Joe G

I'm sure it will be good. "Pretty Out" first showed up on one of my all-time favorite Sco albums (also with Frisell) Grace Under Pressure. Wonder if that's the track Bill plays on.

I can't remember what Dolphy said offhand, but yes, Maria's music is clearly romantic in the classical sense. Edit: Too bad Mike Fitzgerald doesn't post here anymore; I'm sure he'd have lots to say.

I just spent about half an hour listening to the first 4 minutes of Cerulean Skies... Others may have different needs (including myself on different days), but here and now that shit hits me where I live. Or where I would like to live: immersed in beauty. A simple song-like melody repeated with juicier and juicier harmonies. Love the way those voicings sound in the accordian first time through. Of course, as soon as Luciana's voice is heard, well... The band sounds really in tune on this recording, too, playing with great confidence and a sense of, well, play. Can't wait to sit in front of this band and get carried away.

I have been yelled at for practicing, but I don't have any funny stories.

ecco shoes for me, also I don't get cheap eyeglasses. Good food, too. I really can't afford the best guitars and guitar gear, though I wish I could.

Got this in the mail today. The first piece is a stunner.

Try shutting off the part of your brain that labels what it hears as "noise" instead of pure SOUND. Put yourself in that altered state where the light streaming into the window looks different. That's part of what this music is about for me. Stellar Regions is a good starting point, I think, because the performances are more concise.

What's Rod Stasik got to say?

Well, that doesn't sound good! I don't think I've ever seen a Hovhaness performance advertised around here. The new conductor for the Lansing Symphony is trying new things, though. Maybe he'll pull something out. Probably a lot happens in Ann Arbor that flies under my radar.

East Lansing has Flat Black & Circular. :rsmile: Yes, post your dates, man!

You already know I am. I only have two albums, though: Celestial Gate, and Mysterious Mountains, both on Telarc. I was relistening to Celestial Gate recently and was really enjoying it. What all do you have, David?

Just bought a couple bottles of this at the grocery store - pretty good!

Yeah, no trash pickup in Scott Woods, and a pretty slow response to fallen trees as well. A big maple broke in half during those high winds we had a couple of weeks ago, falling across the paved path. I knew that if they didn't cut it up and get if off the trail, people would soon make a new trail off to the side. Which is exactly what happened.

My late wife was absolutely addicted to the stuff, too. She'd send me out to the grocery store at 11 p.m. if there were less than five 20 ounce bottles in the fridge, so there'd be enough for the next day. I'd say, "I really wished you just liked Pepsi rather than needed it." Any truth to the stories I used to hear about Coke being able to disolve a tooth, or a nail overnight? For me, it's water, tea, juice (usually Odwalla and the like) occasionally coffee, beer, red wine. No kidney stones here.

Behind my house is a nature area with lots of big beautiful trees, paved trails, and a decent sized creek. Today I decided to remove the floating trash that had accumulated on the upstream side of a tree that had fallen across the river. It had been bothering me to see that mess everytime I rode my bike over the nearby bridge. So I took a rake and two trash bags, walked out on the log (no small feat), and started fishing that crap out of there. You know how it is when you first look at a complex visual field of some sort, and you don't really see what's there at first? As I began the work, I was focused on the larger items; mostly pop and water bottles, some glass liquor bottles, a couple pairs of shoes, and the like. I thought the rest was mostly organic material (the frogs, certainly so). I pulled out most of the bottles, tossed them on the bank, and started to work on the smaller pieces. That's when I realized how much styrofoam was there. Aside from pieces the size of a nickel on up to food containers and packaging material, I noticed that there were seemingly millions of tiny white particles interspersed among the organic stuff. The only way I could have truly cleaned them out would be to scoop ALL of it out of the river, which I was not equipped to do. Actually I couldn't even get all the palm-sized chunks out either, because there were hundreds of those as well. So I worked until the two bags I brought were pretty much at capacity, and hauled them out of there. So that was what I found in just one small collection behind one tree trunk in one Michigan river. More styrofoam than I could possibly collect and carry out of there. Makes me want to bring my own containers the next time I go for take-out! ~ p.s., is anyone else a little creeped out to see, for instance, a pair of shorts, or shoes, or underwear left in the woods? I'm always wondering wtf happened that someone entered the woods wearing these items, and left without them.

Hmm.. no soup for me yet. Been looking forward to this one for a while.

Was going to post this in the fireworks thread, but I see that's been closed. I had been asleep for maybe an hour last night, when, at about 12:30 a.m., someone in the neighborhood set off enough fireworks to rival a small town's Grand Finale. I'm lying there, having been jolted awake, thinking, "You have got to be fucking kidding!" Fortunately I was too exhausted to stay mad (or awake) for long.

Maria Schnieder Orchestra, Friday January 11th, Museum of Art. Rachel and I are planning on coming out for this one, and would enjoy hanging out with any board members.

It was there just the other day. (Edit: at BMG actually) The group will be playing at the Detroit Jazz Festival. I'll try to catch them there.

Slather it on. Works as a lubricant as well.

Was just envisioning the casting call for the website... "Here, read this script... not bad. Now, turn around, drop trou, and show us yer ass... Nice!"

I think it's silly of Malone to harbor resentment in this case. If your main artistic thrust is to be "just" a great straightahead jazz guitarist, you're going to hit a commercial ceiling. He should compare his career to people like Jimmy Bruno or Vic Juris, etc. Besides, the level of commercial and critical success that a one-of-a-kind artist like Metheny has achieved is difficult for ANYONE to attain.

Mark is a childhood hero of mine. I wore out the grooves of his "Markology" album, made when he was 16, and features only his guitar playing, along with Tony Rice and Dan Crary. His recent fiddle albums are pretty smokin' though. Didn't know that about the chronic problems. Bummer.

You guys are hardcore. And I love it.

I'm a lover, not a fighter.