ParticleBlog!

But not tonight. Tonight allergies have eaten my soul. Or at least my nose.

My main accomplishment today was rehearsal with the blues band, which actually went rather well...if I can get a stand light for the next gig, I should actually be fine. Got some of the form things I screwed up fixed, and I have a whole lot of editing to do of my transcriptions...tomorrow is the session I ditched out of today :P

I picked up the music for the aforementioned gig, which was awesome, and managed to get my brother, his friend, and the drummer from Saturday all hired, which was also awesome. The music is all playable, and the musical director seems a very decent fellow. My new laptop hard drive also showed up, and fit, which was further win...although given how much dust was on the connector of the old drive, I have to wonder how much of the problem was the drive, and how much was the dust. Either way though, I now have another 60 gigs in my system, and an external hard drive to boot.

This jaunt also included an upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10, which is really rather nice...except for DVD playback. It worked fine in all programs under 9.04, but in 9.10 it still works in totem, but is very jerky in xine. It's lame sauce, and very akin to the way microphone support broke in 8.04. People...Ubuntu continues to make strides, and that's awesome. I use it as my main laptop system. But bloody hell-you can't regress in features every time you do a major release. That's just a recipe for disaster.

*Sigh*

For the future that is...got it nailed down today that I'll be playing with the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus for their holiday concert-they're putting together a 10 piece jazz group for the occasion-and actually getting some decent recompense for it. I find this pretty damned awesome.

I also saw friends today, which was also awesome.

I had the previously fretted over jazz session today, and while I'm still facing the same frustrations with my improv _for myself_, it actually went really well. The other players were both nice and very good (ok, the bass player is still learning how to _not play rock_, but otherwise really good), the studio was amazing-like Citrus College level studio, with what had to be a couple hundred grand worth of equipment, and it just felt like something from another era. We showed up, we called a couple of standards, we hashed out arrangements on the fly, and we played them down, and it was pretty damned awesome. It also resulted in a couple of jam session invites for the future, so I really can't complain about that either :)

In terms of attendance, the all ska night that we put together tonight was a dismal failure. In terms of what it accomplished though, it was a resounding and unqualified success. The three other bands-Defunked, Stupid Flanders, and The B Sharps-were spectacular, and we put on a really good show too. Everyone had a blast, and it was very...illuminating. Now we've all seen our friends, and our competition, and as the compliments flew from all sides after every set-and genuine the compliments were-there was a very palpable sense in the room that we all have to step up our game, because everyone else is that good. The venue was nice too-out of the way, and nearly a disaster (I called the promoter at 5:50 and was told he had no power. Thankfully this was resolved by 6:03, but holy crap was I worried/pissed that I was going to have to cancel the entire show on short notice.

One of the big illuminating moments for me was the battle of the trumpet players. As many of you know, trumpet players are the electric guitar players of the band world. Even if the person behind the instrument isn't loud and proud (I mean I am, but not everyone is), certainly the instrument itself is, and we all listen to each other. The guys from Defunked were pretty good, and then I was impressed by Matt from Stupid Flanders' high notes, and he liked my improv and sound...and then there was the gent from The B Sharps, who started busting out double Cs and Ds. Fucker :P

Was it the biggest crowd we've ever played for? Hardly. But there was something so satisfying, and so _fun_ about basically playing a glorified practice session for our peers. It was like the ska equivalent of a battle rap session almost. Afterwards...the comraderie, the mutual admiration society that very quickly developed...it felt really good, and I think this is really a turning point for us and our reputation in the scene. And...since all of these bands are coming along with us for the raft of shows we're putting together in February and March, it bodes VERY well for the future.

By all accounts today was a productive day. My car, the interior and windows at least, is thoroughly scrubbed, vacuumed, armor alled, and otherwise cleaned in a way it hasn't been in quite some time-including spending the 10 or 15 minutes with a butter knife and Resolve it took to get the strange coating of dirt and hair grease off the driver's side headrest (yes, I know. Ew. I have no idea how it got there, other than to think that maybe I shouldn't let my hair dry on commutes). The blues jam, a bit of drama between the leader and the drummer aside, went rather well, and yesterday I booked a couple of sessions for the weekend that I'm looking forward to...

I spent the last part of my evening practicing Green Dolphin Street, especially the solo section, since it's the main tune for Saturday's session.

I hit a wall.

A very similar wall to what I've hit with the blues band.

Right now I'm playing rather well in several aspects. I'm really happy with my sound. My range and endurance are doing very well. My sightreading is getting better. My french horn and flugelhorn playing is coming along too.

