Saturday Rant

I have no particular theme today.

A friend who NEVER talks about anything but politics called me the other day. He said he was going to tell me the "truth" about Barack Obama. The first thing he mentioned from his list of "truths" was that the man's middle name is Hussein so therefore he could have (I kid you not) been related to Saddam. I asked him does the fact that my middle name is Joseph make me related to Stalin or Mengele? He told me to "go fuck myself" and hung up, "go fuck myself" being a euphemism for what he ACTUALLY said.

I love jazz. I play jazz on guitar. Right now, I'm sitting here listening to a double album (I call them albums because in 1958-1959 when they were recorded, that's what they were called) titled Gongs East / Three Faces Of Chico by the world famous drummer Chico Hamilton. There's a cool LA based jazz guitarist on the recording named Dennis Budimir, which is one of the reasons I dig it. Eric Dolphy also plays on these recordings which makes them even better. Some parts are straight ahead, some a bit more free jazz, but they all have structure. Some of the tunes have the feel of a rumba. I figure its better to listen to professionals play a rumba while I write as opposed to hearing my upstairs "no carpeting" neighbor do one across her hardwood floors.


The thing that annoys me most about guitar players is that everyone who purchases the instrument thinks they are one, simply by merit of the fact that they learned to play a couple of chords on it in a half-assed fashion. It can be such a poser instrument sometimes. I've told students that the best way to become a good guitar player is to start out as a tuba player. Why? Because no one ever poses with a tuba. When was the last time you saw a tuba player on a poster for a rock band? You actually have to learn to play the thing. Some people use the guitar as more of an appendage than an actual instrument.

I'm reading a biography right now about jazz bassist Charles Mingus. Its called "Myself When I Am Real" and its by music critic Gene Santoro. Mingus was a complex man and a genius as far as I'm concerned. The book is well worth your time. Mingus' autobiography "Beneath The Underdog: His World As Composed By Mingus" is also worth reading, though its this stream of consciousness type of thing so I'd suggest you read the straight bio first to have a better understanding of the man. You can also visit his official site to learn more about him. Mingus could play straight ahead, abstract, anything man. He was one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He was volatile. Learn about him.

Last night I polished off a pint of Ben & Jerry's "Black & Tan" Ice Cream, which is based on the famous beer mixture of the same name (the site describes it as an "incredibly heady blend of real cream stout and chocolate ice creams"). Ben & Jerry claim on every pint of every flavor that they don't feed their cows "Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone" or some such thing, or that they don't deal with farmers who do. Cool. What they ought to do, however, is feed the cows Amyl Nitrate so that when I drop dead of a massive heart attack from polishing off an entire pint of alcohol flavored ice cream with heavy cream and egg yolks in it I'll be automatically resuscitated.

My sister has to take a flight on Jet Blue tomorrow. It ought to be fun given the current problems they've been having with flight cancellations due to the weather. There's nothing like sitting on a tarmac for five hours between a heavy set man from Pittsburgh with bad breath and a kid with a cold playing a Game Boy that utters incessant video game music while he coughs and sneezes and doesn't cover his mouth. And let's not forget that you can't go to the toilet due to "security reasons." I'd sooner walk to Florida than put up with that shit.

Eric Dolphy just launched into a really great solo I want to concentrate on. Time to go for today.