jazzypaul

how about, "tinkling the unweighted plastic composites," then?

you pulled all of those from my reviews from the past year at Chicago Jazz Magazine, didn't you?

for the most part, mail/online purchases don't incur sales tax unless the sale is made in the state of the transaction (so, I believe Mosaic is in CT. If Joe Blow buys a couple of Mosaic boxes in CT, he pays the tax. If Joe Blow is, say, me living in Illinois, then I don't pay them). I would assume that the same goes for international sales. Does that help?

several of us manage to get together every year at the jazz festival on labor day weekend. of course, that's a long way off, so you're welcome to get something going before then. I tried convincing some folks to come up to the place I was playing at after the fest on the Friday last year, and I got stone cold ignored by everyone. THAT boosted the self esteem, to be sure.

so when is there gonna be a Chicagoan O-board meet up?

Blake, I wasn't even thinking about the Vandermark Jazz series on Wednesdays when I referred to jazz of a rather odd variety. On the weekends, they're also apt to do oddball funk-jazz psychedelic freak out bands (i.e. the bands a lot of my friends are in). Von is indeed still doing the New Apt. Lounge thing.

Well, it all depends on what you're looking for and how much you're willing to drive. Being in Oak Brook does open up your possibilities, because you're close to the western suburbs via I-88, Roosevelt or Butterfield Rds, and of course, you're only about 12 miles outside of the city and about 20 miles from downtown. If you're looking for more straight ahead stuff, I'd recommend the following... Andy's Jazz Club (11 E. Hubbard): mostly straight ahead fare, always swinging. Good stuff. The Green Mill (Lawrence & Broadway): the most legendary jazz club in Chicago, and with good reason. That said, sometimes it can be a real bear just getting in, and that says nothing of the parking, which can also be treacherous. And, with no train service from Oak Brook, driving is kind of a must. Pops for Champagne (Ohio & State): a nice club down the street from the old jazz showcase. Dan Cray and some other really great players play there on a weekly basis. The parking problems here are just as severe as they are at the Green Mill, but at least everyone valets in River North. Katerina's (Irving Park & Damen): this place is a mixed bag, but the music's always good, and the food is yummy. or, if you want to avoid the traffic and you're in town on a Thursday, head out to Wheaton to a little restaurant called Adelle's (1060 W. College Ave. Wheaton, IL). They have some nice duos and trios playing on Thursdays. For more adventurous ears... The Hideout (1300-something W. Wabansia). It really is a hideout, as it's kinda in the middle of an industrial park, but the music is great, and when they have jazz (call ahead), it's usually of the rather odd variety. The Velvet Lounge (Cermak & Wabash, I think): Fred Anderson's place. There's always something happening there, and much of the time it's pretty cool. There are plenty more places to check out, and you'll want to go here for more info as you get closer to coming out. And, you're always welcome to come see me if I'm playing anywhere...

It's supposed to be reopening some time soon. They have the space, everything should be in place. I have yet to hear an actual date yet, however.

I love that show. Every tune in that set is just killing. I was listening to that one last week. I bet an organ trio could rip into Clementine... On your copy of the show, is the Dark Star victim of a fade-out after a couple of minutes? yeppers. kind of annoying to be sure. my trio's doing Dark Star and Eyes of the World as of late, if that's any consolation. And the new Sabertooth album features them doing China Cat Sunflower, and it's kinda cool.

I love that show. Every tune in that set is just killing. I was listening to that one last week.

You remind me of a scrooge boss I once had. He told me that he and his wife didn't believe in giving gifts to each other - if they need something, they buy it. Otherwise - forget it. But they did decorate, and had gift-wrapped boxes they would put under the tree. If you and your wife don't celebrate Christmas - or don't celebrate it with gift-giving - then raise your child accordingly. Umm, thanks dude. We totally celebrate Christmas, but between Christina being raised by independent baptists and me asking way too many questions way too early for my parents to even try, neither of us really "did" the santa claus thing. If that makes me a scrooge, then this world is too fucked up for words.

call me a spoil sport, or an asshole, or both, but I really don't see the point in Santa Claus, and I don't know how I'm going to handle this with my daughter. Both of us grew up in Santa-less households for varying reasons, so it's not really a big deal for me or Christina.

happy birthday!

No. The whole thing was a waste of money. We never got one single gig or review or festival or anything out of the whole deal. Nothing. Spent well over $300 applying for various things, too. If you want an EPK that you can mail out to people via a link, it isn't hard to create one on your own website. But frankly to me, that's what a band's website is anyway, isn't it? Just a big EPK. Getting gigs is all about building personal relationships. Sonicbids is the anti-thesis to that. okay. I built a sonicbids EPK, but haven't paid for it yet, so it's not up and running yet. Our website sucks, and frankly, I have next to no computer expertise, outside of knowing how to rock on photoshop and finale. Unfortunately, neither one will help you to build a website. My brother in law set it up for us (using wordpress as a base), but he doesn't have the time to keep it up to date. Arrgh.

alright, we know that the sonicbids "pay to submit" plan is a total scam, but has their EPK actually done any good for you, Jim?

