The Bis Key Chronicles

The Pacific Northwest According To Jeff

Posted on May 6, 2008 by Gandalfe

I thought Jeff Foxworthy did Southern humor but he seemed to nail this one. This email is making the rounds and it would seem he has spent time in the Northwest. :o)

1. You know the state flower (Mildew).
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.

3. Use the statement ‘sun break’ and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5 You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the ‘WALK’ signal.
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it’s not a real mountain.
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, and Tully’s.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon.
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima and Willamette.
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days.
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.
16. You are not fazed by ‘Today’s forecast: showers followed by rain,’ and ‘Tomorrow’s forecast: rain followed by showers.’
17 You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover.
20. You notice, ‘The mountain is out’ when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.
21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.
22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.
23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.
24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.
25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time.
26. You measure distance in hours.
27. You often switch from ‘heat’ to ‘a/c’ in the same day.
28. You design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.
29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).
30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them.

Posted in Humor | 4 Comments

Copyright Complexities

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Gandalfe

This is rather an educational view of the very complex world of copyrights and copyright infringements. I want to remember this and review it periodically so, of course, I place it in my blog.

Posted in Computers and Internet | 6 Comments

Siblings

Posted on May 4, 2008 by Gandalfe

I’ve three brothers and a sister. Most of them I really like. (Just kiddin’.) This picture was probably taken in Sigourney, Iowa in the mid-sixties. This was the first *new* car that my father had owned. The shadow head is from my mom who did the camera honors. I really like the framing of this picture.

I’m not sure what we were doing, but we always seemed to have fun. The youngest was being faux choked by the oldest. I’m not sure how I got involved, but I was and still am the second oldest. So there you have it, the two eldest kids plotting a fiendish plan against the youngest. Although I must say, it looks like he’s enjoying it. I now return back to your regularly scheduled program.

Here we are in 2003. We haven’t changed much have we.

Posted in My World, Photograph | 7 Comments

Doing it with a Sax

Posted on May 1, 2008 by Gandalfe

I’m late for work after a luscious lunch with sweet Suzy Jo. Seems I had a screw in the tire of my ride which has been leaking for a week now. After refilling it once I found the damage. Damn. So I grabbed Suzy’s way cool ride and was on my way to work listening to her CDs. She has taken to listening to some jazz saxophonists that she might want to emulate. Truth be known, I think she we develop to be a more lyrical player than I. Like Paul Desmond, she started on the clarinet.

And there it is, Boney James doing my C2 to C1 with the octave key Bonk Bop Bonk Bop. Clear as day, there it is. And this got me to thinking. I know a lot of great musicians who can do stuff that I may never do. But I bet they could give me a couple of new effects to work on that are as easy as the Bonk Bop!

So if you’re out there and stumble across this, what is your favorite jazz effect that I might add to my vocabulary. Mind you, being easy to do is a good think in my book. I’m hep to the turn-arounds, bends, and trills. I’m not too good with with growls, reed tongue clicks, and extreme slides from one note to four or more up the stairs.

So dish, what’s your fav sax or reed effect.

Posted in Saxophone | 7 Comments

Hey, found pics on my Camera :o)

Posted on April 26, 2008 by Gandalfe

This first picture is of Theo looking thoughtful. Turns out he had an abscess over his right eye and I caught it before Suzy did. That is a rarity as she is so observant and I, not so much. I noticed it immediately through the lense of the camera and not when I was playing with him. Off we were to the vet for another round of antibiotics. We suspect his sister Macy caught his eye with her claws. These fellows play tough.

He’s on Suzy’s desk and she is working with some arrangements for one of our bands. She is so good about that. I have yet to do an arrangement of a full score. I usually only try to capture my solos if I have a good line I don’t want to forget. And then I do it with pencil and paper and not on the the various computer notepads and editors that we have.

I was reading about a 50 year old who just started up on sax again. As all the folks on the forum were talking about welcome back and giving advice, I thought I take some pictures of what can happen if you give in full-heartedly to your music passion.

Yes, there are eight instruments in that picture and no two are same. (Click on the image to see full sized picture.) Actually you can hardly see the sopranino sax on the left because I cropped the picture. And there are two metronomes shown; I really need to improve my sense of internal pulse.

Now that I have published this photo on my blog, I can point to it from the forum as a warning or cautionary tale for like-minded, would be instrument collectors. :o)

Posted in Music | 7 Comments

Crazy Sax Friday

Posted on April 25, 2008 by Gandalfe

I’m so ready for the weekend, except Suzy works! Ah well, it’s chores and some quality sax practice time for me. Here is a little gem that made me laugh–hey, I’m easy that way. :o)

Our quartet practice this Sunday will include these new charts:

Stella By Starlight
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Nice Work if You can Get It

All favs of mine. I hope the arrangement is copasetic.

