Man, hard to believe this, but my old friend and musical compadre put up all this old video on youtube - and I had been waiting to see this one for a long time!!!



check out his other stuff, you'll find some other old videos on there to varying degrees of embarrassment!!!



the Latrells!

So, my good friend Derm and I are slowly getting our rehearsal space up to task! I can’t tell you how hard it is for me, this, the eve of our Oakland Athletics 2008 Opening Day Part Two: Electric Boogaloo - see, the thing is, I have been just consumed with all things drums and music-related. So baseball will be more of a distraction this year than the attraction it has been in later years. Believe me, I want to go to games like crazy, but I also want to get more drum gear and more practice time and more playing time in! It’s not that easy to schedule all this kinda stuff any more. You young’uns out there better appreciate all the time you guys have, it really shrinks as you get older.

ANYhoo, it hasn’t been since my early 20’s that I’ve felt so strongly about playing again (did I stop? Whoops, must have!). I have a renewed energy as far as my commitment to my instrument, and have in part to thank my weekly jazz workshop, which has networked me with like-minded players and gives me a very creative outlet to perform, with shows to play sometimes even. Also, I think I have a nice combination of magazine subscriptions that is feeding my appetite to consume! Among Modern Drummer, TapeOp, Complex, and Vice, I have quite a unique set of album reviews and new emerging artists to explore.  It’s quite a cross-section of the hip, the tragically hip, the never-will-be-hip, and the "-sters" varietals of hip.

I’ve been listening mostly to jazz these days, but really would like to hear some more rock recommendations - QOTSA has really been floating my boat lately, and I think I should go give that Probot album another listen. Also the classics, like Jim Hendrix "Live at Royal ALbert Hall" has been lotta fun - my default picture of my Ludwig drums are a lot like what Mitch Mitchell plays on that particular album. As soon as Derm and I find a bassist who fits our needs, we’re gonna come destroy a stage near YOU. Really, it’s gonna be great, I’m trying to tell you now.

Here’s me f**king around in the new spot! When I set up these drums, I didn’t really realize how wrong I was doing it - I need some new pics to check my ergonomics. These are by no means exceptional examples of my drumming, but what the hell, it’s what I did.

The WWW has so many pictures, divine to downright disgusting, its often what we look for the most, yes?

so here's my favorite right now - courtesy of Chris Cornell's page:



It's not often that I repost other people
s pictures. There's three in this 'series', and this one was my favorite. But it took me while to pick it.
What about you, you got a favorite image online right now?

Welp, this past week I started emailing a guy offa the craigslist there who had some drums I was interested in. Turns out the guy also happened to be interested in some drums of mine: my Yamaha Recording Custom. Long story short, we made the trade last night, his four drums for my five, straight up. My highest quality drumset of the past fifteen-plus years, gone just like that.

Admittedly, I hadn't taken most of the Yammy's out of their cases in over five years. The floor tom was my regular gigging floor tom in a mix-n-match kit I like to use, but the rest of the drums hadn't seen the light of day in years. I bought that kit probably when I was about 18 or 19..... from a guy who had special ordered that particular setup from Yamaha. It was a liquid amber finish, 22" kick drum with standard size toms, 8", 10" 12", with a 14"x14" floor tom. Back when I was gigging regularly in more funk-oriented bands, it was perfect in any and every situation. I remember telling myself once I finally had paid it off (the original owner was the landlord of my band's old rehearsal space in SF), "Wow, I'll never need another drum set again. This is the top of the line! This is the best!" It's funny how time is capable of changing things. I don't feel any differently about those drums, but I wasn't going to use them any time soon, and they were wasting away in my garage - not being played, anyway.

