Hallam made a card for us yesterday. This is what it said, creative spelling and all: “I am thankful for: Mom and Dad, school, home, your job, life!, Fred and Squirrel, Mendy and Michelle [his teachers!], Grandma and Grandpa, my friends, your cooking, books, clothes, your love, your persinality, fun, food, caring.” It’s a pretty fabulous list. I especially like …
Smells Like… Jazz?
Right, it’s Thursday, which means it’s time for your regular dose of pop/rock masquerading as jazz, or possibly the other way around. This week, ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Bad Plus, doing, um, Nirvana. TBP have carved something of a niche in the surely-they-wouldn’t-do-that category, when it comes to jazz covers of pop tunes. There has been some …
Bird
There’s not a lot of Charlie Parker film footage out there. Luckily, much of what there is has now been stuck up on You Tube. Even if you don’t especially like jazz, see if you can sit through the following 90 second clip. You get to see what all the fuss is about. You also get a cracking drum solo …
Not Funny
OK, I know this is a “cartoon”, and that it is therefore supposed to be “funny”. But this isn’t funny. This is just the way it is. Ask my wife. Thanks to the New Yorker for again not suing me. (The day I get a cease-and-desist letter from them, I’ll know I’m getting somewhere.)
Dating in the 80s
My friend Chris sent me this link. Little more needs to be said, other than – in the interests of fair and equal humiliation to all – I would like to see the women’s ads that were running at about the same time. My favorite line: “I am interested in most phases of data processing.” Wish I’d tried that one. …
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree
My son Hallam has started his own blog. It’s all about two stuffed animals he’s had for as long as any of us can remember, who go by the names of Fred (who is a blue monster) and Squirrel (who is a squirrel.) These were originally hand puppets that I would put on and animate with silly voices, but he …
Who Needs Keith Jarrett?
The amazon fairy visited last week, bringing with him (among many other goodies) Keith Jarrett’s latest release, a compelling 3 disc recording of two recent concerts in Paris and London. A full review will appear in due course. But Jarrett isn’t the only one who can, as he modestly puts it, “build a universe” at the piano. Here’s Catherine, simultaneously …
Interesting Contribution to the Health Care Debate
Sign seen on the back of a car in downtown Columbia on Wednesday night: JESUS WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. JUST SAYIN’.
More Diz, More Muppets
Regular readers will know of my fondness for muppet videos. So, after this recent celebration of Dizzy Gillespie’s birthday, posting this was an obvious one. Damn, those muppets were funky.
Title News
You may have noticed that there’s not been much book news on this blog of late. There’s been a lot going on, but I am under strict instructions not to jinx any of it by announcing stuff to the world prematurely. Anyway, one thing I can tell you is that, following my discovery of a town in Missouri called Paradise, …