One of my on going arguments/dialogues with Deano is the subject of covers.
In my humble opinion and cover should improve a song showing it in a new light. You can see these most clearly when a cover fails to do even basic respect to the original.
This video is a worthwhile reminder as to why The Beatles are probably the most innovative and influential bands of the last century. This is a complex peice with 2 time signatures, very moody harmonies and quite a high pitch and timbre on the vocals.
I mention it here because it has been successfully cover a number of times. New tones and colours have been found and enhanced.
So I hope you'll enjoy this very early recording of 'We can work it out'.
(its been something of an anthem for me this week).
To Know Me Is To Love Me...
- BubbaJay
- Suave raconteur and dinner party favourite. Once held the Olympic torch, has delivered newspapers to prime ministers, shaken hands with Prince Charles, wrecked Jason Donovan's skateboard, climbed 300 metre granite cliff faces, surfed with dolphins, appears on community radio and is in demand for these and the accounts of other thrilling exploits!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Healing
Well as I write this I'm going through one the longest and most drawn out resignations from a job I've ever had to do.
It looks like tomorrow will definitely be my last day. Its been a wasteful period of my life and very stressful. I am emotionally and physically exhausted and every minute just reminds me why I have to leave.
To resign I first have to announce my decision, then my direct report/boss and I have to agree on a last day, then I complete a handover, then leave.
I resigned formally last Wednesday and have not spoken to my boss since then. Despite numerous emails and phone messages, he has avoided me. So today I gave him an ultimatum announcing that tomorrow will be my last day, full stop. He responded with another turn of the screw and said as I am apparently obliged to provide 30 days notice, my annual leave will be used to fill the balance of the notice period.
This is the professional working relationship I have with my direct report. This is why my work life has been an utter misery for the last few months. This is why I'm leaving.
Years ago I used to work for someone who is almost a carbon copy of this guy. Had a vindictive power/control abusive streak. The only thing you can do is weather it out, assume a stoic zen like quality. This too will pass.
I don't want revenge or payback, I want to leave on good terms. This is testing my patience.
*****
But there is an upside and its a great upside. I have recently started going out with a wonderful lady friend. She is nurse, caring, beautiful, wise and sexy. She lives in Melbourne but is coming up to spend next week with me. Its the light at the end of the tunnel that will make all of this worthwhile.
It looks like tomorrow will definitely be my last day. Its been a wasteful period of my life and very stressful. I am emotionally and physically exhausted and every minute just reminds me why I have to leave.
To resign I first have to announce my decision, then my direct report/boss and I have to agree on a last day, then I complete a handover, then leave.
I resigned formally last Wednesday and have not spoken to my boss since then. Despite numerous emails and phone messages, he has avoided me. So today I gave him an ultimatum announcing that tomorrow will be my last day, full stop. He responded with another turn of the screw and said as I am apparently obliged to provide 30 days notice, my annual leave will be used to fill the balance of the notice period.
This is the professional working relationship I have with my direct report. This is why my work life has been an utter misery for the last few months. This is why I'm leaving.
Years ago I used to work for someone who is almost a carbon copy of this guy. Had a vindictive power/control abusive streak. The only thing you can do is weather it out, assume a stoic zen like quality. This too will pass.
I don't want revenge or payback, I want to leave on good terms. This is testing my patience.
*****
But there is an upside and its a great upside. I have recently started going out with a wonderful lady friend. She is nurse, caring, beautiful, wise and sexy. She lives in Melbourne but is coming up to spend next week with me. Its the light at the end of the tunnel that will make all of this worthwhile.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
There is Jazz and then there is...
Last week (boy that seems like a lifetime ago) I got invited to see an experimental jazz trio called 'The Necks' (probably seemed like a good enough name at the time).
I say experimental and use the word Jazz here in a very lose, flippy floppy sense of the word. Before I go into a well researched and attentive review let me share with you my perspective of Jazz and Blues for that matter. Jazz is not a style, it is a discipline. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Count Bassie, Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis; these are all great names, great artists.
They worked hard on their craft, they honed it. Music was changed forever because of their spirit and ambition to create a new sound. A sound based on improvisation but also of structure. Coltrane would practice scales for hours every day, not just to improve his speed but to tune his ear.
So let me say that there is good Jazz and there is bad jazz. Bad jazz is what you'll usually hear out in the open at a bear garden or wedding or function. Its a couple of guys who do this gig in their spare time. They emulate. They copy. They repeat. They sometimes even hurt music. What they do not do is demonstrate true talent.