So when Matthew comes over, the trade is happening before my eyes. I feel like I gave him the better end of the deal, just because I noticed the Yamaha Recording Customs are fairly scarce on the used instrument market, so I had a hard time figuring out what I would want for them. Ever since I started talking about selling them LAST YEAR, the hardest part was figuring out what they were worth. They weren't in "excellent" condition, but they were pretty good. I never listed an ad selling them, it was too painful. But as Matthew's eyes started getting wider as I pulled each drum out of its case, I started remembering how I felt when I first got them, how excited I was, and clearly Matthew was excited. As I looked at the Yammys, I realized I didn't have that same affection for them, at least not any more. They had become somewhat like trophies of my younger days, and you know what..... I just noticed that that word is one 'A' away from "atrophy". Thats what those drums were doing, atrophy-ing. Can I say that?

So theyre gone. GONE. Fifteen years of loyal service. Touring Utah and Colorado. Recorded on a few old bands' albums. Living in San Francisco studios. Playing all the bars and clubs. To the soundpeople who loved them, I apologize. I know that you were the few who could appreciate them as much as I did.

But with every end, comes a new beginning. While the drums I received in the trade are not quite as high-end as the Yammys were, they are the perfect configuration, size, and have been customized enough to be one-of-a-kind. Maybe not customized by a professional drum manufacturer; maybe non-original hardware; it's wrapped instead of finished; but what so many people love craigslist for, the connecting of two people to exchange their useless stuff for useful stuff, definitely came through last night. Matthew has the drumset "he's always wanted", as he put it. I finally have a matching drumset, in GREEN SPARKLE no less, that I can take to any casual gig, be it jazz or blues or funk or whatever.


but rock n roll. ....? ...well, that's why I have the Ludwigs. The Ludwigs of Doom. Now all I need is a name for my new green sparkle kit. Sylviemousse Barkley, perhaps?


What do you think I should call it? (pictures to follow)




Here are my old drums, Godspeed you old bastards!

Let it be known that today, the Mitchell Report came out and Jack Cust's name was on it. Also since my last entry here, Marco Scutaro became a Toronto Blue Jay. Miguel Tejada named in the report, a Houston Astro (currently). I could go on and on, but

I GOT MARRIED TOO!

Sheesh! So much has happened, I can barely remember. Well, lets see, the wedding was fantasmical, we're still waiting for the official photos; although a bunch turned up, some great ones from Mare and Weasel G especially! I put up the ones I have, but I know there's more floating around the interweb. I also put up the few photos from Maui we have. I should have taken more shots, but you know, ... it was Maui, it was our honeymoon. I was busy having fun!

...what else - I started playing with the Berkeley Jazz Workshop about two months before the wedding, it really helped keep me sane, from a creative standpoint. Wedding planning was fun, but that's with the benefit of hindsight. While it's going on, there's so much to take care of! But it's all worth it. Look, here I am almost two months later and still talking about it.

ANYway, the BJW had a couple gigs at Cafe De La Paz in Berkeley, hopefully we'll be doing some more of that in the future. If you happen to be in SF for New Year's Eve, you can catch me playing with Musashi Trio at Moose's restaurant in North Beach. It looks like a pretty swanky place, and Musashi Trio is a great blues/rock band, lotta fun with those guys. The last gig on my horizon is at Bottom of the Hill in mid-January; it's more of a heavy-pop-rock band. We've gotten together a couple times, I'm still learning the songs and stuff.

All for now!! I gotta get my car from the dealership and then get packed for TAHOE - Heavenly this weekend, hopefully last week's snowfall is still there.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and all that other seasonal jive!

So hopefully by now, our wedding invitations have been received by the invited guests. Wedding showers are coming up. Planning stages are giving way to preparation stages. Money can't leave wallets fast enough. But like the Queens of the Stone Age say, "I can go with the flow"

Summer is starting to wrap up - but was it ever really here? This isn't San Francisco, but this is the coldest summer I ever spent in my 30+ years here. In a way, it should be a blessing if and ONLY if Indian Summer rolls around and we get good October weather (fingers crossed). 

Well, that's about all I got these days Wedding planning is all consuming, time money energy. But I think we are on schedule. Then of course, life goes on despite any plans you make - and you deal accordingly. The A's this season might be described as such.

