Morning Cup: Cannonball's Battle Hymn

Speaking of David Carradine... (*sort of) I give you everyone's favorite Cannonball Adderley video. Okay, so maybe it's not everyone's favorite, but it's certainly a goodie!

And now I can't decide if I want to put on Mercy, Mercy, Mercy or Kill Bill... Perhaps just another cup of coffee would be best.

*yesterday I posted a video of Zamfir playing the soundtrack to Kill Bill, who of course, is played by David Carradine.

In case you were wondering...

Ouch! Sorry pan flautists!

I got this in an email awhile back via ks and thought it was pretty funny. Though really, I think it would have been funnier, and more apt speaking as a composer who is hated by many alto sax players, if the flow chart referred to alto flute instead of pan flute!

While most would be wise to follow this chart's advise, here is one person who can safely rebel:

Morning Cup: Spontaneous Train Station Dancing?

Not quite... but still pretty cool!

Apparently...

VTM, a television station in Belgium, recently used a flash mob dance stunt to announce their newest reality television program “Op zoek naar Maria”. The promotion, similar to T-Mobile’s ad set in Liverpool St Station In London, is promoting the program’s search for an an actress to play the leading role in the The Sound of Music.

On Monday morning, March 23, commuters were introduced to the recording of Julie Andrews singing the song, “Do Re Mi”, as recorded for the 1965 musical, Sound of Music. 200 dancers strategically placed in the crowd began to dance as a remix of the track came through the speakers.

Would this stunt have worked at NYC's Grand Central Station? Or would disgruntled commuters pushed their way through the cheerful dancers? Either way, if this idea gets repeated here, I hope I'm present to witness it!

Sweet Home Carolina

photo by Richard Barlow, used with permission

North Carolina was my home for a total of 8 years.

The first three were late middle, early high school, and I lived in Swansboro, NC (pictured above).

The other five were during college at UNCG in Greensboro. While I did a attend a UNC school, it was not the famed UNC-Chapel Hill who won the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship last night. But that didn't stop me for cheering them on or explaining to the BF that their jersey color is "Carolina Blue" not "powder blue."

While living in NC was fine, I don't have any grand desires to relocate there. I do, however, get yearly yearnings to visit, drive through the back roads, and sample some tasty NC BBQ, my favorite! And that yearning got a little deeper when I came across an old NC high school friend who now does incredible photography. I couldn't believe it, but his pictures made me actually miss North Carolina! My favorite out of the bunch is above, but these are just as good:

Go check out more of his amazing work at http://www.barlowdesign.net/

Races In Places Reboot!

Races In Places has moved!

Find them at www.racesinplaces.com with a new format and new updates including a recent review of the Ukrop's 10k by Richmond jazzer Dean Christesen.

Races in Places is a community of runners, fast and slow, who have a passion for exploring the world, one race at a time!

Our Father, who Art Blakey

Garrett Lang (bs),Chelsea Baratz (t. sx), Tatum Greenblatt (trp),

Valery Ponomarev (trp), Jason Marshall (b. sx), Stafford Hunter (tbn)

The night started a bit rocky. The room at Sweet Rhythm felt ominous with only a few tables occupied and half the band missing when the downbeat fell at 8:10 this past Monday night. Then everyone but Tatum missed the horn entrance to the opening tune, "Bitter Dose". I was not surprised, the chorus of written bass line out front is deceptive- beat 3 feels like 1 so unless you're counting, you're gonna miss your entrance. My stomach dropped as I felt sympathetic anxiety for being in front of a band that is completely falling apart and resisting the urge to cut everyone off and start again. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Joseph's horn snap to his mouth as he jumped into the horn line from the side line and got everyone back in place. Phew - that was close. And it only got better from there.

As the tables filled, the energy of the players rose and I began to realize I was witnessing something magical. For the second time this month, at coincidentally the same venue, I was truly enjoying the music I was hearing and did not suffer my usual listener's ADD, and did not want the set to end. (The first time this month I had the same feeling, the first in a while, was also at Sweet Rhythm when I heard Jason Marshall's Tribute to the Ray Charles's Hornline, an absolutely soul lifting experience, back on March 13.) The songs were all extended, allowing everyone who wanted to solo (a practice I'm typically not fond of but really worked here), and while the expertise of each player was varied, the simultaneous energy of the band coupled with a chill but respectful attitude toward the night kept my interest throughout the set.

Much of the entertaining aspect of the night I credit to Valery Ponomarev (from whom I stole this blog's title). A former Messenger back in the 1970s, Valery provides a direct link to Art Blakey and his music. Besides still having great trumpet chops, Valery has an incredible stage presence and is simply a lot of fun to watch on stage. He runs his own Art Blakey Tribute Big Band that plays regularly at the Garage and Iridium and carries the same high energy that Valery brought to the night. Check him out talking about playing with Blakey in this unedited video:

The rest of the band was made up of current New School students and alumni. I was really impressed with the trio of students that made up the rhythm section and successfully carried the bulk of the load that night. Pianist Glenn Zaleski played some great solos that managed to keep the current modern aesthetic without disrespecting the artistry of Blakey's hard bop language. With bassist Garrett Lang and drummer Dustin Kaufman the trio really maintained the battery for the night and when guest drummers Carmen Intorre and E.J. Strickland stepped up, Zaleski and Lang were able to keep up and meet the noticeable energy that the pros brought to the ensemble.

