AfricaBrass

Hey, hey!! Now that is really crossing the yellow line Sorry Chandra! Norah's all right in my book. I was just thinking about the good times to be had with Musicboy over there.

Well said. I did the same thing being I joined and agree with you. I lurked on the BNBB for two years before I joined. I read just about every post on that board. I think it is important to have an understanding of a community before you join in. There's always the Norah Jones forum...

I wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

That would be funny if you set some real bikers on these guys... I really like your comment about people just being themselves. It's like we all have to be characters nowadays. This reminds me of a time from my drinking days. It was about twelve years ago, and I wasn't always a very nice guy when I drank. There was this coffee house that was frequented by guys with $25k + Harleys and they were trying be like tough bikers. I spent 10 minutes mocking them and trying to call them out. There were at least 15 bikes there, so I would have had my rear handed to me if they'd have come after me. Fortunately, they didn't mind my mocking... I'm sure glad I don't drink much anymore... This is the same time period of my life when 12 beers (not p-water either) to catch a buzz. Man... my liver hurts just thinking about this...

I hope you have a very happy birthday!!

Yo man, I'm not above the quixotic approach myself. It's just that it's good to have a solid Plan B ready for immediate deployal should things not go according plan, because more than often enough, they don't. Good point! Actually, the fun part is when it doesn't go according to plan and I enter into the unknown.

I'm sorry to bring up the whole Politics forum issue in the first place. I do think that's a great way to handle it.

Thank you, Jim. As much as I like to go Don Quixote style after my own windmills, I see the wisdom in what you're saying. I just hoped for the best. Like some wiser people than me have said, these things have a way of working themselves out.

I'm sorry, John. I never intended to condone anti-semitism. I see a lot of anti-________ (you name it) all the time. I think any hateful behaivor or thought is wrong in every way. In America there's a strong anti-Islam sentiment among Christians and there's an anti-fundamentalist Christian sentiment among others. There's anti-conservatives and anti-liberals, etc... We need to transform ourselves where we see the humanity in everyone so that we can't just label someone and throw them out with the trash if we don't like them. This is exactly what I tried to do with Che. I wanted to bring us together so we wouldn't make off the cuff statements about each other while ignoring each other's humanity. I personally believe if you want to change ignorant thinking, you need to love the person who hates you, and hopefully their eyes can be opened to a higher understanding of things. Now, I finally think we should drop politics around here. If having it isn't going to better us, then what's the purpose?

One Click Away B-) Yikes! Those guitars are seriously addicting (to me)! I'm just (kinda) looking for my first one. Don't you already own a couple of G&Ls AB? Yes, but I don't have an ASAT Special (with the big soapbar style pickups) at this time. I sold mine to buy one of my Gretsch guitars. I have an ASAT Z2, a solidbody ASAT Classic, and a semi-hollowbody ASAT Classic at this time. I used to have an ASAT 3 (no longer made) which was basically an S-500 in an ASAT body, but I sold that because it was too heavy. I wish I would have never sold any of my G&L's (except one beautiful S-500 with an ash body heavier than a boat anchor).

This whole episode really made me question whether or not we should have Politics around here. I think if we go into that place we need to be completely willing to be offended. I like being able to talk about anything, but I don't like what has gone done since Che's arrival. I also question if the use of political avatars is something that should be allowed. Che accused me of censorship when I suggested he change his avatar to a less offensive one. Maybe we should make sure that the rule is that politics stay in Politics. I do give kudos to Berigan, Weizen, and those on the right who take much of the (hopefully) gentle abuse that's heaped on them. I tried my best to be a peacemaker. Now I feel a little stupid for bothering in the first place. My days on the new member are welcome wagon are over for now.

One Click Away B-) Yikes! Those guitars are seriously addicting (to me)!

I hope not!

Maybe in twenty years you guys might need a guitarist... then I'd be happy to see him in one of those green jackets.

It's cool. I'd rather play it safe. Those green jackets were pretty stylish!

That's really cool! I wonder if he has any idea how many people really DIG him? I'd rather meet Sam Rivers than any top actor or politician. I guess that's weird, but musicians are my heroes.

It such a terrible thought. I don't even want to think about it. The truth is that we aren't safe anywhere. Some whack-job could have a telephoto lens and be taking pictures of our kids. Damn... you creeped me out... I'm deleting my previous post. Edit: Thanks Sidewinder! I love that picture. He was only two and half at the time. Sorry to delete it, but maybe I'll repost it later with a Cat Shatner head on him.

