Where's Larry Kart?

[AllenLowe]

anybody know if Larry's ok? I just did a search and discovered he has not posted in the last week.

I assume he's lolling on a beach somewhere with that woman he met in the "I'm hot for jazz critics" chat room.

Edited May 2, 2010 by AllenLowe

[Hoppy T. Frog]

I wouldn't worry. Now you, on the other hand, if you didn't post for 24 hours we'd send a search party to southern Maine.

[Niko]

posted about this elsewhere here, I met him (unanticipated, here in Germany) last Tuesday where he conducted an interview with the vetrans playing with Mike Reed's People Places and Things (Art Hoyle, Ari Brown, Julian Priester)... could say hello only briefly and couldn't ask for his further plans but i guess it's safe to assume he's still travelling...

[Christiern]

I wouldn't worry. Now you, on the other hand, if you didn't post for 24 hours we'd send a search party to southern Maine.

In Jim Sangrey's case the alarm goes off after 5 or 7 minutes.

BTW, I haven't ever heard it go off.

[JSngry]

Old age is affecting your hearing then!

[Christiern]

Reckon so

[AllenLowe]

ah, I had the right idea - but the wrong woman - Larry just sent me an email with her picture:

[Larry Kart]

Hi, Niko.

Just got home (from Amsterdam) this afternoon. Mike's band, augmented by Hoyle, Priester, Brown, and Jeb Bishop, played Cologne, Amsterdam, and Hasselt (Belgium). The augmented lineup (with Brown subbing for Ira Sullivan) is same one that played a Millennium Park concert in Chicago in 2008; that concert is preserved on Reed's "Stories and Negotiations" (482 Music), liner notes by yours truly.

I was along for this part of the tour as the "gespreksleider" for pre-concert panel discussions with Hoyle, Priester, Brown, who like me (and Bishop) were there only for the first week. The rest of the band (Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman, Jason Roebke and Mike) will play in Italy and elsewhere for another two or three weeks. Things went quite well, musically and otherwise, Hasselt and Cologne especially. Belgians, it seemed to me, really know how to have a good time. Duvel is an excellent beer.

In Cologne, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum is something else -- a fairly compact, top-notch collection from the Middle Ages through the early 20th Century, and the annotations on the gallery walls (what's the term for those things?) were miles better than anything I've ever seen in any museum, really enlightening and free from b.s.

[king ubu]

I love Duvel! Next time you have to taste Corsendonck and Leffe as well, Larry!

Too bad you didn't make a detour to little criminal Switzerland!

[Larry Kart]

Review of "Stories and Negotiations" from today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/arts/music/02play.html?scp=1&sq=mike%20reed&st=cse

[Chuck Nessa]

What is the Chicago connection for John Dennis? I missed that - I know Muhal talked about him - what did I miss?

[Larry Kart]

What is the Chicago connection for John Dennis? I missed that - I know Muhal talked about him - what did I miss?

I don't believe there is one. John Dennis was a Philadelphia guy. Maybe Ratliff knew that Muhal quote in praise of Dennis and rashly assumed that Dennis was a Chicagoan.

[Bright Moments]

ah, I had the right idea - but the wrong woman - Larry just sent me an email with her picture:

[Niko]

Hi, Niko.

Just got home (from Amsterdam) this afternoon. Mike's band, augmented by Hoyle, Priester, Brown, and Jeb Bishop, played Cologne, Amsterdam, and Hasselt (Belgium). The augmented lineup (with Brown subbing for Ira Sullivan) is same one that played a Millennium Park concert in Chicago in 2008; that concert is preserved on Reed's "Stories and Negotiations" (482 Music), liner notes by yours truly.

I was along for this part of the tour as the "gespreksleider" for pre-concert panel discussions with Hoyle, Priester, Brown, who like me (and Bishop) were there only for the first week. The rest of the band (Greg Ward, Tim Haldeman, Jason Roebke and Mike) will play in Italy and elsewhere for another two or three weeks. Things went quite well, musically and otherwise, Hasselt and Cologne especially. Belgians, it seemed to me, really know how to have a good time. Duvel is an excellent beer.

In Cologne, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum is something else -- a fairly compact, top-notch collection from the Middle Ages through the early 20th Century, and the annotations on the gallery walls (what's the term for those things?) were miles better than anything I've ever seen in any museum, really enlightening and free from b.s.

yes, they did a great job with that museum (which was opened at its present location only 10 years ago...), Cologne may not be as easy on the eye as other cities here, but there is a bunch of great museums... played Stories & Negotiations quite a bit by now, a great cd, even better than the group's two previous albums... when you sat down for the interview i was a bit worried you'd turn out to be one of those WDR guys who spoiled quite some interviews for me over the years - even greater was the surprise that they had taken the effort to fly in someone truly competent and you did a great job (that you said "Association for the Advancement of Chicago Musicians" i will carry on to my grandchildren though ;-) )

Belgium btw must be the world's most underrated country... i was a skeptic myself for many years - and there is something undeniably creepy about the place, but somehow, i have become increasingly fascinated with it in recent years...

[Larry Kart]

when you sat down for the interview i was a bit worried you'd turn out to be one of those WDR guys who spoiled quite some interviews for me over the years - even greater was the surprise that they had taken the effort to fly in someone truly competent and you did a great job (that you said "Association for the Advancement of Chicago Musicians" i will carry on to my grandchildren though ;-) )

Belgium btw must be the world's most underrated country... i was a skeptic myself for many years - and there is something undeniably creepy about the place, but somehow, i have become increasingly fascinated with it in recent years...

