Big Wheel

Done!

I've got 3 extra invites...if you want one, respond to this thread and I'll send it to you. (For info see http://www.gmail.com )

I think it's more than just flash. To me, Oscar's playing is just TOO "perfect" much of the time, and being "perfect" just didn't interest Miles (and if there's anyone in jazz who REALLY didn't give a shit about perfection in the conventional sense, it was Monk). When I listen to Oscar as a learning musician, my goal is to try and take away how smoothly he makes the transition from one chord to the next, how all the notes are just "right" for the phrase, and how he manages to finger everything so cleanly. If you want to learn the rules, you listen to Oscar. If you want to learn how to start breaking them, you listen to Monk. Working on both is essential to me. That said, I do enjoy much of Oscar's playing, especially his trio arrangements. The emotional connection you get on a Sketches of Spain isn't there, but occasionally he can approach that level.

Amen to that. I was in Indonesia about a month ago and the drivers there are, by American standards, completely insane. It's perfectly normal to pass people with oncoming traffic at distances that would freak out an American. (Almost every road is two-lane, by the way.) But since everyone knows that people are passing with impunity, if it turns out there's not enough room to pass, the passing driver KNOWS that someone will let him back in to his own lane so that he isn't turned into a puddle of goo on the road by an oncoming 18-wheeler. In the States the driver behind a passing vehicle might be much more hesitant to change his own speed to accomodate him in case the pass needs to be aborted--or not be paying attention at all to the passing driver.

Good record. I didn't know what to expect when I pressed play but this holds my attention in a way not many of its type do.

I really like Tonic too. I only have that, Combustication, and the remix EP. The summer I bought Combustication it did not leave the car CD player. For me some of Tonic falls flat, like on Buster Rides Again. But the heights they reach on Rise Up and Thaw more than make up for it.

Pouring liquid on a laptop keyboard is about the worst thing you can do to it. When PC Computing magazine used to do their annual laptop torture tests, they froze, baked, and dropped the computers from a few feet off the ground. Most showed no ill effects. When they got to the spill test (an ounce or two of hot coffee right between the G and H keys), at least half of them were screwed for good. Good luck.

Oops, I did forget the last D should have had an apostrophe. The Real Book has that A where I thought there was a D, though knowing the Real Book...it's possible they made a mistake, too. The funny thing is that I WAS hearing this in the original key of G flat, not G--but I changed it to G so that it would be easier to write and read on the board. The only version I really remember hearing of this tune was on Blakey's Free For All--I only have an mp3 of it, which explains why I couldn't find it in my collection.

I'm not sure, but I think that may have been it. It was a live set (I could hear applause after it ended). Edit: Now I don't think that was it. Whatever I heard had a drummer.

I dunno what that was they just played, but it RAWKED!

I think they're playing Jack Johnson right now. Nice!

D'oh! It was Clare Fischer's "Pensativa." I guess I was hearing Freddie in my head, not Lee.

The apostrophe mark was meant to distinguish between octaves--so D' is an octave above D. And there's a D held for about 4 beats before going to that first F# (I tried to break it up by phrases).

The Daily Show also made fun of it just a few days ago.

I woke up with it in my head this morning and I can't remember the name. Looked through my CDs and nothing rang a bell. The only things that come to mind are something with Lee Morgan and maybe Hank Mobley...I checked THE RAJAH, my best guess, and it's not on there... The melody starts around a major triad...I'll just pick D even though I'm not sure what key it's actually in... Moderate Brazilian-type groove D F# A A F# D' F#' F#' D E' G' E' G (a leap of a sixth down) The harmony is, I think, just a vamp between Gmaj7 and Amin7 for those first 8 bars, but then there's a brief key change in the second 8 before heading back to the first key.

It had just better not be as bad as that Pepsi Blue shite...

Boston in September Miami in April really cheap Mexican food really cheap Indian food good food, period being 22 and not having to worry too much about the effects of all that food Anchor Steam beer misty nights Santa Cruz, California the feeling after a really good swimming workout hanging out with my grandparents planting trees in the backyard at home, even if there are rocks underground that make it a pain in the ass the 12 bar blues, nice and slow softball in the spring reading any really good writer crossword puzzles a good conversation the feeling of satisfaction i had when i fixed the refrigerator myself riding on trains

btw, it's not "bnoffice", it's "bnoffce" (no 'I'). I would have killed to have had that for the radio show I produced last fall featuring Joe Gordon's music.

Does the Rosolino stuff on here rank among the best of his work, or is it only somewhere in the middle? I've only heard a tiny bit of this one (played the Holman tracks with Carl Perkins on my radio tribute to the latter).

Today's Get Fuzzy:

I really liked this thread back on the BNBB. I think it was titled "Stuff that Makes Life Worth Living." Will try to see if I can remember a few of mine.

Here are a couple that drive me nuts: When I go every once in awhile to my mom's house, sometimes I'll be sitting at the kitchen table working on something. My mom will walk in and say, "Would you like some orange juice/soda/milk to go with that cookie you're eating?" "Sure, thanks." "Well, then go ahead and get it. It's in the fridge." Gee, thanks for offering, Mom. Another one is the apparent belief by some corporations that their customers all have an IQ of about 6. Here's an example--when I worked for Avis Car Rental one summer, they made me complete the "Customer Service Training" program, a 10-minute presentation on their antiquated computers. The centerpiece of "customer service," according to Avis, is that you can NEVER tell a customer the word "no." In fact, pretty much any negative expression is verboten. So if a customer comes in and says they want to rent a minivan right away, and you're all out of minivans for the day, you cannot simply tell them that fact. The recommended exchange goes like this: CUSTOMER: Hi, I'd like to rent a minivan today. AGENT: You can rent an SUV. Or there are several nice mid-sized cars to choose from. CUSTOMER: Thanks, but I'd just like a minivan. And in blue, if you have it. AGENT: You can have a red Impala. We also have white Oldsmobile Aleros today. You get the idea. It takes the customer 5 times as long to ascertain the fact that THERE ARE NO FREAKING MINIVANS! If you were the customer, wouldn't you just be happier with a straight answer instead of this crap??

One of my friends has made thousands of dollars over the last few years reselling used books (he gets them at garage sales and Goodwill) on half.com. He's betting that his business will be very much affected by the merger.

Check out www.myrootdown.com for Boston listings. It looks like the major clubs haven't posted their entire schedules yet.

If you have somewhere where you can store lots of boxes full of jewel cases (assuming you want to keep the cases just in case), you might consider going with binders. That's what I do--I take the booklets and CDs (but not the tray card or any other stuff) out of the jewel case and just put them all in alphabetically-ordered binders. It's worked pretty well for the last four years, although it has some of the same problems as using sleeves--for instance, a cardboard mini-LP that doesn't have a booklet can be a real pain in the ass if you want the liner notes and album cover. Also, unlike sleeves, you have to perpetually reorganize the binders as you add to the collection.