In addition to Ponomarev, who was featured on "A Night in Tunisia," the horn line was made of New School student Chelsea Baratz who enriched the ensemble with a nice, strong tenor sound, Jason Marshall on baritone sax and Stafford Hunter on trombone filled out the bottom end of the group and treated the audience to some killin' solos, and doubling Ponomarev on the trumpet part was Tatum Greenblatt, who brought some tasty high notes and 8vas to the music. Organizer Joseph Perez jumped in at times with his tenor to lead backgrounds and took a few solos himself including a ballad feature on "I Waited for You." Keeping with the spirit of the music, the group welcomed many musicians to sit in with them including New School Alum and pianist Ben Healy, the great trumpet player Fabio Morgera, and the aforementioned Carmen Intorre on "Blues March."

The highlight of the first set was with out a doubt the closing tune which featured brothers E.J. and Marcus Strickland on Blakey's "The Core." This tune absolutely burned! E.J. brought so much energy and volume to the group, it almost felt like the place was just going to explode! It was really a shame the two couldn't stick around for the second set because they definitely brought something to the ensemble that took the whole evening to a new level.

The second set was a bit more chill, starting with "Moanin'" and continuing through tunes including "Nica's Dream" and "Thermo" before closing the night as Blakey so often did with "The Theme." Unfortunately the audience was a bit thinner for the second set and the energy of the players definitely dropped a notch or two. But overall, the evening provided an incredible two hours of music.

Art Blakey passed back in 1990 and so I never had the opportunity to hear the Jazz Messengers live. But I really feel that the spirit of the music was fully embodied in last Monday's show. It was shame that Charles Tolliver, who the evening was dedicated to, could not be there. I think he would have been proud of his former students who proved themselves to modern messengers of the legacy of Art Blakey.

April Fool's Day

I'm a pretty gullible person, so I generally dread April Fools Day. I even fell for this video, via Last Kiss Comics, on April 1!



Why all the embarrassment on a day that should be beautiful, warm and full of early spring?

Blame it on the calendar. Museum of Hoaxes explains:

The most popular theory about the origin of April Fool’s Day involves the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century.

The theory goes like this: In 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born.

The calendar-change hypothesis seems, on the surface, like a logical explanation for the origin of April Fools. However, the hypothesis becomes less plausible if we examine the history of calendar reform in more detail.

The article goes on to counter the above theory and is actually pretty interesting if you, like me, love history. I see all the holes in calendar theories, but it is pretty coincidental that April 1 was the previous start of the year. This explanation makes perfect sense to me! Then again, I am admittedly gullible...

For a great list of April Fool's Pranks (as well as further origin speculation), see Wikipedia here.

My favorite?

Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.^[7] Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old", right-handed burger.

Road Crew Rocks!

(click picture to enlarge it so you can actually read it-
for some reason I couldn't get blogger to make it bigger)

Don't you love it when worlds collide creating perfect harmony?! Ok, maybe I'm little jacked on coffee this morning but really, this web comic is awesome!

Based in Ireland, Tommie Kelly posts a new comic every day chronicling the adventures and mishaps of a rock band from the perspective of a sound guy. A veteran sound guy himself, Kelly's experiences ring true in the comic and any one else who has ever been in a band can appreciate his humor.

Explore his website, roadcrewcomic.com and catch up on the back issues. Also check out this interview here or follow him on Twitter at @RoadCrew.

RIP: Cera the Cat

RIP: Cera the Cat 1992-2009

I wasn't going to blog about this. But then I read this and felt I had permission to use a blog to pay tribute to my feline companion of 17 years.

This weekend I lost my childhood cat, Cera, who in cat years, lived to the ripe old age of 85.

Named after the tri"cera"tops from the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time, Cera and her sister Nicky were born on Ash Wednesday, March 4, 1992. This was 8th grade for me, and the first year of three living just outside of Jacksonville, NC, otherwise known as the arm pit of the south. My family and I had left the friendly lemonade stands and cul-de-sac/block party neighborhoods of VA for the roach-infested, judgmental and insiders-only trailer parks of NC. It was an extremely hard adjustment for me and my three siblings made only harder when all four of us got the chicken pox right after moving in that summer followed by the death of our beloved dog Beau that winter. My parents compensated by getting us a new dog, a beautiful red haired gold retriever named Tucker, and by granting my childhood desire of getting a cat. That cat was named Tiger Lily (we really loved those cartoon movies!). Tiggy, as we called her, was an indoor/outdoor cat and quickly became pregnant with a small litter of four. We must have been four sad kids because my mom (dad was away on a 6 mo. float) let us keep two of the four kittens.

