JSngry

Jim? That was Moose. All I'm saying is don't fuck with a cat. It's a life lesson. Learn it the easy way or learn it the hard way. But you will learn it.

Bilius Ammonia Scrubba

No, you're right, just social/musical skills alone doesn't guarantee that you'll get the opportunities, much less that you'll succeed at them. You still have to deliver stuff that pleases the patrons/clients/bosses at some level. But it seems to me that he did whatever it took probably a lot of "assisting" and/or "being there" to be finally given a shot, and that once he got it, he didn't fuck it up. It's really just basic business, that's all. I wish I had known then what I know now about basic business-handling. Or at least known some of it. It's really not complicated in its basic form, but it does require a basic sobriety of thought. Save the "flights of fantasy" for the music itself. Music is made for such things, and wonderfully so. Business isn't.

Darn and cats go together. Point simply being - don't fuck with a cat.

Steve Martin Bob Einstein Murray Roman http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/the-forgotten-m/comments/page/2/

RCA YMCA Y. A. Tittle

George Tipton!

My guess would be that he made some pretty varied group of connections with WNW (on top of those he already had), and then spent time networking, working his way up by doing favors, "being there", etc., making new connections in the process, etc., lather rinse repeat. Ambition & talent meeting opportunity, the same way it works anywhere else. The specifics will probably come out at some point in some other interview, eventually.

The Detroit Lions Kitty Carlisle Karl Thayer, a realtor in Grand Isle, Lousiana http://www.karlthayer.com/

If PR people don't do their job, they get fired. If the press doesn't report on "current events", the musicians raise hell about neglect. And if nothing's happening (or perceived to not be happening), then the press writes about how dead everything is. It's sausage, to be sure. But if you like sausage (and I generally do), then it's got to get made. I myself am neither shocked nor dismayed at how - and why - it gets made. To any musician who wants to have a career beyond that of being a hero to family and friends, the best advice to be offered is simple - learn the sausage.

Wayne Fontana Hannah Montana Robert Urich as Dan Tanna

Did Ben Ratliff wake up one day, look at the papers and say hey, it's time to write an article about Cecil Taylor, and WOW, check this out, there's a series of concerts coming up? Were the concert promoters wringing their hands late into the night hoping that somebody, anybody, would notice their upcoming presentations? Would we have this story written this way at this time if not for the upcoming concert series? And are the promoters of the series pleasantly shocked and surprised that the article appeared when and as it did? Once again, "pimping the upcoming concert series" is not at all a bad thing, and neither is writing an article about that uses Cecil Taylor as the hook. Nor, for that matter, is Cecil Taylor "bedazzling" the interviewer. It's all the same game - get people's attention, arouse their interest, get their asses in some seats, and put some of their money in sombodies elses' pockets. It's how people survive in the music business, and it's a good thing. Just as very little of the magic that happens in the music is accidental, so it is that very little of the success that comes in the marketing of the music just happens by itself. People work to make things happen, and if the illusion of magic is considerably more marketable than is the reality of hard work, then all the more reason for the hard work to be disguised as much as possible.

Never too young to learn - don't fuck with a cat!

Father Christmas Mother Superior Gene Lake

I ended up getting into them against my will. There was some kind of spirit there that pulled me in. RIP

1990s, eh?

Jewel Jewell Jewelle Gomez

Sad news indeed...

The purpose of the article is not to profile Cecil Taylor, it's to pimp the upcoming concert series. Cecil's just there to get you to read the article to get you to come out to the series. And don't think that Cecil don't know it!

I know it was! Did you do any between-innings banter? Ads, birthdays, anything? Sounds like a great gig, indeed!

For me, it's casual conversation about the industry, nothing more. I mean. "Blue Note" is a "celebrity name" and everybody talks about celebrities. You get some guy who only talks about people nobody else knows, like his brother-in-law in Muskegon, the guy on his block with the shut-in mom, his barber's two-year old, etc. , and after a while (pretty soon, actually)...there's no conversation to be had, ya' know? Conversation is a social act before it's anything else.

Lee Allen Alvin Lee Alvin Ailey