scottb

I guess that was my point of disappointment. These musicians can certainly play that gospel, R&B, soul jazz as well as anyone and do on many occasions but for some reason this one seems strained to me. I will admit that this thread inspired me to listen again this morning and it really wasn't as bad as I remembered. I guess first impressions are hard to overcome. I remember on first listening I thought the second track was the worst song I had ever heard. Without it, I don't think my first impression would have have been so bad. My dislike for it was probably more disappintment that it wasn't as funky as I had expected rather than actually poor performance.

I was disappointed by this one when I first heard it. It just doesn't seem authentic. Almost like they read a book about how to play gospel music but never got a chance to experience it themselves. It just always sounded "corny" to me.

I just pulled the manual for Digital Orchestrator and had a good laugh. This shows you how old it is. System Requirements: 486DX running at 66MHz or faster 8MB of RAM Window 3.1 or Windows 95... you get the picture.

I use a fairly old version of Digital Orchestrator. I only use the MIDI to create the drum track and then build several digital tracks on top. I don't know if it supports ASIO (I haven't heard of it before so I would guess no.)

Like I said, Mr Hanky the Christmas poo. (That edit function is sure handy, I mean Hanky, no wait...)

I need a new sound card. Despite being reassured by the "expert" at CompUSA. My computer's sound card cannot play MIDI and Digital simultaneously while recording digital. This is a requirement for my digital recording software. I tried to salvage my previous sound card that could support my software but it is so old (2 computers ago as I had to salvage it for my last computer) that it is not supported by Windows XP. Any suggestions for a reasonably priced card that meets these requirements? I don't need top of the line, studio level recording capabilities, I just like to play with it around the house. Thanks

Mr Hanky the Christmas poo actually.

So far I've downloaded 3 Charlie Hunter discs, 2 Greg Osby, 1 Garage A Trois, sampled some Blues Traveler but havn't burned it yet. (May not) Listened to coutless others. I may never buy a CD at a store again! I'm going to get into hot water with my wife if i keep this up.

Perhaps you are wondering why I'm waiting for Christmas to listen to THE PHANTOM. The Christmas album MERRY OLE SOUL is actually on Disc 3. My bad.

A little quiz on why I'm excited about Christmas this year : A. Looking foward to a 22 hour round trip road trip over 3 days to grandmas' houses (notice the plural as my wife insists on not rotating holidays between families) with three kids (oldest just turned 5) B. There's a possibility I could get yet another pack of underwear from the inlaws. (Once they know your size and brand your doomed!) C. Since they know I love Jazz, there's a possibilty I could get a Kenny G CD from my family or coworkers D. There's a possibility my kids could get a cat or dog as a gift from their grandparents. E. I get to break out Joe Pass' SIX STRING SANTA and Disc 1 of the Duke Pearson Mosaic Select!!

Thanks, that is good stuff and lots of it!

I finally got high speed internet so we all know what that means. Rippin' tunes!! One of my motivations for finally making the switch from dial up was when I tried to load an MP3 and it said the loading time was 6 and 1/2 HOURS. I'm not kidding. Anyone still using dialup can attest to the fact that the industry is forcing us all to high speed by bogging down the internet. Two years ago dial up speed was slow but bearable. Now I can't even open an email over 8 KB! Anyway, back to the topic. I burned some CDs off Charlie Hunter's website for FREE and they are smokin'! He's got 3 full CDs worth of MP3s of live performances complete with graphics and did I mention they are FREE? Charlie is the man! Anyone else worth hearing giving it away?

check out Japanese Bitch Slap another good one is the man in the lions den (he's no Daniel!)

Yes I saw that too! What I find funny about that is he'll be the first to rip on Simpson for doing it. I'm with Jim on the Simpson thing. It looks like an inside job! Maybe the band is tired of taking the blame HER lack of talent. I wouldn't count out the SNL staff either. The writers, producers and performers of that show seem to have musical tastes and they definitely have the balls to pull something like that off.

Plaza De Toros!!!!!!!! This one's on my favorite organ tunes list and close to the top!

Lately I've discovered Ropeadope records. I found their website when it was referenced from the Blue Note site for those Tshirts they put out. I actually had Charlie Hunter's first release from them already but never bothered to check the site. This label (I think John Medeski has something to do with it but it never says directly) has some great artists from different genres. Check out their website and explore! There is a Charlie Hunter release on this label which is not availabel except through them. It's called Come In RedDog, This is Tango Leader. It's just Hunter and percussionist Bobby Previte alone in the studio "sounding like eight" as the review says. This has quickly become my favorite by Hunter. Other gems at the site include: THE WORD which I alluded to in the Gospel Jazz thread The Dirty Dozen Brass Band's recent releases Antibalas Due out next year a record from DUO, an organ / drum duo that sounds pretty cool by the samples Check it out!

Check out THE WORD at ropeadope.com. You can listen to samples there. you can listen to 30 sec clips of all tracks in the download webpage. This is one of those records that is just beautiful regardless of genre. John Medeski on organ, The North Mississippi Allstars and featuring Robert Randolph on steel guitar. The steel guitar is just above bagpipes on my list of most annoying musical instruments but in the hands of this guy it's like the voice of heaven.

I was curious about youth soccer in Europe. What goes on over there? When I was a youngster my town had a pretty strong soccer program but I remember as early as 7 yrs old, playing 11 v 11 on a small field with goalies and a small goal. Don't remember much about it. Probably had whole games where I didn't even touch the ball. As the years went by, the fields got bigger and the games longer. There was never too much emphasis on skills or technique until I played in high school. My daughter, who will be 5 soon, has started to play. Last spring she was in a program call First Touch where they meet and play differnt skills games, mostly with the ball, and have fun while developing fundamentals. Never played a game. I loved it and think it's a great program. I tried to sign her up for this again this year but because she is turning 5 she got placed on an under 5 team. They had two practices and from now on just games. Games are 3 v 3, no goalie on a small field. Maybe 15 minutes of total playing time for a child (there are six on each team.) This has been rightly nicknamed "herdball" by the parents. These games are absolutely worthless in helping children learn the game, develop good technique or acquire skills to improve and grow as players. My daughter likes soccer and we play at the house. She can run pretty well with the ball, kicks pretty well for her age, understands passing, isn't too good at trapping yet, and her defence is a little lax. However, she has better skills than most in her league but when she's confronted with this "herdball" she doesn't know what to do. She hangs around the perimeter of the pack waiting for a pass (which ain't coming, I promise!) She's not aggressive enough to push her way into the pack to get a touch on the ball. The result is after 2 games, she's very discouraged and wants to quit. Surely, this in not how good players are developed. I recently read about a 7 yr old English boy who is going to Spain to attend Real Madrid's academy. I know there are developmental programs run by clubs but what is the experience of an average kid who plays football in Europe?

Ahh, Ralph and Kakoo's. One of my all time favorite places to eat growing up in Baton Rouge. The original location on Airline Highway was always the best. Several years back they sold out to Picadilly and haven't been the same since. When we moved back to BR we tried it several times and it was nothing like the old days. The place in Baton Rouge for the last ten years is Mike Anderson's. It's just off the LSU campus. Expect an hour wait even on a Tuesday! Well worth it.

One last reminder, Righteous Buddha in Austin this weekend (the 18th) at the Flamingo Cantina. Apparently there is an Austin City Limits Festival going on so there should be plenty of good shows over the wekend in Austin.

You have got to be kidding!! $100 for a hiarcut? I think you could get Vidal Sasoon to cut your hair for that much! If I was paying that much I would buy a Flow Bee and transfer funds allocated for haircuts to my budget for MOSAICS!!

Back from the visit, took about 3 hours and $1100. Bringing my 2 week dental total to $2500. That's a lot of CDs!!!

Did anyone see the US vs Panama game last night? Man, the US has multiple personality disorder!! Sometimes they look great (like the first half last night) and other times they are pitiful (second half.) I can't figure why Conner Casey is starting ahead of Brian McBride. Maybe Bruce Arena is trying to help the younger player develop but if the goal is to score goals and win games, Casey is not the answer. I have never seen him score an international goal but I have seen him mishandle passes, commit easy turnovers and miss open chances at goal on a regular basis. I think another missing piece last night was Bobby Convey. He doesn't score a lot of goals but he gives excellent service into the box and creates chances for the forwards regularly. Also a good defender. In the past the US hasn't had all the talent to work with, but now I think there is a good pool of talent available but I'm not sure it's being managed correctly. I'm thrilled the US pulled it out last night and weeks back against Jamaica. It shows they have great determination and spirit but they should've never been in the position to lose that game last night.

I'm heading back to the dentist today for the fourth time in 2 weeks. (It's also the fourth time in 6 years so I guess it's not that bad.) Had my root canal last week and now I need a crown. I'm sorry, my temporary crown which requires I go back in a couple weeks and get the permanent crown. This is so much fun!

I was thinking that new composite box would make good packaging for a special edition Blue Note. Maybe a new version of Blue Train!