Ink, the art of fine tattoo

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Gandalfe

inkSounds like a nice title to a book don’t cha think. I’m not sure what it is about tattoos, maybe that they are taboo… or were? I see a lot more use of tattoos in the world of fashion. I don’t see it that much in the world of business. Maybe that’s a good think though. You see they can be very distracting, especial to those of us, women and men with an artistic bent.

TatooMuch like the use of excessive jewelry, Ink can be used to label and stereotype people. The worse handle that you can get, much like mullet is the hair style is “Tramp stamp”. I wish we’d found a nicer name for this kind of art.

From Wikipedia we see, “The Tramp Stamp is sometimes intended to emphasize sexual attractiveness. Such tattoos have become popular since the late 1990s. They are sometimes derided as suggestive of promiscuity and often referred to as “tramp stamps” and other slang terms. The German term Arschgeweih can be translated as ‘ass antlers’. Such tattoos are primarily seen on women, although a small but increasing number of men have them as well.

While the lower back is not the widest area of the human back, it has abundant space for a large design and horizontal tattoo designs can be worked easily. In contrast to the abdomen, which is otherwise a similar location, the lower back does not stretch significantly during pregnancy or other weight gains, thus providing a more stable site for a design. Lower back tattoos are often left uncovered by individuals wearing crop tops that are designed to expose the midriff and low-rise jeans that are worn low around the hips.”

Indeed.

trampstamp  trampstamp2

I see them as everyday erotica, much like lace shirts, short shorts (love that alliteration), and diaphanous shirts. It can be especially nice when color is introduced. Next week we will talk about thongs, the rights and the wrongs. Until then, here are some parting pictures of artistic ink. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Ink1  Inkbreast

Posted in Art, Nude, Style, Sun bathing, Tattoo, Wikipedia | Tagged , | 2 Comments

YouTube Subscriptions Never Fail to Impress

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Gandalfe

I just got my YouTube Subscription Update which looks like this:

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I will have a lot to listen to this weekend. My fav this week (so far) is CrazyDaisyDoo’s rendition of “Love is Here to Stay. Tasty stuff.

Crazy on tenor…

If this fellow lived near me, I’d be trying to book time with him to work on my sax sound. He also has an interesting background you can read about on his YouTube page.

Posted in Education, Jazz, Music, Saxophone, YouTube | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A Bari Sax can *Never* be too LOUD?

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Gandalfe

I was talking to Greg Cagle, a friend of mine and a woodwind doubler who can often be heard tootin’ on a bari sax like in this number:

Can you hear this bari?

I luv his sound styling and you should hear him on the contrabass clarinet too! The topic du Jour was my complaint that one of the bands he played in didn’t mic him so that his crazy good lines could be heard. He then told me this way cool story from his past.

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              Stan Kenton’s first band in 1941 ~ Jazz Connection Mag

Summer of 1974. Stan Kenton “Jazz Orchestra in Residence” at Cal State Sacramento. This was one of the last ones before Stan passed away. The band was not what it had once been, but still awesome to a high school kid. This was the version of the band that had two bari saxes, one at each end of the line, and only one alto. If you see a Kenton chart (like Minor Booze) that has two bari sax parts, that’s why.

I got seeded into one of the mid level bands; I guess there were auditions involved but I don’t really remember anything about that. I remember that we did one of Hank Levy’s odd time signature charts called “Indra”, which had a soprano sax solo in the bari sax part, which I played. I had the luxury of playing a brand new Mark VI soprano that I borrowed from a friend. I had never played soprano before. As I remember it my solo was, well, a little scary.

Anyway, we were there for five days; each day started out with an hour of theory at 8 am MJB2010with one of Kenton arrangers. Too bad I’ve forgotten most of it! I think I’ve still got the study book somewhere though. Then we had full band rehearsals, then sectionals. Each night there was a full concert by the Kenton band. Our sectionals were run by Roy Reynolds, one of the bari players in the Kenton band. I think Greg Smith was the other one at that point.

Roy seemed like a grizzled old veteran to me – he was probably 40 at the time. SmileIt amazed me how he could play, given the vast number of cigarettes he smoked. He always had one going.  I was surprised he had any lungs left. But he had been around the block many times, and was able to share many tips and nuggets of wisdom.

I was the recipient of one of those nuggets personally, late in the week. He and I got stuck in the elevator for a short period one afternoon, so we made some conversation. The part I remember went like this: “Kid, you have great tone and pretty good technique. I like the way you play. I’ll just give you the one piece of advice I’ve always followed – on bari sax,

“Always play louder than you think you need to, until somebody tells you to quiet down.”

