Joe Muscara

"remembering and paying tribute to two of New Orleans' greatest pianists of all time, James Booker and Professor Longhair, both of whom were born in December! Booker entered the planetary realm on December 17, 1939 and Fess on December 19, 1918." And our own @Josh Paxton was one of the performers. I love this stuff, and he just kills on it as usual.

In my earlier years I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions because of the obvious. The past few years I’ve changed that slightly. I do tend to reflect a little bit this time of year and think about how and where I’d like to steer this ship in the future, and perhaps some thoughts about what I might do if things don’t go quite as I’d like. Nothing set in stone nor super-specific, just some ideas about targets for improvement, realizing full well that if nothing changes I still have it really good. This year, a small incident a couple of months ago woke me up to something and I’ve already been making changes due to that. Let’s just say that while what I was practicing was useful and productive, I was leaving out some very important basics that left holes in my playing and I’m now working to remedy that. Sorry for a serious post in a humor thread. My real resolution is to develop some sort of sense of humor. I’ve been working on that by watching old horror movies and listening to goth music. Do you think I’m on the right track?

I just meant that part of me feels weird when heirs are looking to make or get money from the creator's work after they have passed. I get your point about how the cases are different. But in the end, it's still about money…

I was pretty happy to hear this. I like both companies and I wish them the best. Mackie seems not as great as they used to be so I hope this returns them to their former glory.

That’s awesome, Dave. I have a friend who sort of inherited a Steinway from a friend and former student of his that he helped pick out some 20 years ago, and he’s having trouble getting it regulated because all the techs in town are unavailable. My Kawai needs some touching up too, and it seems like it will have to be me. I just haven’t got around to making myself do it yet as I’m focused on playing it if I do anything.

Jim, I don’t mean to call you out or anything because I agree with just about everything you’ve been writing, but you keep saying “double blind” and what you’ve described is “single blind”. The difference is that in double blind, neither the tester nor the testee know which is which. In single blind, the tester knows but the testee does not. Double blind is better because then the tester neither influences the testee (raising an eyebrow, asking pointed questions like, “are you sure A isn’t better?”, etc.) nor does any interpretation of what the testee chooses that influences the report. The tester has no idea which choice or result is which. When you tested your friend about his preferred conversion to 96k of the THEO album, if you didn’t know when it was the Cubase version or the $14k version, just A or B, that would have been double blind. Also, in your long post, I think you accidentally wrote “we all try to be subjective” when you meant “objective”.

I’m all over that Open Studio shizznit. I even own the painting that’s the cover of Peter Martin’s newest album, Generation S, and saw them live as part of an “Ultimate Open Studio Experience“ in St. Louis back in October. It’s something I was considering sharing here but life got in the way. I highly recommend all of their stuff, and the Chris Parks courses both recorded and live are just amazing. (The live courses are part of Open Studio Pro, a subscription but great instructors and a great community as well.) Chris distills Barry Harris’ teachings on bebop in a friendly and approachable way. If you take his live classes, he makes everyone with their camera on play, and if you have no idea what he’s talking about he will step you through it with a patience and compassion that you didn’t know you deserved. I think anything you get from Open Studio is worth it. Check it out.

Cool, Dan. Please keep us updated and share the videos if you can. It’s always good to see your excellent work.

I’m sure the Stones and their team get the humor in it as well. It’s not like they don’t know their own ages. Heck, Chuck Leavell is 71. In fact, the Stones are starting the tour on his birthday here in Houston when he will turn 72. I have my tickets.

Reading this whole thread at once, I took Sam's OP to mean, "it's all good, I was better prepared than most of them, but I think they'll get it together and be great to work with." I thought I'm disappointed for him and his wife that it turned out to be… Sorry, Sam. I'm glad you were able to make the best of it and made some money for lottery tickets.

This reminds me of all that Marvin Gaye stuff with the lawsuits. Regardless of the copying, what gets me is that he died in 1984, and it seems his family is still trying to reap the benefits of his work. On one hand, I'm sure he would have wanted his family to have been taken care of. And it's good that while the music business has many flaws, one thing you might get out of it is a legacy, including a financial one such as this. But OTOH, he's dead, and shouldn't his kids get their own damned jobs? 😄 I know, someone is making money on the continued playing of Marvin Gaye's and Walter Becker's work, and it shouldn't only go to some corporation just because the creator is gone and not his family. Screw that. But it does seem a little weird to me when heirs do these things.

Happy thanksgiving to all KCers! ✌🏽I’m thankful for all of you and this place.