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

Gerry Mulligan: The Age of Steam

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Gandalfe

Age of Steam

I’m making my way through the Gerry Mulligan DVD, The Age of Steam. I’ve always appreciated Gerry’s sense of rhythm and song phrasing. Right now he’s playing clarinet on his ‘One Note Samba’. The DVD has him playing piano, sax, and clarinet. His music is haunting and delicious. I have a friend, JB, who’s bari stylings are very similar to Mulligan’s.

Made me pull out the clarinet and start honking on the instrument. Did I ever mention how much I love playing clarinet. I started three years ago. Although I haven’t taken lessons, I have played bass clarinet in the concert band for half a year (then two more showed up) and in the pit orchestra.

Playing bari sax is a really a labor of luv for me. Although it takes more air, the sweet dulcid and low tones make it one of my favorite instruments to play. I’ve always played Yanagisawa baritones which have superb intonation and keyworks. It is effortless to run the scale and there is very little lip work necessary to fix the common sax intonation problems.

As side one of the DVD runs to an end, it is obvious that Gerry had a love for life that pursued with gusto and sated with his love for music. An arranger, performer, and educator, Gerry Mulligan epitomizes all that is good about music. ‘O Great Spirit’ by Gerry Mulligan indeed.

Here are some more bari soloists to consider:

Enjoy!

Posted in Jazz | 5 Comments

Choice Begins Today

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Gandalfe

Around the campus where I work I’ve seen these signs touting the release of my team’s newest product. I know where the marketer who came up with the slogan is coming from but it got me thinking about life in general. We make choices everyday. And these choices lead us along the path of life in a life affirming or character hammering trajectory.

For example, the great debate amongst young people entering college is does one pursue what they love (music, art, philosophy) or go for a degree that will practically guarantee them employment when they graduate (business, law, medicine)? This decision is so hard to make that over 70% (last time I checked) of students end up changing their degree azimuth at least once during their paper chase.

Then there are the day-to-day choices like; do I wear Levi’s or Target jeans; drink American coffee or a Starbuck’s latte, drive a Chevy or a Lexus? Sears used to preach to it’s staff that if they could get a customer in the front door, they could usually sell them something. So people can have money problems based on their ability (or lack thereof) to make good sound purchasing decisions. I feel that you can drive that Lexus, if you have the car gene and really desire that, by purchasing used or buying new and then driving the car for ten or more years. :o)

How do you spend your time? Does it help you become more educated, smarter, and interesting to be around. If you are playing computer games, watching TV, and leading the sedentary life, I would ask you if you are really happy with that choice. Can you add a book a year, visit a zoo or go to a concert to your TODO list and maybe have more to talk about around the water cooler?

I would have my family and friends who have consistently made bad choices know that they are not stuck. They have the choice to go back to school, change from stressful jobs to better ones, and start eating and exercising properly. It you feel like you’re in a rut, you can make the choice to figure your way out or at least to a better station in life. Almost nothing is final, except maybe death and taxes.

Posted in Health and wellness | 5 Comments

IAJE Files for Bankruptcy

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Gandalfe

"In what is being described as a "perfect storm" of bad luck, unchecked growth, fundraising and management failures, the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) — an important link to Seattle’s successful school jazz-band scene — has collapsed." This from an article entitled, American jazz gathering, planned for Seattle, is canceled, the Seattle Times yesterday.

The IAJE Web site sez:

Dear IAJE Family, it is with a great sense of loss that I inform you that despite drastic efforts to cut expenses and raise emergency funds, the IAJE Board has voted to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Law. I want to thank profusely those who responded with their generous donations and offers of assistance following my last communication. While over 250 individuals contributed just over $12,000, this, along with the many other efforts and contributions of IAJE staff, Board members, and association partners, was simply not enough to address the accumulated debt of the organization or its urgent need for cash relief.

Read more…

It takes a combination of skill, passion, and drive to get an educational organization like this survive. This is a sad day for most jazzers.

Posted in Jazz | 5 Comments

The Dissonance: A Little bit o’ Jazz

Posted on April 17, 2008 by Gandalfe

The Microsoft MVP Global Summit is this week so I’ve been very busy setting things up, reacting to fire drills, and spending quality time with my peeps, the CRM MVP team. (What do you mean there’s only food for 12 of the 14 attendees?) These guys are a hoot to be around too, traveling from all over the world including Spain, Germany, and India amongst other countries. The group is more than just savvy, they are fun to be around with a great sense of humor.

So Tuesday night we had a special dinner for them, plenty o’ booze, and my band the Dissonance played for them. We got one of the MVPs to sit in with us for ‘Killer Joe’. And, Jeff Miller, the photographer did some tenor sax solos for two other charts.