Milton Bradley was recently interviewed, now a SD Padre, and he had some choice words to say about our little baseball team that could. I'm not going to link it, because why take an inflammatory (or wait - flammatory) article and throw gasoline on it, right? Well, lets just say that despite his disgruntled status, he did say some things that have stuck in this A's fan's head. Particularly,

- the firing/hiring of Ken Macha, who then took the team to the ALCS last year, and was then fired again

- Bradley's DFA and subsequent trade; he was our 3 hitter, and while the injuries were plaguing him all this year, he was ... mad about not getting playing time? Thats a head scratcher.

- the trade of Kendall. Now, just about every A's fan I know could spit the company line: "Man, I hate Kendall's bat, but the pitchers love him and they're doing well, so I guess...well, what I mean is, he's a career .300 hitter!"  Yeah, right. Well, we were glad to see hit bat disappear, but I'm afraid he was the unofficial Captain of the team. Just search "gritty" on AthleticsNation, you'll see what I mean.

Beane basically took the heart of the lineup in Bradley and yanked it out, Mola Ram-stylee. Then a couple weeks later, sent a message to the pitching staff that "Yeah, hii, um, I'm sorry guys, but your favorite catcher is umm, sort of not really around any more, uhhmm, and here's a rookie you can use instead for the rest of the season, mmkay? Thaaanks!" ... That would be Bill Lumberg-stylee.

Beane has said before that he doesn't believe in "re-building" as a state of being for his baseball team, but it looks that way more than ever right now. No new bats, the next best one (Piazza) is on the waiver wire, Stewart is our only 300 hitter and he's not long for the team, and the guys who are supposed to be good (Swisher, Buck, Crosby, Chavez, Kotsay), .... oh hell. Forget it, everybody is underperforming. The only guys who are doing well are Ellis and Scutaro.

Yeah, that's right, I said Scutaro. At least he's still with team (knocks on wood)

Whats that other song by QOTSA I like? Oh yeah - "First It Giveth" same album.

Hope to see some of you soon in the flesh.

Well, thanks to all who have wished me Happy Birthday - we couldn't have done it without myspace! Seriously though, I know you all had it written down and were just chomping at the bit to send me birthday wishes.

Some random thoughts for  you:
- WOW what a suprise on Friday night - Kat told me we were going to La Pinata to have dinner with my folks, sister, and brother-in-law; nice low key dinner in a tequila bar, right? WRONG! I was surprised by all of my firends who were already there, balloons, gifts, cards, ... just wow. I was overwhelmed. How did my fiancee get so dang sneaky? I had been asking about inviting other people all week, and she's all, "No, they're out of town" or "No, it'll just be family dinner, you can invite them next time" .... well I was fooled. It was a great time, everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and the only odd thing that happened.... no one ordered any tequila! If I wasn't already a bit tipsy from drinks with co-workers earlier in the day, maybe we woulda - but no one did. Will have to compensate for that mistake !

- Down Home Music in El Cerrito, visited for the first time and quite liked the place. Bought a buncha clearance vinyl records and have been listening, mostly to Dave Brubeck with Joe Morello, but some other nice records and compilations as well.

- we had a yard sale at my parents' block on Saturday that was particularly fruitful. Not only did we get rid of some things that needed getting rid of, I found out that my folks' new neighbor is one of my favorite local drummers - Scott Amendola! He's been there for about two  years and I just "met" him yesterday (we had met before, but I dont think he remembered). I hope to see his studio space and maybe even woodshed with him sometime, that would be killer.

- Gerry's Grill in Hayward was great, we had dinner there Saturday, and as always, it never disappoints. I had the grilled salmon, but the tuna sashimi-style salad was the big hit - really refreshing on a hot day like Saturday was. The only shitty thing was that someone vandalized my car! Can you believe someone wrote the number "19" on the hood, then "East Olkaland" on the side, with some blue paint splattered all over it - fortunately it all came off with a bit of rubbing alcohol so I was only "bent out of shape" rather than supremely pissed. Freekin' kids these days. I'm guessing the paint was a thrown paintball. I have photos too, in case I decide to press charges.

