Happy to Live at This Time in History
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I’m happy to live this time in history. When somebody tells me they’d like to live in some past era, say after watching a romantic movie with castles, aristocrats, and beautiful clothing, I tell them they’re nuts. Ditto for Paris in the 1930s. I am just now recovering from a bout of diverticulitis. I wouldn’t wish this malady on my worst enemy. It’s antibiotics that are helping me escape from it. We didn’t have these meds back when Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Breton and Tzara were creating art and literature back then. Ditto for visiting the dentist, which used to be pretty frightening. No wonder people preferred just letting their teeth fall out rather than visiting the dentists. No Hollywood smiles back then. And god forbid having to have an operation. Read More →
I meant to publish this a long time ago. Jamie is an outstanding bass player who I think teaches in Florida. On this recent album he does a duet on the classic American song “Shenandoah” with a Japanese singer named Nanami Morakawa that will stop you dead in your tracks. He does an arco bass solo and she vocalises over it. His tone is big and his intonation is spot-on. There are also some straight ahead songs. Highly recommended. To comment, click 
Freespace is an absolutely fabulous new jazz record. These cats are total virtuosos in top form. I also love Michael Wolff’s album Joe’s Strut. Like Steve Allee, he’s a great pianist, incredibly creative, with power and finesse in his playing. To comment on this post, click 
A friend of mine told me he was picking up a the new Tesla sedan today, the S model no less. Then I saw another one parked in the underground parking in my building this morning. It is a sleek beauty. I read about Jay’s Leno checking it out with the Tesla’s chief designer:
It’s common knowledge that the Philippines have long been dominated by foreign powers. The Spanish, then the Americans, then the dictators the U.S. propped up (Ferdinand Marcos and his ridiculous first lady Imelda, who squandered tens if not hundreds of thousand dollars on shoe blitzes in New York City). America did this because we needed our big military bases back in the Vietnam days.