With Blues, in my opinion, it is the same. I see blues acts a lot that are just idiots who ape the musical style, either through theatrics or just blaise note for note copying. Or even worse through excessive use of the slide guitar. Let me explain this way, Eric Clapton plays the blues but Buddy Guy is MF The Blues.
Okay you still with me?
So this band called The Necks, they were weird. The theatre was packed, we were lucky to get tickets it seemed. The lights dim and 3 guys come out on stage (drums, double bass, piano). For a moment they fiddle around, tunning, adjusting a seat here, collecting drum sticks there.
Then, nothing. They pause eyes bowed and wait. Judging the moment someone starts a riff and slowly the others join in and the concert has begun. The music was of an atonal variety. Meaning there was no devotion to melody or harmony, but there was structure. The first hour was a freakish collection of sounds that evolved into a story. I found my self with eyes closed imagining a haunted house, with errie dripping taps and shutters banging on windows.
The piece or construction built and built, it was hard to tell where they were going with it. But it did end. Rapturous applause followed. It was a true sound scape indeed.
By the second half the gimmick had worn off some for me. I found the next hour to be tiresome, lots of disjointed bangs, squeaks and the occasional chord. You could get a half dozen drunken monkeys to do something similar, but it would take an awful lot of time to train them to be that annoying.
So the second half did not work for me at all.
But there is another review (HERE) please feel free to compare and contrast views.
So if I were to conclude and given my earlier statement on passion, discipline and commitment - where do I stand on The Necks? (sic).
Somewhere in between to be honest. To improvise the way they did requires an excellent knowledge of the other musicians as well as your instrument. But if it misses the mark, it does so widely in my book.
I say experimental and use the word Jazz here in a very lose, flippy floppy sense of the word. Before I go into a well researched and attentive review let me share with you my perspective of Jazz and Blues for that matter. Jazz is not a style, it is a discipline. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Count Bassie, Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis; these are all great names, great artists.
They worked hard on their craft, they honed it. Music was changed forever because of their spirit and ambition to create a new sound. A sound based on improvisation but also of structure. Coltrane would practice scales for hours every day, not just to improve his speed but to tune his ear.
So let me say that there is good Jazz and there is bad jazz. Bad jazz is what you'll usually hear out in the open at a bear garden or wedding or function. Its a couple of guys who do this gig in their spare time. They emulate. They copy. They repeat. They sometimes even hurt music. What they do not do is demonstrate true talent.
With Blues, in my opinion, it is the same. I see blues acts a lot that are just idiots who ape the musical style, either through theatrics or just blaise note for note copying. Or even worse through excessive use of the slide guitar. Let me explain this way, Eric Clapton plays the blues but Buddy Guy is MF The Blues.
Okay you still with me?
So this band called The Necks, they were weird. The theatre was packed, we were lucky to get tickets it seemed. The lights dim and 3 guys come out on stage (drums, double bass, piano). For a moment they fiddle around, tunning, adjusting a seat here, collecting drum sticks there.
Then, nothing. They pause eyes bowed and wait. Judging the moment someone starts a riff and slowly the others join in and the concert has begun. The music was of an atonal variety. Meaning there was no devotion to melody or harmony, but there was structure. The first hour was a freakish collection of sounds that evolved into a story. I found my self with eyes closed imagining a haunted house, with errie dripping taps and shutters banging on windows.
The piece or construction built and built, it was hard to tell where they were going with it. But it did end. Rapturous applause followed. It was a true sound scape indeed.
By the second half the gimmick had worn off some for me. I found the next hour to be tiresome, lots of disjointed bangs, squeaks and the occasional chord. You could get a half dozen drunken monkeys to do something similar, but it would take an awful lot of time to train them to be that annoying.
So the second half did not work for me at all.
But there is another review (HERE) please feel free to compare and contrast views.
So if I were to conclude and given my earlier statement on passion, discipline and commitment - where do I stand on The Necks? (sic).
Somewhere in between to be honest. To improvise the way they did requires an excellent knowledge of the other musicians as well as your instrument. But if it misses the mark, it does so widely in my book.
Friday, February 15, 2008
A good place to start.
I get people ask me all the time where I get my music for my World Music show. Well one of the best sources is the Putumayo record label.
