37th Montreux Jazz Festival

Seems like the Montreal Jazz Festival isn't the only one to deviate to other musical styles. Jamiroquai?

Diana Krall Already At Work On Next CD

Personally, I'm not a fan of hers, but she has won many accolades of late (Grammy, Juno), and General Motors has really pushed a series of ads with her... I guess I have to grudgingly accept her as one of ours.

We had hot water again this evening. The city turned it off since Tuesday.

That meant my first shower in 3 days. Words can't adequately express how good it felt!

It's been far too long that I haven't been updating this blog. Time to change that.

I think that in trying to post mostly jazz-related content here, I may have limited it a bit. I mixed in many other things before, and it resulted in more frequent postings. So, I'm returning to that.

This week's Friday Five:

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?
I try to be, but there's always room for improvement.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?
I used to go with a manual paper organizer, but as writing by hand became more difficult I migrated to using Outlook on my PC.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?
Far from it! My desk is a mess.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?
The most I've done here is to group CDs by the same artist together.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize?
Just organizing unpacking in a new apartment. Almost a year later now, and I still have a lot to do.

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted here!

Musically, I've been following this year's American Idol, just like last year. It's obssession enough that I've been missing the final episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for it. Those I'll likely be able to see in re-runs.

This is a few days late, but here's this week's Friday Five:

1. Who is your favorite celebrity?
Since I mentioned him in the last quiz, this should come as no surprise: Billy Joel.

2. Who is your least favorite?
Least favorite would either be Tom Green or Geraldo Riviera. Green because he's possibly the least funny comedian, Geraldo because he always does dumb things, often that put others at risk, and tries to claim they're for the public good.

3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life?
I met Doctor Demento and "Weird" Al Yankovitch when they came to the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal in the late 1980s. I even have autographs from them.

4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not?
Not really. With the lack of privacy that comes with fame, I'd probably go crazy.

5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why?
If I had to, I'd love to have been Charlton Heston, just to meet some of the other great figures he's known.

From the Friday Five:

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
The first solo act I saw in concert was Cindy Lauper. I think the first group I saw was Huey Lewis and the News.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
That's a mix. In jazz, the Marsallis Family have really been capturing my interest. In other genres, Moxy Fruvous are a perennial favorite for me. Billy Joel is my favorite solo performer.

3. What's your favorite song?
Holly Cole's version of I can see clearly now. Actually, pretty much anything she sings.

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
That would be the saxaphone.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
No-brainer here! Billy Joel again. Every interview of his that I've heard he sounds like a fun person to talk with.

I realized the date... it's only two months away from the Montreal International Jazz Festival! I'm hoping to actually attend it this year. The high heat and lack of courteousness in attendees to folks with canes or what-not has kept me away... but a fellow physio participant has been going for years even with such problems. That encourages me to try.

Legal MP3 Downloads

This site offers a good selection of jazz MP3s.

Fateback was down for a while... so even though I've been updating since the 5th, nobody got to see it. Sorry.

Cindy Lauper's 2-part "Goonies" video (from i-mockery.com).

Very sarcastic, but any reminiscence about some of what I loved in the 1980s is cool to me.

I haven't posted anything here in over a month? Ack! I'll try to get back on track. Maybe trying to limit my subject matter here is part of the cause...

Nora Jones was announced as a headliner at the 2003 Montreal Jazz Fest. She apparently played at last year's shows; after winning all those Grammys, getting her to perform now is a real coup, apparently.

Outside of her one hit song though, I don't know anything of her music. Years ago, I suffered through a Julian Lennon concert in town for the same reasons. Not a situation I want to repeat!

The vigil is over. Charlie Biddle died last night.

I was never really a fan of his music - but then again, jazz bass doesn't tend to be showy - however we can't in the least discount his contributions to the jazz scene in Montreal.

Cloned Baby Case Ends up in Court

And the undeserved attention continues...

It just came to me: it has been a month since Eve, the supposed first cloned child, was born. If other scientists were provided with data on her, we never heard about it.

