papsrus

Surprised to see Volvo on there, too. Also, WNBA. It's almost certain the brand won't "disappear" by 2014. It's a niche sport, like arena football, that has a fan base and sponsors.

Keep on Truckin'

Happy birthday. Always enjoy your thoughts here. Paps

Link At least 12 injured during shooting at Mother's Day second-line on Frenchmen Street. This looks like it happened some distance outside the club area on Frenchmen, but that's little comfort. Edit: now at least 17 injured. That's a lot of people and the number keeps climbing.

Tried to find your post on this article on your FB page (I find that site annoying and frustrating to navigate) but only stumbled across a link to the article itself and a few comments by other folks. I was ready to dismiss some of the pronouncements here as snobbish whistling, until I read the article. It was embarrassingly amateurish. Apparently, the writer is one of the few people "familiar" with the NY jazz scene who hadn't heard of Cohen (and her brothers, who always merit mention in any article I've read about her). She has certainly been reviewed/profiled in the pages of the New York Times more than a few times, yet this writer blubbers on and on about this gem he's unearthed; this goddess whose music moved him to dig out his old, dusty clarinet (if only to fondle it, because actually trying to play a few scales would be sacrilege). The article was bound to leave anyone who has even glancing familiarity with jazz clarinet rolling their eyes.

Well done! Incredible building.

Yes, I'm not well up on this but I've heard that this was the impetus for spreading jazz musicians all across the USA, and what followed from that. MG I enthusiastically endorse the forced dispersion of all artists (and prostitutes, possibly deli owners) from any area where they become too concentrated!

Going back further, there was also Storyville, of course. Not a gradual process of gentrification, but rather a more direct crackdown. It seems the decline of the district still took about a decade or more nonetheless. And it was the military that wanted Storyville shut down, not the city government of New Orleans.

You've confirmed my impression that Byron may have overstated his own influence.

It is a good read. Video is worth a watch, too. I'll say this about Byron: he doesn't seem to lack for self-confidence. In any interview I've read with him -- which isn't a lot, mind you -- he usually offers up some generous account of his own accomplishments, yet he manages to do so in a way where he comes off as a straight-shooter. No reason to think Byron's not right when he says he started the whole downtown klezmer thing, but to quote Margaret Thatcher on this day of her passing: "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't."

I was going to start a thread on what I'm about to post, but it hardly seemed worth it and this seems as good a place as any to post this: I have a bundle of phone, internet and cable with Comcast. Lots of channels and Xfinity on demand, but no premium movie channels. Each year right around this time my bill goes up because the one-year promotional offer I signed up for the previous year expires. So I just call and tell them I'm considering canceling my Comcast and -- bingo! -- the person on the other end of the phone forages around and finds me a better deal for the same services. Has never failed to work. Call me a cheap son of a gun, but this year I got $40 knocked off my monthly bill! Sorry if this derails things (I doubt it will), but for anyone who thinks they're paying too much for bundled cable/internet/phone service, just call 'em up, lob a little threat to cancel, and voila!

I think I've just got to ask, does it matter where jazz musicians live? Does it matter where folk singers live? Or first trombonists in symphony orchestras? Or rock guitarists? Or systems analysts? Or bus drivers? MG It may. When a group of artists/musicians/deli owners living in a community is displaced and dispersed, they don't collectively relocate and continue their community in another location. They are gradually displaced one by one. Their connections are severed, to some degree -- maybe entirely. They no longer share a community, bump into one another at the deli and make those continuous random connections that communities generate. Instead of bumping into that bass player at the coffee shop who you jammed with a few months ago and saying, "Hey, I need a bass player for my set next week at Club X," you're bumping into stock analysts and physicians -- so you end up with a more risky retirement plan and some new medications to try. Which in the end, may not be an entirely bad thing for you (the collective 'you'), but not so good for the bass player.

Neih hou, and welcome.

Interesting article. A little long on whining and short on input and detail from actual club owners, musicians, patrons, cultural groups, city officials, etc. Basically it's the writer saying, "Here's what's going on. Trust me." For instance, talking about mayor Mitch Landrieu, the author says: "Soon, his administration began to enforce many previously-ignored law, which helped to kill off nightclubs like jazz staple the Funky Butt and Donna’s brass band club, both on Rampart Street in the French Quarter." A kind of vague and sweeping accusation that may or may not hold some truth. Jeff might know more about this, but I think Donna's closed primarily because the owners simply wanted to retire. Health issues, I believe, were the primary reason, not the enforcement of onerous regulations. The article talks about a hearing at which the club St. Roch was fined $10,000 (an enormous amount, seems like) for some violations having to do with permits and because tourists were pissing in the street. The article states: "At the hearing's end, St. Roch employees were ordered not to disparage the plaintiffs on social media, under penalty of law." I found this astonishing. Unless I'm misreading things, the "plaintiff" is the city. So St. Roch employees are being ordered not to disparage their city government on social media? Under penalty of which law, exactly?

