OK, so we’re all doing it Gangnam Style this week.

There was an expression amongst jazzers years ago, ‘All the good notes are taken’ to explain why older tunes were more memorable. I was told that Duke coined it. Even if that isn’t true, it’s something he could have said so I’ll go with it. The melancholy in that sentence is something I feel keenly. Duke was a guy who went from nothing to great success to being forgotten and then reborn to fame and then finally recognised as a national treasure. I always admired the man even more than his music because he just kept going out every night with a quiet dignity regardless of the latest fashion. He wasn’t truly appreciated until his passing, but those who knew him always realised that he was the coolest man in any room.

There have been a number of articles and books out lately about […]

I’ve reached the age where I’ve noticed the lying about one’s youth really begins. I’ve played a lot of crappy sideman gigs over the past two years trying to get my chops back together and boy to hear people my age talk!

Prog Caused Punk. Punk Killed Prog

First of all, I wanna dispel a very common myth. Prog did not cause punk. Prog was self-destructing in ’77 when punk happened. In fact, I got into punk because it was the only alternative to the prevailing pop music of the era, which was awful. What was the biggest selling group back then? Abba. Punk was simply the body’s natural reaction to being suffocated to death. In such situations, you begin thrashing about just to survive that feeling. And Abba? Elton John? I’m having trouble breathin’ just thinking about that crap.

Because Abba was never cool. You’d get yer ass kicked for liking Abba. And Elton. And all those totally gay, over-produced, late ’70’s pop groups.

Prog was already dying by the time ‘Never […]

Are you dead? Working @ Mickey D’s?

No and no. But thanks for assuming. If my computer functioned like a Mickey D’s cash register I’d have a button I could press like this:

So Where’s Detroit At?

The score for the opera is 90% complete. I have stopped to focus on finish audio tracking for the JCHMusic album ‘Songs From Detroit’ which I am trying to get done in time for the holidays. The plan is to use that as a promo for another round of fundraising for a live performance.

Seriously, How Is The Health?

Maddening. I’ve spent three weekends this year at the ER now with recurring infections. Who knew you could crack your own ribs just from coughing. The other issue is that my arthritis is a drag. The main reason I don’t post more is because I have to budget the amount of wrist activity. I can only type so much every day. I can only play guitar so much on any given day. So if I have […]

So Jonah Lehrer plagiarizes himself. How novel. Not.

Artists and authors of all stripes have been re-purposing and re-using their own stuff for millenia. Hell, 2/3 of Picasso’s oeuvre is largely the same. (Well, Paloma, time for Daddy to go to work. Different day, same naked fat chicks on the beach. C’est la vie!) Of course, ‘journalism’ is different. One must not re-use any material without proper attribution, of course. So his crime is one not so much of copying as in not informing people that he was copying.

Now I have really enjoyed Lehrer’s work. He has some great ideas on how humans ‘operate’, including his recent book on ‘creativity.’ I don’t condone this failure, but as Dr. Manhattan might say, “I understand, without condoning or judging.” Ironically, some of his best writing has been about the affects of technology on how we think. And I believe he has been hoisted on his own petard.

Point Number One: Look, it’s a cut n’ paste world. You know that. Even though […]

Today was a weird day. I learned a couple of things that seem small, but feel pretty big to me right now.

First of all: After thirty five years in Amerikay, I still spell like Rudyard Kipling. I fantastise about the Girl From Ipanema. I live in a neighbourhood. Because that’s that was the flavour of culture the Christian Bros. beat into us (that’s a multi-layered joke if ever there was one.) Because that’s what the OED said. And by God if the OED says so? Well there you have it! My friends think it’s crazy that I could so easily adopt a mid-western accent but hold onto the ‘antiquated’ spelling—the exact opposite of every other self-respecting ex-foreigner.

But today I stumbled upon the fact that the OED now considers both ‘ise’ and ‘ize’ are considered correct. And then the final indignity: ‘ize’ is now the preferred rendition. WTF? (Same on both sides of the ocean.) Self-improvement goal #461.

What I find disturbing is that the OED, of all things so stable; so […]