Can you say hoax? I guess it was after all.

A Montreal jazz legend is really in bad shape: Charlie Biddle has cancer.

Charlie is a jazz basist, but his contribution to the Montreal jazz scene is much more: he's the owner of Biddles, a rib restaurant downtown that often has live jam sessions. He was also a pioneer of the Montreal Jazz Festival. He opened the first one 25 years ago, and he's always been a major supporter.

The latest Friday Five:

1. Where do you currently work?

At home. I'm a freelancer.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?

Let's see... if I count a summer job each time, I've had 10 altogether.

3. What do you like best about your job?

I set my own hours and I don't have to worry about dress codes.

4. What do you like least about your job?

No regular paycheques.

5. What is your dream job?

Having a freelance writing gig become a full-time position.

The Return of the King Protest

This site states clearly that it's a parody of the Two Towers Protest one... it did crack me up.

Dutch lesbian 'has clone baby 2'

With this, there are now two unproven claims, and with this one it seems more a circus act the Raelians are making. Why should the fact the woman is a lesbian even matter?

Vatican slams 'brutal' clone claim

I can't really criticize the Vatican for this. If the Raelians' claim is true, then they performed what isn't a perfected process on an innocent life, callously birthing it with no care that it could be killed by the process.

From the Friday Five:

• 1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year?

My biggest accomplishment was the move to my current apartment. After 9 years living in the same place, I've now moved on.
• 2. What was your biggest disappointment?

More of a sadness, really: a friend of my family, Rose Greenblatt, was diagnosed with major lung cancer. We have maybe a year more with her at most.
• 3. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions?

Not likely. I've been keeping a resolution from 1999 to find old friends I'd lost touch with however.
• 4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else?

I'll be visiting my Aunt in Burlington, VT. I'll be with my folks, my aunt, my cousins... I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
• 5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year's traditions?

Not really.

Generally when my local TV stations air ads about their CRTC license renewals, I ignore them.

This year my Global network affiliate announced that they wanted to air opinions on getting a new commercial jazz radio station in Montreal That is something I want to speak out for!

Smooth Jazz New Year's Eve at Time Square West (From Smooth Jazz News)

Man... reading this I wish I was a New Yorker.

Smooth Jazz News

A magazine site to read up on the latest happenings in this great artform.

I'm downloading the latest version of the Phoenix Web browser as I type these words... take the Netscape browser, minus the flaws, add tabbed browser views and built-in pop-up blocker and password manager feature, and you have a great product!

I've wanted to use the Mozilla browser for months, but it takes a more powerful PC than I currently have. Phoenix is a side-project version, without the code bloat Mozilla has.

Most of International AIDS Day is now over in my time zone... for 3 years I've been part of the Link and Think. What's really sad: in 3 years, there has been very little if any progress in treatment of the illness. Even though we know more about it than we knew years ago, they still haven't progressed enough towards a cure.

Here are some links for you to research the disease a bit:

JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center

HIV InSite Gateway

United Press International: Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world

Lots of news about things like birthdates of jazz luminaries as well as comings and goings

I'm in Vermont right now for Thanksgiving. Most of the other folks are out walking off all the extra calories they gained. I'm doing what I can instead: surfing the Internet.

CNN.com - Beauty queens flee as toll rises - Nov. 24, 2002.

It seems that religious zealot furvor won out again.

We are offended by the idea of this pageant. Let's kill people to show our displeasure! Yeesh...

In a world where the Muslim faith is trying to separate from the stigma brought by the terrorist bombers, crap like this won't help.

Sometimes, really crappy things happen:

I was thinking of setting up CDNow links from my affiliate links to the jazz records I review here from time to time... problem is, the company sent out an e-mail to all affiliates that due to their merger with Amazon, we all have to remove our links before December 3rd of this year. So much for that idea...

Much More Music is right now airing a film of Queen's concert in Bucharest. I'm taping it to watch tomorrow.

