Robert J

I have had this as well. A good one, and something else from Saranac I can't remember. I bought one at a store while I brown bagged it through the Village last trip. Went to the Magic Hat site: some interesting beer. Randy Weston, ribs, beer - it's going to be a great night.

Thanks Pete. That's great news about the food and especially the beer (being Canadian). Ribs for sure! I have never tried Magic Hat #9. Looking forward to it. I was not knocking Schlitz or the watered-down beer industry. It's just that we get so little small/microbrew beers imported to us. Colt 45, yes. I grew up living across the border from Detroit, so unless you went to Ann Arbor, the beer was lame. Though last trip to NY I tried and fell in love with Yeungling's Black & Tan. I can't wait to drink it. It's incredibly only $7.99 for a 12 and it has a rich flavour and decent alcohol content. It has become one of my favourites.

Thanks all It was obvious that Randy Weston would be the choice. Although I've never seen Ron Carter or Mulgrew Miller, I have seen Malone and spoken with him after an event. I've seen Randy only in a piano workshop setting he had in Toronto in 1992. Still was fantastic. I am not nostalgic for the Blue Note club and what you guys said pretty much confirmed what I'd expect of the club now. As an aside, looking into Broadway pricing I was at the ticket amounts. Why is it that $$$ is thrown away to see Hairspray or Mama Mia in hordes, but a $25 jazz set does not sell out? You don't have to answer this. So I've got reservations for the 7:30 show on Sunday due to full Saturday plans. Plus we are taking the train in from Ryebrook to Manhattan so that's the reason for the early show. I like the fact they serve good food and beer! There's no way I am paying $8 for a Schlitz! Now to choose between Pan-Fried Black Pepper Catfish or ribs from the menu. Any recommnedations from the Blue Smoke? Dmitry - what show are you going to? Anyone else attending?

Hey all. Will be making my second ever trip to NY the weekend of May 22/23. Last time was business and tourist stuff. My wife would like to see a broadway play/musical and I'd like to check out some live music. I see the BN has Ron Carter w/Mulgrew Miller and Russell Malone then. I can reserve on the net, but not sure how trustworthy that is. Probably better to phone. Any other club suggestions for that weekend? Also like to know about the realistic cost of beverages and whether or not food must be purchased (assume a table seat). Much appreciated in advance

By TERRY WEBER and JACK KAPICA Globe and Mail Update The Federal Court of Canada ruled Wednesday that Internet Service Providers can't be forced to turn over identities of suspected music swappers, throwing a roadblock in the path of the recording industry's efforts to crack down on the practice. In a 31-page decision Judge Konrad von Finckenstein said the Canadian Recording Industry Association hasn't made its case for ordering ISPs to turn over the names of 29 suspected so-called music uploaders, people who offer music for others to download. The industry had wanted the names so that it could launch lawsuits against individuals it claims are high-volume Internet music swappers. As part of his ruling, the judge found that simply downloading a song or having a file available on peer-to-peer software such as Kazaa doesn't constitute copyright infringement. "The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution," Judge von Finckenstein said. "Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or advertising that they are available for copying." Last month, the Canadian Recording Industry Association asked the court to order five of Canada's largest communications companies to identify 29 uploaders who they allege posted hundreds of songs illegally. The industry charges that song swapping in cyberspace has had a dramatic impact on music sales in this country, costing as much as $425-million in lost revenue over the past five years. But, Judge von Finckenstein denied the request noting that, while third parties have been compelled to disclose identifying documents in the past, the plaintiffs haven't shown a causal link between P2P pseudonyms and IP addresses nor have they made out a broader case of infringement. As well, he said, they haven't established that the ISPs are the only practical source of the identity of the P2P pseudonyms, nor have they shown that the public interest for disclosure outweighs privacy concerns. The recording industry swore to continue its fight against file sharing, and is considering an appeal of the decision. CRIA president Brian Robertson stood fast in his interpretation of the law, insisting that despite the judgment, sharing music files is still against the law. "We remain committed to our plans to enforce the law against unlawful 'file sharing,' which is devastating the entire music community," he said in a statement after the ruling." "We continue to believe it's unlawful under Canadian law to share files on peer-to-peer networks," CRIA general counsel Richard Pfohl said. "I expect we will be appealing on the basis of technology," he continued. "We don't believe that when someone puts thousands of files into a shared folder to be traded on the Internet, it's an act of private copying." "We presented more initial evidence than has ever been put forward in a request for disclosure of user identities from ISPs — which Canadian courts have granted on numerous occasions," he said. Judge von Finckenstein is regarded as a senior judge with an extensive understanding of technology and is an expert in international commerce. Most recently he was the federal competition commissioner. In the United States, legal action has been taken by the music industry against song swappers. But in decision in December, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled that service provider Verizon didn't have to turn over the names of individuals, finding that the service provider was only responsible for content kept on its own server. court decision