Vinoy Park is actually in St. Petersburg, right next to the pier downtown. It's not a huge park, but a nice setting on the waterfront. The waterfront area in general is pedestrian friendly, and St. Pete is more laid back than Tampa. The park isn't hard to get to from Tampa. Just take I-275 to the Howard Frankland bridge that crosses Tampa Bay and the highway takes you right past downtown St. Pete. I may head up there myself Sunday afternoon for the New Orleans blues lineup.

Or, you will never be younger than you are today. Hope you had a great one Allen.

In the midst of some home renovations, so waiting for that to wind down and I can properly re-position my sound system, but I'm planning to treat myself to "The Verve/Phillips Dizzy Gillespie Small Group Sessions" (Mosaic) once the dust settles (literally).

I used to flail my way around some of the public courses here up until about 10 years ago. Don't think I ever broke 100 and can recall only one par. Nasty slice off the tee. I'd actually aim way left in the tee box just to get the ball somewhere near the fairway. On the green in four or five, and a four putt was pretty typical. But it was fun. I just never got any good at the game. I think I tried to get halfway serious about it for a couple of years but. ... A weekend hacker.

One dog. One cat. But I'm basically a dog person who also has a cat. You can run around with dogs, get some exercise with them, they like car rides (which cats hate), so you can take them places and they're basically up for checking anything out. On the other hand, cats low maintenance and they'll play with any old thing that happens to be available. Heck, a stray leaf that found its way inside yesterday gave Peanut (the cat) the zooms for a good half hour. So, both ...

Chuck and Jeff have it right. Frenchmen Street. Check out the listings in Offbeat magazine for specific clubs, dates and bands. It's worth stopping in at the Louisiana Music Factory to pick up a CD or two and talk to the guys behind the counter about what's going on.

Sounds like a grand time was had by all. Well done! I kept missing those bugstompers on my forays, although it seems as though they're always around. Spotted Cat can swing like mad.

Thing is, that lede surely got approval far above the level of the copy desk.

My god!

This comes across as just another in an endless series of self-serving excuses. As if to say, "I'm better than I showed in that game, (so draft me high, pleeeeze)." He, like the rest of his teammates, was run over by a truck. He wants folks to believe he was so emotionally distraught that it affected his play in the national championship game, yet he is described by Schapp as being composed and in complete control in an interview that takes place just days after the whole thing blows up in his face and he really, really, for really-real realized that he had been the victim of a hoax? This guy may have been a victim, who knows? But laying the blame for his poor performance on the field at the feet of a supposed hoax that he says he didn't even fully realize was a hoax until just days ago is ... I don't know what it is, but "believable" isn't the first thing that pops into my noggin.

More interestingly is he was a lifelong USC fan. He was originally going to go to USC, but changed his mind at the last minute to Notre Dame. This brings up the biggest conspiracy theories out there. That Lane Kiffin and the Tuiasosopo family are behind it. With all the family history @ USC of the Tuiasosopos and Kiffin coaching Fred Matua (Ronaiah's cousin who really did die in August/2012) while Co-OC for Carrol, and later coaching Marques Tuiasosopo @ Oakland. One of the pictures used for the hoax sister to the hoax girlfriend was a picture of Fred Matua's girlfriend and mother of his daughter. Lane Kiffin behind the whole thing. That would be great. Schapp seems to have been swayed to Te'o's version of events after interviewing him Friday night. I found Schapp's lack of skepticism disappointing. He talked about how Te'o came across as sincere and composed (that's kind of a trademark of liars, btw) but didn't seem to ask for anything in the way of actual concrete corroboration of Te'o's story. One of the first things I'd ask Te'o for is his phone records in order to verify these 8-hour, long distance sleepovers he maintains he had with this woman. If you're the woman on the other end of the line, you're going to stay on the line breathing into a phone for 8 hours every night just to keep a hoax going? Phone records would go a long way toward lending credibility to this rather bizarre claim. Another red flag: The Twitter apology from the alleged perpetrator of the hoax that suddenly showed up a couple of days ago. I'd ask Te'o for full access to his Twitter and Facebook 'paper' trail, since that's primarily where he says this relationship took place. In the end, folks might wonder, "Why go after this guy at all? At best he's a confused young man." Maybe that's true, but these phony narratives erected around athletes these days -- take your pick, there are plenty of examples -- may be the real hoax.