Insert Catchy Title Here...

The Way I See It #138

2006-09-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

The good life is the middle way
Between ambition and compassion
Between action and reflection
Between company and solitude
Between hedonism and abstinence
Between passion and judgment
Between the cup of coffee
and the glass of wine.

Jay McInerney

On the Other Hand...

2006-03-09T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ben Folds' show at the Kibbie Dome Sunday night was really amazing. His level of piano playing is much higher than would appear from his albums. His intensity reminded me of old Jerry Lee Lewis documentary footage, crowd interaction was superb. He played for almost two hours and looked to be having a great time. It pains me greatly to have to say I enjoyed this show nearly as much as the Monty Jamaican Foray. Monty is my absolute favorite piano player...and I don't even own a Ben Folds album! Oh well, such is life...

Maybe it is an indication of how old I am, but my only complaint was the ear-bleeding dB - peaking at 116 at one point. As a result, I spent most of the time fidgeting w/ my earplugs (cut out too much high-frequency) and plugging my ears. I looked like this for most of the show:

Monty Alexander

2006-03-05T09:06:00.000-08:00

So, in deep contrast to last year's enjoyment...this was just alright. Monty's playing was brilliant, but even while enjoying his passion and musicality, I just couldn't figure out what to think.

From the Seattle Times:

"The swinging jazz pianist's turn to his Jamaican roots for a foray into reggae came off as neither fish nor fowl in a recent festival performance, but who knows, there's certainly enough talent to go around here."

'nuff said.

Dispatch From the Road

2005-08-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Day Five of the Portland/Seattle road trip and I'd thought I'd better record last night for posterity. We came into Seattle a little earlier than we thought because we weren't able to contact my college roommate and his family (in Vancouver). So, we headed north on I-5 until we got to the SuperMall in Auburn.

At this point, I realized my 'vacation' was turning into a big mall run. Granted, I happened to be getting some new clothes out of the deal, and that's what small-town rubes are supposed to do when we enter shopping meccas, right? But I was ready to do something besides try on shirts. And then I thought, 'let's go see Bob Schneider tonight'.

After getting onto the internet at Tat's brother's place, we found out ol' Bob was playing here: The Triple Door. Now, I vaguely remember Carl telling me to check out the venue '3 doors'. I assume he meant this. Completely world class all the way. A fantastic venue that I really couldn't say enough about, from the food to the staff to the sound to the atmosphere. It was a great place to go. The website gives all the details. I recommend the pad thai. It was excellent.

How was the music? Well...

Hardcore Reidt bloggers would remember how blown away I was with Bob's B-side show in Spokane. Tat and I were not as impressed this time around. Don't get me wrong, his band was incredibly tight and the whole performance was pristine and well-rehearsed. And that was the biggest problem. While the music was 100% better, the show was just too clean. Tat had a couple of really great comments:

1. She had come for a 'show', but got a 'concert'
2. Bob should save the perfection for the record

And that got me to thinking (no surprise) about what it is that I enjoy about live music. Invention, rapport, spontaneity. I need to somehow feel that the show that I am enjoying is a truly unique event. If it is just a super-glossed rendering of all my favorite tracks...well, I can listen to the record for that. Tat agreed whole-heartedly.

Bob's Spokane show was stunning in its interaction. He talked to the crowd between every song. He riffed on all sorts of topics. He was funny and down-to-earth. After the show they just wandered around. Here it was a big concert. The venue establishes a certain seperation between the audience and performer just by its layout, and Bob wasn't trying too hard to bridge the gap.

So, some great music but not a great show (unless you really like stage lighting). Overall though, it was a great experience. It just really drove home a couple of lessons regarding what seperates good live music from recorded music.

An unexpected surprise was getting to hear Steve Poltz as the opening act. Steve did everything Bob did (last time) and didn't (this time). Namely, he interacted with the crowd, told funny stories, and got everybody really engaged. He was a perfect opener...the crowd was really ready - and then Bob didn't do anything with it.

A tangent is the proliferation of myspace.com. Steve made a plug for his myspace site, asking us to all be his friend. A quick search shows similar profiles for Bob Schneider as well as Billy Harvey, who weirdly, wasn't playing with Bob last night (what's that all about?). Anyway, it was interesting to see established acts using myspace as a networking and marketing tool.

Calling for Band Names

2005-07-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

OK People, here's the story:

We're coming up with a band name. Band plays genre-defying music, so no 'Palouse Area Blues Band' or anything like that. Add your suggestions, but please consider:

1 - We'd like a single word ('Wilco')
2 - We'd like it to sound soft, not metal
3 - It's gotta pass the '.com' domain test, so see if the internet address is available for your names.

Thanks
-J&J

Mecca

2005-05-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

It came, and since some people actually read this lame journal, I thought I better give that update .

Everything was smooth and painless, except:

Working with my stupid Windows machine. I couldn't get a secondary account set up w/ limited permissions, and then have it actually connect to the internet. I spent hours yesterday trying to do what should have been such a mundane task. And all the restarting, rebooting. I may never buy a PC again, with such a glaring comparison now that I have the Mac.

