Notes_Norton

Put his plug in the wrong jack?

In our duo, almost 600 songs are memorized, and I play either sax, flute, wind synth, guitar, and/or sing on them. There is no quick sub or replacement. Insights and incites by Notes

THE SHOW MUST GO ON I've been making a living gigging since 1964 - I have never-ever missed a gig. I played with a fever of 104 once, I loaded my system with activated charcoal to keep my bowels from running, and no matter what the ailment, I made the gig. When my father died, my mother checked my gigging schedule before deciding on what day to make the funeral, as she knew I would have chosen the gig, and she understood why. No matter what the gig is, somebody is depending on you. Employees, patrons, promoters, managers, and so on. Sometimes a lot of other people would be out of money they need to make ends meet if you don't show up. A bartender or waiter/waitress making no tips for the night, an owner not selling enough food or booze for the night and so on. And the audience has made plans for the night. If you can cover it up, don't let them know you are sick. If you can't (voice troubles) let them know and tell them you will do the best you can. They will be with you. Since 1985 I've been in a duo. We both sing and play. Since that day there have been 2 days she couldn't sing so I did all the songs, and one day I couldn't sing and she sang all the songs. Other times we balanced the load according to our abilities. But we take care of ourselves and usually go at least 5 years between either one of us catching a cold. I think the fact that your subconscious knows you are going to work anyway makes it fight harder. When I die I plan to give 2 months notice and train my replacement :D Insights and incites by Notes

The Paul on the rooftop concert doesn't look like the real Paul to me.

Is that the "real" Paul or the "fake" Paul?

Thanks for the EDucation and your female fan club hopes you never get ED.

Billy Preston isn't playing the piano.

Thanks for the grin!

jus

There are only two kinds of music (1) music that appeals to me and (2) music written for other ears. I have everything from 3 chord blues to symphonies, including a continuum of rock from the 50s to present, many forms of jazz from big band to cool school to fusion, disco, salsa, reggae, soca, country, R&B, Tuvan throat singing, Bedouin, Klezmer, Brazilian, Cabo Verde, Afro Pop, Romani ("Gypsy" from India to Spain), and quite a few others. If it speaks to me, I like it, if it doesn't, it's for someone else. I also play many different genres of music. I find that playing different types of music. I can take from one genre and import to another and it might sound better - or not. If it doesn't I don't do it again. It's all good. Insights and incites by Notes

I have many hundreds of CDs, many hundreds of LPs, and hundreds of purchased downloads that I burn to more permanent media. I am a career musician, and music is a huge part of my life. I have a digital Walkman that I play in the car, it has over 10,000 songs on it, culled from my collection, and it doesn't include the hundreds of symphonies that I also have (they are too long for car trips, I'd spend 40 driveway minutes waiting for one to finish). I don't like Apple or anyone else having control of my files. Streaming is OK to listen to like radio to discover new things, but when I hear something I want, I'll buy it so that I can hear it when I want. I'll also save it in multiple formats so I can listen to it where I want as well. I have no use for iTunes. I do hope that Apple has the foresight to allow you to be able to keep the music you bought and saved in iTunes. I can't see them doing it any other way, it would be bad business practices. Insights and incites by Notes

He was a great piano player and carried on the NOLA style. You can hear Professor Longhair, Pinetop Perkins, Allen Toussaint and so many Mississippi Delta pianists in his style. He had excellent musicians recording on his albums with him. The rhythm sections always grooved and the background singers wailed. He didn't have what could be called a great voice, but he used it very well and very expressively. He carried the NOLA piano blues tradition to the modern age, his "Gumbo" album is a prime example. RIP good Doctor. Your music will live on.

I only buy them for 2 reasons (1) a song I need to learn and don't want to buy the entire album or (2) something I want that can't be found on physical media anymore. I'd much rather buy a CD and have it for keeps, Insights and incites by Notes

Is the mom of the seagull group a mother flocker? Are they gullable? When gigging do they have to wait their tern? Is there every a good pun or are they all groaners? Notes

I never liked iTunes, and as soon as I could buy MP3s at Amazon and other places, I deleted iTunes. So R.I.P. iTunes, you've gons the way of Netscape, Real Audio, and so many other things that have made the Internet what it is today. Thanks for your service.