- A's swept by the Mets in Shea Stadium. Particularly timely, as the A's hadn't been swept in a three game series in over a year, and it happened right after they DFA'd their #3 hitter in Milton Bradley. tsk tsk tsk! It's too bad, but it looks like next year is more important to Billy Beane than this one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not counting us out, but that was clearly a "futures" move. We could have used his bat in the lineup (see Mets' series line for the A's: 0.192 BA for the series, etc)

Welp, I got a lot of new music to listen to these days. A pile of records and a few new cds. I got a new knife in my pocket. Found some nice shorts at Marshalls. Ate and drank like crazy all weekend. STILL have a fridge full of beer.

Life is good! Bring on the next year!

Just thought I would repost this here, as I've been listening to a lot of sports talk radio, and yesterday, when there are no Giants, A's, Warriors, OR Sharks game, this was all they talked about.

Sorry I haven't linked Davey D's original post, but I bet you can find it. I've also amended this slightly, thanks to the ability to preview before posting....
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"Well said Mr. D, but I feel there is something else going on that has yet to be discussed publicly regarding this whole matter.

As any good A's fan will tell you, this year the CBS affiliates broadcasting games on the radio decided to implement a ~17 second delay in their broadcasts, something which infuriated the Green and Gold Nation. (We like to listen at the park, or turn down the TV to hear the play by play.) Why would they institute such a preposterous delay? Don't they know their audience? Well they don't. They fear the FCC and the thousands of dollars in fines they might incur if a four letter word slips by the microphone, be it their own commentators or the plaza level below the booth.

If I recall correctly, there is already an installed delay in television and radio for censorship purposes. Doesn't CBS have someone sitting there, waiting to push that button? Haven't they done enough to prevent this from happening over and over? Apparently not, if you remember Larry Kruger, Felipe Alou, and KNBR brass a year or so ago. This cycle of putting, for lack of a better word, assholes on the air, instituting technology for censorship of speech, and then backtracking when something profane hits talk radio, will NOT end - not as long as ratings and advertising dollars and media corporations continue to be driven by the bottom line, and the herd mentality that a blowhard is the best talk radio host. Look at craigslist - can you think of a business operating the way they do? The corporate world could give a damn, but as you know, they do not. Meanwhile we all spend too many of hours of our lives discussing whether what happened to Imus is "ethical" or not.

I think that firing Don Imus should only have been pre-empted by not hiring him, he seems like the most unpleasant guy on the planet. (I admit, I've never really listened to him and know as much about him from Howard Stern's early conflict with him in the late 80's, NBC years.) While the networks spent a week deciding what they should do about him, I read that multiple employees came out speaking against him, basically backing up the Rutger's women's team claims that the man is offensive, pure and simple.

What I'd like to see is more corporate responsibility that does not come in the form of FCC fines that go ... where exactly? There is no accountability for how these corp's do business and it is a scourge on this country that goes beyond race, music, or media. There won't ever be competition in this arena because the media corporations don't face any, ever! They have control, we just get to complain, or as you say, "ponder" about it.

(by the way, I still owe you a DVD - "Hip Hop in Sproul Plaza 1984")
-jim"

No seriously, I just thought I'd do an update, a lot happened recently.

First things first - Craigslist. This weekend, on Saturday night, I found the snare drum to end all snare drums, for a price I liked, with money in my pocket. I called the guy, he said it was still available, and I asked him "Is it okay if I come for it tomorrow?" It was already late on Saturday, and I would have had to drive to Belmont from Oakland. "Sure" he says, and we set up a time, and I got directions. Well, guess what happened. You probably already know. The bastard sold it to someone else. Thank god I didn't drive all the way out there, I would have been even more pissed than I am now, and I am pissed. Had I known he was selling to the first person who showed up to his door, I'd have gone late Saturday night. But I asked if it was okay to come tomorrow, and he said yes, so I didn't. I don't know why this one is so hard to let go, I've missed opportunities on CL before. But goddammit, I am so pissed.

