey all, Well, that jazz series I was talkin' about producing myself (here), is finally getting off the ground!!! The first concert is THIS Saturday, with 2/3rds of the ticket price going straight to the musicians. All you Kansas City folks, come on out, and tell all your friends!! Jazz & Beyond New concert series, kicks off with... The Jake Blanton Quartet Saturday, Jan. 13th at 7:30 PM Tickets only $10.00 All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church 4501 Walnut Kansas City, MO 64111 Jake Blanton - Guitar Roger Wilder - Piano Craig Akin - Bass Tim Cambron - Drums http://www.allsoulskc.org http://www.allsoulskc.org/jazz107.pdf Jazz & Beyond: All Souls' new "fire-breathing, no-holds-barred" jazz series!!

Telling quote from the article... Compare that with a world where nearly every TV has 100 cable channels (give or take, with plenty of systems offering 200+ channels). And Internet access (including high-speed) is to be found literally in every corner --> with wireless at your local coffee-house, or even on your frickin' phone. The world has changed, in dramatic ways -- even over just the last 10 years.

FYI, in case anyone happens to miss it -- the article goes on for six pages. I'm only through the first page, but it is an interesting read. Entire article available here on one page

Didn't think Chew-Chew's keyboard had all those funny punctuation keys. And there's WAY too many correctly and appropriately capitalized words for that to be him.

By the way, perhaps my two favorite cuts are... "The Girl in the Magnesium Dress" -- which started its life as a pure Synclavier piece. It doesn't start in this clip until halfway (time-index 1:50) through the clip... Frank Zappa - Yellowshark: III & GITMD 5of15 (let load, and play from time-index 1:50) "Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America: 1992" -- one of Zappa's "dramatic reading with improv" things -- half-improvised (musically), but very controlled in places. Frank Zappa - Yellowshark: FGIPIA: 1992 7of15

Found this loaded to Youtube in chronological order (parts 1 through 15), but this search displays the clips in reverse order (reversed from the way they were loaded). Youtube search on 'Yellowshark" - in 'date loaded' order And I think the following two clips are NOT found on the comercial audio release. Frank Zappa - Yellowshark: Overture 1of15 (improvised) Frank Zappa - Yellowshark: Amnerika/NOTA/PA 9of15 (only the "Amnerika" part only is unreleased (the other two parts were on YS), although some version of Amnerika (as recorded by the EM) got into Civilization Phase III) And NONE of this video has been released anywhere (not legally, anyway). Enjoy!!

Wow! Dancing was REALLY bad back then. (And the singing was none too good either.)