So, I finally ended up removing Service Pack 2, and rebuilding two new PC accounts. That seemed to finally allow me to configure the proper parental controls on the limited account...as far as the internet goes.

Should the limited account want to delete everything on the hard drive, it appears to be able to. So, I still got to figure that out. And some programs didn't uninstall properly, so there's some of that garbage to clean up...another thing that is much easier on the iMac.

One Day...

2005-05-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

iMac is in Lewiston.

Music making and digital lifestyle to commence shortly.

The switch is near.

Still coming along.

2005-05-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

The Keystation arrived today. The iMac is still in China, albeit with FedEx. Unfortunately, they've pushed back the expected delivery date until the 19th.

We have the official countdown until music-making:

3 days.

So Far, So Good.

2005-05-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

iSight came on the 11th. iMac due to ship on the 16th...and my midi-controller keyboard is due to come on the 16th. I should be having fun w/ Garage Band certainly by the end of the month.

Cancelled

2005-05-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I cancelled the order. I decided that the wireless keyboard and mouse was too tempting an option for $54. Plus, since I had the order open...I went ahead and purchased an iSight.

Now, I just need to look into USB piano keyboards that will work nicely w/ Garage Band.

I do think it was rather absurd that Apple couldn't change the order while in a manufacturing state. Perhaps a more knowledgeable customer service rep would have figured out a way. The guy I got seemed to not know much.

So, the clock has been reset.

Waiting, waiting...

2005-05-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

The latest status:
"Sent to Manufacturing"

More Switch

2005-05-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

Something that made me laugh when I was hunting for switching resources:

Man Happier About Switch to Mac than Conversion to Christianity

Making the Switch

2005-05-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

Yes. I'm a pathetic blogger. I still haven't updated my Monty Alexander posts to reflect my reviews of the evening (I can't believe that was two months ago...crazy). But something happened yesterday that is quite exciting. I've decided to liberate myself from the "blue screen of death".

I've ordered a spanking new 20" iMac G5. I've been watching this particular machine for about a year. Waiting, waiting, waiting...

The first thing I was waiting for was an iLife update. I wanted iMovie and iDVD to support 16:9 widescreen format. Why have a widescreen display if you can't support widescreen format? Then iLife '05 came out. Check.

The second thing I was waiting for was Garage Band reviews. How did it stack up as multi-track recording platform? Then the awards started rolling in. Check.

The third thing I was waiting for was Tiger. Check.

The fourth thing I was waiting for was the rumored memory upgrade. Bump in processor? Check. Bump in standard memory? Check. Bump in video memory and graphics card? Check. The now-standard bluetooth, wireless, and $100 price drop was just gravy.

So, now it's just a waiting game. Looking forward to the switch.

Monty @ Jazz Alley

2005-03-10T11:38:00.001-08:00

Well, the idea of the blog was to record memorable events, and none could be much more memorable than the Monty Alexander Trio at Jazz Alley. I stayed for four sets, set lists to follow:

20050304 Set I:
1. St. Thomas
2. I Can't Stop Loving You (gospel piano intro - med swing)
3. Hallelujah, I Love Her So (boogie piano intro - played w/ elbow)
4. You Don't Know Me (piano/bass start)
5. Lonely Avenue (Red Halloway intro )
6. Love for Sale (awesome piano solo)
7. You Don't Know What Love Is (Red: "Love is a disagreement b/w two fools)
8. Keep Your Hands Off of Her (Sanctified Gospel beat, Monty tore the !@# out of it!)

20050304 Set II:
1. Gotcha' Runnin' (Marley: flavors of 'Summertime')
2. Don't Go (aka Gotta Go - Monty original)
3. Renewal (very interesting funkish take)
4. Lonely Avenue (here comes the sax...great boogie, awesome piano solo - elbow trick several times)
5. I Gotta Woman (great singing intro by Monty, jumping church beat)
6. Let the Good Times Roll (Red on vocal
7. Drowning in My Own Tears (solo gospel piano intro, Monty ends singing "Hard Times")
8. Eb blues "Young Women, let me tell..."
9. Encore: Georgia

20050305 Set I: 7:48-9:07
1. High-heeled Sneakers (great pause during head. Shuffle of course. A little Monk on L.H. - Mysterioso. keeps going...intros...solos, almost 10 mins. Calls out number of punches 1-2-1-3 etc. then started again real quiet. Salt peanuts to end)
2. I Can't Stop Loving You (another gospel intro, shuffle during bridge then r&b flavor, med swing tempo. key change after drum solo)
3. You Don't Know Me (another gospel intro, slow ballad. Then double-time feel for round of solos. C.C. Rider quotes transitions out to end of head)
4. Lonely Avenue (sax intro. shuffle, growling, lots of JLL glissandi)
5. St. Thomas (solo piano intro - love those changes)
6. Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Monty killed on intro, Red loses the energy in the transition. Half-step changes - learn those)
7. Let the Good Times Roll (Red on vocal. solid shuffle, could you get tired of this ?!)
8. Georgia (no Monty solo, but excellent comping. I love his comping almost as much as hi solos)
9. What I'd Say (AWESOME - hits all the breaks. Monty singing "Hey. Ho". Awesome. In a fury, plays melodica...runs out of breath. Pants and smokes piano.)
10. Encore: Hit the Road Jack (gospel piano intro, minor swing, very percussive. Monty gives a Ray monologue.)

