AfricaBrass

Hell yes. The second season was much improved over the first. Soul Stream I hear you. That shit can get old. I don't watch the show much anymore, I'm not even sure if he is in a new season or not. But, this DVD will be worth picking up. The Charlie Murphy skits are hilarious. I have the first season DVD and haven't seen too much of Season 2. I'm glad to know it's better than the first.

Did you guys see the episode with Wayne Brady? That was the best episode of the Chapelle Show in my opinion. Props to Wayne Brady for being able to make fun of himself on that show, especially after all the crap he's gotten.

Yes, it's true. Pepe's in Tucson. I can almost taste the salsa now. I might have to make a journey over there this weekend for a Saturday morning breakfast. That's cool! Get the tires rotated and have a delicious dinner.

The next one I'm looking at is the Korg Legacy collection, but I can wait until I can find a good deal on it. Are you using these for recording only or for performance also? I've considered going completely digital with my recording setup and using soft-synths, but I'm concerned about stuff like latency. Unless you're like someone like Donald Fagen, very troubled with MIDI latency no matter the instrument, you'll have no troubles with soundcard latency. I used to have a laptop rig for performance, a budget notebook with an Echo Indigo $100 PCMCIA sound card plugged in and a USB MIDI interface -- the results from a performance vantage were acceptable, although I never measured sound-card latency personally. If there was a difference in latency vs. a hardware or even acoustic setup, it was something akin to moving the amps several feet farther away from one -- single-digit ms. of soundcard latency, likely. THANKS! I'm really new to a lot of this stuff. I'm glad it works well. I'm not Donald Fagen, so I should be fine.

I listened to this the other day and it was good.

The next one I'm looking at is the Korg Legacy collection, but I can wait until I can find a good deal on it. Are you using these for recording only or for performance also? I've considered going completely digital with my recording setup and using soft-synths, but I'm concerned about stuff like latency.

I really don't like haggling. There are places you do it. Like car dealers and music stores, but if I'm selling something, I set the lowest price I'll accept. About a year ago I was selling a guitar. This guy from my area had posted on a guitar forum with a request for a cheap jazz guitar. I had my DeArmond X-155 and I offered it to him at a price that was WAY below what they even sell for on Ebay. I was trying to do him a favor and I told him this. I even sent him links to Ebay auctions for the same model, so he could see pictures. He was aware of the value. I proceed to go through trouble to meet him with the guitar and bring and amp for him to try it out. He plays it for a while; starts trying to pick out flaws with it and then offers $50 less than what I'd told him I'd sell it for. I was already going to sell him the guitar for less than I'd paid (and I got a GREAT deal on it), but I was insulted that he'd waste my time. I said no, picked up my guitar and amp and left. The guy ended up spending $200 more on a Chinese guitar that wasn't as nice. I ended up TRADING my guitar in for more than I paid for the thing, and a lot more than I was going to sell it to him. The way I look at it with records and cds. Buy what you can afford and enjoy it. There are a lot of people here who have so much because they've been collecting for years. I used to think I had to buy everything as quickly as I could, but there'll always be a way to get the music in one form or another. This is supposed to be fun. When it stops being fun, there's something wrong.

I hated it too! I think they were hard to program (or so I hear). However...I bought my 1st softsynth last month...and what did I buy? FM7! It was the fact that it could store multiple tunings that sold me. Plus I can always process it to make it sound a bit more analog. I'd like to get into soft-synths. The DX-7 players I knew didn't create their own patches. I bet that was the problem. It just seemed like the DX-7 was everywhere for a good part of the 80's.

Sorry Jim!!! I hope you had a great birthday! Here's a belated to you!

I actually thought of getting an old synth and using some of those sounds in a new way with my next recording. They're so far out, they might just be in. I have an old Kawaii keyboard that I've been using as a midi trigger for years. Maybe, I'll actually use some of the sounds on that thing. We guitarists were also guilty in the eighties. Fortunately, I couldn't afford the expensive multi-fx processors for guitar back then and bought cheap old effects pedals from the seventies (which ballooned in value ) instead. I played with guys that had these wacky rack setups for their gigs. I don't think they used 1% of what their gear could do.