Sorry guys, maybe my headline was inspired (unconsciously) from the daily emails I get in my hotmail account

From today's Toronto Star: Technology links distant pianos Nova Scotia boy's talent is far-reaching Oscar Peterson watches amazed LOUISE BROWN EDUCATION REPORTER Look, ma, no hands — the piano is being played by someone 1,700 kilometres away. In a high-tech twist on the old honky-tonk player piano, a boy in Wolfville, N.S., practised Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" yesterday on two grand pianos at once — the one he was actually touching, and another where his teacher was sitting in downtown Toronto. It was as if a ghost suddenly were tickling the ivories. The moment 12-year-old prodigy Lucas Porter began the gruelling third movement at a recital hall at Acadia University, the keys and foot pedals moved the same way on a matching piano at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. Chatting through headsets and watching each other live on video screens, teacher Marc Durand and his star pupil conducted a long-distance lesson as they have twice a month since October, using digital technology designed to bring remote real-time teaching to all corners of Canada. "Look at me, now, Lucas — I want you to play that passage less like this," said Durand, chopping his hand up and down for the video camera by his piano bench, "and more like this," waving his hand in smooth horizontal circles. The boy turned to the keyboard and tried again. "Let me see you make a big athletic sound," added Durand, leaning forward and waving his hands for emphasis. "Remember how Beethoven looks mad with his wild hair? "I want you to make that sound. Make it scary! I want to feel his ghost as you play." Keyboard great Oscar Peterson was one of hundreds who watched the display of high-tech wizardry on both ends of the digital link-up. "To think this student can communicate immediately with his teacher over such a distance is something I never dreamed possible," said Peterson. "This is a great breakthrough in communication between teacher and student." Porter, a gifted pianist from Port Williams, N.S., is taking advanced instruction from Durand, an internationally acclaimed music teacher, through this pilot project. "It's been really great to get this instruction without having to travel to Toronto," said Porter, who was clearly more nervous talking about the piano than playing it. "It's made a big difference in my playing." The pianos were designed with special digital technology that can record each keystroke and transmit it in real time over the Internet to deliver the same performance on a second piano. Using new software called MusicPath developed at Acadia University, these "Disklaviers" built by Yamaha Canada were connected through a special Canadian network for research called CA* net 4. The $400,000 project was partly funded by Yamaha and CANARIE, Canada's advanced Internet organization. "It's a great tool," said Durand, "but it will never replace the real thing; sitting side by side with your student." [and rapping his knuckles when he hits the wrong note )

Thanks for your input and support everyone! Now that I am becoming more serious about music as a source of income along with my other freelance work (editing, writing, consulting) more knowledge is better. Funny how this topic is not more widespead in the music media as it should be. Sports injuries are everywhere. I can't read the hockey scores without the paper talking about my Leafs and their injuries! I sense that I will get better on this matter. Perhaps another bad habit, which I haven't alluded to, is having a drink or 2 on the job (music playing) or even during some lengthy practicing, as a form of self medication through the pain. I have cut this habit entirely (well at least the practicing part). This does make me aware of when I should take breaks. Sometimes I am nuts as a soloist on the job though - when I really get into a party or event, things are going great and I am feeding off the energy. All of a sudden I realize I have played over 1-1/2 hours straight, usually ending with some over the top boogie woogie encore. Now that is punishment! I may consider taking one or two lessons from someone just to have an opinion on my posture. I think as performers and teachers we are not able to look at our habits objectively. When I do see some info on music injuries I find some conflicting advice about warm ups. The Alfred's Piano method I use for new students suggets warming the hands before practice with warm water, whereas the therapy for my hands specifically says only cold compresses. The warm up seemed to work for Glenn Gould! (then again he was addicted to painkillers). Also, I have a book for classical musicians and exercise regiments and the author advises against using free-weights (my preferred form of toning) to the strap-on wieghts. I guess because of the wrist and finger gripping uses with bar and dumb-bells. She also highly recommends swimming lengths as a way for musicians to tone. Here's some info from the Toronto Blues Society I found helpful. The article on RSI is at the end of the page(s). http://www.torontobluessociety.com/0308lbn.htm http://www.torontobluessociety.com/0309lbn.htm and these other articles http://eeshop.unl.edu/music.html http://www.valeriekampmeier.com/dissertation.pdf http://www.musicianshealth.com/WhyRSI.html http://www.brainstormsandraves.com/archive...s_and_injuries/