My improvisation though...I can play an _ok_ sounding solo, and in, say, a rock environment, where the changes are pretty simple (generally speaking), I think I do rather well. But put me in a blues situation, or in a proper jazz setting, and I'm just not good enough yet. I don't have the instinctive grasp of changes, I can't move through chords and scales the way people at the next 3 or 4 levels up from me can, and I'm now at the point where I can hear it. I'm pretty sure the solution is an assload of transcription and to keep practicing, but that's a long, long road before I'm where I need to be. It's just a little annoying when the next use for the skillset you don't have is Saturday afternoon :P

Or in other words, some of the more serious stuff in my browser.

Anti-statism in America, as written by an unabashed statist. It seems reasonably accurate history, although the author fails to realize that most of the supposed "failures of the market" were mostly caused by government intervention, yes, even going back to the Panic Of 1837.

I can't find any fault with this take on Veteran's Day. A part of me does like the idea of shifting it back to Armastice Day, in the hope that the day could be about the hope of peace, rather than the remembrance of war, but it's a minor quibble of semantics. On that note, World War I in color are some of the most powerful photographs you'll ever see.

"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men" and more about the life of Samuel Adams. Of all the Founding Fathers I'd say that Franklin was my favorite, but for sheer rabble rousing there was no one like Adams, and his example, as Alan Bock does state, points to a far more revolutionary and rebellious idea of our country than is currently generally allowed.

OK, so reading this about fast sodium reactors makes me think "why the fuck hasn't someone built a hundred of these yet?". Can any of my science geek friends help me out and tell me why this isn't the miracle cure it seems to be?

Does Jesus save aliens? This is actually a legitimate theological question, and a rather fascinating one at that. It's a very evenhanded article, and it reminds me of the Trappist order in Season 3 of Babylon 5-"we have come out here to learn all the names for God known by our alien brothers and sisters".

The San Jose police suck. Which doesn't make them much different from other police departments, but at least here there's some official evidence now :P

It's probably NSFW, but this song is hilarious, the video is great, and Scott Baio _nails_ what should be a throwaway cameo.
Or if you prefer musical virtuosity, metal Super Mario Bros. castle theme, and Iron Maiden on harp. And new musical instruments!
Oh yeah...and prog rock in 5 minutes, which includes a video showing exactly why Nickelback sucks so much
A netbuddy of mine showed me this site, passive aggressive notes. It's pretty awesome.
Likewise, on the subject of telling people the ugly truth, the butter floor prank. It's amazing.
Musician's humor
Selling dirt to the Irish? Really??
Admit it. Your computer has looked like this too.
A lot of superheroes should be on 70s vans.
Do you think we're being too literal?
I've been at least 5 of these
The Defenestration Of Prague is still my favorite named historical event, however The Pig War is now a close second.
From the ED files-I never noticed this before and what the hell were you thinking lady? (second one is probably nsfw).
And...we end with ew. Just plain ew.

I came home today, and was yet again struck by how long it takes me to get back into the swing of things every time I get back. Don't get me wrong-I'm very grateful to my parents for letting me crash up there for gigs and such, and I understand the necessity of where everything in my life is geographically, but I don't like that I basically waste a day readjusting to my surroundings every week-to say nothing of the travel time. This is further compounded by the fact that I'm pretty much stuck here-my musical adventures aren't generating any real income, which leaves me with both no employer and no justification for claiming self employment...ie even if I was able to afford to move, no apartment would rent to me because I can't show that I have a job. This, simply put, bites.

Today was a day of music, first as a player, with the rehearsal band. It was my first time playing lead trumpet and actually being happy with my playing. It wasn't perfect, but afterwards I could actually say that I nailed 75-80% of the figures and got most of the high notes. There were definitely worse possibilities.

This evening was the business side of things-yay venue scouting. Trip's Santa Monica is actually a rather cool place for music-basically it's the Doll Hut, except much friendlier. Also met The No-Nos, who played a pretty good set, and may be able to hook us up with gigs if we ever get out their way.

Now I just have to keep learning to play blues, and I'll be all set.

Got the ok from the band to make February go full tilt. This is gonna be fun.

First gig with the blues band went...ok, I suppose. I mean I didn't make an ass of myself, but there were places that were REALLY rough, and my blues improv just isn't all that good. I've got a lot of work to do if I want to keep up and hang.

Which went rather well, other than not being able to see my music all that well on stage. Tomorrow's purchases=flugelhorn stand, and stand light.

Aside from a generally productive day, I finally watched Batman: Gotham Knight-the animated anthology that was a companion piece to The Dark Knight (which I guarantee 90% of my reading audience already knew :P ). It was amazing, simply put. Striking visually, very well written, and let's face it...just as, with all due respect to Messers. Ledger, Nicholson, and in a very different way, Romero, Mark Hamil will always be the greatest Joker, Kevin Conroy _is_ Batman (and a thoroughly nice guy to boot too). Also the fact that this is so extensive is kind of scary.