My first amp was that Fender Champ you mentioned! I still have it, but it needs work. I'm glad you'll be getting it fixed. Those are great amps.

Since I'm a guitarist, I had a different view of the DX-7. I hated that thing. I played for a while in a band that had a DX-7 weilding keyboardist. Man... everytime he'd play, it sounded like the frickin' "Final Countdown" by Europe. I couldn't take it and left the band. The 80's gave me a headache. It took me YEARS to appreciate keyboards after that... I LOVE keyboards and synths now.

Well I have a fair bit of his Atlantic stuff (as well as his Prestige dates) but I find his sound later more 'manageable' (obviously, that would be up to a ceratin point!). Plus, the group 'sound' with Tyner et al is quite unique. Seriously man, go for Ole if you don't already have it. Really amazing stuff. I love this record so much that I've probably blown through ten or eleven copies over the years. Every time I get a new one a end up giving it to a friend. B-) I'll third the recommendation for this album. Heck... I love this album so much, I chose it for my album of the week (a long time ago...).

I hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I think he'll be happy with the Randall. It's much better than my first amp was.

Wow... Tacos and tires, what a combo! When we visited Austin a while back, we went to a place that sold gas and bbq. It was really good.

I used to enjoy his monthly column in Guitar Player magazine about his various sessions. I also remember seeing him in the band of TV's The Gong Show.

I agree Patricia. Art isn't very enjoyable when it's locked in a vault; it's meant to be shared.

The top female finisher at the annual Nathan's hot dog contest ate 20+ dogs in 12 minutes and weighed about 115lbs. I had a girlfriend years ago who could eat as much as she wanted. She was really cruel to overweight people. Knowing how karma works, I bet she looks like that round blueberry girl from Willy Wonka now.

I used to think I was lucky to live in California... now I'm not so sure.

That's great! I've always wanted to see India. I don't have a lot of countries to choose from. Let's see... I went to Tijuana once and had the greatest taxicab ride of my life.

WOW!

They'll have to change their rules for pack leaders to include "no serial killers:. You got me... I meant, I'd rather not have a tightly wrapped person as my son's Cub Scout leader (even if he's not a serial killer).

Good point, Patricia. Even though I'm a musician myself; I still have a hard time understanding what I'm SUPPOSED to be listening for in jazz. That's why I don't participate in a lot of jazz criticism. I LOVE the music, but sometimes I feel like there's some hip secret I'm not in on. I think I know what I'm listening to and for, but I know it's tough for someone new to the music. Okay... I'm guilty of a little too much navel gazing, but I'm all for sharing this artform with all. I appreciate ANYONE who does so. Regarding the Oscars: If I was going to watch an award show, I'd watch this one. As I keep saying, my only sadness is that people revere celebrities too much. I've seen shows where people are getting surgery to look like their favorite star. I just wish everyone could see their own value and not put stars on such high pedastals. There's absolutely nothing wrong, IMO, with respecting someone for their great work, but celebrity oftentimes seems to trump craft.

I grew up in Wichita when this was going on ... pretty chilling at the time, although it still is. I am glad for the families that they caught this guy. Why do these guys so often otherwise seem "normal" ... They seem so "normal" because, aside from their crimes, they are. There is no Mark of Cain. The reason that mass murderers, pedophiles and rapists can walk among us, undetected, is that look like us. They don't look like the monsters they are. That's why murders, molestations and rapes continue to happen. These warped people are US . That's what is so disturbing. Here's a case of a repressed personality at work. This guy must have been so wrapped tight to go nuts like this. Heck, I think some of the other stuff he did (like measuring the height of grass) was nuts also. I tell you this; I'd rather have a GAY Cub Scout leader for my son than a tight-assed wack-job like this guy. Edit: All I'm saying is that people like this guy are the ones screaming that everybody should live like themselves. I think not.