Jim Alfredson

This is Mrs. B3er here...I just wanted to add a little too. This was my 5th trip to NYC. Each time I go I visit with wonderful people and make new friends. Thank you Chris and Maren for being so gracious. You both went out of your way to show Jim and I a great time. Since I don't read all the posts like so many of you, I had no idea who I would be meeting. But if Jim says its a good idea, I believe him. He was right. The Gates were beautiful and very impressive. The whole idea of conceptual art and installation is completely out of my artistic territory. I admire those that have such vision and dedication to make their dream a reality. The size and scope of the Christo project rivals anything I've ever seen. The trip was worth every penny and every moment I was away from Zora. (Sorry, Kid) Plus, Jim and I haven't had time like that together in a while. Though, now that I think about it, we weren't alone very long after visiting with 4 different groups of friends in 48 hours! I will be going back to the City again. Each trip I feel more and more at ease. I think my years in Philly broke my City legs in a little. I'm very glad I was able to share Jim's first NYC experience with him. Alison

I plan on picking this up soon.

Nazaro always took credit for the intro.

We dedicated the entire first set last Thursday with my R&B band to Jimmy Smith. Just me, the guitarist, and the drummer. The audience at the casino didn't like it (NASCAR & truck country up there) but we didn't care.

This is very splendid news. Relief is great! Great news Jim !! BTW, I didn't know you went to NYC.. YOU NEVER TOLD ME !!! It was all over the board, you foo!

I haven't heard the CD yet. I'm listening to the samples right now. All I can say is: WILD!

Wow. That was unexpected. I never had a chance to meet him, but I've heard plenty about him. Bummer. RIP.

I have to go with the hair bands. Whenever I hear Poison, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, etc. I just ask myself, "What the hell were these guys thinking?" But hey, they sold lots of records so what do I know?

Lol! That's horrible.

I would love to see Organissimo play a gig in NYC and hook up with you. By the way, wouldn't there be some restaurants like Moustache in the Detroit area? There may be but I'm in Lansing, which is a good hour and a half west of Detroit. There are a lot of fine meditteranean restaurants here, but I have never had such great tasting hummus before... and I'm a big fan of hummus!

YES! We had the Ouzi which was divine! We also had the lamb boneless ribs and the sun-dried tomato pitza. I have to say the Ouzi was my favorite. I gotta find a good recipe to make my own hummus. I can't eat the tart stuff we get around here anymore. The hummus at Moustache was so smooth, almost buttery. YUM! skeith, next time we come to NYC (which hopefully will be soon if these gigs pan out) we'll definitely hook up!

Sounds fun... who's going to pay for all these famous guest appearances? I am serious about an organ/drums thing but it would probably lean more towards the funk side. I'd want to use Randy on two tracks, the drummer I play with in my R&B band (who is a funky motherfu...shut yo' mouth!) and maybe a track or two with another friend of mine who plays the hell out of the congas. Maybe a cross-country collaboration with a buddy that lives in San Fran. That would be cool! I've been running the idea through my head for awhile now. If the next organissimo record doesn't start happening soon, I'll start working on it.

Moving to the Musician's Forum.

I asked him on Tuesday night if he had anything new out and he said yes. He also warned that it was very different from the last one and smiled slyly. Interesting...

Moving this to the "Musicians Forum".

I was wondering when that would happen.

Nah. My brother and I just have different views on how strict the moderating on this forum should be. I'm pretty loosey-goosey overall. He would prefer a more "iron fisted" approach.

Eric Alexander was not there, but the trio sounded great! They started the night with a few tunes by Jimmy Smith as a tribute but quickly went into Don Patterson territory.

Yes, the change has been pretty dramatic. She is much livelier, less foggy, and more like herself. And she has a lot more energy. It's quite amazing, really. We'd still like to know what this is, but after three months of non-stop symptoms, the relief is definitely welcome!

I gave up on finding jazz CDs at any local store (although Schuler's Books in Okemos has a decent selection... at outrageous prices). In the 21st century, it's all about ordering online.

You're banned.

So, last Friday I was up in northern Michigan while Alison had an appointment with another neurologist. He is not related to the MSU Health System and according to my wife was very supportive and wants to actively help her get back to work. He prescribed Neurontin, which she has been taking for almost a week. I'm happy to say that this medicine basically made our trip to NYC possible. She would not have been able to do any of this without it. It lessens her fatigued, masks most of the tingling, and generally just makes her feel more "normal". And she's only taking a small dosage right now. We're going to try to up the dose a little and see what happens. So, although we still don't have a diagnosis, at least she has a little relief from the symptoms!

We called the VV last night to see who was playing... it was Wynton and it was sold out. Obviously we didn't go. B-)

Tom, it's hard to say. I wish I had been keeping track, but I honestly can't say that I have. If I were to guess, I would say anywhere from 600-700. I think. Maybe it's more. Maybe less. It's hard to know since we sell a lot at shows and we sell them online and we've sold them direct to people on the board. We have given a TON away for promotional purposes and to family and close friends. I think 600-700 is a reasonable estimate. We're only into the first third of our second run of 1,000.

This is a fun show. I enjoyed the blindfold test on 60s organists, although I must say... I got all of them right after hearing maybe 2 seconds of each tune. But I'm a freak...