You guys are making me jealous. See the hat in my avatar? That's my rock n roll toupee. I didn't intend anything political by the cartoon, I just can't resist a pun. I just laid down my cards and got trumped. And if Sting isn't armed, how is he going to play the bass? Putting his hands on his shoulders wouldn't work.

There are two kinds of bugs calld no-see-ums. 1) Redbugs (mites) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombicula 2) Sand Flies (midges) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratopogonidae I have a dozen Spanish moss filled Live Oak trees, and never have been bitten by a Redbug On the other hand, I've donated a lot of blood to the Sand Flies. Here in the my part of Florida, near the beaches and salt water marshes in the twilight hours of dawn and dusk or very damp, cloudy days the Sand Flies come out in force. You can see them, but they are tiny little dots, about the size of a period in a size 4 typeface. There are only 2 parts to this insect, wings and mouth ;) They pack quite a bite for such tiny little things. Fortunately they leave no venom or toxin behind. When there are hundreds of them they can be an irritant. They aren't strong fliers so a big fan will keep them away. If that doesn't work, a citronella candle or putting a repellent on yourself does the trick. The last time I saw one land on my arm, I squashed it, and at least 100 more came to the funeral :D Notes

I have no problem with the snakes, and just keep them out of the house. In the yard, I'm careful where I put my hands. Even though in the 30 years I've lived here, I've only seen a few, I don't want to startle one. I've had a couple of pretty big scorpions in the house in that time. I invert a CD-Rom lid over them, slide cardboard under them, and evict them. If they get in the house, it means they are lost. I find if I take them back to the wildlife preserve about 300 feet to the west of me, they can't find their way back. Many years ago after a hurricane we had a hole in the screen of our screen porch. Construction and supplies were backlogged and we couldn't find either screen or a repair company for months. Wasps would get in through the hole and so we inverted a cup over them, slid the cardboard under them, and take them back out. Eventually the wasps new the routine and when we cane with the cup, they would fly into it and let us take them outside. We didn't even need the cardboard anymore. Most animals that live in Florida will leave you alone if you don't make them nervous. I've strolled past alligators, crocodiles, snakes, wasps nests, and bee hives with no problem. I will kill mosquitoes, and black widow spiders if they nest too close to somewhere I need to be, and I'll avoid all that I think could be dangerous if they think I'm threatening them. When I visited Australia, I avoided the >2,000 pound crocs and observed them from a safe distance. Humans are bite size to those beasts. In 5 weeks of being in the bush and the outback, I saw one snake, and I kept my distance. When I was in Costa Rica, a fer de lance got into the laundry room of the Arenal Lodge and I saw grown men with fear in their eyes trying to get it out by using long sticks. I often visit the Everglades National Park, and they are having a Burmese python problem. One ranger told me that if I see one sunning on the side of the road, I should run over it. I've seen them, but not where I could run over them, and to tell the truth, I probably would get out and take it's picture instead of killing it. For the record, the most dangerous animal on the planet, the animal that kills more humans every year than any other, including humans, is probably lurking in your back yard all summer, the mosquito. Now that's an animal to fear. Bob

Since I mostly do MIDI I work a lot with Master Tracks Pro (abandoned ware). I also use Audacity for simple things and Power Tracks Pro. I'm just learning Cakewalk. Notes

I had to sweep a coral snake out of our living room. It cooperated. I have a 6' Coachwhip that lives under my house. It got in the porch one day, and it did not cooperate. Whatever way we wanted to guide it (the door) the snake went the opposite way. It was totally freaked of us. Eventually he went out. Notes

Definitely. When making a backing track for my duo, I often make subtle changes to tempo. Common variances are to speed up the B section a bit and/or speed up the end a bit -- but there are so many song specific changes that it would be impossible to list them all. Slowing the tempo of a section broadens it, rushing it adds excitement. Even with dance tracks, where the dancer isn't supposed to notice any tempo changes, subtle and gradual tempo changes are very useful to add energy to the tune. Of course there is rubato, but I find that difficult for a backing track so I avoid that as much as possible. My first instrument was drums, and through the years as a predominately sax playing multi-instrumentalist I have had the opportunity to work with some great drummers, and also the opportunity to sub on drums while the drummers played other instruments (like melodic percussion or the drummer in one band who played trumpet too). The 'out of the grid' groove and the tempo changes are something a good drummer just does automatically. It feels right and in that way it is right. Most good drummers don't sit down and analyze things like 'I'm going to lay back the 2s and 4s' or 'I'm going to swing the 8th notes a bit', or 'I'm going to speed this part up a bit', they just feel it and do it without any thought. Which brings me to a related subject (hopefully not to hijack the thread). Thinking is done in practice sessions. When it comes time to play the music for a recording or an audience, thinking can be your enemy. The best music is made with no thought involved. That includes the drum track. Insights and incites by Notes