I was diagnosed with RSI a few weeks ago after I started getting a shooting pain in both thumbs and forefingers. I'm going for a follow-up today. Part of it was using the laptop I am at right now. IBM Thinkpad. The "red dot" substitute for the mouse actually puts alot of strain on the arms. Plus I'd be in different locations, tables and heights throughout the house and on the job. All contributed to more stress on my arms, wrists and fingers. For 1-1/2 months I did a QA consulting job on a firm's website which required me to click and search on thousands of links. Unfortunately I had the basic MS Mouse and clicking "back" was done manually or by the back button, over and over again. Since then I now have a good wireless optical mouse which has helped enormously. There's a back button on the left side of it, very well suited for extensive surfing. The other thing was my redirection of energy towards the piano in both teaching and my own study/performance. To that end I finally sold my ancient refurbished player piano and bought a decent used Kawai upright which has a tighter action than I am used to. This has been hard on my muscles too. As with many musicians I kept practicing/playing thorough the pain, not taking enough breaks. Since then I've modified my computer time and piano time. My left hand is much better but the stronger right still feels pain. I can't open a jar of pickles or a beer (maybe go back to the days of using the molars) without that electric jolt. I do have a history of arthritis in my dad's side of the family, so who knows. I am using a good wrist support now on both hands, even when practicing the piano and this is helping. . I recall a story on this in Jazztimes or something a few months ago. Anyone else have some story or experience, or advice?

I recently started in on this book, something I've seen for years. I usually avoided it because the sax players in just about any band I was in would pull it out when they wanted to avoid learning the tune we were rehearsing, or they were impressing the chicks, or whatever . I have found the patterns very relevant in fact. In my piano teaching I sort of have to fall into the Hanon and the scale books for my classical-pop students, though I've shown them cool ways to deal with these very boring and non-reality based exercises. I'd like to lay on some of these patterns for the hipper ones. But the PFJ really makes me think about my weaknesses and has re-enforced my goal of learning everything I do in all keys. Anyone else, use, or did use this book?

Re; Major labels, canning, music in our lives: Perhaps practicing the piano with my 6 year old daughter is the most satisfying thing And now my (non-musical) wife started learning the piano this weekend, her goal is to work her way into musical knowledge and then the saxophone. Hard to believe that we live in a society where music is now so visible (some irony in that, I am referring to music videos as well) and audible, that the commodification has the potential to ruin it for new music students and their success both material and spiritual. Not that I want to go back 200 years, but at least music was central to families, society and well being and had the potential to polarize rather than marginalize. Something to think about as I prepare for my piano students today.

A good bassist is so important. After some bad experiences (I do duos and trios for upscale events as well as my soloing) I made a point of phoning up 10-12 musicians I know in town, from pianists, to horns, to drummers and asked them for their top 5. I spent a bit of time making notes: style, electric or upright, last few gigs played, reliability, personality, bad drunks, etc. I whittled it down to 10 (due to overlap) in a database with notes given by these other guys. It was some work, but in the end I know who to call on. Almost like a dating service I guess.

Steering the topic back. Hello all. I've been more of a lurker on Organissimo this past year due to work, unlike when I started on BN. But I saw a recent post here by Rooster Ties in the musican's forum where he dug up an old BN thread. RT had the source code which led back to the BN site (how did you get this RT?). It seems that most or possibly ALL of the old BNBB (to late 2001) threads are still online. Not sure why there were not taken down. While I may not revisit them, here's a simple way to try it for those who have the time or need. Caveat: there's no real navigation, just "guesswork". Click any of the URLs below and change the numbered part - up or down - to access the threads. I randomly chose post 101 or something close. _______________ Blue Note's 60th Anniversary http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000001.html Artists http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Reissues http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html New Releases http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Recommendations http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000201.html Rudy Van Gelder Series http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Forum Suggestions and Feedback http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html (classic lines from Tomatbluenote in this random thread "I am saddened and disgusted by the continued abasements by Aric and the resultant fouling of our fine board. Folks, enough is enough. Enough rope has been given and I am afraid that Mr.Effron has hoisted himself high on the gibbet... Aric, you are more than welcome to develop an ariceffron.com site as a playground for your passionate yet misguided mind. ") Miscellaneous http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Mosaic Records http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Live Shows http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Vocalists http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Offering & Looking For http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Discography Forum http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Audio Talk http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000101.html Musicians' Forum http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000001.html Jazz in Print: Books, Magazines, and Photography http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000001.html Questions for Tomatbluenote http://www.bluenote.com/bulletinboard/ubb/...TML/000001.html

OK I take it all back. They are all scum! Guess who just phoned now (while I was practicing piano with my 6 year old daughter) to cancel this Friday? Something about it being really busy, not enough room to bring my piano! (Sorry we will make too much money tonight). It's partially true that the place is small, but that's ****ing LAME!

