Notes_Norton

My TI99 computer had a cool little music program on a cartridge (for its day). Other than that, it was pretty useless. I remember saving data on a cassette tape recorder. Brrrrt brrrt brrt brrrrrrt brt brrt. Then the Atari/ST which was a huge jump. I wrote my first aftermarket Band-in-a-Box user styles on the Atari. Then one day, Peter Gannon from PG Music called. He was happy that I was supporting BiaB, and offered to convert my styles to "IBM Compatible" format. That's when I got my DOS5 computer, as BiaB was still a DOS program. Shortly after that, the Apple Classic II It's been fun. Notes ♫

One For My Baby (And One More For the Road) - Frank Sinatra

I dislike Apple because their mantra is "Update or die" Actually, I have no choice but to use Windows. I write aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, and the BiaB StyleMaker app on Windows is much better than the same app on Mac. The Windows version allows me to make better styles. The better styles play just fine on the Mac, but a few of the StyleMaker features are missing on the Mac. This has nothing to do with Apple, but everything to do with PG Music. I can't blame them, 95% of the market is Windows. Put your money where the money is. My last Mac was a big, beautiful EMac. It was OSX on the IBM chip. I had a software author pro member$hip $ub$cription, and a sales rep talked me into buying it. Less than a month later, Apple changed to Intel chips, and my big, beautiful, expensive EMac was destined to be a doorstop. The rep could have told me to wait a month, but I guess she was so intent on getting her commission, she didn't care about what the customer needed. Other than an iPad which I bought years later, that was the last Mac I owned. And I have had a Mac ever since the Motorola chip days. Notes ♫

I wasn't working from home at that time, nobody was hiring musicians, so I was self-unemployed.

I had this one custom-made for me. Built in Taiwan, imported by a Texas company that used to make saxophones but now only makes mouthpieces. I guess it's my "signature model"

Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations

What about "Universal Serial Bus"? What is Universal about the half dozen different cable connections? Adding a minor rant to your rant Notes ♫

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere - Alan Jackson We learned this one for a regular customer a couple of years ago. We still play it once in a while, but as time goes on, it has drifted to sound more like us than Jackson and Buffet.

I did, we've had an outdoor gig 15 years running now, and when the "north" has a huge blizzard, we have a cold morning. I bought gloves and cut the fingertips out of them. It didn't work.

Her songs were always the bright spot on their albums for me. I liked her writing, singing, and keyboard playing. RIP Christine, and thanks for the music.

Going from slide rule to the TI was like jumping into a science ficton movie. Notes ♫

You can get the MINI for $330 US https://www.kraftmusic.com/roland-ae-01-aerophone-mini.html but it won't do as much as the 30 for $1,400 US https://www.kraftmusic.com/roland-aerophone-pro-ae-30-digital-wind-instrument.html and Akai still makes an EWI, the USB model goes for about $350 US I'm not fond of the EWI myself, but a lot of people love them. I use a discontinued Yamaha WX5 which is a MIDI Wind Controller with no sounds. That way I can then choose the synth I want to play it with. You can find used ones on the market, but I'd recommend getting a used one from Patchman Music because he is a wind synth player and repairman and will make sure it is working properly. (I have no affiliation with Patchman Music). Good musical instruments just cost a lot of money. Fortunately, I do this for a living, so I can justify the expense. Notes ♫

Park Avenue Beat aka Perry Mason Theme Song - written by Fred Steiner

We had to use slide rules because the poorer kids couldn't afford a calculator. Who needs more than 3 significant digits anyway. I tossed the slide rule when I got the Texas Instruments scientific calculator. Back to windows. Now that I'm no longer doing scientific calculations (I graduated) the calculator in Windows is all I need. Notes ♫

Let's Face The Music And Dance - DIana Krall It's a standard, done by many, I chose the Krall version because it's live, and I haven't heard this performance yet.

I think Roland has an Aerophone that you can plug into your computer and use a software synth. However, if the synth doesn't respond to continuous controller 2, you will need an interface that will convert it to cc11. I have only found one synth module that I really, really like, and it's out of production. The Yamaha VL70-m. The physical modeling software responds so well that it feels like I am playing an instrument, instead of triggering a synthesizer. On stage I probably play almost 1/3 tenor sax, 1/3 wind synth and 1/3 guitar. I may sneak in a couple of flute songs but some days it sits on the stand for the entire gig. We have about 650 songs of various genres and eras, what we choose to play depends entirely on the audience in front of us at the time. A good place to start is here: https://www.patchmanmusic.com/forum/ It's a forum for wind synth players, it's a very friendly group, and the members are eager to help newbies. Notes ♫

I remember DOS5 and Windows 3.1 I hated DOS. Why? I'm "Typoman" writing all wrongs. BTW, the only problem I have with Win11 is that I can't move the taskbar to the top of the screen anymore.

WX5 Wind MIDI controller. I have a black one too, but this is my favorite.

A470 = Numbers which gives me a chance to post/listen to one of my favorite pieces of rock guitar playing, not only the solo, but the fill-ins behind the singer. And yes, I have posted it before, but Terry is one of my favorite guitarists and he can't record anymore 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

Jazz Samba - Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd Stan was and still is one of my favorite 'cool school' sax players