david weiss

I met John Allen in the club and he told me the plan of colonizing the moon or Mars. The dome on the roof was a small prototype for the Biosphere bubble (phase two) and then of course, the next phase was on Mars or the moon or what have you. Calling it a cult might be a bit of a stretch but John Allen/Johnny Dolphin was the leader of whatever it was. They started in a ranch in New Mexico and at some point Ed Bass joined the party and they suddenly had financial backing and Caravan of Dreams was built and they all moved to Forth Worth. I believe the complex was built on land owned by the Bass family that wasn't being used. Some of the crew (I can't call them cult members) lived on the top floor and the rest including some locals who were hired to work at the club or theater all lived in a former nursing home also owned by the Bass family that was closed and hadn't been in use. The "cult activity" at that point just was daily "acting/exercise" classes that the staff had to participate in and where other issues were worked out and tempers sometimes flared and there were stories of John Allen or the theater director sometimes hitting someone to help them get to their inner core or something. One of the members left in a huff over something and was the main voice from the inside in those Dallas Morning News pieces. I guess it was a little sensational at the time but it didn't really phase me because it all seemed a bit of a joke to me. There was a dance floor of sorts directly in front of the stage and sometimes the staff would all run on the floor and start dancing around (including Bass). We weren't exactly playing dance music but they had a fun time anyways...... I was pretty friendly with one of the staff who was with them since New Mexico and a few of my friends from school got jobs there as well. The "cult members" were assigned jobs in the club out of the blue sometimes. The one I was friendly with was suddenly given the job of booking the club one day and didn't know where to start (though getting recommendations from Ornette seemed to be a good place to start). Later she was one of the "engineers" who was part of the team that went in the Bioshere bubble. In the end, I did a lot of gigs there and saw a lot of great music. They also had a good film series at times.....

I was in college when all this started and was the music director of the school radio station so I was invited to all the opening events. I went to Skies of America concert with the Fort Worth Symphony and went to the opening night of the club with Ornette playing. It was funny to see the worlds colliding a bit. There were a few older guys with cowboys hats who would whoop it up and bang on the table every time Ornette honked a note. Ornette was very influential in the booking of the club for the first year or so. The big talent would come down there and play Thursday-Sunday and for the most part they would use local bands on Monday-Wednesday. I had a band that was in the regular rotation there from the time it opened until I graduated and left for New York in 1986. Since I spent a lot of time there, I got to know a lot about the goings on there. I saw almost all the bands mentioned above..... Jack Dejohnette's Special Edition, the Mingus Dynasty (with Johnny Coles and maybe Rickey Ford), Phil Woods (with Tom Harrell), the Art Ensemble of Chicago (they supposedly ran up a $10,000 food and drink bill, lots of champaign, that made the club reassess their food and drink policy in regards to the talent), McCoy Tyner, and James Blood Ulmer. Quest, Arthur Blythe (the tuba band), Cedar Walton, Paquito D'Rivera, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Freddie Hubbard, Toshiko Akiyoshi (in a trio with Bob Moses), Dewey Redman (with Charnett Moffet), Woody Shaw (with Benny Green and Ronnie Burrage), Horace Silver (with Brian Lynch and Ralph Moore) and Vienna Art Orchestra (a special one night engagement if I recall correctly). I met of lot of these guys for the first time seeing them here.

Paris Wright is the son of bassist Herman Wright (from Detroit) who most of you probably know of (he is on numerous great sessions throughout the late 50's and '60s). Paris was 16 when he first went on tour with Monk (I believe he turned 17 sometime during the tour) and I think played with him for about 6 months or so. I believe he knew the Monk family from a very early age. While still a teenager, I think he also played with Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie. He was a talented young drummer and got a lot of shots but then dropped off the scene. I've done some work and recording with Paris starting almost 20 years ago. I used to play some sessions with him and his father at his father's apartment and later Paris put a band together (that included me) and recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's but it was never released. Nelly Monk came to the recording session and also I think to a few gigs. She was one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever met. I still do a gig with Paris every now and again, always local here in New York of course. He is still a good hard swinging drummer in the Roach/Blakey tradition.

Sorry to say..... One of the great ones..... In my top 5 favorite drummers wise..... I was really fortunate to do a number of gigs with him......

Wasn't he also going to law school (or taking pre-law classes) at that time? Yes, to both (cab and lawyer)...... He was a practicing lawyer.....

I'm told he's comfortable enough and more importantly not in pain.....

I was also curious about this quote..... "I recall seeing Curson in the mid-'80s at Barry Harris' Jazz Cultural Theater in New York with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook. Together, they co-led a driving hard bop quintet". We all know that Bill Hardman and Junior Cook had a band together throughout the '80s but I guess it's possible that Ted Curson might have subbed once though I'm skeptical (maybe Michael Weiss would know). Bill was one of my mentors and I went to gigs with him often. I don't remember an instance where this band did a gig that Bill didn't make unless it happened before I moved to New York.....

