72 Virgins or …

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Gandalfe

"He told me…that, as a martyr, he would have been granted 72 virgins. This didn’t seem quite the moment to point out that there is a lively, ongoing debate among scholars of Islam as to whether the 72 promised virgins might, in fact, only be 72 raisins."
— The New Republic’s Peter Bergen, on an interview with a would-be suicide bomber

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Jay Easton talks about Bass Saxes

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Gandalfe

I love this from Jay Easton at the Bass Saxophone Page on his mostly-saxophone Web site:JayEastonBook

Bass_sax_waterfall_2 "The bass saxophone is the lowest member of the saxophone family ever widely manufactured. If there was ever an unjustly neglected instrument, this is it. It was the original saxophone, intended to buttress the bassoons as a more powerful low reed voice in the growing ninteenth-century orchestra. It never caught on in this capacity, despite being praised highly by noted composers including Liszt, Donizetti, and Meyerbeer. Upon hearing the bass saxophone in 1842, Escudier wrote "You cannot imagine the beauty of sound and the quality of the notes." Hector Berlioz called the instrument "magnificent and profound." But for complicated political reasons, the bass saxophone never really took hold. It had a brief surge of popularity as a bass instrument in early jazz groups, and even had a superstar soloist in the great Adrian Rollini. But as with so many of the other saxophones, it fell from favor during the 1930’s, and is only now experiencing a resurgence through the efforts of classical performers like Andreas van Zoelen and jazz players like Scott Robinson and James Carter."

Jay’s site is a very interesting read, visually fun because of all the vintage instrument pictures, full of sound clips. And now he has a book "Writing for Saxophones" that I will be reviewing both here and on the Sax On The Web (SOTW) forums as soon as my copy arrives.

Posted in Saxophone | 1 Comment

The Eppelsheim (Eppy) Bass Sax to low A Project

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Gandalfe
EppyVenus

I was on the Bass Saxophone Coop forum and I ran into a post by Jay Heath (all pictures are by Jay) of Middletown Music. He had what looked to me to be my ‘special’ custom bass sax by Benedikt Eppelsheim. There was the prototype Venus and what looks to be the special lacquer color I specified for my bass sax.

EppyProfile However, this instrument doesn’t go down to low A like the one Benedikt is building me. The bell of that instrument will come up to just above the neck line.

And that means that I’ll need a custom case to carry it but I think it will be worth it. I’ve already purchased an arrangement of "You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch" which is a feature piece for the bass or countrabass sax. That solo goes down to low A so I decided to go ahead and request that even though it will make the instrument heavier.

I actually asked Mr. Eppelsheim if he use William-Adolphe Bouguerau’s  "The Birth of Venus" and he is working with his engraver to see what they can come up with. I am expecting the instrument sometime this Fall and in time for the Christmas Concert. Now if I can get the director to okay the song and hope that the Woodinville Community Band does a Christmas Concert this year.

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The Concert — and then came the rain

Posted on June 29, 2007 by Gandalfe

JaAG_tenor And when I say rain, I mean that soul drenching stuff. But someone saw that a covered picnic facility had power so we schlepped our stuff over there and crowded in around the built-in and unmovable picnic tables. 

Jeff Miller, friend of mine and an even better sax player than I was there to take pictures. I like this one a lot because it also shows Suzy on alto sax. (She would be quick to point out that her hair really isn’t red.  :o)

Suzy started playing sax about 18 months ago after playing clarinet all the way through high school. I expect she’ll be out playing me in no time at all as she takes 3 lessons a week for a total of 2 hours of study. And she practices up to ten hours a week in addition.

John Gess, another good friend of mine is shown in the corner. He played clarinet in high school and started on sax about four years ago. The lady next to me is Molly Thompson and then Matt Brown. Both are phenomenal sax players who can sight read just about anything. Matt shares his name with a semi-pro sax player. So there is easily some confusion there.

Seated to my right is Cam Davison, the bearded fellow. He normally plays alto sax too, but he had duties as the director this week as our normal director, Neil Proff, is in Oregon working on his Masters.

Posted in Jazz | 9 Comments

The National Music Museum

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Gandalfe

Founded in 1973 on the campus of The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, the National Music Museum (NMM) & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments is one of the great institutions of its kind in the world. Its renowned collections, which include more than 13,500 American, European, and non-Western instruments from virtually all cultures and historical periods, are the most inclusive anywhere.