And then he coughed a few times, the elevator started, and that was that. I’ve always followed that same rule, and pass it along to every bari player I meet.

~ Greg Cagle

Posted in Band, Band Management, Big Band, Jazz, Movies, Music Instruments, Quote, Saxophone | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Come out swingin’

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Gandalfe

Just posted this fun video of the Microsoft Jazz Band kickin’ it with Larry Neeck’s “Come Out Swinging” to a very appreciative audience. Micah Lapping-Carr covers the alto sax solo and Kress Franzen is caught busting out all tbony and all.

Music performance is a labor of luv for me and this big band is really my favorite. We finally got a director and a permanent lead tenor. As we are hobbyists, people come and go, but the quality of the band is very high when compared to some other pro bands.

Posted in Band, Band Management, Big Band, Culture, Dancing, Entertainment, Hobbies, Jazz, Microsoft, MJB, Music Instruments, Saxophone, YouTube | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

In search of simplicity

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Gandalfe

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I have spent most of my life simplifying. When I was a college student, I remember thinking it was because I am basically lazy. I even told that to a neighbor kid as we worked on a carpentry project. The idea was that by simplifying we could accomplish more and do any task fast. But the young fellow was shocked—his father preached work ethic above all. His father, btw, worded in a warehouse as a forklift operator.

imageIn his book Walden, Henry Thoreau talked about focusing on the core. Simplify first and then dwell on the purpose of things and beings.

  • Make Life Simpler
  • Live in the moment
  • Have fewer things
  • Have fewer things to do

In today’s hustle and bustle world, it can be hard to focus. I think of some things I preach to my kids. I high school I took two typewriting (I believe it’s called keyboarding now), a speed reading, and a note hand (easier than short hand) class. The idea was that I could do more with my talents if I had these skills down. It worked very well for me.

And graduate school example, I used to write a chapter towards my thesis paper at the completion of each class in the curriculum. Then when it came time to finish and defend the paper all I had to do was to cull out the extraneous and uninteresting bits. I was one of less than ten folks who completed their masters on time.

My mondo hobby now-a-daze is music performance and running a band. I am finding it hard to lock in to the best tricks to simplify the complex world of music. I take two lessons a week because I am not making enough progress. In one I concentrate on sight reading, a weakness of mine, and in the other I work on sound development and improv skills.

And getting rid of stuff to simplify… It’s just not in my DNA. I’m just sayin’…

Posted in Education, Lifestyle, My World | Tagged | Leave a comment

Design: The Hunt for the Perfect Big Band Stand Front

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Gandalfe

In the almost seven years that I have been running a couple of Big Bands, I have been trying to design a stand front that is all things to all people. My wife does the actual fabrication, but I do the design. Using the tried and true purchased stand fronts proved to be an exercise at futility. They were too short when you stood for solos. And you couldn’t adjust them for the different heights that each musician was comfortable with.

First we tried stand felts. But they never looked sharp enough and our bari sax player wouldn’t use them as the interfered with his jazz music book.

image image 

We finally decided to go with the poster frames with a custom insert like those seen with the Microsoft Jazz band. The poster board frame is velcro’d to a wood box that doubles as shelves for the saxes to hold mouthpieces, coffee, glasses cases and the like. We use are music stands behind that and everyone can adjust them to their preferred height.

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Key here is that the audience doesn’t see us tapping our feet which can be very annoying, especially to other musicians watching the show. Since we started using these, I get at least one person a show asking where they can purchase these. Makes me wonder, are our shows mostly watched by other musicians? I know I see a lot of shows.

Posted in Band, Band Management, Music | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Lazy, Comfie, Rainy Sunday Morning

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Gandalfe

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I am sitting here listening to one of my favorite shows, CBS Sunday Morning, and looked out to see a typical early spring morning in the Northwest. I like how the evergreen trees look as the fog nestles around them. And Lake Sammamish looks so calm in the morning.

My granddaughter Amber is visiting and she is playing games on the iPad. Amelia, my three-year old dawglie is sleeping at my feed. And my coffee cup is empty. Time for a refill. I luv lazy Sunday Mornings. (Wanders off to fill cup.)

Posted in Dog, Family, iPad, My World, Television | Tagged , | 2 Comments

For Men: Fighting the Lust Thang

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Gandalfe

“I’ve looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me.” ~ Jimmy Carter

onelasttime3dI was lookin’ around for something to highlight today and ran across this art from Steven Stahlberg’s Androidblues.com site. This picture (and his other one presented below) speaks to me as a man, but maybe I’m reading more into than the artist intended. Or maybe not as he titled it “One Last Time”. It features a beautiful and young naked woman facing a p monster head emerging from the dark. The girl is half reaching for and half blocking the monster’s phallus-shaped presence with a small hand.

