Notes_Norton

Stanley Turrentine - Sugar (One of my all-time favorite tenor sax players)

Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley & The Wailers Ever notice when he does the Yo-yo-yo figure, it's basically the same tune as "Mama's little baby love shortnin shortnin, mama's little baby loves shortnin bread"?

Holly Holy - Neil Diamond One of the two songs I like best from Neil Bonus ( OT) Here's the other - my favorite N.D. song (Love the arrangement and the musicians who playid on the session)

Theme For An Imaginary Western - Mountain

I have a soft spot in my heart for the blues and good guitar playing. This cut fills the bill. Thanks for sharing.

"Crazy He Calls Me" - Billie Holiday

Some great guitar playing by Gatemouth - Entire album "Gate Swings"

Same song, different take, equally nice, but in a different way. Baby It's You - Smith

CoveCamper, I've seen it with my own eyes, and well over 95% of the peer reviewed, published climatologists from all over the world agree. There will always be a minority who disagree, and who knows, sometimes they are correct. In this instance I doubt it. I am going to go with the majority. I said I've seen it with my own eyes. When I was a child, if the temperature got above 85 degrees, the headline on the Pompano Beach Town News screamed in giant headlines "IT'S A SCORCHER". And it rarely got over 85. Now 90s are common. That's global warming. I grew up in Pompano and Las Olas Blvd and streets in Miami Beach never-ever flooded, even during King Tides. Now they flood on regular high tides. That's ocean rising. And yes, trees love CO2, but there are fewer and fewer and fewer trees to make use of that CO2 as mankind bulldozes them over to make room for the demands of human overpopulation. The ice caps are melting. The droughts are worse. The fires are worse. The reefs I used to skin-dive on as a child are dying, the naysayers are saying nothing is wrong, but to me the evidence speaks otherwise. So I will do my best to take care of what we have left. I think it's the civilized thing to do. YMMV Insights and incites by Notes

I took a drive yesterday to run some long overdue errands, and as I often do, I took my digital Walkman with over 10,000 songs on it. I run it in the 'random' mode. To my delight, the Beatles' "Abbey Road Medley" came on. It is heavily edited from snippets of other recordings, with overdubs and ear candy added, and impossible for a 4 piece group to play live. And IMO it's one of the best things they ever recorded. I don't have VSTs, but I have a rack full of synth modules. IMO a digital piano does not replace an acoustic piano. They are two different but very similar instruments, each with their strengths and weaknesses. The digi-piano doesn't replace, it adds to the things a piano player can do. Sax is my primary instrument. There are times when I play synthesized sax with my wind controller and physical modeling synth module. Why? For the same reason why a pianist might decide to play Rhodes on a particular song, because it fits. The synth sax will do things my physical sax will not, and vice versa. So it's not either-or for me, it's both. I play guitar, and in my duo I'll play some solos with my wind synth. Why? Guitar is my 7th and newest instrument, and there are things I can do on the synth that I'm just not a good enough guitarist (yet) to do. As long as the music comes out good, it is good. But I still prefer symphonies and jazz recorded in one take. Insights and incites by Notes

"Here Comes The Rain Again" - Eurythmics

Perhaps I'm weird, but to me, there is an obsession about perfection in today's recording efforts. I understand that, because that mistake on the record lives forever. On the other hand, too much perfection can be very boring. Everyone's tastes are personal, and mine are just mine. In the end, if you like the recording, it's good for you, and that's all that counts. I have different preferences for different kinds of music. I think a symphony and a jazz recording should be done in one take, with nobody adding parts later on, no overdubbing, and no editing that affects the performance. For everything else --- it depends. Insights and incites by Notes

Here Comes The Judge - Pigmeat Markham

I hate auto-tune. I know singers who work hard to sing on pitch (like myself) and I also hear people intentionally singing out of tune a bit for expression. Listen to Otis Redding's "I've been loving you too long". When he sings the line "You walked out" he hits the word out a bit flat and slowly brings it up to pitch. This puts the pain in the phrase, and auto-tune would have sterilized it. For classical music I don't mind EQ, some compression because the present recording techniques can't reproduce the dynamic range of a good symphony, and other soundscape effects. If you make mistakes, do another take, but prepare your material first. I want to listen to a performance. But then I listen mostly to symphonies that can't be played the same way twice. But then, I listen as a musician, not as the general public. Pop music is a different situation. Much of the pop music I listen to could not have been made without extensive editing. In that case to me it just matters if I like it or not. Notes

In the 1950s a lot of concrete roads were being built, but the oil lobby took control, and they concrete roads slowly were phased out. Too bad, because not only are they a better reflective color, but they don't need resurfacing and repair as much as asphalt does, at least here in Florida. I just can't believe how many dark roofs are around now, When I was growing up (before central AC) everyone had a white roof. Even if you use AC, the dark roof can add hundreds of dollars to your cooling bill. But you would be much kinder to the environment to whiten your roof and turn the AC off. Personally, I think the earth is in big trouble. It's getting close to the point of no-return, and people are acting like there is nothing wrong. The fires, the heat waves, the coral reefs, the expanding deserts, and so on. Our summers in the town I grew up in are 8-10 degrees warmer than they were when I was a child. The ocean is claiming more and more of the beachfront. The dry season is lasting longer and the rainy season not as wet. I might not see the extinction of humanity, but my grandchildren probably will. On the other hand, I might see the hardships like food shortages due to climate change and overpopulation, though. Perhaps I'm erring on the side of caution, but I'd rather do that than ignore the changes I've seen happening in my lifetime so far. I don't use AC. I keep my roof bright white. I don't keep a lawn but planted over 30 trees and native vegetation, so the only 'grass' that I mow is the road right-of-way; 6' around my house and under the clothesline. Yes, we hang all buy our delicate laundry, so we don't have to use the energy-sucking dryer. The native plants in my yard need no fertilizer or supplemental watering. The native trees make oxygen and cool the area. I drive my car in a gas saving manner. It's the smallest minivan I could buy that fits my work gear (PA set and instruments). I got sterilized after siring two children (I'm just a toy now). Plus quite a few other things. If we all choose to do a little, the sum total is a lot. Insights and incites by Notes

"Hold Me Now" - Thompson Twins

^^^ I love that they quoted the "Na na na na" from the Beatles and didn't get sued ^^^ Homage, not plagiarism. ----------------------------- When I worked on the cruise ships I had a long port in San Juan PR every week. One week a musician friend we met there told us there was a street festival in Bayamon with 9 of the top salsa bands playing. We hired a taxi, went to the street festival and saw Gilberto Santa Rosa play this one and a few others. This is a fine example of Puerto Rican Salsa music. After going to San Juan week after week I developed a love for this kind of music. No Me La Llames - Gilberto Santa Rosa

Europa - Carlos Santana and Gato Barbieri In the late 1970s, Gato's take on Carlos' Europa was my most requested song. I've never heard the playing together, so here goes.

Diamond Music - Karl Jenkins

Pass The Kouchie - The Mighty Diamonds