So...yeah. It was awesome. And I'm probably the last person on the planet to see it :P

[grumble...never got posted...grumble]

Like most of you, I delete my spam right as I get it. Every so often though one of them is actually funny, and deserving of a repost. In this case, a 419 email...with a twist! The title alone is worth the price of admission.

>>>
Contact Skynet Courier

From: Mercy Hunt <info@courier.org>
To: [this was actually blank in the original email. How it got to me I'm not sure]
For Delivery of your $500,000,00 United States dollars BankDraft deposited
at skynet courier services.Fill out below information and send it to
SkyNet Courier Service Via the email contact address below to them again
to avoid any mistake on the Delivery.

1.Full Name__________________________
2.Postal address_____________________
3.State/Country______________________
4.Direct telephone number____________

Contact Person: Mr.Thomas Smith
Email Address:skynetcourie.delivery@gala.net


Note:The courier board will be charging you a compulsory fee of $95 usd being meant for the security keeping fee of your package,so try to send the fee to them as soon as they contact you so as to enable them deliver your package to you immediately.

Mercy Hunt
Secretary

UNITED NATION OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIR

So...Neil Gaiman, Sesame Street, and the Marine Corps all share the same birthday. Who woulda thunk :P Aside from Garrison Keilor giving Mr. Gaiman a shoutout, I was most struck by the anniversary of Sesame Street. NPR had a great commentary about it, as well as a more full article-manwe_iluvendil, the commentary's another one for you and possibly atarunomiko as well. It's probably the only time Sesame Street and Mad Men will ever be mentioned in the same article. Seriously :)

Especially in light of a conversation I had with a friend today, and in part because of the commentary, I thought about what Sesame Street meant to me, especially the death of Mr. Hooper. For those of you too young/banned from tv to remember, Mr. Hooper ran the store (which is still on the show mind you), and when Will Lee died in 1982, when I was a wee lad of 3, the writers had his character die too. I remember watching it with my parents, watching Big Bird with his portrait of him that he could never give, and getting rather teary eyed. As I look at it all in retrospect, I learned so much from that show, and I still remember a lot of it. Course it doesn't hurt that I also watched it on occasion long after I was out of its target demographic :) The importance of Transformers in shaping me is obvious to anyone who talks to me for more than 5 minutes. It taught me about honor, sacrifice, freedom-big things. Sesame Street was first though, and from there (along with a very heavy influence from my parents of course) I learned about curiosity, friendship, compassion, imagination...hope. Supergrover, Biff and Sully, Monsterpiece Theater (Upstairs, Downstairs!), Cookie Monster And The Cookie Tree, The Monster At The End Of This Book, seeing Follow That Bird in theaters (BEST. FOODFIGHT SCENE. EVAR!)... I often gripe about the world, but in at least one respect it is a much better place for a show that has taught about reading, writing, counting, dreaming, how to make saxophones, how to build a house, how to settle an argument with honest communication, and many other things, and has never talked down to its audience, even if they are 2. If I ever have kids, I look forward to showing them Big Bird, and Bert and Ernie, and telling them all about Mr. Hooper's store. Happy birthday Sesame Street, and thank you for helping shape the better parts of me, my generation, and lots of people before and after.

This episode brought to you by the letters H, and B, and the number 40.

I woke up tired, I made it to blues band practice, and, uh...oh. Got a gig firmed up for my client. Otherwise though...not much. *Sigh*

This morning saw me finish up the last of the arrangements for Ready For Vegas, after Matt from Stupid Flanders agreed to be the other horn player (yay Matt!), then I drove to Pico Rivera for jazz band, then back here for rehearsal with Ready For Vegas.

They liked my arrangements. They really liked my arrangements. And...holy shit is it always cool to hear my stuff actually getting played by real musicians :D

In the past two weeks I've transcribed 46 trumpet parts and written 2 horn arrangements. I've pushed myself harder musically (as a player) than I have at any time since my senior recital. I put the vast bulk of my mental energy into getting all of that done, with not a huge amount of rest in between.

And now it's all done. It's a great feeling, to realize what I managed to get done. At the same time...it's more than a little draining. It's taken me a day or two of down time to unfocus, unwind, and start looking at the next move. There's plenty of projects of course, and plenty to do-that's part of the joy of music, is that it's perpetually unfinished. For now though, I accomplished something, and I feel pretty damn good about it.

It's SO TRUE!

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