My first instrument was drums. I added sax, bass, guitar, wind synth, flute, keys, and vocals (not in that order). If I was playing some disco or EDM songs, I would want to quantize the drums. But playing pop, rock, blues, country and most other forms of pop music, I want to keep the beat, but definitely not quantize. I play the drums live into my backing tracks and Band-in-a-Box aftermarket styles. That way I can get the feel right. Quantizing is the opposite of the groove. Sometimes the 2's and 4's need to be played behind the beat a bit, sometimes ahead. It depends on the style and the song. Sometimes the eighth or sixteenth notes need to be pushed or laid back a bit too. Again it depends. Listen to some of my favorite drummers, (and Bonham is one of them) like Bernard Purdie or Hal Blaine. Two drummers with very contrasting styles, but almost never quantized. Al Jackson Jr. played for many Stax cuts in it's prime and his rhythm was great, sounded simpler than it was, and always grooved - never quantized. Back in the jazz genre Buddy Rich swung those eighth notes using the proper delay for each song and always staying true to the song as did Gene Krupa and Max Roach. Steve Gadd another versatile drummer who even managed to inject a slight groove into disco tunes. I could go on and on with Cobham, Bruford, Blakey, Ginger Baker, DeJohnette, Morello, and on and on. None of these great players are known for quantizing, but they are all known for keeping the metronome steady as a rock when needed. When recording, I don't quantize anything, drums, bass, keys, and so on. If I can't get it right, I just do it again. To me, quantizing and compression are the two tools that when overused suck the soul out of a recording. That's my opinion, fee free to disagree because when it comes to making music, there is more than one right way. PS, excuse me for not playing the videos. ATT has phone line troubles due to the rain we had recently, and the DSL speed is such that they play about 2-10 seconds before buffering again. Insights and incites by Notes

Nope, I haven't seen Trump as an answer, and it's short enough to be a filler. I do see Idi (Amin) from time to time, so the constructors are not above using controversial leaders as an answer. But I guess 3 letter fillers are more common (Ulm, Ana, Ena, Obi, Ibo, Ebo, etc.). l like the puzzles with themes (usually Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, and sometimes Friday or Saturday). And I like clues that make me think in one direction and then surprise me when the clue means something else. I don't care for puzzles with too many sports or pop media names, being a non-sports fan and I haven't watched TV since the 1980s so I don't know most of those people. Slide one in every once in a while, OK, but if two or three names are in a section, and they depend on each other, there is a good possibility that the ipad comes out. Although I have learned that Mel had a diner and Reba had a TV show and somebody called Opie was a kid in Mayberry. Also somebody called Norm was on Cheers, Alda was on MASH, and Apu is somebody on the Simpsons, although I've never seen any of those shows. The things you can learn doing crosswords -- and if it wasn't for crosswords I wouldn't know what a Wapiti is (now I feel real smart). When they give music clues, I have to remember not to think like a musician most of the time. Doing crosswords is entertaining, and it gets me to use my brain in a different way. I guess that's why its entertaining. I often photocopy the puzzle, and do it with my wife, double-teaming the crossword constructor. When my duo partner (now my wife) and I gigged on cruise ships back in the 1980s there was no TV on board except for the advertising crawls and an old, videotape movie that would play again and again. So after 3 years at sea we got out of the TV habit, and when we got off, I hooked the cable back up, and a couple of months later, disconnected it, because we were used to doing things for entertainment instead of passively having entertainment fed to us. OK, we're weird, and it's not for everyone, but I think life without TV is better. Instead of watching I learned: to play wind synthesizer, to program wind sounds on the synth, to add lead guitar as my 7th instrument, about 500 new songs for me duo, to write styles for Band-in-a-Box, to run a mail-order business, to learn HTML code, to convert it to an Internet business, enough cgi code to run a shopping cart, and quite a few other fun things. (I told you I was weird!) Notes