RainyDay

There are an assortment of musicians that play in BART stations. My favorites are folks who appeared once or twice then disappeared. One morning a nicely dressed young blind woman was playing her cello. At first I thought she was playing classical but then she drifted seamlessly into something very much like a jazz riff. Hadn't heard anything like it. I stopped to listen for a bit and was very moved by her playing. Haven't seen her since. One afternoon, I popped down to the station to ruan an errand and this scruffy looking man was playing the theme from the Godfather on trumpet. He was good. Good control, nice golden tone. I saw him again the next day playing somethihng else, can't remember what, also very good. He was fighting his demons and I had to encourage him to play more. Man he was good. Not seen him since. Do you give money? I don't give money to panhandlers but I will give change or a bill to a musician if the music moves me. There's a do-wop gospel group that just rock. They show up once or twice a week and they just make me smile. When I hear something I dig first thing in the morning it sets a nice tone for the day.

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I may be a Grammar God but I still can't figure out how to cut and paste.

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Three words: Diet Vanilla Coke.

I dozed off and on on this one. I took me half the show to realize it was Polly Bergen and not Nannette Fabray. The best part was the theme from the old Jackie Gleason Show that played over the closing credits. Lovely piece of music that has such a strong sense of time and place for me. Gleason had one very classy television show. BET on Jazz shows jazz clips from the Gleason show. Good stuff.

I was glad to see Richard Jeni on the list and participating in the discussion. He used to make me laugh so hard I would hurt.

You are a very lucky man. Glad you were not hurt. Be sure to file a claim with the bus company. If possible, find out if the police keep hard copies of contact records. It may have info on it that will help you with a claim against the bus company. In Oakland, they keep little computer key punch sized cards with the time, date, and brief description of the incident. Can't believe they didn't do a report for you. Find out who the policy board is for your bus company, like a regional transportation agency or the City of Austin. Send a copy of your claim to whoever your representative is on that board. Good luck.

Wow, that sounds great.

My co-worker and I used to be avid fans. he quit watching but I have to see how all these unrelated plot devices come together or not. This show has jumped a school of sharks in my opinion. What hotel manager is going to act like this one does? He is the most obedient person I've ever seen. And agreeing to kill Chappelle? And what about the husband Cheryl helped to kill? What was that all about? And the President's girlfriend, what happened to her? What was the purpose of her and her ex husgand? Tony nearly dies from a gunshot wound and is back to work the same day? What about the stolen baby at CTU HQ? I'm surprised they haven't inlcuded a subplot about constipation. I haven't a clue what is going on anymore and I haven't missed an episode. I missed Sopranos for 24.

I paid the kid next door to wash my car earlier today and it started to rain while I was backing out of the driveway.

You're right. Klein is held in very high regard by other comics but I just never got him. One very funny guy not on the list is Barry Diamond. I caught him on various comedy shows and saw him one night at the Comedy Store and laughed so hard I nearly gave myself a hernia. He was on Seinfeld once and was amusing as an annoying comic (not Banya).

I know who you're talking about Dan. She was very thin, had dark hair and spoke quietly like a librarian. I'll never remember her name but you're right. She was very funny. Almost like a female (and considerably less abstract) Steven Wright. Was it Rita something....? Rita Rudner. She's good. I think she has a talk show on some off brand network. Haven't seen it.

Don't get me wrong. I've seen Rock's earlier work and laughed my behind off. I felt like last night was about just being a shock jock. Brandon mentioned subtlety and I had written that in a sentence I deleted. Pryor could be in your face with his language but his messages were sometimes subtle. Pryor also modulated his act with quiet bits in between the raucous ones. Rock is a smart guy and last night he didn't come off as smart and that was disappointing to me. And the last thing, I really appreciate comics who come from a self-deprecating place. It's what made Pryor so funny. He talked about other folks like a dog but saved the worst for himself. It's a way to pull the audience into a more intimate place. I never felt I connected with Rock in any way last night. When he started to talk about his daughter, he went into that ridiculousness about strippers. A daddy's job is keep his daughter off the pole? It wasn't funny to me. There were too many bits like that for me. I remember laughing in a few places but I don't even remember what about. Oh, well.

I caught a lot of it and I can't quarrel with the top two. I think Janeane Garofalo should have been further up the list. I think Richard Lewis should have been further up the list too. Dennis Miller before Stephen Wright? I don't think so. What is the love affair with Robert Klein? Never thought he was funny. I have a soft spot for Dom Irrerra and would have liked to see him a lot further up the list. I did enjoy the clips, though.