Actually a lot of this piece seems pretty fictional to me..... Lots of inaccuracies and to me strange claims about the music and where it was at a certain time in history etc etc. It's true Ted spent time in Finland. I don't know the origins of this but I believe he played at the original Pori Jazz Festival and at some point was invited to come every year. He definitely was the figure head of that festival (I want to say mascot, but perhaps some could make a negative interpretation of that word). Ted was a really nice guy. I first met him when he was running the late night jam session at the Blue Note in New York and some of my first experiences sitting in at a club in New York were with him. He was always very supportive. Years later, I would see him at the Pori Festival whenever I performed there. I think I last saw him at a club in New Jersey about a year ago. Actually, I was familiar with his music before I really knew who he was or really knew anything about acoustic jazz. His tune "Tears for Dolphy" was the main theme of the Pasolini film "Teorama" and it is used so well in that film and was such a compelling tune, I fell in love with it. It's probably one of the first acoustic jazz records I owned.

Thanks guys for all the birthday wishes this year and last (looks like I missed it all last year). I was playing with The Cookers in Taiwan on my birthday so it was a good day.

I was thinking the same thing. Monty Python and The Holy Grail is far funnier, IMHO. I guess I'm out of step again. For me, the funniest thing about Holy Grail was the opening credits. Life of Brian, on the other hand, I consider a classic from start to finish. Interesting. I can't see a 20 something rating Airplane that high. I mean, it's hard to "look back" at Airplane through the veil of Top Secret and other such garbage without blaming Airplane, whereas fresh and standing on it's own it's freekin' hilarious. I had the same experience watching Beavis and Butthead Do America; a theater full of people staggering out, still laughing, barely able to walk. On the other hand, it's definitely a 'theater movie'; doesn't do much on it's own at home in the DVD player... I'd have to revisit Life of Brian again, I'm going on childhood memories here...... As for the list, I was referring to the rest of the Top 10....7 out of the 10 are from the last 10 years and some are as recent a year or two ago.... Bridesmaids? Shaun of the Dead? this is what makes me think most polled were kids. I guess Airplane is a classic to them......

Having gone to North Texas State and having also played in a band that played at Caravan of Dreams often, there were a lot of Ornette Coleman sightings as he would just come down there to hang out sometimes even when he wasn't gigging there. He opened the place as you know and also had a big hand in the bookings in the club the first couple of years. One night, my band was playing there and we were at the end of the tune and doing one of those group imrov after the head, fading out out sort of things and we saw Ornette walk into the club. I started playing the theme to Dancing in Your Head and the sax players picked up on it. Not sure if Ornette did or not....... Actually this thread unblocked a memory long forgotten..... My first year at North Texas State I was dating a very nice girl from Texas who was a big rock-n-roll fan. She took me to see Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame. It was OK but I got bored and walked to the back of the club with the plan to go outside and get some air. Leaning against the wall right by the exit was Frank Zappa. He had no concert in the area that I knew about so it was a bit surprising. We chatted a little, nice enough guy......never asked him what the fuck he was doing in Dallas and at a Ian Hunter gig.

This is a poll for 20 somethings...most of the films are pretty recent except for Airplane and Life of Brian (instead of the Holy Grail?). Airplane is OK, some good gags and punchlines but a good movie? Well, I don't know about that...... I think most people polled probably did not see most of the movies we consider the funniest of all time because there is nothing on this list that would even crack the top 20 on my list. Actually the film in recent memory that I went to that got the most laughs in the theatre was the South Park movie, everyone was laughing hysterically throughout the movie and we missed a lot of dialogue because we were still laughing so hard from the previous joke. I don't recall seeing people that consistently breaking up throughout a whole movie like that before......

