Getting Cozy

How could I have forgotten?  In my fit of yesterday's Buddy Rich nolstalgia, last night I realized I had forgotten my all-time single most favorite drum solo.  I had this thing on a 45rpm single when I was in high school. "Topsy" by Cozy Cole.  Here goes:

My Buddy Rich

When I came in to work today, a colleague announced that Buddy Rich, the drummer, had just passed away. Wait a minute! I knew that Buddy Rich, my drumming idol when I was a kid, had died at about age 70 in the mid-80s.

Buddy Rich, imho, was incredible. Went way beyond conventional rolls, flams and paradiddles. This guy could do one-handed rolls with either hand, smoothly and at fantastic speed. Gene Krupa and Max Roach were also amazing drummers of that era, but for me it was Buddy Rich and his technique.

I was to learn that the Buddy Rich of today's news was apparently a rock drummer, not a jazz drummer as My Buddy was. (Guess my awareness of hot rock drummers never got much past the great Ginger Baker-- until Toby, of course.) Showing my age, I recalled that I bought a Rich Vs. Roach album in 1959, my final year of high school and took it with me to college (I still have the album, and have it on the pile that someday I intend to digitize ... using my old Technics turntable that I connected to my computer with a German phono preamp via USB port).

One of the more well-known Buddy Rich events was his appearance with the Muppets in 1970-something:



And another interesting TV appearance in 1965 was with Jerry Lewis.

RIP, all Buddy Riches.

Public Domain MP3s: Robert Johnson, Et. Al.

Believe it or not, I made this discovery while undertaking legitimate research in the workplace.  To demonstrate some techniques around making Flash and XML communicate, a programmer showed on his blog how he created a simple MP3 player ... and he used as source material some music found at PublicDomain4U.  There is some great stuff there, playable online or downloadable, from the likes of (some of my favorites) Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Louis Armstrong, and many others.  Some samples above, in my own player.

A Blog You Must See

Almost every day I find myself hitting the Web to "visit" with other programmers and Web developers, whether to find specific problem workarounds and other solutions, or to just keep up with the industry. In the course of researching Flex and AIR and other Adobe app issues, I hit the blog of Tom Cornilliac, an Oregon guy with a strong reputation in the biz ... and a great header photo for his blog. And it is the latter that I want to share with you: http://www.cornilliac.com/blog/?page_id=43

Joshua James Covers Modest Mouse

Walking By The Moon

On the way home from work ...

Six Car Pileup

This is Toby's new band, 6 Car Pileup, playing "Can't Stand The Weather".  Toby is Nik and Ivi's Cape Cod cousin (same age as Ivi), son of Gabrielle..  Toby is on drums, the other five are not ID'd yet.

Tripping the Light Fantastic

Thanks to Kim, and now Ivi, my interest in dance as an art form and an entertainment has greatly increased -- though I remain highly dance-challenged in terms of physical activity.  So I came upon this delightful piece recently, "Dance With Me" by Nouvelle Vague, to be shared herewith as a Valentine to my favorite ladies, Kim and Ivi ...

Shelby Discovered

For me, one of the great pleasures is blowing away an assumption or belief in the light of new evidence.  Especially with people.  From time to time, someone whom I initially disliked, even strongly, turns out to become a fast friend.   (This may have something to do with my early experience as an investigator for the US Congress; we were always expected and required to go beneath the surface to find the reality.)  But that doesn't mean to expect any abrupt reversals in some heavily-considered areas like religion or politics!

Anyway, I have never been much of a fan of country music -- although I spent a winter listening to a lot of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings when I lived with the White Mountain Apaches in 1973-74 in the mountains of eastern Arizona.  Well, a friend pointed me in the direction of Shelby Lynne, who I am told is a mostly-country singer who makes forays into jazz and blues, and does Dusty Springfield covers.  Check this out:

Here's a studio version, though not over-produced at all, that improves on the lo-fi qualities of the above:

A Film to Watch For?

This morning I was turned on to a film (by a colleague who saw it over the weekend) that looked appealing: see trailer here or here

Maybe I will suggest this to the LHS Band Director after I see the whole thing.