I was honestly disappointed. At times, it felt like he was preaching or lecturing. And I thought his bit about rappers was an interesting change in tune. In a previous HBO special, he said that Tupac and Biggee were not assassinated. He said "those n*****rs got shot!" And he didn't convey much sympathy. Now, he's trying to build a case that no one cares about who kills rappers but if someone was killing rock stars, Bruce Springsteen would have cops circling his house. If rock stars were trying to kill each other I suppose this position would have some authenticity But Tupac's killing has been linked to the LAPD, whose off duty officers provided security detail for Suge Knight's criminal enterprise, also known as Death Row Records. There has been so much ink and celluloid about this issue I was really surprised to hear Rock come off the wall like that on this issue. Yes, a bunch of folks saw Tupac get shot, but no one is willing to say what they saw. That's not the cops fault. And no one is going to talk if this mess involves the cops protecting one of their own. Seems to me, there is much more material to mine in the LAPD angle than simple indifference to rappers' murders. In the current Rolling Stone, Rock talks about how he wasn't EXACTLY threatened but how many folks told him he shouldn't have made certain comments in earlier comedy routines about rap artists. In light of that, it felt like he was ducking and covering his ass in this routine. I dunno, maybe I had unrealistic expectations. With all the stuff going on in the world and in the US, to spend so much time on rap ( he did like three different riffs on rap--murders, rap is hard to defend, and women who don't think rap songs are about them) seemed like a real waste of time. And I confess that part of it is probably generational. At the end of Rock's routine, I found myself really missing Richard Pryor more than ever and wishing he was able to work.

The noise is supernatural, isn't it? Even the little quakes have that sound of a million slamming doors or something. I've lived with quakes my whole life, even in the Pacific Northwest when I was a kid. Hate the things. I was at work when the Paso Robles quake hit last year and we felt it in SF. Everyone got disoriented from the swaying. When you don't realize the floor is moving, you think you are having dizzy spells. Kind of like the mass flat tire phenomenom on the freeway. Just another way for nature to remind us all who is really in charge. Not us.

I was driving in my car and all of a sudden I feel like I am on a LSD trip and my car is wobbling...I stop and get out of the car and think...shit I have a flat!! I didn't see anything and shrugged it off and went home. When I got back it was all over the news. No, I don't feel anything less than a 6.0 these days. I dont know how far exactly I am from a fault line, but I live in CalEfornia so I figgure it's gotta be close! That thing about the flat tire is sort of amusing. A while back, a former co-worker was driving on the freeway and thought she had a flat tire. She pulled over and noticed all these other people pulled over looking at their tires. Then she found out there had been an earthquake. Where you live has a lot to do with what you feel. Some years ago, there was a 4.0 in San Ramon or Danville, somewhere out there. The epicenter was under a golf clubhouse. It pulled the clubhouse apart and a house nearby had significant damage.

Where were you at 5:04 PM on October 17, 1989? Been feeling all those little swarms in Berkeley, Moraga, Hayward, etc. that have happened lately? I'm less than three miles down the hill from the Hayward fault sitting on good old Oakland sand. Rock and roll, baby.

Wayne Shorter is great but half the fun of seeing him is seeing him with Brian Blade who is just out of this world.

Too early here to know. I usually don't watch the 30 minute elimination round. Right now I'm pissed that the Daily Show no longer comes on at 7 PM. Who's brilliant idea was that?

I'm curious about the Fantasia attitude you refer to. I think she is kind of refreshing. I tend to like Laytoya's singing better but last night Fantasia knocked me out. I'm with Randy, probably the best performance ever on that show. Certainly the best I've seen. And none of the guys do it for me. George is just okay. Ruben really had an ability to sing just about anything thrown his way but George is just okay with me. I was a Clay fan as well. Know what I like best about this show? It has just about eliminated any credibility given to the singing style made popular on Star Search--the soulful yodel. I can't stand that. Mariah does it now and Christina A and anyone singing in that dreadful hip hop drone. Ladies who have real singing chops sound just awful with all those vocal gymnastics. The ones that can't sing just sound silly. That style is not embraced on Idol and I'm grateful for that.

For that matter, all racial, ethnic, gender slurs are just ignorant and not acceptable to me. Who needs that crap?

I hope you didn't think I implied you did 'cos I don't think you did. I was speaking in general terms of commentary I've read on AAJ, JC and here.

Fantasia was wonderful last night, head and shoulders above everyone, including Latoya. I was very moved by her Summertime. As for Quentin, I am beyond fed up with his black hipster doofus routine. It's contrived and it makes him look like a phony and a fool. He made everyone else on the judge's panel look like geniuses.