Notes_Norton

Lazy Afternoon - Regina Belle

I gigged on Cruise ships from 1986-1989. Back then, there was no TV on the ships, except for pre-recorded advertisements and a taped movie that played again and again and again and again. When I jumped ship, I hooked the cable back up, but after a few months I realized I wasn't watching. The few times I did sit down to watch, I was doing more fidgeting than watching. So I disconnected the cable. The house is wired for an antenna, and I'm capable of doing that, but I never bothered. When I had the house painted, I took the antenna mast down. I guess I got used to doing things instead of watching. Instead of watching TV: I learned to make user styles for Band-in-a-Box, started a mail-order business selling them. I learned how to run a mail order business That turned into an Internet order business, so I learned to make my own web pages, made a website ... ... ... and learned how to run an Internet order business. (I've sold my wares to musicians in over 100 countries so far.) I learned to sequence backing tracks from scratch, so I don't have to depend on karaoke tracks, or the tracks sold on the net that are never in my key, never in my arrangement, usually with the wrong groove, and so on. I spent more time fixing the few I purchased than building my own, so I do my own I've sequenced more than 600 backing tracks for my duo, which helps us stay booked https://www.nortonmusic.com/cats/songlist.html it takes time, but it's not really work. It's making music. And it makes our product (music) sound better than the competitors. We've got to the point where we charge more money than our competition, and still have more gigs per month than our competition. I learned to play wind synthesizer I learned to play lead guitar (still learning on that instrument, it's my 7th and newest) Full disclosure: Mrs. Notes and I have a one-at-a-time DVD subscription from Netflix. A couple of times per month, we'll slip in a DVD and watch a movie. It's the absolute only time the TV is on. I've never seen Taxi, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, Geme of Thrones, Downtown Abbey, Cheers, Glee and hundreds of others that I don't even know the names of. I guess I'm missing some pretty cool things, and no-TV isn't best for everyone, but right now it's working for me. I might change my mind and start again some time in the future, who knows? Notes ♫

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.

I'll give Windows one complement. It's better than Apple. With Apple it's "Upgrade or Die". I have apps that worked on Win 95 that still work today. Nothing that worked on Macs 5 years ago works today. My taskbar used to be on top, so it was like a drop-down menu. Win10 had an aftermarket app that let me do that. Win11 put a halt to that. Other than that, using Win11 is like Win10. Notes ♫

I'm the drummer, and I'm the bass player. I make my own backing tracks. My first instrument was drums, then sax. I got on the road with a 5-piece band, and every songwriter doesn't have the good sense to include a sax solo in every song, so I learned to play bass, rhythm guitar, and to learn parts on the organ. In that band, the drummer was also a singer, so I would do a few songs on his drum kit while he got up front and sang. The nicest thing about being in a duo with my wife is that we are independent, and don't have to put up with the bad habits of other musicians (we have enough of our own). Since we went duo in 1985, we were never out of work until COVID, and now that it's settled down to a dull roar, we're doing 15-20 gigs a month again. http://www.s-cats.com Notes ♫

Our first promo picture - back in 1985. The name is trademarked, but others in different areas of the country use it. But in case they become big stars, like Lady A, they won't be able to take our name away.

Since we are on the topic of names: 1) satya, what is your new name? 2) And while we are on the subject of names, for those of us with names that aren't our name, how did you get your name? I'll go first. Back in the Jurassic era of the Internet, before these forums, and we had to use Usenet/Newsgroups to converse with each other I joined alt.saxophone On alt.saxophone there was already someone named Bob Norton and another Robert Norton. My sister's business partner called everybody by a nickname that he made up, and because I'm a musician, he called me "Notes". So on alt.saxophone I became Notes Norton. I never bothered to change it, and now that I have a little 'empire' selling aftermarket style and song collections for Band[-in-a-Box, changing it would be foolish. I have a reputation. How about you all?

