h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The following message is an announcement from the Joe Jackson Web Site.

Joe will be appearing with Ben Folds and William Shatner
on October 21 & 22 at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
Tickets are on sale now at http://www.theelrey.com/

Hmmm. Ben Folds, yes. William Shatner, perhaps not.

Apparently Folds is producing an album for Shatner in which Shatner collaborates with various musicians (such as JJ).

What are they thinking??!?

$$$$

Well, there IS that.

Right, afterall there're those (varying degrees of) lifestyles to maintain! $$ doesn't grow on trees, y'know.

*waves to Big Red*

Hi, Jazz! *waves*

I just found out that my other favorite singer-songwriter, Aimee Mann, also is in on this Folds-Shatner-Jackson thing. What IS this?

By the way, TPC, if you're interested in last month's JJ show in New York, I took notes for you. It was just Joe at the grand piano.

Hi Big Red! Solo Joe Jackson sounds great! A skilled/competent musician has no need of a backiing band (especially a pianist), & wheen you're a songwriter like JJ too...well 'nuff said!

Tendonitis hmm? How've you been otherwise?

"when"

JJ solo, huh? Sounds fab. I really need him to come back over here and do that.....

William Shatner sings!

http://82.42.96.36/~natali/behindthis.mp3





az

Erm, no......Shatner doesn`t, but his wig does!!!!!

Zantic, boy but there German keyboards make typing my name dificult!

Erm, no......Shatner doesn`t, but his wig does!!!!!

Zantic, boy but these German keyboards make typing my name dificult!

Ah, the joys of the AZERTY keyboard. I'd almost blotted that from my mind...

Gosh, I turn my back for a couple of days and Zantic shows up! How terrific to see you.

Hi, Jazz, the short answer is I'm fine, thanks. On the downhill side of my 40s there's much I could say, but why scare the youngsters?

And TPC, JJ said he plans to do more of these solo performances, so surely he'll do some on your side of the pond.

OK, now, for the fun part. Joe's concert in Central Park. For those who aren't familiar, Central Park is a HUGE park smack dab in the middle of the skyscrapers and concrete of New York City. When you're in the middle of it, you can forget you're in the city because it's so quiet, until you look up and see a skyscraper in the distance beyond the trees.

The concert was at an open-air theater in the park. The temperature was perfect, warm enough for shirtsleeves but not at all hot or sticky.

It began around sunset, and was dark by the time JJ took the stage. The string quartet Ethel, who played on "Night and Day II," opened. They were very good, but their selections weren't quite my cup of tea, leaning as they did toward contemporary classical.

JJ opened by playing and singing a bit of "Over the Rainbow," which I think was perhaps just a bit of inspiration. He moved into "Hometown" and onto "Steppin' Out," which he said was nostalgia on two levels: One, it was more than 20 years old, and two, it was written about the New York of 20 years ago.

He then said many of us probably were aware that he'd gotten his original band back together a couple of years ago and recorded a new album (riotous applause here), and that he wanted to do a couple of pieces from that _ which were "Take It Like a Man" anad "Awkward Age."

He then stepped back in time a bit and did "Be My Number Two" (from "Body and Soul") and "Obvious Song" (from "Laughter and Lust").

By the way, when he introduced the "L&L" song he pointed out that those were two of his favorite things. Cute.

Next came "Love at First Light" and John Lennon's "Girl," his only piece that night by another composer other than "Rainbow."

Then he played a new piece called "Citizen Sane," pointing out where the horns and such would go once he had it arranged. Sorry, I don't remember a lot now about the new song.

He wound up with a great two-fer, "Different for Girls" and "Is She Really Going Out With Him."

He came back with Ethel after Todd Rundgren's set (which was GREAT! Rundgren rules!!) and they all did a funny arrangement of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and another song called "Black Maria" (Mariah?) that I had never heard before.

My husband said it was the best concert he'd ever seen. The soft air and the dusk and the small audience contributed to that, he agreed, by giving it a lovely intimacy.

