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In my previous post about traveling, I said that it takes me one month to sort things out after a trip. Well, since one of the links embedded within this text may expire in less than one week, I’m getting this post up pronto. [Read more →]

A note from Russ Gershon, head honcho of the Either/Orchestra about one of the most horrifying ordeals - at least that I have seen - in recent memory:

Dear friends, fans and colleagues,

As many of you are aware, our brother, teacher and conguero Vicente Lebron is behind bars in Boston’s own version of Guantanamo Bay.

Vicente Lebron on stage with the Either/Orchestra [Read more →]

It takes me about one week to recover from any trip out of town. I’m not really talking about jet lag, since usually the worst of it is the first full day back, after a good night’s sleep. No, I’m talking about everything else. This time, it has taken about one month. So, it’s with this in mind that I submit to you some observations and reflections about my trip to Europe last month. [Read more →]

It would be impossible for me to miss the date of the last post. It pains me to know that it has been that long since the last time I had something worthwhile to say. Ok, so the truth is that I have been dying to post about 50 things, but who has time? I know, I know, “excuses, excuses…”

Well then, let me say that I would love to finish the piece on Interpol, but they seem so passé now. My analysis of Gunther Schuller’s 1960s idea of the “complete musician” is something just too involved for my current, very heavy workload, I’m sorry to say. Yes, I have a follow up about the Decemberists which basically says that Dave was right. How about an interview with the incredible drummer/composer/record label head honcho, Kendrick Scott? Got it. I even have most of a follow up to this blog’s current “hit,” which is a review of the complete works of Rush. Yes, that’s what I said, “Rush.”

So, rather than finish any of those fascinating - dare I say “brilliant?” - posts, here’s a quick non sequitur. I recently stumbled across the site WikiHow, and immediately asked myself, “what do I wish I knew how to do?” The answer, as should be obvious to most of you, is to be a jazz musician. So I present to you, herein, several of the 24 steps to becoming a jazz musician, as told by WikiHow. For your listening and dining pleasure, the full list can be viewed here. [Read more →]

My focus has been on the music industry so far. Ok, so it’s been a bit on the music side and not so much on the industry side recently, but still that’s the idea. I have also been hoping to stay out of the “Shameless Self-Promotion” category, or at least in the sense of not really plugging my various gigs and so on. But the thing I want to talk about is very cool and I have a great story about it. [Read more →]

When The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it flipped pretty much everyone out. The kids loved it. The adults hated it. Frank Zappa thought that it was stolen from side four of Freak Out!. Brian Wilson went into a depression, followed by a brilliant retaliation in the form of Pet Sounds, followed by…well, you know what followed that. It certainly was a graveyard smash, and a decade later it helped spark the term rockism, but not in a good kind of way.

Well, now it’s 40 years later and Mashuptown is wondering about Sgt. Pepper’s mid-life crisis. I already told you how much I like mashups, but this just sends me over the edge. It’s totally great. [Read more →]

First thing’s first: thank God for the Muppets. I mean that less in a religious sort of way and more as a way of acknowledging that if it weren’t for the Muppets, I might have spent my spare time watching The Facts of Life or Silver Spoons. Or the news. Anyway, the Muppets rocked for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is the seemingly endless cast of uber-hip musicians appearing on the show. [Read more →]

Been out on the road a bit this week with some great gigs in upstate NY. Massive very hip things happening in the music industry including:

[Read more →]

One of my favorite blogs (yes, I’m a subscriber) is The Good, The Bad and the Unknown. Today, J. Paul posted a list of The Top 11 Jazz Albums Everyone Should Own. It’s a really challenging endeavor to come up with a top 50, or a top 100, so getting it down to 11 must have been fun. I totally agree that those 11 recordings are amazing, and here’s the rough part of choosing 11 - what about: [Read more →]

Time for a quick update on things extra-musical, just to keep you in the loop.

First thing’s first: I won. Really. I won. I actually won something. And it’s not just something, but a very groovy book. And I didn’t win it from just anybody, I won it from Contest Blogger, a very hip blogger who keeps the blogosphere connected to excellent ways to win great stuff. In so doing, he helps bloggers figure out where the goods are, and shows us a plethora of interesting ways to promote our own blog. Needless to say, I’ll be posting a contest of my own soon. But in the meantime, thanks Phil.

Next: Last week I sent out a post that contained stories which had caught my attention. I made some mention of how challenging it has been to “keep tabs on everything.” Well, actually the thing is that last week I was out of the loop thanks to a bike accident. All’s well, more or less. But if I’m looking for the hilarity in the experience - and that’s what I really want to publish for all the world to read - then it can be found at the hospital, where I went a few hours after the accident. There I sat in a wheelchair reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire waiting to be seen, again, after having had a bicycle accident. I felt like I was 12 all over again.

Anyway, I made it through and even though I’m still healing up some bruises (”momentos” as a neighbor of mine puts it), everything should be ok. My looks have changed a bit, though:

No, actually that picture is my dream come true. It’s the new and improved me…Simpsonized.

And now for a mad dash to those longer articles that I have been threatening to publish…

Rick