Not to derail the thread too much but I do like the actual sighting aspect of this though my best ones are not musician sightings...... Growing up in New York City and also working as a bicycle messenger put me in a position for many sightings (besides making deliveries to a few famous people like Itzhak Perlman (who was home and signed for his package) and Claudette Colbert (who wasn't home much to my chagrin). I saw Ruth Gordon on the street as a teenager and approached her to ask for her autograph and she was very sweet and gave me a big smile and hello as if she was quite used to awestruck teenage boys approaching her (because of Harold and Maude of course). I saw Lauren Bacall on the street (actually I heard her booming voice first as she shooed away an autograph seeker). I saw Pedro Almodovar in Tower Records (the one in downtown NY). He did spend some time in the jazz section. I saw Doug Flutie at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike once and he is pretty short. I had nothing to say to him though.... I sat in business class with Mary Louise Parker right in front of me. She is very good looking in person. Actually there always seems to be some actor on every flight I take from New York to LA. One time I had a red eye from LA back to New York and I rushed to the airport right from a gig or the studio and I barely had time to make the flight much less eat. I was worried all the shops in the terminal would be closed so when checking in, I tried to use my premium status and miles to upgrade to business class in the hopes of having a proper meal (I was really hungry and had a lot of extra miles). They told me since it was such a late flight that there would be no dinner, probably just a snack and later a nice breakfast so I decided not to go for it. When I boarded the plane, I saw there was one open seat in business class and sitting next to the open seat was Bill Russell. I've kicked myself a few times over that one...... I certainly met and worked with my fair share of stars or they have come to my gigs (Freddie Hubbard gigs in LA in particular) but I have to admit to only really gushing praise once and it would seem to be an unlikely one. I couldn't help myself with Jeffrey Tambor. He actually came up to me (at Birdland) and told me he had heard me play before and how he enjoyed it and I just told him how much I loved the Larry Sanders Show (I really do, it is one of my favorite shows ever). His demeanor changed right away. Could it be possible that he didn't like the show I thought. though it seemed more like he just wanted to be a regular guy who wanted to show his appreciation...oh well.....still loved him on the Larry Sanders Show....... Oh, musicians..... I did sit next to Robert Fripp at a John McLaughlin gig in Central Park. I asked him what he thought (I think I was 15 or 16) and he said "he's good".

I saw Charlie Haden in a local record store around 1980. Wasn't sure if it was he & checked with the owner after he left. It was Haden and he was complaining that the owner wasn't carrying enough of his records - even though there were several in the store. Sounds about right.......

Louie Bluie was actually on Showtime tonight and I caught the last half of it. It's a lot of fun. It certainly would help to be a bigger fan of that music then I am but the main subject is a fun character so it holds your interest. I found Ghost World to be a much better film then Art School Confidential. Actually I didn't find Art School Confidential to be a very good movie at all though I did appreciate the sentiment behind it and much of it did ring true to me. I assume the art school in question was based on Cal Arts (as was the Art school in Six Feet Under) where I went to school for a year to study photography before I discovered my true calling as a musician and transferred out of there. As I said, I identified with a lot of it and there was hardly a false note but overall it just wasn't a very good movie to me. I love dark humor but where Ghost World's characters had heart and soul the ones in Art School Confidential do not and while that is probably the point, Zwigoff just couldn't really pull it off on this one..... Now Bad Santa is hilarious....if any of you haven't seen it, you really should......

Sorry to hear.... My link

I'm not so sure about this..... I know of one artist personally that has a few concerts up there that has never been contacted by them.....

Had a quick look at this over the weekend as the author came to a Cookers gig to give the book to Billy Hart and Eddie Henderson. Didn't have a chance to read anything but saw some great pictures.......very promising.....

Very good..... I suggest you now try to do the Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham solos on Star Eyes from Rollins plays for Bird.

My apologies if this one has come up before but I was just e-mailed about this...... http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/george-russell-sextet/concerts/newport-jazz-festival-july-03-1964.html George Russell at Newport in 1964 with John Gilmore, Thad Jones and Tootie Heath!!!

Guys I think this is set now.... http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=253-MD-CD

I thought with with the sense of history that is on this board I would have seen a lot more screw ball comedies and the like mentioned. Though perhaps not considered a comedy first, I have to say that to me Network is one of the funniest (and most prescient) movies ever. Then every thing Preston Sturges especially the big three...The Lady Eve, Palm Beach Story and Sullivan Travels. Duck Soup, My Man Godfrey, Dr. Strangelove, The In-Laws (the original of course, the remake was one of the worst movies ever made), The South Park Movie are others that come to mind. I don't think any Chaplin has been mentioned. There are many of course but maybe Modern Times is the one that cracked me up the most as a kid. Though not one of the funniest, another good one is That Uncertain Feeling by Ernst Lubitsch. Not one of his better known movies but very funny. Woman leaves her brutish husband for egocentric concert pianist she meets in her psychiatrist's office.

That may have been the film that gave me my crush on Catherine Keener. That and Living in Oblivion (directed by and with Buscemi). http://www.youtube.c...&feature=fvwrel http://www.youtube.c...h?v=NWYbXsTqv4g Have to agree with Happiness, one of the only movies I've found really funny in the past 10 years or so..... Living in Oblivion is great but it's not directed by Buscemi it's by Tom DiCillo

Bedazzled is uneven, but has some great moments. I don't know why, but for years I labored under the misconception that it was a Richard Lester film. I love Bedazzled as well. There is some funny stuff in that. The pop star wish is hilarious. I've read people write that the 'pop star' Peter Cook plays in this scene is strangely pre-empting David Bowie's stage persona of a few years later http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ-1uO5H0Vk Best lyric..... You fill me with inertia....

Have a good one Barak.....