So I’m going to try and paint a somewhat accurate picture of an incident that happened recently. Unfortunately, I was not in attendance. I say unfortunate simply because I really wanted to see this situation unfold in person instead of hearing it second hand. I don’t think my presence would have altered the outcome any, the reason for me wanting to be there is just my overall general curiosity with human behavior. Continue Reading »
I really could have gone in either direction today but surely one of these choices would not have helped me to get to my destination. There were a lot of obstacles today on my way to my intended goal: frustration, impatience, on and on. But finally after exhausting all options logic saved the day. Very often it’s hard for logic to win or even to come on the scene when pressure is around. I wonder how often we are stuck on the side of the road or go in the wrong direction in life because we become too frustrated to exhaust all of the logical options?
Lots of food for thought in this documentary. Enjoy!
If your word view, cultural outlook, mindset or whatever resembles this photo there’s probably a greater than 95% chance that what you have to say will not be predictable or constrained by someone else’s idea of what your supposed to say. Life is bigger than your block and mine. Do something different today, go somewhere you’re not supposed to go and by all means listen to some music that will make people give you a second look.
1973 Film based on the novel by Sam Greenlee. Directed by Ivan Dixon of “Hogan’s Heroes”, “Car Wash” and numerous other film and television projects.
Last night I had a gig that started out something like this classic scene from “The Blues Brothers”. All part of the territory, I had a great time!
A few words of inspiration from Bob Lefsetz:
With the short cut of machines, with the focus on youth, with it being about rich and famous, we’ve done our best to eliminate all the work behind the scenes. We never want a kid to show us his finger painting, we want to see the Picasso, before he’s graduated from high school.
Doesn’t happen that way.
The greats can teeter on the cutting edge and still get it right. They wow us. Like Jeff Beck. A man without a hit who survives because his talent is so well-developed, because he makes his guitar come alive. Can you do this? Do you WANT to do this? Continue Reading »
Personal space is a very interesting concept. I don’t think most people know how much they value it until they are in a situation where they don’t have it. How do you handle those situations? I believe that how you treat your personal space in respect to others personal space speaks to one’s character. In the past week I’ve seen some very extreme cases where I’ve been on the receiving end of persons who have a total disregard for anyone’s personal space except their own. We all have to live together, we should learn how to really live together.
You ever wonder why Bach sounds like Bach or Beethoven sounds like Beethoven? Take any artist that has a readily identifiable sound, when you describe their sound you usually say, well something to the effect that they sound like themselves. But why?
At some point we all begin by mimicking, or as Clark Terry so eloquently put it “We imitate, then we assimilate, then we innovate.” Upon having a conversation with a musical colleague of mine I’ve come to the realization that we often stifle creativity because we are so stuck on imitation. It’s getting to the point where it may not be musically healthy. What do I mean? Continue Reading »