I don't watch the news. Actually I don't watch TV at all, and haven't for decades. I read news online, and I get to pick and choose what interests me, and avoid what is going to make me angry. Old news? A friend gave us a book, "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly. It's not something I would have picked off the shelf, but he said it was a good read. Wow! A page turner, and I learned a lot about the events that I didn't know. Notes ♫

We play quite a few songs on the gig a little faster than the tempo on the record. It adds energy. Of course, that depends on the song and what we think our audience would react positively to. But 50%. No way. I can't spit out the words that fast. Many years ago when I was in a band that opened in concert for the "star" band, I noticed that they played many of their songs faster than they did on the record, so I just figured it was the right thing to do. We learn from the masters. Notes ♫

I just found out that I’m color-blind. The news came completely out of the green!

Every time Microsoft comes out with a new version of Windows, a lot of people hate it. Sometimes their hate is justified, like for Win8 or Vista, other times not. I remember people hating Win95, Win 98SE, WinXP, Win7, too, and IMO they weren't bad at all. I suppose some people just don't like change. And Microsoft doesn't help by moving things around and renaming them so they are hard to find at times. In my experience, the move from W10 to W11 is more like Windows 10.1. For this user, very minimal differences, mostly cosmetic. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

You Can't Sit Down - Philip Upchurch (Got the Church in here) And vocals added to the original...

Sooner or later, all long posts drift off-topic. It's like a friendly conversation between friends in a coffeehouse. OK, I'll try to get back on. Mrs. Notes and I love to travel (BTW, she is a musician, too). Until COVID reared it's ugly head, we went somewhere every year. Sometimes close (as in North or Central America) or sometimes far (as in Asia or Australia). We like to plan our trip around concerts we'd like to hear by world-class symphony orchestras in their home venue. Here is one that got on film. You can't see us, but we are in the audience. It's a great piece of music, not often played in the USA.