We were thinking about going the sonicbids route. Does it work well as just a way to have an EPK ready and at hand, or is it completely pointless all the way around? Right now they're guaranteeing a at least one gig through them in six months, or they give you six months free. But if you're shelling out hundreds of dollars to get a gig that might pay a grand, is it really worth it? I kinda thought that the submission fee thing reeked of bullshit, and I'd personally rather just attempt to make a personal contact on that front. Anyone else see any use for an EPK at all? and seriously, I have to wonder every day whether or not our stuff is even up to snuff. I dunno. self doubt + scam artists = serious impact on getting gigs. Any advice?

I'm with Lon on this... The poll mentions the money part of the equation, which is the most tangible part of the situation, but it doesn't say squat about moderators. If there was a way to answer multiple ways, I'd say the following: quarterly fund drives are optimal, but really, this is Jim's board, and he needs to do with it what he feels is best. Under no circumstances do I think he should pay for us to hang out on his dime, using his bandwidth and hard drive space. And unfortunately, this isn't a situation where people can pay with services in kind. So, cash is the way to go. That said, the fact is that this is a board run by a band. Not fans of a band (like Umphree McGee's "bort"), not a record company, or anything of the like. This is run by one guy who decided to be nice and open up his website to a whole bunch of cyber slackers needing a place to converse. I can't possibly imagine how much effort must go into getting this live, protecting it from hackers, keeping the peace, etc, etc, etc. And that doesn't even mention the idea that someone might think that the band promotes some of the crazy shit talk that happens in some of these threads. If this site has taught me one thing it's this: don't ever add a forum/bulletin board to my website. If anything, I think the smartest thing that could happen would be that someone with the time, energy and resources to run this thing would buy it off of him and run it themselves, thus ridding Jim of the problem, while still allowing access to the board for the people that come here everyday to talk all of the stuff that gets talked about on a daily basis. (why do I always end up writing essays whenever I start typing?) As to why monthly drives are not a good idea: if you mention something so often, it becomes very easy to tune out. Better to really make a hard sell 3-4 times per year and try to get a bunch of people interested than to give people the chance to ignore it. That's my $0.02.

yeah, we could have one helluva drum circle over here. I will pitch in when I can. New baby expenses are kicking my ass, as anyone that's had a baby can attest to. Maybe I could do an Allen Lowe style buy my CD and the profits go to Jim kinda thing. PM me if you're interested.

handful of things: 1) birth of beautiful baby girl. 2) bought our first home. 3) released first CD.

our first review! From Chicago Jazz Magazine, which I also write for.

I thought Underground was nothing short of amazing. I too saw them at the Showcase (hell, I might have been there the same night as Sal! For someone that comes from the same town as me, it's shocking that we've never met...), and thought they burned. The only bummer was that I got robbed coming out of a mexican restaurant after the show. When he came through with that band again at the Old Town School, I MC'd the show, and was really excited. dragged Christina out for it, and it was...boring. All of the songs built the same way, did the same things and played over the same groove. The only thing that really stood out was Togo (which is on the live disc, too), and that was killin'. I really agree with Sangry's assessment that this group is even better for standing right up and saying, "THIS IS WHAT I THINK JAZZ SHOULD SOUND LIKE RIGHT NOW," but after having heard it a couple of times, I'm a little bored. I hope he keeps working in this format though, and I hope that they keep finding new ground to stand on, because it's an interesting idea. Unfortunately, at least to these ears, it's an idea that got stale kinda quick.

up, because it's "the holiday season" and I need to sell some cd's. It's halfway decent, I promise.

well, I didn't do too much work. The honors and applause and the like should go to Christina for having to carry around a baby for 9 months without getting to put her down even once. Thanks for all the well wishes. Can you post pics on here from one's own computer, or do they have to be web images? oh, and by the way, the name is Elaine Georgette. Elaine was Christina's middle name and her mom's middle name. Georgette was my grandmother.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. Haven't heard Three from the Vault yet, but by 1973-74, it feels like Billy's trying to fill in all of the places that Mickey might have played. I went back and listened the soundtrack from the Grateful Dead movie the other day, and Billy was almost unlistenable in spots. Glad to be seeing good reviews of Three from the Vault though. It's on my wish list, and the tidbits I've heard here and there, I like quite a bit.

On November 8th, I became a daddy. I was gonna post a picture, but I can't figure out how to do such a crazy thing. Anyway, she's happy, healthy and doing well, as is her mom.