I might have been able to go get it earlier on Sunday, but we had a WEDDING faire to go to! Did you know that wedding faires are spelled with an "e" on the end? Ya learn something new every day, I tell ya. Well, we picked up Mom, drove to Palmdale, and met up with Kat's mom, Uncle Amer, and eventually, Grace and Alma.  We tried all the entrees available (we're leaning toward the tri-tip and salmon), saw a brief mock wedding, looked at tuxedo vests, cakes, flower arrangements, centerpieces, DJ options, and then some. I put a few pictures from the day on the wedding website ( http://jimandkat.weddingwindow.com ), you can check them out if you like.

My sister is returning today from a ten day trip to Ghana - I can't wait to hear all about it! She went with her classmates from grad school.

THE A's! start the season tonight - wait - TODAY in Seattle; I thought this was going to be a night game, but I guess folks in Seattle don't have a problem making it to a 3:30pm start on a Monday. I have a problem with it though, as I have to work all day. That said, we were invited to Oakland's opening night a week from today, for a full-on, large group tailgate party. Oh man, I would love to be there. So much so, I may just go to the lot sans ticket and enjoy some food and libations with some close friends. I just got a new BP jersey too, I need an excuse to wear it since I got it at the end of Spring Training; I'll be wearing it while all the A's will be shelving theirs. Nevertheless, I am excited about the new season, and will do my traditional buying-of-the-new-hat very soon. Which reminds me, did you know that all the players' hats have changed this year? Instead of wool, they're made out of something else now.

Also of note, last week we saw Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau in concert at Zellerbach Hall, keeping a trend this year of seeing good jazz shows for cheap/free. However, this was not quite the greatest show. To be frank, the sound in the Hall, which is normally excellent, was poorly mixed this night - Mehldau's piano was mostly drowned out by Pat Metheny's guitar and the addition of Metheny to Mehldau's existing trio seemd forced most of the night. Both artists sounded fantastic in their own right, and shined particularly bright during their duet performances, where they could occupy as much sonic space as was possible for two stringed instruments. But once the band joined them onstage, the music became somewhat contrived, particularly the "drum n bass" style song where Pat used his MIDI/synth guitar. it was a weeknight, and we left about 90 minutes after the show started. It went for 2.5 hours, from what I heard. We just weren't particularly enthralled, and from conversations with a few others who attended that night, we weren't the only ones.

That same week was a holiday for us state employees, so I spent my Friday trying to hit the last of the snow in Tahoe, with my friend and co-worker Jon. We left Oakland around 6am and got to Northstar at around 9:30 or so. It had snowed on Monday and Tuesday earlier that week, but I couldn't really tell. It was slushy, springtime conditions, but we had a good time as it was not too crowded. I only bailed once and it was in relatively nice snow - I kept thinking 'Please don't bail on the wet ice...." But the one thing I forgot - sunscreen. I didn't get a picture, but I got the goggle/raccoon tanline. My skin is all dry and peely now. Gross!

Well, I guess that's it. Keep checking our wedding website now and again, I added some new pictures, not just from the wedding faire, but from another recent wedding we attended. Let me know if you want to go to an A's game this month. Try and come see my one gig this month at McGee's in Alameda on April 28th.

Oh, and if you know anyone selling a Ludwig snare drum, either Supraphonic, Super-Sensitive, or Black Beauty, let me know. It needs to be 6.5" deep, also called the "John Bonham" or "Led Zep" snare.

What a crazy day it was this year!

My day started innocently enough; I had a studio booking from a Detroit classical radio station for a TBD guest; well, day of show, they confirm the booking and BRANFORD MARSALIS is the freakin' guest!

I almost flipped out on the phone ("No way! Are you serious?") but I had little time for that. I had no idea Branford was in town doing a four day stint at Yoshi's, so I didn't even know he was here! But I digress....