I did see the opening number though: my favorite power tune from the band: One World.

CNN.com - Pee Wee Herman actor charged - Nov. 16, 2002. First actor Jeffrey Jones, now Paul Reubens?

This is the second bout of legal troubles for Paul too... scary.

I've been slowly trying to solve my CSS woes on this blog... I notice in Phoenix that the post text is not only shrinking down the page, but the entries also get more narrow.

I will get this problem fixed - somehow.

Jazz Online

A site to promote a newsletter, but also offering links to some great music downloads, as well as paths to streaming preview clips. This makes me really eager for the day I have broadband, just to hear the clips well.

Time for the Friday Five!:

1. Did you vote in your last elections?

Yes. In the last three at least - both federal and municipal.

2. Do you know who your elected representatives are?

I paid extra care to learning who mine were, especially as they were the candidate that helped to oust a hated mayor from Montreal. Too bad he's a bigger hemorhoid as opposition leader.

3. Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about?

Haven't contacted them yet.

4. Have you ever participated in a demonstration? More in my younger days. I was part of a protest many years ago to keep my high school open. We didn't succeed, but I got on TV for it.

5. Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result?

No. I haven't been that civic minded.

City housing policies can be moronic at times:

I first called them about problems with my toilet Friday.

Sunday now, and they still haven't sent a plumber. In fact, I called them for the 6th time now, to be told it's city policy not to call plumbers on weekends. So, I now have to go 7 floors down to the community bathroom whenever I need one.

Good thing that I'm more mobile than most disabled people in this building, otherwise I'd be looking at a mess in this place.

This is incredibly sad: Jam Master Jay, one of the pioneers of rap music with Run DMC was shot dead Wednesday night. He was 37.

Before anyone points to the East-West rap violence: this group well predates gangsta rap. They had no violence in their music, the group that brought Aerosmith back with their remake of Walk this way.

Correction from yesterday: the Quebec Minister who resigned was the Minister of Justice, not security.

The Parti Quebecois (PQ), Quebec's ruling seperatist party, is really on their last legs, in my opinion.

First they decided to bring back Jacques Parizeau - the former PQ leader and premiere who managed to ruin himself in the media every time he opened his mouth.

Now the party Minister of Security made a very public resignation - and essentially said the reason the party is currently in third place in popularity polls is because the party has been straying away from their stated separation goals.

There's a moron ignoring the fact that the majority of people here - myself included - are sick of that particular issue.

The Two Towers Protest seems to be gone, based on the fact that the URL doesn't work.

I guess enough people showed the folks in charge the ignorance of their belief so that they pulled it.

Two Towers Protest. Some people go too far in their PC views... these folks are accusing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers of being so named to cash in on the September 11 tragedy.

Can't be the name of the book, written over 60 years ago or anything...

The news today was flooded about the arrest of two suspects who might be responsible for the sniper attacks in the US. They had the same caliber rifle, had a hole drilled in the back of their car...

Are these the people responsible? Maybe it's the paranoia freak inside of me, but I'm not so sure. It just feels too pat that the perpetrators of these heinous acts would be caught with all the evidence in tow.

Besides, the reports say they were caught in a blue car. The crimes were reported as emanating from a white van.

Far too often, I'm reminded again how life is unfair:

In Burlington, VT one of the closest friends to my family is Rose Greenblatt. I showed her Montreal's Chinatown many years ago, she came to my cousin Ellen's college graduation in Boston a few years ago too. She isn't a spring chicken at 87, but she's one of the closest people to a blood relation for us there.

Last week, she saw a doctor about a compound back fracture. When the results came back, the doctor suggested she come in with family. My aunt and a very close friend Joan Chernoff came with. The reason they were asked to come in: Rose has a major case of cancer.

Her doctor was good enough not to mention the c-word directly to her. Unfortunately, an idiot intern blurted it all out.

Here's a woman who diligently got checkups, pap smears, whatever... but American medical folks don't look for things diligently, so this has been building up for years untreated. Result: what might have been treatable is now terminal.