The only down side is that… wait for it… you have to go to South Dakato to visit there. :o) There are a surprising number of pictures on the site though. Enjoy.

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Tonight: Jazz Alley with Sara Gazarek

Posted on June 27, 2007 by Gandalfe

Last night I thought I saw one of the fabulous musicians who I discovered on MySpace on Komo4 News. And it was vocalist extrordinaire Sara Gazarek. So I called Jazz Alley and it wasn’t too late to get tickets for Suzy and I to attend. She has a jazzy style and a supremely confident manner that is attractive.

Here is what the SG band sez: "This band has been together for almost three years now. We’ve recorded a couple of CD’s (you can find them on iTunes and at my website – http://www.saragazarek.com), we’ve been to a couple of counties, performed more than a couple of shows, and plan to perform alot more!

We as a band do all of the arrangements together, and perform exclusively as a group, so the music has a spirit to it, and the band is tight. We strive to bring a contemporary edge to the jazz standards that we do, or a jazzy edge to the american standards that we have in our book. We’re all pretty young and although we have a common love in jazz, we can’t deny our love for Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, and all the other great songwriters out there. We just want to do good music and have fun doing it! Thanks for stopping by.

If you want the full bio, visit our website, http://www.saragazarek.com."

After the event. The night was magic and Suzy and I really enjoyed the venue, service, and combo. Sara sang one of favorite songs of hers, Blackbird. Once she did a routine where she started to sing other famous people’s songs like those of Britney Spears, etc. In all a very memorable night. So I asked Sara if I could feature her song ‘Yours’ and she said,

From: Sara Gazarek
Date: Jun 28, 2007 12:06 PM

I don’t mind at all!  And thanks for your continued support!

Sara

Posted in Jazz | 4 Comments

Woodinville Jazz Ensemble Performances this Month

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Gandalfe

WCB%20Jazz14 I wanted to take a minute to let you know that the WJE will be performing at Cottage Lake Park, Woodinville, WA at 7 PM on Thursday 28 June and at the Ballard Locks, Ballard, WA at 2 PM on Saturday 30 June. I wish many of my worldwide readers and friends could be there. However if you want to take a quick listen we have some recordings here. 

We have added a number killer and classic jazz charts to our set list. Our director has been hard at work finding charts to both challenge us and hopefully, interest the crowd. 

Here is what we have for this week’s gigs.

1. 88 Basie Street (158)- Terri Tourville
2. Hayburner (163)-Sax Soli
3. Kansas City (111)-Jim Glass
4. Fever (13)- Pamm Franswa
5. Jumpin’ at the Woodside (55)
6. Hallelujah I Love Her So (91)
7. Groove Merchant (49)
8. Nasty Bit of the Blues (89)
9. Little Brown Jug (124)- Bruce Leska
10. Two O’Clock Jump (144)- Jim Glass and Gary Anderson
11. Basie Straight Ahead (159)
12. All of Me (138)-Pamm Franswa, Gary Anderson and Molly Thompson
13. Honk (90)
14. Groovin’ Hard (105)-Sax Soli

wje

Posted in Jazz | 5 Comments

Gandalfe gets a scooter

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Gandalfe

SchwinnGrad150 I have been trying to lessen my impact on mother Earth. I moved within a mile of where I work from Kent and cut my gas consumption and exhaust time to 1/20th of what it was. I’m two miles from the building I work in so I thought I’d walk and ride my 32-year old Trek bicycle. But it is up a steepish hill and I hate getting to work sweaty. So after two years I wasn’t walking (25 minutes) or cycling that much.

A number of my friends have gotten motorcycles. But that really isn’t an option because my family, emergency room staff, and I consider motorcycle riders by their nick names, organ donors. But I have been intrigued with mopeds and scooters. So I started thinking about that and recently got down to talking to some people who ride scooters. My daughter took one look at the scooter and asked me if I was having a mid-life crisis. I said, a Corvette is a mid-life crisis, not a scooter.  :o)

scooterhelmet After looking at the alternatives I finally decided upon the Schwinn Graduate 150. It has a one and a half gallon tank with a travel range of 120 miles or more. That should mean that once a month, if I drive to work on the scooter every day, I would have to fill up. And at 150 cc, it is a very peppy ride. I can go zero to 35 mph in about 4 seconds. The scooter has a top end of about 60 mph. But I’ve never gone faster that 45.

