RainyDay

Onf of my co-workers is going to check Healdsburg.

I may catch Stefon Harris on Tuesday at Yoshi's. What I've read about his band sounds interesting. I saw him with Kenny Barron, I think it was, a couple years ago, for Yoshi's 20th anniversary celebration.

Oh, how awful. RIP.

I don't blame the jury. The defense team, with able assistance by a star struck prosecution team, was able to create a reasonable doubt. That dumb detective walked around with blood samples in his pocket effectively calling into the question the whole chain of custody issue. And the expert witnesses about DNA were good at what they did. Why didn't they get attacked by the public? Johnny Cochran is not a sleazbag. He's a damn fine attorney you would be lucky to have defend you in a criminal trial. I believe OJ did it and got away with it. There are plenty of black folks who agree with that. The trial was a farce. I don't blame the jury. If you want to blame somebody, blame Gil Garcetti's failed record as the LA DA.

Rachel: Jennifer is a doll. They do grow up fast. I remember my godson's first bath like yesterday and he's 15 now. His dad used to be a television cameraman and he took the camera equipment home to be on call. They have video of everything my godson (and his little sister) ever did until he was about eight or so.

By the way, this is my sorry attempt at humor. Actually, it's my cousin's sorry attempt at humor. It seems like it may have lost something in the translation.

Wow, what beautiful children. Hey, Scott didn't anyone tell you not to have more kids than you have hands? that's what my cousin says, anyway. I don't have any so what do I know? Thanks for sharing the photos. I guess I'm feeling schmaltzy these days. All my little cousins are graduating from high school and college and I am in shock at how fast the time flies and how quickly they grow up.

There has been a proliferation of adorable babies that have popped up on avatars and it seems they should have their own thread. I missed out on the introductions except for b-ers new baby girl. They are all so cute.

Good luck to you. I will miss your posts. Drop in once in a while.

The idea of a talentless hack like Snoop playing Miles makes me want to vomit. It's like Madonna thinking she had the talent to play someone like Frida Kahlo. I wish all these overpaid, overindulged, no talent pop icons would go somewhere and count their money and leave art to artists.

I was not familiar with Mr. Lacy's work. For whatever, reason, he just wasn't on my radar screen. KCSM played a tribute to him last night and others played his music off and on all day yesterday. What I heard sounded wonderful and I'm sorry I did not get the chance to see him perform. RIP.

GOM: I'm so sorry to hear of this. My condolences.

How about a trombone quartet playing 'Round Midnight? Looked like a group of college students. Sounded pretty good too. I could hear it all the way up to the street on the escalator. Nice way to start the day.

You guys are dripping with old world charm over there and you want a photo of my neighborhood? I'll see what I can do in the next week. There are some charming parts of Oakland. I don't LIVE in those parts but it's nice for those who do...

My great-grandfather was from County Cork and I've always had an interest in Ireland. The Irish countryside always looks so lush and serene.

Are any of you youngsters old enough to remember the television series Science Fiction Theater? It was a combination of science, psychological, and sometimes a tad spooky. It had one of the those dramatic 50's theme songs with lots of horns. My dad and I loved this show. Nick at Night or the SciFi Channel ran it late night on the weekends a few years ago. Good stuff. http://home.earthlink.net/~joesarno/tvscif...encetheater.htm

We've already had sporadic fires in the Oakland Hills. The landscaping in the freeeway exit I take to go home in the flatlands is scorched down to the ground. Everything dried out early because of the heat wave in March. Very scary. I'm praying for a foggy, cool, summer.

Bev: Beautiful. You would hate the rolling brown hills and mountains in these parts. Green in the winter and brown by May. Bone dry.

Foggy, solid overcast, low 60's in SF. Probably not much warmer in Oakland. This morning it was dark and drizzly. I love this weather, although this time of year it is usually warmer just before the summer doom and gloom.

Santana played the race card and he shouldn't have. Besides being wrong, the message gets lost. However, once upon a time, MTV publicly stated (over quite a period of time) they wouldn't play black music because they weren't interested in "that" demographic, and then Thriller happened and the bigotry of their position could no longer be avoided. Whatever. I suspect Santana is grieving for Elvin and is furious that not more people will ever have any kind of clue about what a great musician he was. Attacking Ozzie is pointless just as attacking Santana for the failure of the press to cover Elvin's death better is pointless. Sometimes people lash out with hateful, ignorant things they don't even mean when they are hurting.

Just a point of order but Santana had a successful career for more than a couple decades before MTV started playing his music and he'll still be going strong long after the flavor of the MTV week is long forgotten. Santana has a particular point of view about what he calls African music not getting respect. He's been saying this for a long time. Maybe because he's a local guy and has been around for so long but I dig his music, I think he's a wonderful artist, and I don't trip on the way he expresses himself. He's been talking that way since forever. When Santana had his Fox TV special at the height of the Supernatural hysteria, he included Wayne Shorter. I'm sure few folks knew who Shorter was but he's a pal of Santana's and he wanted him on the show. I thought it was cool. When I saw Shorter three years ago, Santana was in the audience. I don't know if it's racism that Elvin's death didn't get more media attention. (But I suspect it is true that when Brubeck dies, it will be a much bigger story and he will be hailed as a great innovator.) Even the pointless San Francisco Chronicle that refuses to cover jazz except Norah Jones (no one has filled them in that she isn't jazz) ran a nice obit with photo. Jazz doesn't get good coverage in general. Jazz musicians are some of the most talented musicians out there and they get very little respect. I'm glad Carlos spoke up about Elvin. Maybe one punker will check out Elvin and discover something wonderfu.

I have this one too and like it a lot. I've seen Haynes at Yoshi's and he is still incredible. Missed the Birds of a Feather tour when it was here.

I really liked this show. I haven't seen it anywhere on cable lately. Maybe it's too old and too dated. I loved the bit about the prisoner who talked in convaluted non-English. And Damon Wayans' clown: "Homey don't play that." Laugh-In was showing on some off-brand cable channel and it's still funny to me. Can you believe that they had President Nixon on that show? This is going way off topic now, but my young co-worker caught the Smothers Brothers Show documentary on Bravo. He'd never seen an episode before and he couldn't believe the material that got on the air. Those days of real biting satire are gone forever.

Jack Elam. He was such a great villain and he did comedy surprisingly well too.

Set to see Sonny Rollins and Herbie/Shorter/Blade at the SF Jazz Festival (on different nights). I have never seen Rollins so I'm really looking forward to it..