JSngry

So YOU'RE the guy who wrote all those letters for the Lampoon!

To get to the other side.

My figners aer dsylexci.

My experience w/Verizon DSL was nightmarish. Much slower than promised speeds, larger downloads constatnly timing out, etc. Verizon blamed my ISP, my ISP blamed Verizon. I got them on a conference call, and they battled back and forth about line test results, packet sends, pings, pongs, rights and wrongs, and all this. Finally, my ISP rep made a series of points that the Verizon guy "had to ask a supervisor" about. All the signs pointed to the liklihood that the problem was w/the Verizon lines betweeen my house and the node/station/whateveritscalled closest to my house (and I know where it is - it's less than 1/4 mile away). He was gone for over an hour (yeah, I gave him that long, just because, and my ISP rep hung with me). After about an hour and ten, we both said, "this guy's not coming back", and that was that. I know other people who have had satisfactory results w/Verizon DSL, but I'm not one of them. OTOH, I've now got Comcast Cable Internet, and it freakin' ROCKS. Always fast (rumors of cable's inconsistent speed have proven false, at least for me), never down, and I dowloaded that Priester album (both sides) & the Miles show in about ten minutes, easy. Ypur milage amy vary, as they say. For me, though, DSL was hell. But with cable, I'm able!

I still go w/the "VERY dry humor" angle. Any band that had Roy Wood as a founding member has to have VERY dry humor as an ingredient. I think ELO was every bit as self-awarely ironic as bands that came later on and made a point of letting you KNOW that they were. ELO's irony was enhanced by the fact that they did it without so much as a smirk. But geez - those hooks and the production are SO "wink-wink" that I think it would be impossible for the pop-savvy listener not to get the joke, to hear the "we kid because we love, but we DEFINITELY kid" flavor that pervades damn near every ELO hit. Of course, how many pop-savvy listeners were teenagers buying records in the 1970s? Not many, which just bumps the irony up another notch. Brian Ferry WISHES he could have done it like that. And don't knock 10CC, Moose. Well, ok, go ahead, just be aware that Godley & Creme knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

Oh yeah. He plays on the MINGUS & FRIENDS live thing on Columbia. That's another bigband date he's on.

SAXOPHONE DREAMS w/the Metropole Orchestra, is a big-band/strings date, and it's sooooooooo lyrical. Highly recommended.

NEVER pass by a used shop. NEVER restrict yourself to certain formats. NEVER go to any town w/o looking in the phone book to see if there's a store that might sell recorded music of some kind. NEVER walk past a cutout/bargain bin w/o peeking in. NEVER think that Goodwill & Salvation Army won't have anything you might be interested in. Never, NEVER, put an album back on the shelf just because it looks cheesy, trashed, or TOO off-the-wall if it's less than a dollar. NEVER! These are the basics, the fundamentals, the riffs to get you started. But it's really a lifestyle. Every stop is a gamble, and you lose far more often than you win. But over time, you'll be rewarded with a VERY diverse collection in reasonable enough listening condition. The bottom line is: look everywhere, have no shame, and have even less common sense.

Good pop band. Hooks out the wazzoo, and production that rewards close attention. Of course, I'm working on the assumption that there was always a VERY dry humor at work in all of it. If not, well...

MOTION, SPIRITS, and/or LIVE AT THE HALF NOTE (w/Warne) will do you right.

Hey man, I had PLANS for that hole!

I'd not sweat that. Any woman (or amn for that matter) we can scare the hell out of ain't no zealot.

Specialist.

Man, all this week I've been listenting to that Teo MAcero SAX 5TH AVENUE side while getting ready to go to my straight job (I should be leaving now, in fact), and the last cut is this thing that starts out as a ballad, then goes into a swinging modal groove for the solos. Phil Woods goes first, and he's in good mid-70s for. Then Al Cohn plays, and he's a TOTAL gas - bluesy, Prez-y, and plenty of chromaticism! Sounds like Yusef Lateef almost.. The rhythm section is really groovin', and is building steam every second. And then Lee plays. He doesn't get "hot" or anything, he just LOCKS INTO A FREAKIN' ZONE AND PLAYS THESE BEAUTIFUL MELODIES! It's like he's so deep into the groove that he can let it take care of itself, like he's not worried about it going anywhere if he doesn't suck it's whatever to keep it hard. That's how DEEP he's into it, and that's a deep place to be. I got so far into this shit that I found myself actually hollering "Blow, Brother Konitz, BLOW" while I was getting dressed tonight. You gotta wonder how many times Lee's heard THAT!

I'm feelin' Lee right about now. That moterh****er can PLAY!

Word.

PB/J B,L, & T Smith/Wesson Green Eggs/Ham Penis/Vagina Bourbon/Coke Bourbon/Coke/Coke Fathead/Clay Charcoal/Meat JB/Pee Wee Ellis Memphis/Stax Taylor/Lyons Gilmore/Hill Chicken/Dumplings

I just buy whatever I'm in the mood for at the time, which is liable to be any damn thing, as long as it's cheap enough. Although, I will splurge if it's something really important. I tend to get curious about an artist, era, or genre, and then do a crash-education thru books and recordings. Then I let that soak for a while. But before soak time is total immerion time. The soaking is important too. Sometimes I come right back, sometimes later, seldom never. It's important to learn the fine art of bottom-feeding if you want to explore lots of different types of music, I do, and I have. What I'm trying to say is that I have no one favorite period, although I'm a little light in REALLY early jazz, and I put myself out of the hot and heavy loop for new developements about 10-15 years ago because I wanted any new developements that I heard to be mine, not somebody else's (there comes a time). But hey - it's ALL good (at least in theory), and not just for jazz either.

You're more than welcome. It's really the same thing, only a LOT more honest...

I hesitate to ever say that I've lost something, because inevitably it turns up again sooner or later, usually later, after it's been replaced. Car keys, checkbooks, and "jazz-rock" horn bands from the late-60s/early-70s would be prime examples.

Damn me! Damn me! They oughta take a rope and ham me!

Bought a Big Green Egg a few weekends ago, and SO many dreams have come true ever since. Losing a bunch of weight is not amongst them, though...

Violet Burnside, where are you?

What I remember most about that game was that before it started, my dad asked me if I thought that "tonight's the night". I cockily replied, "Of course - it will be the 2nd pitch in the 4th inning". He just laughed, and said something like, "I'm sure it will be. You're NEVER wrong, are you!" I was a cocky little fuck back in those days, and would pull shit like this and actually be right just often enough to be obnoxious. Well...when the "prophecy" came to pass, I nearly passed out, and my dad just looked at me like, "what planet are YOU from?" I started to go into my "brag" routine, the old man said, "yeah yeah yeah, I know. Shut up and watch history". With a smile, of course. My dad's dead now, but I can't see or hear the name "Aaron" without thinking of him and smiling, which is kinda what baseball is supposed to do for a kid's memory, right?

I really think he should have gone into "classical" music. That field seems to be a better "fit" for him musically and philosophically. I mean that w/o any irony or sarcasm. The guy thinks like a "classical" musician/educator, and he plays the shit out of that music in a way that he seldom/never does jazz.