20050305 Set II: 9:54-11:22
1. Look Up (Monty. standard jazz ballad intro. quite the stylistic tour. swing. A-train. funk "So What". Boogie bass, etc.)
2. Started Renewal - shifts to No Woman, No Cry. (love the little off-beat comps. so island)
3. I Can't Stop Loving You (r&b stuff is so tasty. little slower. Easter Parade extended quote...then OP "rolls". even stride style!)
4. The River (slowin' it down. hand drums, lick trick. plucking strings, etc)
5. Lonely Avenue (sax intro. shifts to "One Mint Julep"
6. "Keep Your Hands Off of Her" (love that sanctified beat. Herlin's "Whoo!". Monty STANDS)
7. Hard Times (Monty sings)
8. I Gotta Woman (gotta learn that gospel jump)
9. C.C. Rider (sax intro. medium swing. Blue Monk taste, another rediculous solo)
10. SKJ (call & response. Monty has gifted ear. Red doesn't. Stormy weather. Modulated the head over no key change. Count Basie ending, then continue and go again!)
11. Encore: Unchain My Heart ("We don't know anymore songs". His hands are killing him. latin feel and more melodica)

Outstanding shows. Review to follow.

Monty!

2005-02-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

My main issue right now is Monty Alexander. His "Live at Montreaux" album has got to be the swingingest album I've ever heard. His opening to Satin Doll is just hard-core shuffle, and then he brings it down to typical piano trio arrangement, but never gets too serious with it...just playing all around the melody. I love it!

Praise be to Monty! Come soon Monty to Moscow! The day is near (Feb 23rd)

Test post

2005-02-11T19:45:00.000-08:00

I am doing 43 things.

A Couple More Prospects

2005-01-25T14:28:00.000-08:00

1. N'Awlinz: Dis, Dat, or D'Udda (Dr. John)
2. Manhattan Melodies (Eric Reed)

Engineers Without Borders

2005-01-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

Reading the Daily Evergreen in the lunch room, and an article mentioned an organization that took me back to my Senior Student Project days. It sounds very interesting...worth looking into.

Question:

2005-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

If I blog in the woods, and there is nobody around to read it, does it still make a sound?

Seriously, I'm interested in anybody's thoughts about a new music service I found out about today while reading Eric Alterman's blog (btw, he has a nice shout out to Madeleine Peyroux today). It's called "your music dot com", and it's like a CD club mixed with Netflix. Instead of your monthly selection being something you've never heard of (and don't want), it comes out of a queue you've pre-filled. Interesting? I'm thinking about it if I can get at least 10 selections put together. So far I have three:

1. Jazz @ Bistro (Green/Malone)
2. Get Away From Me (McKay)
3. Best of Holly Cole (Cole)

Any suggestions?

Cool New Photo Tool

2005-01-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Check out the link above, it's been an interesting tool for online photos. Oh...and that's how I got the "Random Picture" on the right generated.

Another thought...

2005-01-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

"Time has taken my tomorrows,
and turned them to yesterdays."

-Ben Harper

Just a Thought...

2005-01-05T14:22:00.000-08:00

On an insert in my paycheck:

"It's not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years." -- Abraham Lincoln

A sentiment reminiscent of Campolo's "Carpe Diem". (Did Abe actually say it?)

Another Front Page...

2004-10-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

First it was Elizabeth on the front page of the Daily Evergreen. Now Emily is on the front page of the Daily News. Our move has been duly noted by the local press!

Finally...a new post!

2004-10-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

So...it's been a long time. And nobody reads this anyways. But just for fun, here's a post of what we did over the last month to get settled. The name of the game was storage. Consolidating all of our stuff from a big house to a not-so-big house wasn't easy. Bookshelves were the key. After getting these for the living room: &
we were finally able to get the cds and some books off the floor. It wasn't until the trip to IKEA last weekend that we were really able to settle in. The office was mightily improved by & .
With a futon in that room, it's a lot cozier than it used to be! So feel free to come visit. The family room needed storage for lots of books, so we got this bookshelf,
and then built a little wall unit using similar materials for an ad-hoc entertainment center. It's very functional. Quite an improvement on the previous configuration - stuff all over the floor. So is that all there has been to the move? Acquisition?

Well, the reduced commute has been great. Churchwise, we bounced around a bit. The last two weeks we have attended Moscow First Pres. They have joined in with a 40 Days of Purpose campaign. I have mixed reviews on that book, but it certainly provokes energized discussion, which is good. The children's programs have been great...alleviating some of the sadness at leaving behind our good friends at Spokane FPC.

Leave a comment if you have one!

Published Again...

2004-09-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out this exciting Application Guide