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Joe G

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Everything posted by Joe G

  1. This must have been a gift of Karma for when your old Leslie got stolen. With interest!
  2. Excellent performance last night. Sounded like a real working band; good arrangements, good tune selection, and really good playing. Some wonderful solos from every member. Our man Paul was cookin'! :rsmile: Great to meet you, Brother!
  3. Yes, and let me clarify that my rolleyes smiley was in reference to this comment only: ...Since I'm the lucky one. I just want to have the concerti to start with.
  4. Heading down to Chicago in just a bit. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
  5. One is Geri Allen's The Life of a Song, w/Jack & Dave
  6. James Kunstler on Greenspan: March 19, 2007 Amazing Mental Rot From the Florida Sun-Sentinel: BOCA RATON – Retired Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking at a Futures Industry Association annual conference here on Thursday, said the problems of the subprime mortgage market had more to do with home prices than easy credit. "If we could wave a wand and housing prices go up 10 percent, the subprime mortgage problem would disappear," he said. What kind of a rock does this fucking idiot Alan Greenspan live under? The median price for a house in my region of the US (northeast) was $380,000 in the third quarter of 2006. Median annual income, meanwhile, was about $46,000. If, by some miracle (in a land of negative savings) someone with an income of $46,000 had managed to save enough to make a 20 percent down payment ($76,000) on the aforesaid median-priced house and got a 30-year mortgage for the remainder ($314,000) at 7 percent interest, his monthly payment would be $2089. Add to that $250 a month in local property and school taxes and insurance and that brings it up to $2339. That adds up to $28,068 a year in house payments. Let's say the poor bastard pays $8,000 a year in combined income tax and FICA witholding. That leaves him with a grand total of $9,932 for everything else. Then there's the yearly cost of owning a car, including installment payments, insurance, gasoline, and maintenance: around $6,000 a year. Oh yeah, if he's a prudent fellow, he's got health insurance, let's say a practically useless high-deductible policy costing $3,000 a year. That leaves approximately $57 a week for groceries, laundry, the collection plate at church, and everything else. (Too bad he can't afford cable TV and the Internet.) So, if housing prices went up 10 percent, how fucked would Mr. Median Income be? Of course, the scenario above was based on the most conservative type of mortgage. If Mr. Median Income had gotten a creative mortgage, let's say a no money down, interest only, payment option, adjustable rate mortgage, he would have been a little more solvent until the re-set. Then after enjoying the place for a year or so, he'd either have to sell it pronto, or default on his payments. And because all his payment option shortfalls would have been back-loaded onto the principal, the mortgage obligation would be more like $400,000 now. This is a bummer, selling into a down market. I guess Alan Greenspan is right. If the price of houses only went up 10 percent a year, or every half a year, or maybe every month, guys like Mr. Median Income could stay ahead of the game. Of course, sooner or later under conditions of perpetually rising house prices, houses would have to be priced out of everybody's range except for Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, and a handful of other lucky, beautiful people who dwell in the perfumed ethers above the pathetic lumpenprole median zone. Perhaps by then, Mr. Median Income would have won the grand prize on American Idol -- or better yet, crapped out and won an Oscar for best supporting actor instead -- and then he would be a beautiful, rich-and-famous celebrity with the ability to buy as many houses as he ever wanted. I wonder if the new Fed Chairman, Mr. Ben Bernanke is as wise as Mr. Greenspan? Let's hope so.
  7. F*** that. We're going to see Paul McKee.
  8. I wish you were in S.F. this coming weekend - I'll be out there visiting some friends who would have enjoyed the Reptet. Maybe I can convince them to go see you anyway. Edit: Best of luck out there on the road!
  9. Joe G

    Kenny Werner

    That book is full of humor and clarity. I know when I first read it, on just about every page there was something I needed to hear. And it's the kind of thing I can return to later on and get something more from it. Just a few months ago I rededicated myself to practicing with this approach.
  10. Joe G

