This is really cool. . .

There was a standing room only crowd, with actress Renee Zellweger in the audience, for the dedication of the new Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, the centerpiece of Habitat for Humanity's Musicians Village project in the Ninth Ward.

Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis played key roles in developing the Musicians Village, and the center, but as performers, they called this hall acoustically perfect.

"You're in the middle of the Upper 9th Ward," said Connick. "You've got the highest level of state-of-the-art technical facility here. it is like all these worlds coming together."

"You could bring a string quartet in here, and they could play without one shred of amplification, and everybody in here could hear every note in here regardless of the volume," raved Marsalis.

"You could also bring Dr. John in here with his full band, and people would love every minute of it."

The main performance hall has state-of-the-art recording equipment that is even a boost for Hollywood South.

"We have a facility like that with big screen projection capabilities, and these incredible acoustics, they can actually record the score of an entire movie here," said Jim Pate of Habitat For Humanity.

But it is also a community center, with meeting rooms, computer labs, and classrooms to train future music stars.

"We've got a couple of schools that we've partnered with in the Upper 9th Ward, with a lot of children that are interested in coming," said Center Executive Director Michele Jean-Pierre.

Opening the Ellis Marsalis Center is the culmination of the Habitat for Humanity Musicians' Village project that started in March 2006, just seven months after Katrina. At that time, this was an empty lot, now it's a community.

They built 72 homes and ten duplexes here, and Habitat work is continuing at sites throughout the city.






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Thinking about it all. . .

. . . and and doing very little about it . . .

Rick Perry's philosophy of abstinence for all homosexuals; Yani Tseng taking the golf world by storm; Hurricane Irene, a literal STORM which will have a large effect on the entire east coast this very weekend; preparing another music release and all the exhilaration, stimulation, appreciation, enjoyment, satisfaction, heartache and rejection that comes along with THAT; a concert gig at a vineyard being eagerly anticipated; the economy and (hopefully one day) a retirement; getting enough sleep. . . HOW CAN I with all THIS to think about????




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There's no business. . .

. . . like Show Business (that's TWO words you know) . . .

There are so many folks out there so ready, willing and able to 'help' the struggling artist that it boggles the mind. The latest one I've encountered led me merrily around the mulberry bush about being featured on their syndicated radio show in August. Many emails (and mp3 transfers) later, turns out they couldn't fit me in. But September was right around the corner. Several emails regarding September have transpired when finally this week, I am informed that in order to be featured, I must purchase 30-seconds of commercial time for $300, at the end of my feature. Unfortunately, after consulting with my accountant and business manager (this in reality, took very little time since I hold both positions personally), it was determined that $300. was not in the budget. When informing this firm of my decision on the newly-revealed $300 commercial requirement, which was never mentioned in my correspondence with this 'helpful' group which began on July 31st, this is what I got in response:

"I don't know why you are surprised. A syndicated radio show has the following cost:
* studio time
* engineer
* editor
* host (for us- 2 for each format)
* scriptwriter
* Booker
And that is just to do the show, not the online magazine, the charts, etc. So, are they suppose to work for free?

Show Business is two words. [We have] been around for seven years, helping Indie artist get more exposure. Everyone connected has a track record of working with some of the best in the industry. That is why it has been successful because everyone is good at their careers and a quality product is produced. But just like any aspect in the media ----TV, magazine, newspapers, radio --- commercials and advertising keep them running.

[We try] to keep the cost down for the Indie artists and everyone knows that $300. for a commercial that airs that length of time on a syndicated radio show is extremely reasonable. [We] also know that in this day and age the economy is hard and some Indie artist do not have it. We understand budget restrictions.

Just out of curiosity, why do you think people should work for free? I have never understood that concept.

Best of luck to you and your music."

. . . and after the aforementioned consultation with my 'staff', we have determined that (after meticulous analysis of incoming vs outgoing) my books prove that I, for one, do indeed
WORK FOR FREE!





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earthquake, schmearthquake. . .

. . . they said on the west coast.

Well, maybe. I don't understand 'shallow' earthquakes compared to 'deep'(?) ones, but if the fact that it was 'shallow' was to our benefit, I hope to never experience one of the 'other' variety.

(from Jacob Adelman, The Associated Press)
". . ."Really all this excitement over a 5.8 quake??? Come on East Coast, we have those for breakfast out here!!!!" wrote Dennis Miller, 50, a lifelong California resident whose house in Pleasanton sits on an earthquake fault line.

On Twitter and Facebook and over email, people circulated a photo of a table and four plastic lawn chairs in a serene garden setting. One of the chairs flipped on its back. The mock image carried the title "DC Earthquake Devastation."

All the more laughable for some were the images of people fleeing buildings — the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do in a quake.

"Hey East Coast, the entire West Coast is mocking you right now," tweeted Todd Walker, an Anchorage TV anchorman.

