SamuelBLupowitz

It's so close I can taste it, but not close enough. My wife gets vaccination round one this weekend. My employer is making it sound like I might be eligible by next month (as a 31 year old with no underlying conditions or medications I'm near the end of the vaccine line). I am starting to not know who I am anymore. I need to perform. And hug people.

Not to continue dragging us OT, but my wife and I (who are musicians by trade but met as fellow English majors in college) are very good at figuring out when entertainers, particularly comedians, majored in English. There's a particular way of thinking that reveals itself, a tendency to find humor or meaning in something by pulling a tiny moment or idea apart and plumbing its depths. It's one of the reasons we love comedian John Mulaney -- what would be a short, mildly interesting observation to some becomes a feast to him, and my wife called it: he majored in English at Georgetown.

Interesting thought! I would counter that, were one to make that argument, my response would be: if that's what's desired, don't hire Cory Henry. :wink: EDIT: I had another thought, and that's that it isn't just the music itself that creates a jarring transition -- it's the style of performance. Conceivably, this is somewhere in the middle of a larger show, so the tone of "rock sideman supergroup playing heavy-hitting hits" is established throughout, and the keyboard player taking a wild fusion improv solo spot is a fascinating interlude before returning to the Arena Rock vibe of the overall show, complete with long-haired frontman pumping up the audience. But if you're not at the show -- if you're just watching a video of legendary jazz/gospel/boundary-shattering keyboard prodigy Cory Henry playing the kind of gorgeous improvisation he's been wowing audiences with around the world for almost his entire life -- the sudden appearance of a bunch of older rock-with-a-capital-R musicians, and the onstage vocabulary and body language that goes with it, is jarring and unintentionally humorous, and might still be, even if Cory had just played a bluesy, overdriven Hammond solo, a la Chest Fever or something, to get us into the Deep Purple cover. It's like getting Rock Rolled: "what's this European metal band doing crashing a Cory Henry concert?" Anyway, just my close read as a former English major!

Even having read the thread before watching the video -- and thinking "why is everyone being so hard on Smoke on the Water? I know it ain't jazz or gospel, but it's a classic!" -- the transition made me laugh out loud. Something about the sensitivity, depth, and focus of Cory Henry giving way to "ARE YOU GUYS READY TO GET REAL WHITE?!" hit me right in the funny bone. Still, I would watch the rest of the tune if it were in the video!

Gorgeous, Al (and quite the masterclass; thanks for letting us watch your hands so closely). Just saying, if you ever downsize and don't have room for that Yamaha anymore, I might have a place for it. :wink:

I have some frustrations about the small quibbles that keep iOS from fulfilling all my musical needs, but it's truly breathtaking what the platform is capable of as a music performance tool. Production is one thing, and I think desktop OS still has the leg up in many ways, but the iPhone and iPad can really serve as instruments with a little bit of time, practice, and creativity. Anything to remember that this is a fun time to be alive...

I hope to catch some of you at the next one! It was nice to chat with Joe the other day, and I'm glad to see I didn't miss Dave Holloway by minutes or anything (I was up way too early anyway, so it's not like I went out of my way). Just trying to barrel through until I can be around human beings in the flesh again. Trying not to slip slowly into madness...

Keeping my little spinet in tune since we moved into the new house has been brutal. It was always a little honky-tonky, but until we can afford to beef up the climate control in the house, the studio temperature is consistently closer to the temperature outside than it is in the rest of the house, despite our best efforts, and the last time the tuner came, I started tracking a piano part literally minutes after she left, and I could hear the notes drifting back out of tune as I played. It's rough.

Ooh looks like I might get to check in with all y'all while my wife and I are warming up at her parents' place in the Florida Keys. Not a moment too soon...

Chick Corea is a legend, but not someone I'd call one of my great musical influences... so I was surprised just how hard the news hit me yesterday. Part of it is just the time we're living in, but also, I had some very crucial, formative experiences learning and listening to his music (especially the Light as a Feather record) during my high school jazz band years. We're all lucky to have been alive at the same time as such a creative force.

Some great parts on "(Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket" from Captain Fantastic as well!

In addition to "Trampled Under Foot," a few other tunes on Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti feature John Paul Jones on clavinet, including "Custard Pie" and "In the Light." Pink Floyd uses one on "Have a Cigar," but it's sort of mixed down in the later verses. On a more contemporary note, Kofi Burbridge played a lot of clavinet with the Derek Trucks Band ("Already Free" comes to mind) and Tedeschi Trucks Band ("Don't Let Me Slide," "Made Up Mind," and "Signs (High Times)" among others). Ivan Neville plays clav all over the place with Dumpstaphunk ("Do Ya" is a good example). I think that Lachy Doley guy plays clavinet occasionally too, right? :wink:

I've used Keystage on a few gigs with success, and Ali is great. Definitely curious about version 2.0, which appears to be able to load apps as plug-ins like AUM rather than just serve as a central MIDI control app. It's the best thing I've found for set list management and patch changes with iOS, but the more things you try to do with it, the more points of failure that pop up... I so desperately want iOS to work as well for me as a laptop and Mainstage, but I haven't found my sweet spot yet.

