warming up to the new vegas lounge

heading to the new vegas lounge for the first time in like years...

wonder if they still have the uptown blues band or whatever they're called..

warming up with james brown "sex machine"..previously listened to clarence carter's "patches" atlantic lp from 1970 ..one can tell by 70 soul was a bit played out...

by 72 you had the o'jays "blackstabber" (with love train) setting the pace.... thats pre-disco (gamble and huff) for those of you not familiar.. so you see a big evolution from aretha in say 68 to the philly soul sound (which bowie used as his main influence for young americans lp in 75)

black music is so dynamic..

too bad i lost the tread with modern hip hop...

but james brown..man that mutha could blow the place down!

Moxilla here i come baby!

switched from internet explorer to moxilla firefox and lo and behold its faster cruising around the internet..shockingly so..

not sure why but so far so good..

i've been unhappy with internet explorer for a while what with all its updates and security flaws etc.....explorer seems like a disastrous outdated program but as its the standards people continue to use it....

so spread the new gospel: MOXILLA!

the point passed long ago..

where i could handle discussing politics say at a party.... not sure when it happened exactly..probably in early 2004 when howard dean was villified by the press.... but lately it seems that i have to put up with too much .. i mean last friday someone went off on michael moore and i lost it..tonight someone was actually arguing, brace yourself, that bush has done very well to wean the US from its oil dependence... i, again, lost it.... whats worse is say one has had a few drinks and the inhibitions are lowered.. next thing you know i hear this type of innane banter and i just can't help but get angry... not sure what the solution is but jumping down people's throats probably isn't it...

few people in the rest of the world would posit that michael moore weakened the democrats efforts to reclaim the presidency in 2004 or focus on wether fahrenheit 911 is 100% accurate when we are governed by a presidency of daily mistruths and falsehoods..or that bush is a pro-environment pro-conservation president when his record speaks for itself.... but here in the US thats the sort of thing you have to put up with whether from a bourgeois member of the leisure class who subscribes to the theory that the irak war is necessary to keep the troops sharp so as to rule over the "empire".. or someone who works at the dept of health and human services and must, truth be told, be a political appointee...

now playing

flamin groovies "flamingo"...

thanks enrique for the vote of confidence in these guys.... the lp sounds fabulous... i love the frenetic tempo.. definetly a chuck berry vibe runs through it.. the first side is wonderful.. they do hit a misstep on "childhood's end", "jailbait" and "she's falling apart" though...a big misstep which keeps the album from being the classic it could have been... however, never knock a band who covers little richards "i hear you knockin'"!

the art of being a good host at parties

surely the trick must be to "get things done" so smoothly and efortlessly that it goes unnoticed ....certainly, in an ideal world, no one would notice the host was gone for long spells of time.. this is a hard task to achieve, however, when the party is on the roof deck and your apartment on the sixth floor....

mental note: next year move key apt items to roof deck.

Chloe moves on

picture is obviously of chloe trying to get to the bathroom...

chloe passed away yesterday at around 5:30 pm... we are really broken up over here.. she had a ton of personality! we will really miss her but her suffering is over...

been listening to AC DC a lot... why more bands don't play their mix of raw back to the roots rock'n'roll i cannot understand..this album is just fabulous.. kick ass fun raunchy... "let there be rock" from 1977.... the title tracks tells the story of rock and even pays tribute to chuck berry..these guys had it going on!!!! and what can you say about the better known album tracks such as bad boy boogie, problem child, hell ain't a bad place to be, and whole LOTTA rosie! classics... how modern rock could get so messed up as it is currently is beyond me.. what a boring tripe compared to Bon Scott AC DC.. where is the fun in modern music i ask you?

mmmmmmmmmmhh..yum yum

these converse chuck taylor's ...

i just got are so comfy... YAHHHHHHHH!

last night in buenos aires andres calamaro hoists the gardel prize (argentine grammy) he won for best album for his el regreso live album!

look its baseball!