Later Tuesday, a small earthquake centered near Oakland shook the San Francisco Bay area. The magnitude 3.6 quake struck at about 11:36 p.m. PDT and was also felt by people across the bay in San Francisco.

The tough earthquake talk comes from a coast that is apparently jaded by its own seismic activity — or perhaps not as experienced as it imagines itself to be.

Tuesday's quake was the East Coast's largest since 1944. California alone has seen 35 quakes of that size since then, and since Japan's massive 9.0 quake on March 11, that country has experienced 93 aftershocks that registered more than magnitude-6.0. . ."




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Odd, or maybe not. . .

. . . a bowl of french fries for dinner. . .

. . . still smoking cigarettes in this day and age of medical knowledge. . . auburn hair is quite striking. . . music soothes the savage breast. . . 88 keys full of potential and nice tone. . . good bourbon (and lot's of room to talk about cigarettes). . . subtle, tasteful percussion. . . the insecurity, confidence, skill and talent. . . humor, humor and lots more humor; cleverly. . . nice folks all around. . . getting through monday and working towards friday. . . exchanging music, encouragement, sympathy, empathy and MORE MUSIC!!



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Sleight of hand. . .

. . . From CNN Opinion August 19, 2011

Editor's note: Al Franken, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, is a U.S. senator from Minnesota.

(CNN) -- "Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters."

"This quote, taken from an e-mail sent by a Standard and Poor's official in 2006, says it all. Just two years after it was written, the house of cards that S and P helped build collapsed and roiled the global economy. And while I welcome the news that the Justice Department has launched an investigation into S and P, I imagine it will conclude what a lot of us have long known: S and P made record profits by knowingly handing out sterling credit ratings to complete junk.

It was the incompetence and corruption by S and P and its peers, Fitch and Moody's, that played a pivotal role in our financial meltdown that cost Americans $3.4 trillion in retirement savings, triggered the Great Recession with its massive business failure and job losses, and consequently caused the explosion of our national debt. . .

. . .And then when Wall Street ran out of subprime mortgages to securitize, it created another market by securitizing bets on those securities, which the Big Three also obediently gave their top rating. The rest is history.

The rating agencies' complicity bred the kind of incompetence that was on full display the day S and P downgraded our government's credit rating this month. Within minutes, Treasury Department analysts identified a $2 trillion dollar error in S and P's calculations. But instead of admitting its error, S and P simply came up with other reasons to justify its downgrade.

Why? Well, the rating agencies have an enormous stake in intimidating the federal government. As Jeffrey Manns, associate professor of law at George Washington University, recently wrote in The New York Times:

"The credit rating agencies are taking advantage of the country's financial problems to increase their own political power. ... The Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, enacted a year ago but not fully implemented yet, threatened to introduce unprecedented oversight and regulation. . .

. . .Lest you think that this is some kind of big government regulation of the free market, please understand that my colleague, Wicker of Mississippi, is one of the Senate's most conservative members. And it passed the Senate with a large majority, including 11 Republican votes, because it's not a progressive or a conservative idea -- it's a commonsense idea. . .

. . .When the Big Three's house of cards finally collapsed, the rest of America paid the price. Until we rein in the corruption of the credit rating agency industry, we are just asking for it to happen all over again."

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Al Franken.




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My juvenile, novelty displays. . .

. . . of musical ability and my family entertainment concerts and recitals finally led me into the BIG TIME. Well, I do exaggerate. By BIG TIME, I simply mean that I was ready to play some REAL music with some REAL musicians in a REAL band at a REAL venue in front of a REAL audience. . . and all this for some REAL MONEY. I use the term audience loosely since it was not the concert hall for which I was bound. Nor was it a 'listening' room nightclub complete with dim lights and smoky air. No my BIG TIME was the old Harbor Inn (in Baltimore) with two guys from my high school and immediate neighborhood, a mere stone's throw away from our house. The name upon which we (now that think about it, more probably THEY) decided was REFLECTION. Our repertoire included 'Playground in my Mind' (a 'gem' from the 70s); 'Ebb Tide' (a standard by Robert Maxwell from 1953); 'Proud Mary' (quite contemporary yet still overplayed, even at the time); 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown' (ditto); 'Colour My World' (the Chicago tune that was overplayed but, HEY it's Chicago); 'Taking Care of Business' (rocker by Bachman Turner Overdrive); and, well you get the picture. Our band uniform was a beige, flower patterned, loose, blousey-fitting shirt with 'puffy' sleeves (a la Seinfeld); Bright Yellow 'elephant' pants with cuffs and (dig this)- chocolate brown shoes with three-inch heels. I remember the Mother of our guitarist taking photos before we departed for our first gig but I do not know if they survive and in whose possession they now would be. Would that be a blessing or a curse?





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