Plastic Sax to the rescue

Good news, KC! There's a new jazz blog in town.

Omnivorous blogger/music maven Happy in Bag has launched Plastic Sax, a blog devoted to the KC Jazz scene. I've lost count, but I believe this his fourth. Under the wildly improbable pen name "Bill Brownlee," he also reviews concerts and new releases for the Kansas City Star and its music blog Back to Rockville, covering everything from kiddie pop to country and back again. And he also coaches little league. Where he finds the time, I'll never know, but heaven bless him and his fingers.

There isn't a more knowledgeable or devoted advocate for the local music scene than HIB. He puts duffers like me to shame and we are lucky to have him.

I'll be checking it regularly (and blatantly cribbing his layout ideas). You should, too.

Radio: New jazz update - Hello ladies!

Sorry for the short notice, but I'm doing another Up to Date update tomorrow featuring hot new jazz ladies.

Who

• Vocalist Sarah Gazarek and lovely lilting-ness
  
• The Waverly Seven, featuring jazz clarinetist of the year Anat Cohen
• Vocalist Deborah Cox and her tribute to Dinah Washington (no pressure there...)
  
• Keyboard phenom Hiromi Uehara, the brain and fingers behind Hiromi's Sonicbloom

When to tune in

• Thursday, July 19 at 11:50-ish Central
  

Where to tune in

• KCUR FM 89.3 on your terrestrial radio
• kcur.org on your web thingading

Updates to follow tomorrow-ish. As always, if you like these jazz segments, please let us know. Email the show at uptodate@kcur.org

E Pluribus Simpson

I only did this because emaw asked me to, but I must say I'm pleased with the result.

The site for the new Simpson's movie has a nifty avatar generator/time sucker. Have at it, if you care.

And just to fatten the post, a favorite Simpson's moment featuring Moe Szyzlak.

Also available in Spanish.

San Francisco in 1940

San Francisco was a heck of a place in 1940, as demonstrated in this little film by Harold T. O'Neal.

Note: BYO Soundtrack, there's nothing but projector clack provided here.

Which begs the question, what's your SF soundtrack? Tony Bennett, Judy Garland, The Tubes, Huey Lewis? I didn't give it a thought when I lived there, but I get a tiny pang now when I hear Journey's "Lights."

Jazz of the 90s

The free-jazz cats over at Destination: Out continue to kick up a fuss in the jazz portion of the blogosphere. The dust has just about settled on their latest provocation: Best Jazz of the 90s, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5A and 5B.

As an adult and a music appreciater for the length of that decade, I was amazed, humbled and enlightened by the torrent of response. As a peaceable adult I was appalled by the amount of useless point-scoring and petty shot-taking by many of the warrior squirrels in the comments. And this among the tattered remnants of those who claim to love jazz. It reminds me of the old saw about academic politics: They're so vicious because the stakes are so low.

One particularly insightful comment on the all this de gustibus came in the midst of a great post by Ethan of The Bad Plus (on the TBP blog, since he passed up participating directly in the D:0 B.O. 90s jamboree). He'd put up a blindfold test of a '96 Branford Marsalis track because:

...if I told a [fiery-eyed free jazz] acolyte that this was a rip of a rare dead free jazz saxophonist and a South African drummer on a defunct label that only released four records they would love it, but if I told them that it was Branford Marsalis (musical director of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992-95) and Jeff Watts on Columbia they would not be interested.

Context is everything, particularly in matters of taste, in any decade.

---
UPDATE: Trumpeter Dave Douglas, mentioned frequently in D:O's Best of the 90s lists, weighs in with his thoughts on the subject on his Greenleaf Music blog. He takes an illuminating look at the issue of context for musicians (as opposed to warrior squirrels).

We would all learn from checking out Paul Bley and from playing with Tain. Couldn't agree more. But it's what you do with that that makes you who you are. Choices. Language. How am I going to play? Context. Compulsion.

Lee Bob says check it out.

Down on Joe's Farm

A veteran broadcaster I happen to work with told me once that the great thing abut being a reporter is that if you want to know about something you can just call somebody and ask them. In theory anybody can do this. But how would you react if, say, a plumber called you up and said she wanted to follow you around with a microphone for a few hours? That would have to be some plumber.

Which is by way of saying that I spent part of a day last week on an urban farm in Kansas City, Kansas. J-14 Agricultural Enterprises is run by Joe Jennings, a man to be envied for the satisfaction he takes in his work. I first talked to Mr. Jennings last summer when I was trying to book guest for a talk show on Urban Agriculture. The panel filled up pretty quickly and he got squeezed out, but I promised myself I'd try to do some kind of feature on Joe later on. Last week everything fell into place.

I prepared a profile of Joe for KC Currents, KCUR's urban affairs show. A slightly condensed version ran during Morning Edition on Tuesday.

> Listen to the full feature in all its glory here.
(Music geeks among you may enjoy the arcane reference at the end of the piece.)

I hope to get back later on this summer to cover one of the camps held there for inner city kids.

Sauntering

Dammit! I missed Sauntering Day. Again.

Ironically, I spent much of the day listening to recordings made while I was trying to keep up with a very energetic 79 year old as he showed me his farm. (More on that later.)

It's a sign of what's wrong with my current [long German word for the way one goes about conducting the routine details of ones everyday life] that the average week involves so little sauntering. Ten years ago I was considering turning pro.

Anyway thanks to Heidi at mm+i for posting about this (and giving me something to bitch about).

PS: Scooter is my hero.