I don't do Starbucks either. Way overpriced and IMO not that good. If it was extraordinarily superb, it might be worth the money. I just don't do fast food - zilch - nada - none. I think life is too short to rush through meals. We went out and got a burger today, and a huge RV resort where we gig. I like to patronize the places that hire us, and the owner has hired us twice a month for 8 years now. I got a 9 oz burger made with beef that has never been frozen, delivered by the butcher this morning, hand pattied, on a fresh bun that was baked yesterday without preservatives, the burger was grilled the way I like it (well done) with the choice of toppings I like, and without the toppings I don't like. The cheese was real cheddar, not some processed cheese food. Mrs. Notes got hers rare with the toppings she prefers. The fries were real, fresh, never frozen potatoes, some with the skin still on (I like that), fried in an individual batch (not sitting under a heat lamp), and crispy the way I asked for them. Mrs. Notes got a salad that made fresh after she placed her order. She got the bottle of vinegar and oil to put on the salad, because they know that's what she wants. We were catered to, with the desire to do it the way we like it, not the way the factory builds them. We sat outdoors in a comfortable chair (it was 84 degrees today), and were served by an attractive, pleasant, and attentive waitress who checked on us to make sure everything was OK. The food was bursting with flavor, the company was superb, the location under huge Live-Oak trees pleasant. That was much more enjoyable than the car or any fast-food 'dining room'. That's good for our experience. The cup was ceramic, the plate china, the silverware stainless steel, the salt/pepper/ketchup/etc. in reusable, washable containers, and the only thing that was disposable was the napkin. That's good for the environment. ----- And what's really in an Egg McMuffin? Buns: High-fructose corn syrup, soy or canola oil (inflammatory, two of the hateful 8 oils), calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium propionate, potassium sorbate (preservatives), soy lecithin, inflammatory gliaden protein, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides. (Are those unpronounceable ingredients actually food?) Eggs: From chickens who've been cooped up in dark factories where they don't even have room to spread their wings. They never see light, which means they're missing vitamin D, and their diet largely consists of only soy and corn. But I suppose most restaurants serve similar eggs, so McD gets an OK on that. At home, we buy free-range eggs from local farms. Cheese: (Actually not cheese, but processed cheese food.) Their blend is 60% cheddar cheese and 40% other ingredients, which include water, salt, whey powder, butter, milk proteins, emulsifying salts, natural cheese flavoring, and food coloring. This highly processed dairy product most likely comes from a cow that's been treated with synthetic hormones (rBGH) to boost milk production by about 10 percent. rGBH has been banned in Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand because it's unhealthy for both the cows and humans. Bacon: sugar, salt, sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, natural flavor (vegetable), sodium diacetate and sodium nitrite https://www.livestrong.com/article/559235-diet-detective-whats-really-inside-your-egg-mcmuffin/ I'm opposed to the High-fructose corn syrup, soy oil, alcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium propionate, potassium sorbate, soy lecithin, gliaden, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides, rBGH, sodium diacetate, sodium nitrite and sugar. The sodium nitrite I'm probably getting in all bacon, so I guess that doesn't count. At home, I buy bacon that doesn't have the nitrites in it. But then I'm careful about what I eat, which is perhaps why I haven't been sick in +20 years except for one two-day cold I caught after a vacation where I ate many things that weren't very good for me. My doc says my heart/circulatory system and everything else is like a healthy person, more than 20 years younger than my age. Before I changed my diet, I wasn't this healthy at all. But that could just be me, and might not be the same for everyone else. Mrs. Notes never gets sick since we changed our diet. We're not vegans or anything like that, but we shy away from overly processed foods (frankenfood), eat fresh whenever we can, avoid corn syrup and inflammatory oils, keep the carbs down, and eat healthy fats. So, eating this way is healthy for us (YMMV). And since I gig for a living, and cannot call in sick, it makes good sense to eat a diet that keeps me from getting sick. ----- Plus I'd rather sit down at a comfortable restaurant and enjoy the meal cooked the way I like it, with a non-disposable cup, non-disposable plate, non-disposable flatware, salt/pepper/ketchup/etc. in non-disposable individual packets and savor the meal. Life is short, I try to enjoy and savor everything I do. Of course, that's just me. Others obviously love fast food. Big corporations make a mint producing it. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I like Win 11 just fine. The only thing I did was move the start menu to the left. Other than that, I really don't notice any differences between 10 and 11 except for some minor cosmetic changes. Notes ♫

Superman Lover - Johnny "Guitar" Watson I really like Johnny's music. It's funky and fun. If you like this, check out the cover song, it's even better.

How many flies does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only two. The hard part is getting them into the lightbulb.

I can go to a local restaurant, get fresh cooked eggs in butter (any way I like them), a side of bacon (becan), muffin, coffee in a china cup, real silverware (actually stainless steel), juice in a real glass, a cloth napkin, a comfortable booth and a clean table served by a friendly waitress who keeps the coffee topped off. Why would I want to eat a sandwich wrapped in paper that has been microwave reheated and drink coffee out of a styrofoam or paper cup in my car or in on a hard fiberglass seat inside? Life is too short to eat mediocre food. It's meant to be enjoyed, savored, and it pleasant surroundings. Of course, that's for me. There is more than one right way to eat food. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Like Young - Andre Previn With words added by Buddy Greco Some old "cool school" jazz.

As much as I love classical music, I am NOT going to eat at McDonald's. They could add a free burger, and I'm still not going to eat at McDonald's. Life is too short to eat mediocre food Besides, I doubt they would be playing Prokofiev or Shostakovitch. Notes ♫

Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

It's an evil bait and switch ploy.

Topless servers could mean bald men.....

I worked on cruise ships for 3 years. Being a comedian is a difficult job. When I play music, the song is complete even if the audience doesn't applaud. But if the joke doesn't get a laugh, it just hangs there. I've seen comedians do the same act week after week putting the audience in tears, and every now and then, a cruise ship full of passengers just sits there silent. We've had weeks when the audiences were difficult too, but at least the music was complete.