Originally posted by FAEbGBD:
Russ,
Looking forward to seeing you and Logan this summer. That's a real bummer that Chas won't be coming. I'm getting pretty good at getting along with libs. Even hired 4 of them in the past few days for a record I'm producing. A right-wing political themed record. I'm not sure if I did it because I'm such a nice guy or because I thought it would be fun to force them to act professional as they writhed within.
Rory, didn't know you had such a mean streak
. Seriously, you're an artist, not because I say so, but because we all say so, and one thing that I've learned in own life's journey is that artists seem to have a special gift for seeing the true person and ignoring the superficial things that divide us.
Read your bio and was intrigued, especially by your description of the 'jazz experience'. To me, that's the mark of the true musician; that something doesn't have to be 'your favorite' in order to appreciate it, experience it, and try to understand it. Approached with that attitude, and the ability to understand it on a musical level, Jazz can be one of the most musically rewarding art forms.
Even more intriguing to me, though, is the ability to master more than one (dissimilar) instruments. I played for years with an incredibly talented jazz/funk guitarist who spent years trying to master the sax. He just really sucked at it and took an incredible amount of teasing from us. I know of several other cases that are similar. For some reason, they just can't seem to make that musical transition from one instrument to the other. At the moment, I am making zero progress with trying (not very hard) to learn the basics of drumming. And guitar, forget it.
Anyhoo, I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to meet you at NAMM. If DonM shows up, there should be lots of laughs
. In the meantime, give those Liberals a break, they mean well
. Somehow I think if you and I ruled the world, it would be from a very centrist place. I know of very few great musicians with matching IQ, who are either far left or far right. I think most of us start out dead center and are nudged one way or the other by the environment we grew up in. But remember, it's not too late; OBAMA IN 2012
.
chas