To me, Indian music is much more complicated. They're playing semi-tones; IMO there's a ton of nuance in their music. I think they're rhythms are very difficult to follow. I purchased some tabla drums years ago and haven't got anywhere with them. I think you're right on the money there, AB! I got some tablas, too, and tried to learn some of those easier rhythms (Teental, for instance), but HELL! Indian classical music might *sound* simple and trance-like, but it is definitely NOT! There's a whole other musical world and tradition there, which has very little in common with Western music (jazz, at least in part, is Western music, too). A few thoughts: Indian classical music is not written. You cannot learn it by studying printed editions of anything, you cannot look at it, all you can is listen. The great master musicians have their pupils, they grow up in their masters homes, they don't just go there for lessons once in a week, they deeply absorb the music. Knowledge is passed by playing and living, not by what we understand as teaching. On the complexity: as has been noted, Indian classical music (I assume everybody is talking of North Indian music here, because South Indian is a whole other thing again, that I know near to nothing of)... got lost, sorry. As has been noted, Indian classical music uses micro-tones. Also, Indian classical music has far more different scales than we well-tempered (musically, that is) Westerners could imagine (all those diminished and augmented scales included). As far as I understand, there are a few basic things to Indian classical music: 1) There is a rhythmic "frame" to each tune/performance. That frame can vary greatly - there are the easy ones (Teental, which has 4 times 8 or 4 times 16 beats) and there are the highly complex ones (that's where Don Ellis came from, doing that crazy tune that opens his great Monterey Pacific Jazz album). An Indian musician always knows *exactly* where in that rhythmic frame he is, while playing - there is no easy-going trance thing there. 2) On top of the rhythmic "frame" (don't ask me if connected with it or not, and if, in what way, but I guess it's all much more complex than how I put it here), on top of that rhytmic "frame", thus, there is a melodic (NOT harmonic - Indian music does not know any harmony in our Western sence) frame (a scale). The scales used may differ quite some from what we call a scale, although we have that one minor scale that is played differently when played up from when played down - that kind of thing happens in Indian scales, too - you are (not) allowed to play particular steps of the scale if you have (or have not) played certain other steps just before it. 3) Indian classical music is performance-music (what music isnt't... whom do I tell, but...): each performance is organized in itself. If, for instance, you have a sitar player, backed by tabla (and tamboura, as always), he starts solo, sets the "mood". That part (I don't know how it's called, actually) may take as long as an hour (if they play Indian-style, aka real, not a short concert done for Westerners, their concerts go on forever, not just two hours or so). I have no closer idea about how such performances are actually organized, but organized they are. They follow a mood ("raga", I think, means just that) - so, for instance, you don't play a morning "mood" when the concert takes place in the night, or a winter "mood" when it's summer outside, whatever... Hope these mumblings make any sense - I'm no scholar, I merely scratched the surface, but I love the music (have seen Remember Shakti last year, have seen Zakir H. several times, as well as Hariprasad Chaurasia and some others, too). And if you want to know my opinion: the Handy/Akbar Khan somehow is nice, the Harriott/Mayer is wierd, and both don't really work (yet I will keep them both and enjoy them, now and then...) ubu Ubu, sorry I missed your post!!! Yeah, when I play my tablas, I don't sound anything like Ali Akbar Khan. Thank you for saying the things about Indian Classical music that I failed to. I think it's one of the most beautiful and rich form of music in the world. I enjoy those Paul Horn albums I mentioned earlier in this thread because they take me away to the Himalayas. I always imagine myself there when I listen to this music. :rsmile:

Same here. I had three albums worth of music on mp3.com. I'd also love to hear you play. What part of the West Coast might you be visiting?

How was it? I've also been listening to Sam Rivers tonight. Unfortunately, it wasn't live...

Crap! Use3D said that if we give up 1,000 posts you can ban someone. Don't get any ideas Conn! I'm right behind you, and I could always fire up that stupid question thread again... It would be like Battleship.

Citizen's array-est! Citizen's array-est! Shame! Shame! Shame!

I hear they blend well with Ayler's horn. I love their version of Ayler's Spirits Rejoice!

Sorry to get you going! I've got too much going on right now to visit shops and get all reved up. Unfortunately, the internet and many ASATs are just a click away...

This too, is my favorite Kenton album. :rsmile: