maren

+ Dorothy Ashby

Party on!!!!

I can "never quite recall" whether I read an interview with Raksin or saw it on TV, but what is vivid is his excitement about his hands-on manipulation of tape in scoring "Laura" to get the effects he wanted to hear but that didn't quite exist electronically at the time. Here's all I could find by Googling today: "Notable early experiments with electronically processed sound included the modified piano chords in Raksin’s Laura (1944), from which the initial attack was removed..."

Awwww!!!

good one, Aric! I mean it -- I think Aric gets his own joke here. Am I right?

Have a good one!!!

Happy Birthday!!!! August 4 -- a birthday pantheon!!! Which reminds me, I have to call my sister!

Did you get to leave work by now on your birthday??? All the best, Lon -- hope things keep looking up. And -- of course I don't really BELIEVE in this stuff -- but the following shoe sure seems to fit you! According to "The Secret Language of Birthdays"

That's the big difference. It's hard for a woman to rape a 12 year boy. The law can't make a difference between genders, but there IS a difference. I don't think this relationship is good, and I think she deserved to be punished for not respecting the court decision. But she does not deserve to be treated exaclty like a man who raped a 12 year old girl, using violence. What if you were a 12 year old boy and being seduced by your teacher, a 35 year old attractive woman? Would you feel traumatized? It's not good, but it's not a horrible crime either. This is totally analogous to the STATUTORY rape of a 12-year-old girl by a 34-year-old man. The key word is STATUTORY. The law recognizes a power imbalance, and the emotional immaturity and vulnerability of the child. Statutory rape (including incest) often involves no violence or physical force whatsoever, and feels like love to the child. It can fuck a kid up tremendously. You all know how strong a force sex is. A 12-year-old is totally in thrall to an adult who engages him or her in that kind of bond.

The detail to note is that she was incarcerated TWICE: The first time, she was released after only 6 months. A month later, as the AP story states: "she was caught having sex with Fualaau in her car, a violation of her parole. She was sent to prison for seven and a half years, and gave birth to Fualaau's second daughter behind bars."

The only name(s) I singled out for seconding was the BeeGees because Wolff said something like "don't shoot me." Stevie Wonder is definitely at the top of my list -- but I think there are at least 10 (maybe 20) in the "top" slot!!! Prince, Ray Davies, Marvin Gaye, Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, Joni Mitchell, Lennon/McCartney (I could recycle practically every name already mentioned). Otis Redding may not measure up in terms of quantity (he was only 37 when that plane crashed) but is way up there in quality: "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" (to name just one).

Is it a song if it doesn't have lyrics? The inclusion of Ornette makes me ask -- maybe I'm just ignorant of this area of his work. Certainly a lot of his tunes are in song form, but... Like Cole Porter, his major work may have been more than 50 years ago, but if we're talking last century, Willie Dixon gets one of my votes. I'll second lots of the names already mentioned, including the Brothers Gibb (just realized a few weeks ago that that catchy Fugees tune "Ghetto Superstar" is actually the BeeGees "Islands in the Stream").

Check out THESE 3 PAGES from a Mel Bay book -- it's aimed at pianists but works for bass, too. The top of page 3 starts out with I-IV-V in B-flat... And HERE are a couple of pages about modal walking bass lines. The point of a walking line is that not every note will be in the chord -- you're using "passing tones" between the notes of the chord. Sometimes these will be heard as chord extensions (7th, 9th, 11th 13th) or chord substitutions (sounding more like ii than V for example). Sometimes they'll be heard more melodically. But I think the scale or mode or chromatic function is often the most important -- good to work on YOUR sense of what scale or mode you feel the tune is in. This frees you to "play" with it. Also, to know where you want to emphasize an important chord change by approaching it chromatically.

AFAIC, since Deus62 stopped aging, it's been smooth sailing!!!!!! Jim S, don't say anything bad about turning 50!!!! (might sound like Calista Flockhart complaining to a room full of Weight Watchers that she can't fill out her curves no matter how much fudge and french fries she inhales!)

I think the piano player is more dependent than most musicians on the quality of the instrument itself and the skills of the technicians who build and maintain it. (I've played and taught piano and electric bass, studied singing extensively, and have a rudimentary acquaintance with violin, acoustic guitar, flute and trumpet). It's such a big machine, and rarely is the pianist also a piano technician! With most other instruments, the player is more hands-on (changing strings, applying valve oil, cutting reeds). Playing on an exquisite piano is AMAZING when you've only played on a mediocre one. (Violinists have told me the same thing about getting to play on a Cremona-level instrument, so it's not JUST the piano.) A tough action might be too much for a kid. It's most important that the action is EVEN -- it's really not good to have to practice day in/day out on a keyboard where the action is harder on some keys than others (THAT needs fixing.) What's also really bad is if, after exerting the force to get the key down, you don't get much sound. A firm action should at least yield a big sound. A really light action is annoying too, and it seems like it often goes hand-in-hand with a limited dynamic range (I'm thinking of something like a Wurlitzer spinet). Hardbopjazz, you probably said elsewhere a while ago how old your daughter is, but I don't remember. But maybe her teacher knows of a place where she could get the chance to practice on a few different instruments? Community music schools? (Turtle Bay Music School on 52nd St between 2nd and 3rd? The "East 3rd Street Settlement music school" on East 11th St between 2nd and 3rd? Steinway or other piano showroom?) May cost a bit, but might be a worthwhile interim way to evaluate whether to invest in a better piano, and what kind? As she advances and starts to play things with big chords in both hands, she'll be taught to "voice" certain notes in the chord louder than others. A lot of the time, these will be the top- and bottom-most notes, meaning she'll have to throw a lot of weight into each pinkie. This is where resonance and even action is really crucial. The tougher the action, the more weight required of course -- this doesn't inevitably mean overstraining, but at least the key should go down smoothly (hard action is one thing, a "bump" in it is another thing and it's HORRIBLE and unacceptable) and respond with volume.

He just looks young to me. The buzz haircut. And there's often an obese stage of puberty. Plus it looks like she's tugging him along. Seriously, like he's a special-needs kid. Maybe she's the lifeguard. She DOES look young to be his mom, but as for her hip size: adoption? C-section? liposuction?

Or she's his mom/big sister.

Have you posted her on the BABE thread???

Two blocks from my place in the East Village: Also nearby: Half a block away: Five blocks away, in last winter's snow:

Thanks, Lazaro!

I'm mystified by this cake -- is the nun scolding the Catholic school girl for hitching up her skirt as she says Happy Birthday to Chris??? -- but, like, WHATEVER: Happy Birthday, Chris!

Melba Liston

All of the above, plus: A PATCH OF BLUE And effectively silly/creepy was one of my son's favorites when he was 6 to 10 years old: GREMLINS.

Always seemed like a bad idea for a girl. Although a few times in college I got near-"blotto" in the company of a trusted gay male friend! Not like I thought out that plan in advance, but looking back it seems extremely sensible! Since college (which was 30 years ago), only three times, each time as anesthetic to a break-up. Two of them at home by myself. One, unfortunately, in the presence of the ex and the rest of the band we were both members of... For years now, more than one drink upsets my stomach -- can't even GET smashed -- kind of a built-in limiter.