I have to tell you, that as a young drummer in his first year of the high school jazz band, I was looking for some reference; this was around 1990 or 91, and I owned no jazz albums. I saw the movie "Bring On The Night" documenting Sting's first solo effort post-Police, and Branford pretty much steals the movie. He's probably just in his early 20s in the movie, and he just seemed like the coolest jazz cat - like I even knew what that was. But still, his personalty shines through the film as a slightly amused, serious artist/musician, who is suddenly thrust into the pop world - as well as his pianist, Kenny Kirkland (RIP).
So, on the strength of that movie, some friends and I took dates to Zellerbach Hall to see Branford's quartet open for Sonny Rollins. It was everything I didn't know jazz could be (see earlier post regarding "Crazy People Music"), and their performance was so tight, and so fresh, that when "old fogie" Sonny Rollins came on playing his signature tunes, very straight ahead, we actually got bored and walked out! On Sonny Rollins! Oh, the impetuousness of our youth. I would have been embarrassed for me now.

Fast forward back to last week, where I actually got to shake the man's hand and relay that story. I spoke at some length wth his tour manager about directions to the studio - "How will I recognize you when we get there?" he asks. "I'm wearing a bright yellow Oakland A's shirt" I say - and in the background I hear "BOOOO!" Well, when the car pulled up, Branford got out of the driver's seat, boo'd me again, and then shook my hand - "Nice to meet you". They went and parked, and boy was I excited at how early he was - guests usualy never show up that early! So then, walking from the lot to the studio, I told him a bit about myself, and the above story of that great concert back in '91. After I told him about walking out on Sonny Rollins, he just smiled a little and said, "Well, I'm just glad you stayed for us," sheepishly even. Talking about Crazy People Music, he hummed a few melody notes from "Spartacus" to which I recognized and finished the line for him, acknowledging the tune he was humming - to which he paused, then said "Oh yeah, that IS how the solo starts, huh..." (thats right! I ain't just any ole jazz groupie!)  ... but I digress again.

Now, the interview almost didn't happen due to technically diffulties in Detroit. I was sweating bullets. But fortunately, I had the smarts to ask for his autograph and picture-taken first, while he was in a good mood still. (After the interview was delayed by 30 minutes, we almost lost him, but anyway....) I wish I had any number of his cds from home to sign, but instead I had to run to Amoeba to pick something up (which I didn't own already) to get his autograph.

The funniest thing about the waiting time though was talking baseball. He is a die-hard Mets fan, and we talked very briefly about Zito leaving, the rumors of Beane wanting Lastings Milledge ("Yeah right, good luck!" he says), and general off-season banter - SOO cool. My advice to anyone who has the good fortune of meeting Branford - get him talking baseball, he knows his baseball sh*t as well as he knows his jazz history.

But so ANYway, the craziest of all is that I slyly said something about "I wish I knew you were in town, I would have bought tickets" and he responded right away, saying "Oh I'm sure we can work something out".  Now, I had already checked - both Wednesday and Thursday night shows were sold out! But he managed to guestlist me and my fiancee, as well as my engineer and his girl, to the 10pm and 8pm shows respectively. What was more amazing, is that he had already left before doing so! He said his tour manager would hook us up, but we never saw him after he left for food earlier. So, when they drove off together after the program, I thought, "Oh well, at least I tried." But damn if his tour manager didn't call me an hour later and get our names on the list. We had a fantastic time at the show, which was packed. He played a lot of ballads, but hell - it was Valentines Day. He even invited some local cats up to perform with him, some of which blew AMAZINGLY.... this tall skinny kid on alto absolutely fired the audience up! Even the bassist was yelling from behind, "Go 'head man, GO AHEAD!"

So all in all, a VERY memorable Valentines Day. Ya know, in retrospect, I realized that it's one thing when you meet one of your idols and, you know, maybe they blow you off, or act like a jerk, or just "too cool for school" kinda thing. But the Branford I met had me absolutely starstruck - I can't tell you the last time I've seen Bring On The Night, but I can tell you that he was the exact same person I remember from that movie. A straight-shooter, no-bulls**t, incredibly talented and knowledgeable individual, who treated me like anybody else - I felt like he was just like any other musician I've gigged with, we talked about whatever, and he was so friendly. You know, those East Coast types usually have a reputation for being hard-assed; but I think his New Orleans roots must counter-balance that. But I digress. For a third time.

Actually, I'll just end my digressing here, and show you my new favorite pic:


THE END