all the news that isn't

Icons Among Us is a 4-part documentary exploring contemporary jazz luminaries. That’s the PR line. Hear more about it here (a new show on WBGO that I’m lucky to contribute to). But here’s the thing – they did some taping of one such luminary at WBGO, and apparently there’s a shot of me doing my thing (that is to say, twiddling some knobs) in the documentary. So if you get a chance, check it out. I will be, and not just to see myself!

Part two: if you go to npr.org right now (not sure how long it will be up) and scroll down to the Jazzset section of the NPR bucket, you’ll see a small thumbnail of a picture I took. Ok, so it’s really no big deal whatsoever, but I’ve been quite busy and thus there’s been a drought in blog posts, so I had to come up with something. But if I haven’t sold it well enough, go to the actual page for this week’s Jazzset broadcast, and you can check out some of the photos I took from New Year’s Eve.

Adrienne’s employer has already notified her they get an official snow day tomorrow. (They’re calling for about a foot by the time it’s said and done.) I, on the other hand, get to get up crazy-early to go clean off satellite dishes to make sure we have newscasts and such. Sigh.

I hope not, since this was my idea. Tonight is another broadcast in WBGO and NPR’s series from the Village Vanguard in NYC. I heard a set last night, and the music should be great. You can tune at the regular spots, but tonight’s twist is we’re adding video. Just a static shot in a dimly-lit room for now, but we hope it provides even more ‘added value’ as the marketers would say. Check it out tonight – 9pm EST.

Important things first. You need to hear this. Click this link. Do it now. Click on the ‘hear it now’ link, and fast forward to 21 minutes. If you’re able to turn the lights down, do. Hopefully you’re listening on at least halfway decent computer speakers. I hope! (Have I instilled nothing in you???!!!) But, take a listen to the song. It’s called “Calling My Children Home.” It’s just a couple minutes. You owe it to yourself. It’s really cool. It will soothe you and haunt you at the same time. It’s beautiful. Go ahead already. I’ll wait
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Done?

Cool, right? This is why I love music. Why? Because of that feeling you just got. Whatever it was. You know.

So, the backstory: WBGO and NPR Music had the pleasure of broadcasting drummer Brian Blade’s first set from the Village Vanguard a couple months ago. But they do a second set as well. And we record. I have the pleasure of pushing buttons and turning knobs in an attempt to make it all sound good. But that second set (of all the Village Vanguard dates) usually doesn’t see the light of day. Until now. Jazzset is produced right at WBGO, and aired on about 200 stations across the country. And Jazzset decided to make a program out of Brian Blade’s second set. So that means a bunch of people have the opportunity to hear this cool music on the radio. Sadly, I don’t think this includes many that read this blog (because your local stations don’t carry the program0; but if you can, check it out, whether it’s on the radio or on the interwebs. I hope you’ll be glad you did.

I had this whole schpeel in my head about musicians trying to make a living, this new web2.0 world etc. But then I thought, that’s too complicated. So here goes: check out some cool music that you can download for free. Why should you? Why shouldn’t you?

If you want more blather and a pic, here goes: last night WBGO and NPR broadcast our 14th (in 10 months!) performance from the Village Vanguard. Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkle is a hot commodity in the world of jazz. Some great music was captured. And because Kurt understands this new web2.0 thing, he agreed to let us share it with you. Pretty cool? Pretty cool.

In a previous blog post I tried to spur some blogging/interaction by sharing with you the different offices I spend my time. So here’s another: in the ten months we’ve been doing this, I think I’ve spent more time at the Vanguard than all our other remote gigs combined. Whether it’s the coat check room in warm weather or the back hallway, it really is another office, and a good one at that:

To follow up, here’s the official office. Yes, it’s a mess. To my credit, it’s a little better than when I inherited it more than a year ago.

Oddly, I think the one office I don’t have a picture of is my real, official office. So these others will have to suffice for now.

The outside of my office building, as seen from the park across the street:

In the transmitter shack on the 35th floor of another building:

My mix position on location for a broadcast:

And finally, one place where I really should try to do less work:

Seeing Little D’s post with a pic of his new monitoring situation gave me an idea: how ’bout we all do a post on our respective blogs with pics of where we spend our time working? Some of you have seen my office, or some pics. I’ve been to the elevator of one brother’s office building. I used to sit in Dad’s office waiting for a ride home from Woody Gov. I literally worked in the same office as Mom. But still, that was a long time ago! How ’bout some updates? We all spend a lot of time there… why not share that part of our lives? I’m writing this from one of my offices away from my office, so I’ll post when I get home. You?

I just pulled the apple pie out of the oven and the turkey will be put in shortly (not a whole turkey, but you’ll see that in David’s pictures).  We’re listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas to really put us in the holiday spirit!

What are you listening to on Thanksgiving?

I had the opportunity to go to the absolute top of the Trump World Tower this (very cold and very windy!) morning.

Click here to open a new window with the big(!) 7.2MB 360-degree panoramic pic.

And check Focus to the left for a couple more ground pics.