I'm glad the show is back. Daryl has a killer band and the arrangements they do are usually fun and interesting to incorporate Daryl in the guest's songs or vice versa. I'm about halfway through the Tilbrook episode and I'm surprised how great his voice still is. I know or follow a lot of artists on social media, and whenever they post that they have a gig at "Daryl's House" Club, people reply things like, "I can't wait! I love that show!" not realizing that "Live from Daryl's House" and the club are different things. The show is now taped at the club, but not every band that plays the club is on the show. Daryl is obviously a legend, but I have to admit, when he talks about stuff he did, like in the intro how he was talking about creating the show and all that, I start feeling like Pepper Potts dealing with Tony Stark…

I saw that post on FB too. Best wishes, Allan. Take care of yourself, we like having you around and at another MWKCFH!

The concern many of us have with this regulation is what happens when we're ready to move past USB-C. It seems set to last a while, but how fast will the EU move when the time comes?

Oh, I get it. But some of the really small ones I'm thinking about never mention macOS version compatibility at all, and the example I gave (I know it is just one) of iZotope probably isn't tiny. I can't say for sure if their staff is small or large, but they seem to not be on the smaller side. Yeah, there's the option of staying on an older version of macOS if that's what works for you, and it's what I recommend to anyone who is more about getting work done on their computer vs. being on the cutting edge with the latest macOS, but that leaves out those who are buying new hardware for any reason. New Macs are limited to the version of macOS that was out when they shipped or later. So if I want or need to buy a new Mac and I know I want iZotope stuff, I either have to dig around to buy a slightly older Mac that runs Ventura, or wait until they get around to announcing their software finally qualifies, whenever that is. And if I want to use such-and-such from small developer who has zero compatibility info on their site at all, maybe I can find someone somewhere who says they've used it under Sonoma and they think it works, or just not use it.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/groove-echo-chamber-single/1713917334 Apple Music link

The light the heat… I am complete… I see the doorway… To a thousand churches… The resolution… Of all the fruitless searches… Oh, I see the light and the heat… Oh, I wanna be that complete I wanna touch the light, the heat I see in your eyes

And they announce it in the spring at WWDC, then ship developer and public betas up to the release of the OS in the fall, yet many of these companies act like they haven't had a chance to do any testing of their software against it. Yes, I know stuff changes during the betas, but I wonder why most of them don't even give a qualified "maybe" as to whether their products will work. It really seems like they refuse to even try it until the release, and sometimes not even then. For example, I just searched for Sonoma information from Isotope now and found this. OTOH, Drew from Universal Audio will often post in their forums that his experience with the UA stuff and the latest macOS has been fine, though official testing needs to be completed, or there's some interface issues with a certain plugin, etc. At this point in my life, there are certain companies I'll deal with because they're responsive to this kind of thing, and others I can no longer be bothered to deal with. Some of the smaller companies don't even say anything about macOS compatibility anywhere, ever. I try to be supportive but when they act like the way Apple operates is a problem, it's like @Tusker says, it's not like Apple's macOS release schedule is something new, and they don't seem to plan on stopping any time soon. Get with it or get off.

@KenElevenShadows This thread pops in my head a lot due to your thoughts about the current incarnation of the Stones vs. how I feel. I'm curious, do you feel similarly about the Black Crowes? I feel like Steve Gorman was a key part of their sound and feel and without him they've not been quite the same. I haven't seen them live but recent videos haven't grabbed me, nor did the live album they put out. Similarly, I wasn't a huge fan of Gabe Ford when he replaced Richie Hayward of Little Feat. At first, I wasn't sure of their latest drummer Tony Leone, but having seen them live I am now.

This is a short film about how it all happened.

I know some people who encountered him in his earlier days and dislike him, but I think he's changed a lot from what I've seen. He used to be an Angry Young Man from what I've heard, (and I have no doubt some aspects of that probably still exist), he seems more mature and settled now, and gives interesting interviews.

It's an interesting topic, but my first thought is, how many artists does this really affect? It seems most are grinding it out nowhere near a major label. I'm not saying it's not an interesting topic. It is. Imagine that anyone else can record a version of your song, except you (after your initial recording of it, of course). That's pretty screwy.

I dunno man. I was moved by this as much as anything the Stones have ever done, and that was before she came out on stage and they all blew the roof off the place.

The Stones are my number one band. I’ve long realized that whenever I’m down, putting them on will get me out. They always get me going. I’ve seen them live only a handful of times, Most recently it was in 2019 and that was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. So when they premiered the video for Angry at that event with Jimmy Fallon, I was so disappointed it made me sad. While I loved the billboards with them throughout their history in the video, I didn’t like the song. What a bummer. But, I don’t know what happened, but my feelings about the song quickly changed. I’ve been listening to it since the release and now I love it. It gets stuck in my head and I don’t mind at all. Sweet Sounds of Heaven with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder is great as well, and I’ve had both in heavy rotation. Now that the rest of the album is out, I’m listening to it a lot, though the other tunes haven’t stuck yet. I think it’s just a matter of time. I agree about Watts, Ken, in that he was a big part of the sound and feel. I’ve been very curious about how they’d sound and feel with Jordan, but my confidence is high both because Jordan had Charlie’s approval and recommendation, and because he felt great as part of Keith’s Winos.