I purchased a 3/4 helmet, riding gloves and an armored coat. I am getting use to lugging this stuff around because if I ever get hit, I think it will help save my life. Nicely enough the helmet and gloves fit in the seat compartment so I don’t have to schlep it up to my office.

I’ve got to tell you, I’m really luving this little scooter. It is just so much fun. Suzy and I are insured for the scooter now and we plan on taking the learner’s permit test this Saturday. We went the day after I purchased and rode the scooter home. But there were over a hundred people waiting, no one on the written test computers, and only two desk people. Sometimes government just sucks. Oh, and they didn’t have any motorcycle rules books.

Posted in Scooter | 9 Comments

Second Life – Or where I come clean

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Gandalfe

I have recently gotten hooked on the virtual world provided at Second Life. And no I will not tell you my SL handle. :o)

 I went to SL to look at the property Microsoft put up. I am toying with the idea of creating a sign for my product group community there too. But what I found was very appealing and addictive. Just like the Worlds of Warcraft people, I too have gotten sucked into the social dynamics that make up the game.

The first thing my daughter said, she and Suzy played SL for a week or so and then decided it was too boring, you think that avatar looks like you? LOL. Well, um, yes, maybe twenty years ago? <smile>

The worlds are rich with art, music, and scenery. Any they are as varied as the people who create them. The Japanese garden, the quaint jazz club, or the Mediterranean beach are all nice. The people come from all over the world and speak many languages. My paltry German and French is buffed up by using the Web’s Babblefish translator. But I really want to find a Babbler that is supposed to work with the SL control panel.

And this week they are rolling out a voice feature which will really help the non-typers in the group. Can I snipe here. Why would anyone play SL without filling out their profile??? Talk about an empty book. And if you are an air-headed kid (usually you can tell because they just say ‘yeah’ and ‘uh huh’) I’m guessing there won’t be that much for you in this world.

If you check it out, be careful if you are a great conversationalist. Because very quickly you can find yourself spending way too much time on your computer with way too many new friends. Not that is a bad thing, if that is what you are looking for.

Now to be clear, this is not in relationship to anyone who I may or may not have come in contact with on SL. No… really! But if you really want to read some in depth stuff about SL you can start with the Roadside Philosopher.

Posted in Entertainment | 3 Comments

Chocolate Tasting and traveling on the Islands

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Gandalfe

Paul and Lynne invited us to take a tour to Port Townsend to go to a 3 hour chocolate tasting class. Half the fun was being with our friends and enjoying the ferry rides to the venue. Here is from right to left Marie, Paul, and Lynne, part of the intrepid travelers.

The trip was designed to be an extravegant surprise for Lynne whose birthday we were celebrating. But she had no idea what we were going to do until we were actually in the class room. That added an air of mystery to the trip that was delicious.  :o) 

The Cacao was fabulous and the three and half hours (okay so we were really into this) was delightful and seemed like 15 minutes. We noshed all the way there and then ate a *lot* of cacao. Okay, maybe not this much. But we tasted over 15 kinds of cacao from 60% to a 99% pure. I was in heaven.

Mark Canizaro was our host at the Elevated Ice Cream Company. You can find more info at his web site at http://www.xocoatl.org. He is the most knowledgeable person I have met when it comes to caoco (chocolate).

"Theobromine and caffeine are similarly constructed types of pharmacologically active chemicals metabolized by the liver. Both are stimulants but with very noticeably different effects:

Theobromine (found in cacao)

gentle
mild effect
very slow onset
long lasting
50% in bloodstream after 6 to 10 hrs
increases feeling of well being
mild antidepressant
gentle, smooth, sensual stimulation
stimulates cardiovascular system
stimulates muscular system
mild effect on central nervous system
almost no one is allergic
not addictive
no withdrawal symptoms
mild diuretic
stimulates the the kidneys

Caffeine (found in coffee)

intense
strong effect
fast acting
rapid dissipation
50% in bloodstream after 2 to 5 hrs
increases alertness
increases emotional stress
jagged, nervous stimulation
stimulates cardiovascular system
stimulates respiratory system
strong effect on central nervous system
many people allergic
physically addictive
many proven withdrawal symptoms
extreme diuretic
requires large intake of fluids to balance the diuretic effect

The most interesting cacao was at Theo’s Chocolate in Seattle. That is because our cat’s name is Theo.  ;o)

Posted in Health and wellness | 5 Comments