yup.. MLB is back..not optimistic about the washington nationals and their chances this year....letting loaiza go was crazy.... you don't let great starters like that go.....on top of that getting soriano was by all accounts a mistake.. a troublemaker whose power hitting won't work at RFK..... then on top of that injuries such as to ayala during the world baseball classic..nagging injuries to guillen and a few others players and it would be a miracle if they do make those 72 wins that vegas is projecting..

unless new ownership finally comes on board and invests some money to earn the local fans good graces..


and to boot we still can't even watch the nats games on tv in dc due to some squabble or some such between comcast and angelos.. i don't even really understand how that could not have been resolved yet... seems all parties would benefit from a settlement... at worse there should be a binding forced settlement or the rights to the games should be abdicated to a third party who will show the games...

Eric Lewis at HR57

caught an eric lewis performance at hr 57 this saturday night..boy that guy can play the piano.... absolutely fabulous.... can't wait to catch him again..highly recommended jazz gig.. he's got a web site at www.ericlewisgroove.com ... aparently he knows antonio parker.. i would think them recording together would be absolutely smoking....wonder if they have done it or thought about it?

now playing: emotional rescue..1980 album by the stones..some great stuff here...not sure why this album got so panned upon release.... dance pt 1 is a great tune as are let me go and send it to me....and thats just on the first side..."emotional rescue" and "she's so cold" were the main singles and still get airplay live... "dance" is a great groover..i have two copies of this including the original which came with a huge and i mean huge foldout (like 16 panels) poster of these heatseeking photos.."where the boys go" features some new wave style female backing vocals..hilarious stuff... "down in the hole" even reminds me of dylan with its "will all your money buy you forgiveness.." liness..

now playing

Rolling Stones- Charlotte 1972: the tapes don't lie

mick taylor is just phenomenal on the concerts from 1972 and 1973 that i have voraciously been digging into these past few days....

last nights listening list

rolling stones live boston fenway park 2005 dvd
ac dc live at atlantic studios
faces live at bbc
johnny thunders live at lyceum
black crowes southern harmony musical companion

501 jeans

just got myself a pair of 501s!..yah! no more of that loose fit crap!.. judging by the gap/hechts/filenes basement loose fits account for 95%+ of jean sales...

On the turntable this week: Chris Connor's Chris Craft album on Atlantic 1290 (original black label)... i was not familiar with Chris Connor.. i guess its cool jazz vocals..she sings sorta like Chet Baker.. that kind of detached no vocal pyrotechnics but can hit the spot jazz singing... anyways this came out about 1958.. includes moonlight in vermont, be a clown, on the first warm day, lover man etc...highly recommended for evenings

The Buck Stops Here on Muse by Buck Hill

Buck Hill at HR57

caught saxophonist Buck Hill's latest gig at HR 57 this past friday.... feel very lucky to have found out about the gig (only $10) at all.. HR57 does not advertise as much as say Blues Alley... anyways his handling of both tenor and soprano sax was masterly... unbelievable he's 79 years old! and worked as a DC postman for decades.. he's from the area... check out this link for more info..

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=2971

what to say bout his playing? i'm not that good at describing jazz.... but he was extremely lyrical in his playing... more towards the lester young side of things than the charlie parker side of things.. the man sang through his saxopohone on a number of classic standards..lately thats my favorite kind of jazz...

picked up two of his cds from the man himself..its always funny to have the artist himself tell you "yah..this one is pretty good.."....one of them is called the buck stops here and was recorded in 1993 by none other than rudy van gelder at van gelder studio in englewood hills (yah.. where pretty much ever legendary prestige and blue note session went down in the 50s and 60s!!!! talk about history).... anyways it features barry harris on piano and johnny coles in one of his last appearances on flugelhorn.. so buck hill with two guys that recorded here and there on blue note in the 60s!....

i must confess i was a bit dissapointed in the sparse crowd (at least for set 1) and also the crow in general many of whom- the young uns particularly- seemed more interested in taking pictures of themselves..but what are you gonna do.. they are not the ones to really come down on i suppose..its those that sit at home listening to their jazz cds or lps who don't make it out to support live jazz.... but small complaint... great show...

i have to make a point of becoming a member of hr57 and going more often...