The Jazz Guy’z Revenge…

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Gandalfe

This is for those two really, no I mean really loud trumpet players. You know who you are.  ;o)

JazzGuyz

Sorry, this just tickled me today. A buddy of mine on facebook commented that if there were any justice in the world, that’d be a trombone player. No! Good trombone players are too hard to find. Oh,… maybe that’s his point.

Follow up by Gary Anderson:

I’m sure I must be one of the two…. ha…

Love the picture… but…

Might I recommend

or better yet, give up the sax and join us. Its much more fun….. really

Remember…
There are two sides to a trumpeter’s personality. There is the one that lives only to lay waste to the woodwinds and strings, leaving them lying blue and lifeless along the swath of destruction that is the trumpeter’s fury. And then there’s the dark side…

Posted in Jazz | 5 Comments

Thoughts on Japanese Jazz

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Gandalfe

jj

Gary, a trumpet player, and I were listening to some very nice flugelhorn by Ichihara Hikari. Very tasty and such a pretty lady too. I was musing that I wondered if the Asian culture was more open to jazz than that of the US. Gary noted that because so many songs in the jazz idiom are in English that there tends to be more instrumental songs played.

So the Jazz In Japan is very interesting about offering some insight into the Zen of Jazz.

"Spontaneity is at the core of both jazz and Zen. The overlaps and parallels are hard to ignore when listening to really great jazz improvisers, and easier perhaps, when listening in a country with a long Zen tradition. The silence of meditation may not always be filled up with jazz solos in one’s head in return, but the connections can be found in considering both of these amazing cultural forms. Since Japanese musicians have a high degree of cultural awareness, it seems that Zen may be, if only unconsciously and indirectly through the larger culture, be an influence on jazz musicians in Japan much more than in the west."

Read more…

Jazz seems to more popular oversea than in the US. But there are pockets of Jazz happy venues. Seattle is one of those places. And there is a lot of free jazz every weekend all over the area.

Posted in Jazz | 3 Comments

Gandalfe makes the big times…

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Gandalfe

JaAGasPoster

Posted in Humor | 4 Comments

Guidance from Mark Taylor

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Gandalfe

Mark Taylor Luv the picture and the guidance from Mark at SeattleJazzScene. I’m gonna share this with my grandson the bass clarinet/bari sax player. Here’s just a taste of this goodness:

Someone once told me, “Nobody cares about your creativity or your original music”. Wrong.

When I was 14, I discovered Bird, Cannonball, and Phil Woods.

The saxophone is my voice.

If I could do it all over again, I’d be better at trusting my initial instincts more and just getting on with it!

Practice makes no difference at all if you have no plan or goal.

When I look at where I’m at right now, I’m proud of the projects I’ve been a part of and grateful to the musicians who include me.

Read more…

So back to shedding for me and my grandson. Can you tell we luv it!

Posted in Jazz | 3 Comments

Woodinville Community Band Spring Concert 2009

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Gandalfe

WCBfeb09poster Borrowing from Greg’s most excellent blog, I’m announcing the Woodinville Community Band Spring Concert. We will be playing this Sunday, 15 February at the fabulous Northshore Performing Arts Center (at 18125 92d Ave NE, Bothell, WA) from 7 to 8 PM. The admission to this Pops concert is free thanks in most part to Microsoft’s generous donations.

We will be playing:

    – West Side Story – W. J. Duthoit

    – Disney at the Movies – John Higgens

    – The Wizard of Oz – James Barnes

    – Selections from Wicked – Jay Bocook

    – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Jay Bocook

I will be playing alto sax and have one small solo in Pirates of the Caribbean. There is so much goodness in this solo that I don’t know where to begin. If you are in the area and in the mood for some stellar wind band music, feel free to stop by and definitely say hey to Suzy and me after the concert.

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

How to get People to your Blog – Redux

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Gandalfe

A number of bloggers have asked me how to drive traffic to <insert name of your blog here>. I have talked about the technical aspects of getting more people to your blog, but I’ve forgotten one the most basic concepts. Your content has to be interesting and have value to your readers.