A little OT, but wanted to circle back and let you know that posting this demo back in December got me deep into a Paul Simon kick I have to thank you for. It's also going to be very, very handy for learning to play this tune. I did want to mention, though, since you and Mr. Fortner have both referenced the inimitable Richard Tee regarding this song (a phasey Rhodes being something of a signature for him), that while Richard played this tune in Paul Simon's live band, the electric piano part on the album is actually played by Barry Beckett of Muscle Shoals fame. He plays on "My Little Town" as well. There's your trivia for the day!

Sorry I was late to the party -- been a distracted couple of weeks, to say the least. Grateful for your presence and all that you do, Joe!

I've come really late to the party to the band Dawes, and have been completely knocked out. The star of the show is Taylor Goldsmith's unbelievable songwriting -- I think he is a lyrical genius, so down to earth but so direct and honest and smart, more comparable to someone like Stephen Sondheim than to most pop songwriters -- but they have a lot of tasty keyboard parts, especially since the arrival of Lee Pardini in the keyboard chair in 2016. Lee Pardini first caught my ear playing with Vulfpeck's Theo Katzman on his solo work, and I think he's magnificent, a player with a ton of chops who only ever plays exactly the part the song needs. I'm going deep into this band's 10+ year discography but I included a tune with some somewhat showy keys below. [video:youtube] Oh, fun fact: Taylor Goldsmith and drummer/background vocalist brother Griffin are the sons of Lenny Goldsmith, who sang in Tower of Power in the 80s. Pretty sure Lee Pardini is also the son of Chicago's Lou Pardini. Talk about a leg up.

This for sure. Otherwise, this is a no brainer -- get the serviced A100 rather than the might-need-some-work C2. Servicing the C2 could easily add up to more than what they're asking for the A100 depending on what needs to be done. Of course, if you only have enough for the C2 now, and you need to pull the trigger, that's another story! But if you can afford it and you're going back and forth on whether or not it's worth the extra money... it's worth the extra money.

After I saw the first two threads, I knew if I kept scrolling this one would appear too. Thanks for not disappointing me, KC.

As the owner of what is surely the most abused and least stable of the A100s mentioned in this thread, I will also say that I love mine to bits, and couldn't recommend it highly enough. It's That Sound that you're after in a Hammond.

The comparison of the YC88 to a Nord Stage makes sense to me and stopped my head-scratching. It's a solid choice to have the most flexible, powerful all-in-one board possible, configured for someone who is predominantly a pianist. Indeed, a scant five years ago, that would have really, really appealed to me. As it stands, as the owner of a vintage A100, a boutique dual-manual clonewheel, and a Nord Electro 4D, I'm just hoping this makes it easier to find a good deal on a CP88. :grin:

Another of my favorite comedies ever. We just showed it to my father-in-law for the first time a few months ago, and he said he liked it more than Spinal Tap. Just watched this for the first time a couple of months ago! What a fun, interesting film. Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, Ian Holm... how can you go wrong?

Hot Fuzz (a buddy cop pastiche from the same team that brought you Shaun of the Dead) is one of my absolute favorite comedies of all time. It's basically an American action flick set in a rustic English village. Not a wasted line in the script. The third film in the loose trilogy, The World's End, is also excellent, but a little heavier in tone and subject matter (it deals a lot with alcoholism and not being able to outrun your past).

I've been a runner on and off throughout my life, picked the habit back up early in the pandemic, then lost it again after we moved into the new house. I did start going on early morning walks right after the new year (with my coffee in a thermos instead of taking my hour on the couch with a warm mug and the Times), and it's been a godsend -- I was unraveling a little bit with all the isolation that the holidays, cold weather, and increased virus activity brought on. Plus, it's giving me time to just listen to music in a way that I've been having trouble doing, say, sitting in the living room. The constant, meditative motion helps me listen more attentively. I made it all through college without drinking coffee. Didn't want a habit/substance that I relied on at all back then. Then I graduated and got one of those soul-sucking 9-5 jobs they always tell you about. That's when I got hooked. Now I look forward to going into the office in the morning (er, I did, anyway) but I enjoy my snobby locally-roasted coffee far too much to give up the daily habit.

It's funny you should say that. I think simply asking what key they play Superstition in and would they be willing to do it in the original key would probably tell me everything I needed to know to take up or turn down an offer to join a covers band. This is a little OT, but I used to occasionally sub for an R&B/Funk/Soul cover band that did Superstition in... C. Their lead singer was excellent, but they had to take pretty much all the Stevie stuff WAY down for him. It wasn't too bad, though it did really start to change the character of the tunes to move the key that far from the original. Certainly playable... though you still can't do the black-key gliss at the top of You Haven't Done Nothin' in C minor!

I think we've all just been Rick-Rolled. Tragic. Surely when the band hired you, that assumed you were never gonna give them up.