They support a fantastic selection of musicians and in return we get a wonderful sampler of music we just wouldn't find otherwise.
This is my current favourite album from Putumayo
Lots of great funky tracks from North Africa. I hope one day to be able to follow the Paris to Dakar rally, and these tracks really put me in the mood!
Hope you try them out sometime.
They support a fantastic selection of musicians and in return we get a wonderful sampler of music we just wouldn't find otherwise.
This is my current favourite album from Putumayo
Lots of great funky tracks from North Africa. I hope one day to be able to follow the Paris to Dakar rally, and these tracks really put me in the mood!
Hope you try them out sometime.
Time management in French
Boy I tell you whut, I'm loving my French course. The people (there are about 8) are really cool and friendly, ages range from young un's to oldies.
But the class times are 6 - 8pm Tues, Thurs and its a pain in butt to try and get something to eat afterward that isn't crappy junk food...
Oh well something I'll need to work on.
But the class times are 6 - 8pm Tues, Thurs and its a pain in butt to try and get something to eat afterward that isn't crappy junk food...
Oh well something I'll need to work on.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Link to an on air blog
Okay Cats and Kittens, thanks to the power of the internets my on air partner in crime, Deano set up a blog site for our monthly Monday night radio duet.
Called Down in the Basement Laboratory, we've posted the track listings and will link more stuff over time.
But it is a chance to get a feel for the music we play.
In other radio news I've been offered a late, late night spot to do pretty much what ever the hell I want on Wednesday nights!!!
The only catch is that it is 10pm - 12pm. Still the opportunity for mischief is hard to turn down...
We took the name Down in the Basement Laboratory because we play a very funk heavy vibe in our set. DIB is traditionally a Jazz based show, so we invented the 'Funk Laboratory' (which happens to be next door to the Basement) to give us some latitude.
So I'm Prof JR and he's Dr Deano, and together in the Funk Laboratory we experiment with distilling the essence of Funk and or Groove!
Called Down in the Basement Laboratory, we've posted the track listings and will link more stuff over time.
But it is a chance to get a feel for the music we play.
In other radio news I've been offered a late, late night spot to do pretty much what ever the hell I want on Wednesday nights!!!
The only catch is that it is 10pm - 12pm. Still the opportunity for mischief is hard to turn down...
We took the name Down in the Basement Laboratory because we play a very funk heavy vibe in our set. DIB is traditionally a Jazz based show, so we invented the 'Funk Laboratory' (which happens to be next door to the Basement) to give us some latitude.
So I'm Prof JR and he's Dr Deano, and together in the Funk Laboratory we experiment with distilling the essence of Funk and or Groove!
Friday, February 08, 2008
A fun Space Blog
And no this is not a link to a nerdtastic sci-fi web site.
Its a link to the blog of the Sydney Observatory. I love astronomy and am very lucky that the night sky over Canberra suffers very little light pollution.
I've found this blog to be both fun and interesting with some great links to the local astronomy community. Well worth a look.
Its a link to the blog of the Sydney Observatory. I love astronomy and am very lucky that the night sky over Canberra suffers very little light pollution.
I've found this blog to be both fun and interesting with some great links to the local astronomy community. Well worth a look.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Kinda Superbowl
Today was Superbowl Monday (results here)
Patriots vs The Giants, I do enjoy Superbowl Monday, one of the pleasures of working for a US company was being able to take the day off to watch the game. This year I was able to sneak out to a club and catch half the match.
Superbowls are usually not cliff hangers historically, typically one team gets a lead by about the 2nd quarter and there is usually a wide spread.
This years game was a low scoring affair, both teams pretty evenly matched skill wise. But neither team was really firing either (just after half time the commentators announced banana's had been rushed to the players to boost their energy!!)(True story!).
Well that wraps up NFL season, soon Super 14 kicks off!!
Patriots vs The Giants, I do enjoy Superbowl Monday, one of the pleasures of working for a US company was being able to take the day off to watch the game. This year I was able to sneak out to a club and catch half the match.
Superbowls are usually not cliff hangers historically, typically one team gets a lead by about the 2nd quarter and there is usually a wide spread.
This years game was a low scoring affair, both teams pretty evenly matched skill wise. But neither team was really firing either (just after half time the commentators announced banana's had been rushed to the players to boost their energy!!)(True story!).
Well that wraps up NFL season, soon Super 14 kicks off!!
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