The owner I'm with now has gotten a little better now. When he cancelled a gig WHEN I ARRIVED (OK I am solo piano) at least he fed me and I guzzled about a litre of wine. Things are now good this December. He can't ignore the rapport I have with his customers. I am outgoing with them. Music and a good time comes first. He can see the tips I am making and how I am setting the mood for the night and this translates into bar and food sales so he's less apologetic when he writes the cheque. Some boneheads can be educated, others are sadly lost causes. But customers can have the same attitude too. How many times I've heard the envy in this phrase: "They are paying you to do something you enjoy?". As if it takes no effort to master an instruments or the repertoire.

In Toronto this spring and summer we had the SARS scare which hurt all tourism, entertainment, bars and restaurants. I had a sweet solo piano thing going at this one club, cash, dinner, 1/2 liter of red vino, customer tips. But I could see that it was dying on a Saturday night due to lack of people going out at all. So he canned me at the start of the summer. I've used the time to network, as mentioned above, with venues and other musicians and other opportunities. The right place, right time philosphy still works. I am now teaching a few students after years of no teaching, but it put that 500-600$ back in my pocket that I lost in live gigs. Plus I am having a great time with my students. Then I got a call last week by this same club owner about a party they are having. So sometimes persistence and patience does pay off. Now to get some more Xmas parties under the belt. Good luck Soul Stream and all. Let's fight back. ps. Years ago I was associated with this one bistro/club for at least 3 years, 5 nights a week. One Saturday as I was putting the lid up on the grand piano, the owner, who I've known for awhile, and I did many favours for, whispered to me "Tonight's the last night. I'm closing up the joint". I knew before the waitstaff even. He owed me $150 and I squeezed $100 out of him as he promised I could grab some food from the freezer and some canned goods to cover the rest. I thanked him as he went to the bar to get plastered. Then I called a cab to the back door and loaded up anything I could from the fridge. I feasted for months!

I just took out the Pollock film from my library. It was entertaining, well acted and decently shot. Unfortunately it was the narrative that Harris could not hold together tightly. We never know why he was so troubled, though it points to his family. There are no flashbacks, just adulthood. You can tell Harris is cherishing every minute in this "labour of love". I think he was working 10 years on it - all because Harris' dad remarked once that his son looked like the painter.

High tea with the Queen: "I've never been into royalty," he adds, "but I was, like, bowing and saying, 'Hello, Your Majesty, please don't cut off my head." "Cullum is tipped to bring a new, young audience to jazz, a genre usually more associated with chin-stroking than underwear-throwing. " "Take Norah Jones's stuff. It's nice, but it's nice acoustic music. It's not jazz." http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/entertainmen...rticles/5293018

My brother's band is now using that system. He's a guitarist. I'll ask him tonight. I have partial hearing loss in my right ear which I attribute to stage monitors (I was always next to the guitarist), wearing out a walkman in university, and a certain My Bloody Valentine Concert about 10 years ago. I now wear plugs to most concerts and onstage when it gets out of hand. RT, thanks for the info on these plugs, perhaps my health insurance can cover them

Strange Karma, (from Ravi?) I just got hired yesterday as a rehearsal pianist for a vocal show coming up at a private high school. A whole gamut from Ave Maria, Whitney Houston, selections from "Chicago", "Rent" etc. Then there's Norah Jones' "I Don't Know Why". Thing is, I've never heard the tune. I had to go to her official website to download the song! Am I forgiven?

This all brings back a certain memory. In the day of BNBB I hastily signed on as Norah Jones. It had to do with Aric going on about how hot she was and how he wanted to do her in his hometown or something like that. I gave a couple of harmless posts to fuel Aric as was the rule back then. She eventually came onboard to settle the score ("Would the real NJ please stand, please stand up" No harm done. She was not opposed to what I wrote (Again I was trying to fool Aric). Now I see what has truly become of the media circus.

I just now discovered Hal's articles on his website. Lots to digest. Would be willing to discuss any of the topics he brings up. "Forward Motion" and "Practice and Performance Goals for the Jazz Improvisor" were especially interesting essays. Check it out! http://halgalper.com/13_arti/_0_arti.htm

Thanks Philip for the info.

Hi Jim, My first querie. Rudy's pianos always sound like they were miked with the lid down, yet there was probably not something efficient like PZM mikes to do so. Was the lid down? How exactly were they miked? I have done some recordings of myself on a 9' Steinway in a church and I experimented with the lid down/up variance and I got unique results. It depends on the size of the room too. Rudy always seemed to have that (paradoxical) bright/muddy attack that never really seemed present in most Steinway's I've tried! Although when I got into jazz piano at 17, I liked that sound, I'd say now that it's not my favourite color of the piano, though I recognize its siginificance on me. In my ignorance in my teens I almost thought BN had just one pianist!

Thanks, Decided the border too hard to cross still (my wife's Canadian now, but originally from Pakistan) and the drive to AA too long, though I miss that town. Saw many concerts there, football games, bookstores, skoolkids records etc. Thanks though!