Thanks for asking -- I enjoyed reliving it! I scribbled all this down by the light of my cell phone JUST for TPC.

Aw shucks. Thanks.

Gigs coming up this side of the pond:

Sarah McLachlan
The Finn Brothers
Josh Rouse

But first - my annual pilgrimage to Munich starts tomorrow!!

Let's see...gig-wize in this little western Canadian locale, next month we've got; a double bill (pairing), Sting with Annie Lennox, a performer/venue match I couldn't have forseen all those years ago when I bought the School's Out LP-Alice Cooper in our somewhat "upper crust" Winspear Centre ( http://www.winspearcentre.com ), continuing the nostalgic tone-Van Halen@Rexall Place...as well as ( opposite ends of the musical spectrum here!) Yanni in the same venue. Oh & a great folk/blues/gospel singer from Texas, Ruthie Foster in the St. Basil's Cultural Centre.

Currently though I'm about 10 hours away from my 2nd night of live Jazz. Last night it was a great show by Canadian saxophonist Christine Jensen, tonight it's vocal Jazz from Norway-the Marit Sanvik Quintet & tomorrow it's brilliant pianist/composer David Braid teamed with one of Canada's finer saxophonists Mike Murley (with a rhythm section).

Hi Jazz'd (may I call you Jazz'd? )

Being a jazz fan perhaps you can help me find some more. I've been dipping my toe in the water of Jazz and have found I love these:

John Coltrane (especially Blue Train and Love Supreme)
Guy Barker (Soundtrack)
Soweto Kinch
Herbie Hancock (Takin' Off / Headhunters)
EST
Colin Steele Quintet (The Journey Home)

Any other recommendations...?

Cheers

Sure P/C (if I can call you P/C?) Jazz'd or jaz'd is fine! Good to meet you & I hope I can make some reasonable recommendations. Have you heard Coltrane's My Favourite Things? Along with my copy of him Live At The Village Vanguard, it's a CD I'm quite fond of.

A few other names you might want to investigate are; Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, etc. Although I have to admit I'm not that familiar with all his output, a good friend bought me a wonderful CD by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis & his pianist father Ellis. The CD is Joe Cool's Blues & is a compilation of music from the telvision specials of the Charlie Brown comic-strip.

I tend to purchase/listen to a fair bit of Canadian Jazz, in fact I bought a CD - Collage, at the first of those 3 shows. The performer was an up-&-coming saxophonist named Christine Jensen. Her sister Ingrid has also pursued a career in music, playing trumpet.

Another recent purchase was a simple duet CD by Canadian keyboard veteran Doug Riley & flugelhorn virtuoso Guido Basso. Entitled A Lazy Afternoon, it's a relaxed pairing of 2 more than competant musicians & certainly lives up to the title. And speaking of keyboard veterans, I have to mention just 1 release by Canada's Oscar Peterson, his trio recording Canadiana Suite - music inspired by/reflective of the country's diverse geography. There are so many more, but I don't want to ovewhelm you.

I will just mention that if your computer has sound capability, there are some good (free)points of reference online. A very good one which has 1 hour programs of various varieties or sub-genres of Jazz. It's http://www.ejazz.fm . One I'd discovered more recently & am quite impressed with is http://www.jazzexcursion.com . A good site from Australia is http://www.ozzyjazz.com , while not an actual radio station, it's an informative site that offers a variety of music.

Get me talking about ...anyway, I hope that's some help to you. Oh if you're willing to read/do some research you can explore http://www.allaboutjazz.com , http://www.jazzonline.com or possibly a couple of American magazines http://www.jazztimes.com & http://www.downbeat.com .

I'm not so into jazz because I'm very attuned to vocals, so having said that I love Billie Holiday and Mose Allison (jazz keyboard player-composer-vocalist). Mose is very funny as well as very talented, and fortunately for me he plays a four-night gig every year at a nightclub here in Washington.

TPC, I think k.d. lang is coming to Glasgow, if you're into her. She doesn't seem to be coming anywhere near me.

So, how was Oktoberfest?