Robert Scoble was asked this same question and after looking at the blog in question his response was:

  • It took me five years of blogging every night to get where I am in traffic.
  • Patience, patience!
  • I can only see one post on here.
  • The first question you have should not be "how do I get more traffic?"
  • It should be "how can I blog better?"
  • Traffic FOLLOWS good content. There’s no way around that rule. Well, unless you want to do something salacious.

Seth Godin sez:

  • Use lists.
  • Be topical… write posts that need to be read right now.
  • Learn enough to become the expert in your <hobbies>.
  • Break news.
  • Be timeless… write posts that will be readable in a year.
  • Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
  • Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
  • Announce news.
  • Write short, pithy posts.
  • Encourage your readers to help you manipulate the technorati top blog list.

    I write this blog mostly for myself so that I can find things that are frequently asked questions (FAQs), stuff I want to do more work on, and as a history of what I’ve done in the past. I can’t count how many times I’ve been able to go back to my blog and find when I purchased something like a bass clarinet or scooter. And it’s nice to have access to important pictures for other endeavors and conversation.

    • 5 Comments

    Best Buy: Microsoft’s Career Assist Package

    Posted on February 6, 2009 by Gandalfe

    I have a lot of friends and family looking for work. This program is phenomenal. I hope some of you can take advantage of this offer.

    MCT

    To help the IT Professionals and Developers around the world during these uncertain economic times, Microsoft Learning  is providing a very discounted bundle called Career Assist Package. It is an extension of our Second Shot offer – Buy a Certification and if you fail, you get a free retake – to add additional training to help customers acquire new skills and prepare for their certification exam. But most importantly it is designed to help customers get a job, become indispensable in their current job or accelerate an existing career.Here is the offer: Career Assist: Register for Second Shot today and get up to 90% price discount on a Microsoft Official E-Learning Collection.Second Shot provides a free retake if you fail your Microsoft Certification exam. And from now, until June 30, 2009, if you register for Second Shot, you get any E-Learning Collection for just USD 35 (usually priced up to USD 349). That’s up to 90% off.But hurry! Once you have activated a discounted E-learning collection it will only be available for 90 days.Limit One Per Customer.Register for Second Shot Today

    Posted in Microsoft | Tagged | 2 Comments

    Help Save an Executive

    Posted on February 4, 2009 by Gandalfe
    Posted in News and politics | 5 Comments

    A POSTCARD FROM THE VOLCANO – Wallace Stevens

    Posted on February 3, 2009 by Gandalfe

    Children picking up our bones
    Will never know that these were once
    As quick as foxes on the hill;

    And that in autumn, when the grapes
    Made sharp air sharper by their smell
    There had a being, breathing frost;

    And least will guess that with our bones
    We left much more, left what still is
    The look of things, left what we felt

    At what we saw. The spring clouds blow
    Above the shuttered mansion-house,
    Beyond our gate and the windy sky

    Cries out a literate despair.
    We knew for long the mansion’s look
    And what we said of it became

    A part of what it is … Children,
    Still weaving budded aureoles,
    Will speak our speech and never know,

    Will say of the mansion that it seems
    As if he that lived there left behind
    A spirit storming in blank walls,

    A dirty house in a gutted world,
    A tatter of shadows peaked to white,
    Smeared with the gold of the opulent sun.

    – Wallace Stevens (fascinating background)

    Posted in Poetry | 5 Comments

    Before House: A Bit of Fry and Laurie

    Posted on February 1, 2009 by Gandalfe

    After reading an interview with Hugh Laurie this month I thought I’d peek at what he was doing before he because famous in the States for the television show House. On YouTube I got over 600 hits for "A bit of Fry and Laurie". Here one vaguely disturbing vid:

    Hugh Laurie is a musician as well, so he’s done more than a few musical numbers on the show’s he’s been in.

    I’m afraid I’d be remiss if I didn’t include their Paino Master Class on Saturday Night Live.

    I find all kinds of people who like House which can be a bit graphic with the medical side of the story and painful with the self loathing stuff. Hugh was also in Blackadder. Enjoy.  :o)

    Posted in Television | 6 Comments