I was worried too -- getting guys to talk fairly freely in public (and more or less stay on topic) without getting in their way can be tricky (and it's something I'd never done before, except once a few years ago with Lee Konitz, when out of nervousness I talked too damn much). The last panel, in Hasselt, went the best because I tossed my notes and asked all-new questions off the top of my head. Also, we all were getting along well.

About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character (i.e have been a bottom-up as well as a top-down affair) -- but the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life. For instance, in the bars, at least at certain hours, I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other -- groups of them playing cards at tables, etc. A certain fundamental warmth that I assume could take many forms. By contrast -- and this is completely unfair -- brief fore and aft slices of Amsterdam left me far from a fan of the city or its people, with the exception of the woman, a saint with a sense of humor. who was shepherding us around through the entire tour.

"Association for the Advancement of Chicago Musicians"? Whoa!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Brussels has a nice African section, too.

I think the creepiness may be the result of all the civil servants working for the European Commission and in the representative offices of the member states, the latter trying to undo what the former group are trying to do.

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character (i.e have been a bottom-up as well as a top-down affair) -- but the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life. For instance, in the bars, at least at certain hours, I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other -- groups of them playing cards at tables, etc. A certain fundamental warmth that I assume could take many forms. By contrast -- and this is completely unfair -- brief fore and aft slices of Amsterdam left me far from a fan of the city or its people, with the exception of the woman, a saint with a sense of humor. who was shepherding us around through the entire tour.

What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit!

I imagine that the Belgians, like the rest of us, are a diverse people.

"I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other" - astounding observation! What were you expecting?

And: "the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life." My god, I bet they are grateful to know that the way they enjoy life has your validation.

As for: "About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character". I wouldn't dare assume the same about 'the American character' based on the Native American massacres of the 19thC (and I'd hope no-one would make similar assumptions about 'the British character' based on our awful imperialist record)!

Dear, oh, dear! The arrogance of the intellectual tourist!

[AllenLowe]

interesting what Larry says about Amsterdam, which became my favorite city after visits in the 1970s and 1980s but which, at last visit, seemed cold and corporate.

as for those Belgians - well, everybody knows how damned evil they are.

[Larry Kart]

About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character (i.e have been a bottom-up as well as a top-down affair) -- but the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life. For instance, in the bars, at least at certain hours, I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other -- groups of them playing cards at tables, etc. A certain fundamental warmth that I assume could take many forms. By contrast -- and this is completely unfair -- brief fore and aft slices of Amsterdam left me far from a fan of the city or its people, with the exception of the woman, a saint with a sense of humor. who was shepherding us around through the entire tour.

What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit!

I imagine that the Belgians, like the rest of us, are a diverse people.

"I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other" - astounding observation! What were you expecting?

And: "the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life." My god, I bet they are grateful to know that the way they enjoy life has your validation.

As for: "About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character". I wouldn't dare assume the same about 'the American character' based on the Native American massacres of the 19thC (and I'd hope no-one would make similar assumptions about 'the British character' based on our awful imperialist record)!

Dear, oh, dear! The arrogance of the intellectual tourist!

Hey, Bev -- Wait till I get to Worksop.

[Niko]

omg, what did i start here! i definitely sense a strongly sexualized atomsphere all over the country, especially in the french-speaking part, not comparable to any other place i've visited... maybe it's because i grew up during the time of the Dutroux affairs... but i always sensed a thorough darkness/creepiness in the country which is both fascinating and, well, creepy... i found Brussels much warmer and much more interesting than Amsterdam...

Edited May 3, 2010 by Niko

[A Lark Ascending]

Hey, Bev -- Wait till I get to Worksop.

You'll have problems - it can't make it's mind up if it's part of Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire, a rural market town or an ex-coal mining town.

However, like in Belgium, a fair number of the middle-aged couples obviously like each other (except on a Saturday night after ten pints and an evening of watching an Elvis tribute band).

[A Lark Ascending]

omg, what did i start here! i definitely sense a strongly sexualized atomsphere all over the country, especially in the french-speaking part, not comparable to any other place i've visited... maybe it's because i grew up during the time of the Dutroux affairs... but i always sensed a thorough darkness/creepiness in the country which is both fascinating and, well, creepy... i found Brussels much warmer and much more interesting than Amsterdam...

Would it be fair to suggest that in the many times I've been in Germany, the jackboot has always been just below the surface?

This sort of stereotyping is nonsense. It's reading into a situation things from our own patchy knowledge of a foreign place, often based on more sensationalist events we half-recall. The sort of thing I remember from the 60s and 70s when Brits first started going abroad (on holiday rather than as an invasion force) - my parent's friend's were always quick to make judgements about 'the nature of' 'the French', 'the Spanish' etc based on ten days in a hotel serving pie and chips and Watney's Red Barrel.

I think I might have stereotyped the emergent British neo-middle class of the 60s and 70s there!

I was in Cheltenham at the weekend. Didn't go to Gloucester - creepy place. Fred West lived there.

[J.A.W.]

Yeah, Amsterdam is not what it used to be, it's a cold, hard place now with all those loud Americans "doing" the place in an hour and its red light district swarming with hard-drinking English soccer fans...

[papsrus]

I gotta get out more ...

[Jazzmoose]

...serving pie and chips and Watney's Red Barrel.

Shouldn't this go on for about twenty more sentences?