jazzypaul

Like the pious and devout Rev. Farrakhan? Every religious sect has its wingnuts. However, having spent a large chunk of time on Chicago's south side, which is essentially home base for the Nation of Islam, I can tell you, a lot of the followers of the NOI are sincere and wonderful people. It's a given that Farakhan is a nut. But isn't Falwell as well, at the end of the day?

AB -- I'm going through quite a bit of struggle myself right now with faith. If there is a higher power, and I tend to think there is, then The Judeo-Christian idea of God seems, to me anyway, to be the right one. It seems to make the most sense. HOWEVER...this is the part that kills me... why is it that most of the Christians that I meet/interact with (and I said MOST, not ALL) are complete assholes? Where in the New Testament or Old Testament does it say force your beliefs down someone else's throat? Where does it say that the interpretation means more than the actual word? Where does it say that one of the teletubbies is gay, that jazz is satan's music because it glorifies the self instead of God (a pastor told me that once; I don't go to that church anymore), or that our leaders should be trying to cuddle up to meglomaniac CEO's? AND... Why is it that seemingly every Buddhist and seemingly every (devout) Black Muslim that I've ever met seems to adhere to Jesus' teachings more than the Christians do? Why are THEY the ones living pious lives, being sure to be respectful of their fellow man, giving when it's time to give, and taking only when it's time to take? So much of this makes so little sense. It boggles my mind, and it's been driving me to tears lately. I can't get past the idea that there IS a higher power. But I can't stand the idea that I might turn out to be a Jerry Falwell type that wants to live a life with blinders on because the whole world is so unholy. That's utter bullshit, and I can't live like that. But I can't live thinking that everything isn't part of a bigger puzzle either. Now...as for Alexander...personally, I can't see how in the world Christians can believe in Free Will AT ALL. God is Omniscient and Omnipresent. He knows everything that's going to happen, before it happens, so we can't really change anything. And yes, Judas WAS used to fulfill a prophecy, so I have a hard time thinking that he was going straight to hell for his actions. After all, the holy spirit left him as Jesus broke bread with him. Does this allow Satan to step in and do what he wants to do? You bet. Does that allow any room for Judas to be guilty in this situation? Of course not. He was a pawn. Just my $0.02. Fire away and tell me how foolish I am now...

925.4

What they need to do next is an "Impressions of" Box...you know, Jazz Impressions of New York, of Eurasia, of Japan, etc, etc, etc. Those were some DAMN cool records, and somewhat hard to come by. Those all in one box would be quite excellent.

Does it matter? They're both excellent. Ahh, some Dexter sounds really good right now...

I saw them once, opening for Tool in 1994. It was a damn good show, they did quite a bit of improvising, and were genuinely good. Then tool came out all dark and gloomy and hating the audience. It was like day and night. I've been a fan ever since, but they do seem to have lost quite a bit of their uniqueness over the years. Re: Mercury Rev...Yerself is Steam was a revelatory listen for me. Music has never been the same before or since. God Bless them and their fucked up covers of Lou Reed tunes...

If you'd posted this a month ago, you could have gotten one from me...I still have a 20" K Custom that I'm trying to get rid of however...

I dunno what constitutes an active board member...I was listed in the batch of core members, but there's just nothing of interest over there right now, and I can't bring myself to post there much. One cat was equating Dave Douglas with tofu, but that was about it. Strangely, I've been finding myself, even as an outsider, digging the digs over here a bit more at this point, even if I am seen as some sort of oddball in the politics section. Maybe it's the organ trio connection, I dunno. By the way, curiosity is killing me...what was the exchange between Mike and Dan in the Weinstock thread?

I dunno what constitutes an active board member...I was listed in the batch of core members, but there's just nothing of interest over there right now, and I can't bring myself to post there much. One cat was equating Dave Douglas with tofu, but that was about it. Strangely, I've been finding myself, even as an outsider, digging the digs over here a bit more at this point, even if I am seen as some sort of oddball in the politics section. Maybe it's the organ trio connection, I dunno. By the way, curiosity is killing me...what was the exchange between Mike and Dan in the Weinstock thread?

I'm the same way about quite a few bands. The Velvet Underground is one, The Black Crowes, believe it or not, are another. If people ever start taping Dave Douglas shows, though, I will be on those like white on rice. Basically, as long as its improvisatory in nature, I will be there to take a listen. And the best way to do that is to do it with the live stuff. Lonson...if you've only got 100 Hendrix boots, you're a lightweight compared the more serious Phish fans that I hang with. I'm considered a lightweight at somewhere near 280 shows...lol...of course, they've been playing for 21 years at this point, as opposed to Jimi's 7 or 8...

I made it down to the Mill for this as well. Sal's reamrks are dead on. And after catching a whole bunch of jam bands as of late, it was absolutely refreshing. I wish the band had played some music off of The Infinite (as it is the same band). Maybe they did, the on stage versions of the stuff off of Strange Liberation was pretty far removed from the album. But it was all stunning stuff, and the group interaction was fascinating. And I keep finding myself going, "oh shit, I forgot how completely bad ass Uri Caine is!!!!" Potter was absolutely sick as well, and James Genus laid down one of the most beautiful bass solos I've ever, ever, ever heard. Had I not had prior plans, the idea was to go down to Bloomington, catch him there and then zing back to Chicago for the Green Mill show. But, alas, my brain is still recovering from having been melted by one show, two would have killed me. But what a way to go...

