JSngry

Well, at least he had good teeth, or so it appears. Best junkie teeth I've ever seen, that's for sure!

Countless examples in Brubeck/Desmond, the whole improvised counterpoint thing that was one of their calling cards as they came to fame.

And no bad teeth. Like one young lady told me when relating her rejection of a family-proposed suitor (she came from a culture where such things still are fairly common), "I'm not making a baby that's gonna maybe have a jacked-up grill".

So you're telling me that the answer to the question "somebody just listened to my song on Spotify, how much did I just make?" is nothing more than. "Well, that depends..."? Seriously?

How does the royalty rate for Spotify compare to the royalty rate for conventional AM-FM radio play (when there used to be that in quantity)? Different experiences, I know, but when broken down into Hit Song X generates so much per hit on Spotify vs Hit Song X generates so much per play on WEEP-FM, what are we looking at?

Interesting, and enjoyable, like a well-played minor-league baseball game, and I do mean that in a positive sense. The DFW metroplex is overflowing with young talent, mostly out of UNT, but also a great deal from the area's numbers of advanced orchestral programs at the high school level. All these young people keep wanting to play, and the DSO/FWSO only have so many chairs, so there's...overflow, and it does create sort of a "farm system". We have more than a few "suburban" orchestras around here who increasingly seem to exist as tax breaks and entertainment organizations long before they do actual musical presences. The PSO is one such group, but the level of players has taken a notable turn for the better, and this is the first time I know that they've ever attempted something even remotely like Rite. Plano's orchestra, after years of haggling with the AFM finally resolved their issues about players being employees rather than contractors, with the predictable result - some stabilization could begin to take root, principles could be recruited more aggressively than before, and the overall standards could be set a little higher, more was being offered, and more was being asked in return. So the principals chairs are more likely now to be filled with tenured faculty from the areas' better musical schools. Not a bad combination of ingredients, for a "local" orchestra, not at all. So, it's getting to be a good band. The energy and focus are there to tackle a piece like Rite, and what miscues there were were occasional, and came in the realm of intonation on tightly voiced woodwind passages, occasional bleatings out of the french horns and tuba, but temporary is all they were, glitches, not ongoing flaws. And - recoveries were knowing and immediate. Tempo was..."safe" this was no Michael Tilson Thomas turning the whole thing into a dizzying midway ride, this was firmly mid-1950s in design,but the effect was not one of retro-comfort, it was a this is where this orchestra can play it to where there are still challenges and still opportunities to nail it things. Very much a "real time" listening experience for a listener, knda like root-root-rooting for the home team, and when it was over, you felt that they had won the game, although pshew, it got tight there a couple of times. But they won! Don't know how much more of this programming we'll be seeing out of the PSO, if the crowd reaction was any indicator...pleasant applause, but a lot of looks back and forth and overheard commentaries during intermission about uhhhh....I liked the loud parts well enough....lots of drums, eh (and btw - the percussionists excelled, nicely played!)?' stuff like that. But hell, down the road a piece, the DSO, still resolutely working on becoming a "world class" orchestra", programs a whole season that very rarely steps into the 20th Century, so kudos to the PSO for at least doing a one-off from the Christmas shows and Sinatra tributes and such of their usual fare, to give everybody involved an opportunity at some real meat. The second piece of the evening, was a real treat as well, although for totally different reasons. Emanuel Borok's reading of the Brahms was a totally anti-star-soloist performance. No body drama, no "personalized" interpretations of dynamics, tempo, or attack,. This is a guy who's career was made being a section player/concert-master, and he was a pretty good one at that. So he was stepping out there and playing with an attitude that seems to be this music is great enough that I don't have to do anything extra to it. I just need to stand here and play it right, play it as well as it can be played, and everything else will take care of itself. And as far as I'm concerned, it worked. Just old-school craftsmanship on display in its best manifestation, just play the music as well as it can be played and everything else will take care of itself. The whole program was like that, actually. Very "local" but also very rewarding because of that. Activist listening can come from several different angles. Last night came from, here's the material, here's the players, let's see if either/both can hold up to the other, no sure things anywhere here. In the end, it was a nice night out, even if the weather was kind of schmutzy.

https://www.dustygroove.com/item/727688

Dido and Aeneas Jug & Dodo Dick and Dee Dee

Are ya' like me? When you heard "Little Lulu" for the first time, didja' kinda think, ok, real virtues vs real vices, all at once...this is gonna be somebody else's drama from here on out, take the needle up off the record and put something, anything else on without thinking twice or looking back?

Bo-Nash Ping Bodie Hugh Brodie

I have seen the future of streaming music and it is patriotic drinking songs about mothers! Nashville uber alles!

Please, stop by here and get a taste of all the good vibes this board has to offer!

So do I.

Proud Mary Humble Pie The Esso Trinidad Steel Brand

Maybe, maybe not...there's something to be said for genuinely not giving a fuck if you see a dime when it comes to music-making. Otherwise, not so much, but at least for that, maybe.

What kind of cocktails are we talking about?

You know I loveoratleastverymuchlike Dave Grohl, but that formula only works if you can get a gig and/or a venue can get people out of the house can do this often enough to make enough money to keep going can do this for enough people at one time so you can keep going etc Certainly love the spirit of Grohl's attitude, always have, but if that's how it's going to work, then local bands playing alternative music with limited "popular" appeal are only going to get more local and even less appealing. Hopefully getting back into this lunacy in a few months, and dreams of anything past being extremely local and totally unappealing are virtually non-existent. But so are expectations of ever again doing a strictly-for-sale record/document/whatever. So...I'll give it away, put on a show, maybe 5-10 people will show up, and I'll not quit my day job. Big thanks for small favors, eh? Which of course begs the question, well, if I were better, more people would come. And maybe they would. But there's any numbers of adjectives you could use instead of "better", and believe me, people have been using them for centuries, and would things be better or worse if they accepted the reality, or is it denial that keeps things going for better and worse? So consumers of the world, relax - there are always going to be people to make noise of some sort for you to put in your ear. Always.