Tucker, Nicky, and Cera became the superhero trinity of our family and eased the hardships of moving 3 more times before the family finally resettled back in VA, by which time I was in college. These three pets became a leading example of what it meant to get along and stick together, something we kids didn't need reminding of as our sibs were usually the only other people we knew at each new school. Tucker was a puppy when Nicky and Cera were kittens, so the three bonded the way only babies seem capable of. Nicky would groom Tucker's face, Cera would rub against his legs, and he would be gentle with the two cats who never grew very big and always slept together in a big ball of fur. They were an integral party of our family. Tucker would sleep on the foot of our beds, and Cera and Nicky would come running whenever my sister played her guitar to sit in the guitar case and listen. They cuddled with us, they sat in our laps, they loved us when we often alone and misunderstood.

When I moved home after college to teach locally and save money for grad school, Cera readopted me. By this point the Fenton menagerie had grown to include a second dog and third cat, both rescued from the deserts of CA. Cera was a bit overwhelmed by all the animals in the house. Always a bit of an attention seeking diva cat, she hung out in my room where I could shower her with rubs and she could snuggle into my sheets. When I left for NY, I left behind Cera with Nicky, taking only Annie, the third cat of the Fenton clan who was, according to my dad, "my" cat as I was the one who brought her home from the Yucca Valley Wal-Mart after a little boy convinced me she would die in the desert if I didn't. When I went home for Christmas that first winter in NY, I found Cera sequestered in my old bedroom, afraid to come out. By now, poor little Tucker had passed away and there was a new, wild golden retriever appropriately named "Rowdy" who unwittingly terrorized Cera. My heart broke and when I returned to NY that New Years day, Cera was with me.

Cera LOVED New York. It was just me, the most laid back west coast kitty Annie, and Cera, the princess cat in a tiny 2 room studio with no dogs in site. Cera quickly established dominance, which was easy as Annie didn't really care as long as she got fed. Cera entertained herself by sleeping on my pillow, hiding behind the litter box and jumping on Annie when she came out, and sitting on my lap while I tried desperately to compose for hours on end. I have endless pictures of her sitting in front of my computer as if trying to figure out the best way to orchestrate whatever happened to be open in Sibelius at the time. She just as often jumped on the keyboard to offer up her suggestion of where the melodic line should move to. She was always with me, keeping me company, keeping my sanity.

I must admit to not knowing Cera's birthday until tonight's google search of "Ash Wednesday 1992." I could never remember her age because she always seemed like a kitten. People were shocked when I would slowly do the math (8th grade was which year again?) and reveal her true age. She did not seem old. At least not until this past week. A friend visited and commented on how much weight she had lost. I hadn't noticed, you never do when it's incremental. Within days of my friend's visit, Cera's behavior changed pretty drastically. I realized I never saw Cera eat, though I couldn't keep the water bowl filled long enough to satiate her thirst. She wasn't being quite as needy and seemed to be losing weight by the hour. By Friday I realized I couldn't rationalize her weight loss or behavior change any longer, and took her to the vet.

To make the last painful part of this story short, she was diagnosed with irreversible kidney tissue damage. She was retaining waste and suffered from lack of appetite. She was literally wasting away. I was assured by the very nice vet that she was not suffering, that this was the natural way cats conclude their lives, and it was really a very "graceful" way to die. So I began to prepare myself for the what we all know is the inevitable. Saturday night she could barely walk. She tried to cuddle with us on the couch, but was too uncomfortable and opted for her favorite kennel instead. It broke my heart. I couldn't see her like this when only a week ago she was running around the apartment, jumping in my lap and trying to lick my plate. Early Sunday morning, when she again refused food, and missed a jump to the couch, I came to the painful decision that every pet owner dreads. By Sunday afternoon, I was drowning my tears in a Height's margarita, knowing I had entered a new chapter of life that was defined by the absence of Cera.

It's now Monday night, and Annie has spent the day going from room to room crying. I think she finally feels the loneliness that Cera rescued me from. I'm now in a very loving relationship, and am no longer lonely. Perhaps Cera knew that her job was done, that she no longer needed to be my protector. I can't help it, but it makes me smile to think of Cera hanging out with Tucker somewhere, looking for a new set of kids to keep company and love and protect. And it feels good, for the first time in days, to smile.

Cera & Nicky; Cera on my computer

Cera the great mouse hunter; Cera chasing Annie this past January

One week from tonight...

A Tribute to Art Blakey

presented by the New School
directed by Joseph Perez

Monday, March 30, 2009

at Sweet Rhythm

sets at 8:00 & 10:00

with the music of Art Blakey played by

Valery Ponomarev, Marcus Strickland, Keyon Harrold, E. J. Strickland,
Jason Marshall, Tatum Greenblatt, Stafford Hunter,

and many more...

Cover is $10 with a $10 minimum/students get in free with a $5 minimum

for more information, read this