    Kenny Werner

    I really enjoy the Werner side. There is some very creative ensemble writing, great playing and the recording sounds very good IMHO. How'd you happen on to that one Joe? I just ordered his latest ("Lawn Chair Society") w/Scott Colley, Brain Blade, Dave Douglas and Chris Potter. I think it's about time for Kenny to have a thread. He's a great player (and thinker). Sorry, off topic. I do plan to get the M/M ASAP. I really liked the first one. So here it is. I got Naked in the Cosmos from Kenny's ArtistShare website. It came as part of the "Composer" participant offer, along with some downloadable composition lessons. I found the lessons to be very helpful, and I plan to find ways to adapt the processes he demonstrates. Lawn Chair Society looks good, too. In one of the downloads from the above mentioned offer, he shows how the opening track was created. That was very interesting, too, in that it came about almost in the reverse order that you might guess. I think I've studied Kenny's writings and lectures (which are sooo on point IMO) more than his music, but that's starting to shift. He's said somewhere that this is common: he's give a concert and the place would be half full. He'd give a lecture and the place would be packed. What I've heard of Naked in the Cosmos is excellent, and the two trio albums I have are also good. I saw Kenny in a quartet w/Joe Lovano, and it was one great concert. http://www.kennywerner.com/ Discuss!
  11. I've put this album on a couple of times while doing the dishes. I like that they have tried to push the harmony in some different ways; it's not as predictable as you might think. I don't have a problem with the synth tone, personally. So far no tune has grabbed me like the quartet tunes on the previous release did, but I have yet to give it a close listening. The other new CD I got the same day as this one is Kenny Werner's Naked in the Cosmos. I'm a bit more excited about that one at the moment. Some cool stuff there!
  12. My older cat (he's almost 20) seems to prefer the the slices, and doesn't like the entree stuff. Iam's wasn't on the list I posted. There's some of that here in the house, though I hadn't been buying as much of it since these guys weren't eating it so well lately.
  13. Mass recall of dog and cat food after pets die POSTED: 9:12 p.m. EDT, March 18, 2007 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled. Menu Foods -- a major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands -- recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths. An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said. "At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein. 'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said. Menu Foods said it makes pet foods for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co. Procter & Gamble announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said. Menu Foods' three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kansas, and Pennsauken, New Jersey, Henderson said. Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness. "To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product," Henderson said. FDA also working to target brands The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said. Menu Foods is majority-owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada. Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million. Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Procter & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information. Recalled cat foods Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie. Recalled dog foods America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.
  14. People hacking each other to death is the new eye candy?
  15. I'll pass on the book, but I sure enjoyed the pitch (yuk yuk).
  16. Much better to sit in front of a computer all day and all night.... :rsmile:
  17. A week ago I saw Tony Levin as a special guest with the California Guitar Trio, and tonight I saw his King Crimson bandmate Adrian Belew as a special guest with Umphrie's McGee. Belew did a solo set to open the night, which we caught the last few tunes of. U.M. played a couple of hours before bringing him back out to noodle on one of their tunes, then launching into "Red", which was by far the hardest rocking tune of the night. U.M., btw, put on a tight show. Kind of a harder rocking Phish, I guess.
  18. That bit stuck with me, too. I thought of it just the other day.
  19. Phil Hartman, too. There's a dark side to the comedy, obviously.
  20. Wow Tom! Sounds like a great time. Thanks for posting.
  21. 99% of the time, that would be Mr. Bright Moments.
  22. It's not actually a 2 CD set. Perhaps you are just refering to some repackaging of the previous Metheny/Mehldau + the new Metheny/Mehldau Quartet? Amazon lists it for 29.99, so I think it will be a 2 CD set, but I have yet to see a track list. Release date is the 13th, so I guess we'll know soon enough. Edit: or, maybe not. CD Universe says one disc, and a release date of the 20th, but still has no track info.
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