Yes, it is our old friend lust, an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one’s desire, usually in a sexual way. Sounds rather dry as a definition. But the result can be attributed to your pants suddenly not fitting just right, a change in breathing patterns, and the inability to concentrate on whatever you were doing before that beautiful young thing flashed into your awareness.

The Jimmy Carter’s quote comes up a lot. I think of Jimmy as one of the most honorable men in the US. Many of us do. Most men battle their genetic pre-disposition to act upon their lustful desires. There are so many ways to do this in a hurtful and wrong way. And it doesn’t help that there are so many gorgeous, smart, and appealing women out there tempting us without even trying to. In fact, lust has ruined many a man. We hear about it in the news time and time again. It’s an old story replaying throughout time.

I don’t wonder that this will ever be resolved. Education, support, and family might be the only help in the long run. But then I could be wrong about that too. So I resolve to be a better man every day and teach my boys to respect the rights and wishes of their women friends. Help them and you to make the right decisions about sex.

Mark R Slaughter has a poem that I’d like to share with my friends here.

Curse of Lust

O Lust! you’re burning holes in our affair.
We lost our brazen face without a care–
Flaunting all in front of those who scowled,
Laughing at the doleful – e’er we howled!

Ironically, our sneering turned inside
To out the damage, tear apart our pride.
We saw we’d fallen for the devil’s dust!
So let’s in shame the blade to take and thrust!
  ~  Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009

stevenstahlberg2I want to think most men do the right thing in this space. And by that I mean, they don’t wreak havoc on the world leaving devastated women in their wake. In a society that takes great pride is reporting and highlighting the horrible and ugly things that happen in this world, I’m not sure we really know where we are in that regard. The situation is worse in third-world countries where the citizens are not well educated. And there are plenty of horrific stories out there.

I have to say though that reports that the ubiquity of porn on the Internet has reduced the number of violent sex crimes in recent history is promising. Maybe the pictures and videos that are on the web can act as a pressure release valve for those who find human contact challenging. Life may never be perfect, but it would be nice for us to find some solutions for the human condition that make sense and don’t ruin a person’s quality of life by locking them up in the very expensive prison system.

Posted in Art, Community, Culture, Education, Family, Health and wellness, Lifestyle, Nude, Poetry, Too Spicy for some, Wikipedia | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Eppelshiem & Reese C Soprano Sax Redux

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Gandalfe

imageHere’s a recent update from my Gandalfe buys an Eppelsheim & Reese C Soprano post of two years ago. This advice comes from a professional musician and I still need to get permission to attribute this to him. But I think the idea has a lot of merit and I want to share it with my friends who may be in the same place I am with this instrument. I hope to get some quality with our mouthpiece guru from Seattle, Bob Carpenter.

Update: International Woodwind, Inc.  is currently making a new and improved version of
 the C Soprano –  under the IW name. The International Woodwind company is still going strong. We are still making horns and selling them in U.S.A,  Australia and internationally. We are actually expanding at this time.“ ~ Laksar Reese

Those of us who purchased this instrument found that the extreme upper register was hard to play, and for good reason. This horn goes up to within 1/2 step of a Yanagisawa Eb sopranino sax, even though it uses a Bb soprano sax mouthpiece. Benedikt Eppelsheim tried a modified Eb sopranino mouthpiece on this instrument and found it improved the upper register more than redesigning the horn.

Here’s what I found. Selmer mouthpieces are supposed to have a medium length lay for facings B to E (18 mm long). For facings F and above, the lay was shorter (15 mm long). In years past this was true, but recently, the facing measurements have been all over the place. I tried a fairly new Super session F on the E&R C soprano, and with its smaller chamber, it worked fairly well.

However, when I measured the Super session the lay was 18 mm long – the same as the smaller facings, not shorter. I tried an older Selmer S-80 F facing, with a lay that was 15 mm long, and it worked even better than the Super session, despite the larger square chamber.

You might try sending your mouthpiece to a reputable refacer like Erik Greiffenhagen or the guy at Warburton mouthpieces, and ask to have the facing shortened. If everything turns out well, the highest notes will be easier, and you will own a horn that might become the next Conn-O-Sax.

Posted in Band, Collectable, Conn-o-sax, Hobbies, Music, Music Instruments, My World, Nerds, Recorder, Saxophone | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Power of Words: It’s a beautiful day

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Gandalfe

Yeah, I’m sappy. Change your words. Change your world. Enjoy.

It was hard to find this video that someone hadn’t co-opted for their own message.
Posted in Advertisement, Art, Heroes, Lifestyle, YouTube | Tagged | 3 Comments