A few others... For funkier jazz, Parlophone on Fullerton, just west of Clark. Actually, on that block of Fullerton, there's about 8 or 9 used CD and LP shops, and all of them are very good, and VERY attentive to detail. The only decent Tower records in the entire nation is the one on Adams and Wabash. It's the old Rose records, and Tower wisely respected the greatness that goes along with that hallowed space. The Crows Nest on State and Jackson. Granted, I'm biased...I used to be one of the assistant managers there, but the jazz selection is decent. George's House of Music on the Chicago/Oak Park Border at 95th and Harlem is very good as well. But if you're not a south sider, don't bother, it's a bitch to get to. JRM is the bad boy in town. Reckless is a cool place to visit. I almost never leave there with jazz, per se, but I always leave with something cool.

Yeah SS1, that line MAKES that song...

I'm sorry, but The Infinite was a damn cool record. Freak In left me a little cold, but from what I'm hearing of the new side, it's definitely an interesting record. Frisell's presence shapes this record, and it does go into some uncharted territory (for Frisell and Douglas). It's not as adventuresome as Freak In, it's not as fiery as the live Masada discs, and it's not as immediately accesible as The Infinite, but it's most certainly a cool little disc, upon first and second listenings.

Just because the guy that was the driving force behind this law is black still doesn't mean that this was what he had in mind for the law. This is completely ridiculous. And it should serve notice to kids white and black alike...keep your pants zipped up. Less trouble that way.

The Complete Get A Life (there's 8 episodes out right now, and they manage to miss all of my favorite episodes...) since there were only 30 episodes, it shouldn't be THAT hard to do. The Gong Show. Even a two or three hour best of. That was excellent stuff. Sort of an accidental precursor to Jackass...

My last ugly one was a few months ago... I'm driving to the local Guitar Center, and it's a six lane road at this point, but about 100 feet west of where I was at, the far right lanes merge back into a standard four lane format. Anyway, I'm trying to turn in, and traffic is stopped going westbound, and the people in the westbound lanes are waving me in. So, I go, only to find a girl in a mustang going way too fast on the shoulder. WHAM!!! So, in my little VW, I kind of grunt and wait for the worst. And then the worst came. She hits, of all things, my my front right wheel, head on at 35 m.p.h. Strangely, the side air bags didn't go off. I let my car roll into the parking lot, and she pulls in and starts screaming, "oh my god! this is my fourth accident in two months!!" Yay, great for me... So, they get my car to the body shop, and beyond all of the body and frame damage, it turns out, she smacked the axle clear into the transmission. So, I was without my car for two months. Now, for the upside...I get to the car rental place, and it turns out, that day, they were clean out of cars. All they had left was a Saturn (and I refuse to drive Saturns, they scare me...), a Tahoe and a Jaguar. Well, the Saturn's out of the question, and they want $45/day above what the insurance is paying out for the Tahoe. So I'm left going, "what am I gonna do about a car, man!!" They make a few phone calls and tell me they can give me the Jaguar for $6/day. I say, "uhhh, okay..." I fill out the paperwork, and I get the Jaguar for the next two months. Driving wise, the best two months of my life. I can't wait to earn enough money to get into one of those full time. What a ride. Strangely, two days after I returned the Jaguar, I got my Mercedes, which has served capably as a second car when the VW's in the shop (and it's ALWAYS in the shop). Alexander...glad to hear you're doing okay. I hate car accidents.

Greg "Baby Gisby" Gisbert and therafter just Baby Gisby??? is indeed correct, senor Deepster.

minor thing here...the nicknames. If you're going to use them, use them. Don't put quotations around them everytime. Trust me, when all of my friends call me Hippie (my nickname) they don't do the quotation thing every time, because a nick name is a name. Just like no one calls you "Danny." So, use nicknames the same way you'd use regular names. Does this make any sense?

As a drummer, there are only about 5 or 6, if that, play alongs that will help my cause. Therefore, the old drummerless piano-bass-guitar trio albums are what I use to get my play along time in. And yes, I think it's an invaluable resource to be able to play along on some great tunes with players who can really play.

Mothership Connection or the Soundtrack from Superfly, either one in their entirety.

yep. There was a huge article in Details about it this month. Cool thing is, the dude that Ashcroft is trying to nail is one of the biggest players in the fetish field, and this cat is worth some serious coin, so he's happy to be fighting back. Man, Canada really does look more enticing every day these days...

Fusion guitar players all leave me wanting to slit my wrists. Almost all of 'em. Al DiMeola, Scott Henderson, Alan Holdsworth, the whole bunch, except for Hiram Bullock when I'm in the mood. Only tangentially a fusion guy, but a guy's whose music I've always dug: Wayne Horvitz. The Zony Mash albums are, as a whole, the most played CD's in my collection. And, if you think about it, Jaco would have been one of those pure fusion guys. His albums with Dennard and Bullock were pretty damned good.

Stewart was playing with Trey Anastasio from Phish and Les Claypool from Primus in a shortlived band called Oysterhead. They were fun in small doses, but it was a classic three bigger than life egos style collaboration...

(only half way joking here...) My 1972 Mercedes 280 SEL 4.5 is for sale...