Free For All

Happy Birthday Clifford!

Haprica Brassday!

Haven't heard Jesus' new side. How is it? I hear he thinks he's Brad Mehldau. Sorry Ron, couldn't stop myself.

OK, I didn't want to be a jerk and post some kind of spam reference, so I listened to a sample on the website. To me, it's smooth adult-contempt and not very interesting or particularly original, and not of much interest to me- kind of "Mark Isham-lite", if that's possible. The I-vi-IV-V progression with various noodlings gets old pretty quick. If someone hears something that I'm missing, please tell me I'm wrong. Fortunately, I'm most likely not in the target demographic for this kind of entertainment, so my opinion matters little. If you're a jazz fan and are legitimately interested in hanging here, then welcome. Check out the Cellar Door box from Miles, lots of interesting improvisation over simple chord progressions there. If this is just spam, well.....................................................Kyle, is it? Good luck with all that. I'd be ill-advised to touch that one.

Just FYI, here's the other Lou thread. I was afraid this might be coming after these gigs took place. I just ordered Lou Rawls Live from BMG a few days ago. Sorry to see him go, but he had a great ride. R.I.P.

Tonight before bed- put beef roast into crock pot. Add beef broth, beer, garlic, seasoning and just a dash of liquid smoke. Tomorrow- wake up to smell of cooking meat. Around noon, remove and shred meat. Return to crock pot with BBQ sauce for another hour or so. Tomorrow afternoon- BBQ beef sammiches, beer (Boulevard Wheat) and football. I loves me the playoffs. For dessert, the requisite trip to the gym to burn off some o'them nasty ol' calories. I'll watch some of the evening game from the cardio machine. We use our slow cooker frequently, mostly in the colder weather. Chicken mostly, but also beef and pork on occasion, sometimes chili. I put the seasoned meat in with some kind of broth, garlic, maybe a little wine, perhaps a package of onion soup mix. The longer you can let it cook the better. When done, I remove the meat, strain the juice and make it into gravy (I start with a flour/butter roux). The gravy is optional (and a bit naughty), but it rocks. This is the most tender meat you will ever eat. Pretty much impossible to screw up too! Just be sure to add at least a little liquid.

Hop Sing Skip James Gordon Jump

We own stock.

I see about 10 people posting. It's a crap shoot. I mean carp shoot.

Good luck, I hope you succeed.

Shar-pei diem- "seize the dog".

Who will get the last word before the forum closes?

Happy Birthday Nate!

We all need to have some sense of porpoise in our lives.

Party hearty Marty!

The Gigolo finally comes out, and another long, long wait comes to an end.

Another pic. A pleasantly tacky place. I'm sure the other Chicago guys here can elaborate further, specifically regarding the earlier years of the bar when it was at its peak. I got there more towards the end.

1758 Honore, under the el tracks. Small, funky neighborhood bar, a bit of dump. There were stories about the guy who used to run it (before I lived there), I believe his name was "Butchie"- apparently quite a character. I think Jimmy Carter might have even gone in there once. Had some nice gigs there, though- played/jammed there at various times with Lin, Ron Blake and Eric Alexander, drummers George Fludas, Robert Shy, Robert Barry, bassist Dennis Carroll and Ron Perrillo or Bob Dugan on piano, among others. Interesting place, too bad it's gone. Here's a pic I found:

Cool pic Glenn! The trumpet player seems to have a halo. Quite rare for a trumpet player.

Me too. Oh well, WTF.

He had many "caretakers" in Chicago. Green Mill owner Dave Jemilo let him live in an apartment above his other bar, the Deja Vu, for awhile (probably rent-free). I drove him to several gigs, sometimes gave him some bread (voluntarily, not solicited). Although Lin was frequently a basketcase, when he would focus a bit he could tear off some mean choruses. A lot of Rollins (circa late 50s) in his playing.