The doctor won't assign her chemotherapy. She has maybe 6 months left. Chemo would leave her sick and weak for maybe 3 months more.

Thing is, the doctor told this only to my aunt and the friend. Rose saw an Oncologist yesterday, and got the verdict. From what mom told me, after hearing this it was as if all the fight she had left drained away.

This sucks. DAMMIT, THIS SUCKS!! We'll all die some day, but fate can at least be good enough not to give us suffering too... especially this. Rose doesn't deserve it.

Sorry for the messed-up look on this blog the past two days. I've been playing around with the idea of CSS layouts. It's been a lot more challenging than the "easy change" the codes promised. I should have everything fixed up soon though.

I'll be trying a new template for this blog soon... one using CSS absolute positioning instead of [TABLE]s for design.

Hopefully, that will end my problems with journal shrinking text.

Tonight I cleared the final boxes from my living room heater. Just in time for the colder weather and the heat to kick in.

As a result I found my 2-CD edition of Miles Davis Bitches Brew. I'm not a fan of electronic jazz (I think you have to be into major psychadelic drugs to really appreciate it), but it brings me one step closer to gathering my entire collection of CDs.

This week's Friday Five:

1. If you could only choose 1 cd to ever listen to again, what would it be?

This would be a close tie: for sheer instrumental jazz brilliance, Sonny Rollins Global Warming. His musical riffs on this album are fantastic.

For song magic, Billy Joel's Glass Houses. This was the album that really launched him into the musical heavens, with songs like It's Still Rock and Roll to Me and Sometimes a Fantasy.

2. If you could only choose 2 movies to watch ever again, what would they be?

Let me see... my all time favorite film is Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. I'd choose the first Superman film as the second.

3. If you could only choose 3 books to read ever again, what would they be?

Isaac Asimov's I Robot, Robert H. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and the combined Riverworld saga by Philip Jose Farmer. OK, that may be cheating, since that's 5 novels combined.

4. If you could only choose 4 things to eat or drink ever again, what would they be?

Food: tacos and vegiburgers. Drink: Dr. Pepper and chocolate flavored soy milk.

5. If you could only choose 5 people to ever be/talk/associate/whatever with ever again, who would they be?

That is a tough call to reduce the list. I'll stick to folks you may know: my Holy Trinity (Meg Ryan, Michelle Pffeifer and Jennifer Conally), Isaac Asimov and Forrest J. Ackerman.

Cold Fusion Video Reviews: Complete Reviews Listing I used to attend a group activity called the FFIF - Fast Forward International Federation. Essentially, we tried to find films in video stores so bad that you had to fast forward through most of them to avoid brain burn. This site is the largest accumulation of FFIF films I've ever seen!

The idea of the US declaring war on Iraq is becoming a greater possibility by the day now.

It seems that the only 'legacy' of the current Republican regime was shown initially during the party political convention... the entire event was a brag of all the battles they started and won. Social improvement, help for the needy? Screw that - we're all about having bigger guns and blowing things up!

In a few short years, Iraq will be the nucleus of revenge attacks on the US - putting friends and family at risk for me - and yet again they'll be problems brought on, created by the decisions made today.

On the news today, a big deal was made of an audio tape, supposedly by Osama bin Laden, warning about more terrorist attacks.

I don't advocate ignoring the message entirely (ignoring threats was a problem in the cause of the September 11th attack), but right off the bat I had this thought: why would a terrorist give a warning to prevent their attack, as opposed to taking credit after the fact? Warning before possibly gives their attack a high chance of failure.

I suspect this message was more a case of bin Laden scum supporters trying to spread more fear.

All week I've heard nothing from Bubba Bush than a continued plan to attack Iraq.

On CNN today a Republican representative just babbled on about how his party excelled at warfare. To me, that's not something to be proud of.

For the second month in a row, the Blog Meetup in Montreal was cancelled due to a lack of confirmations. I was only one of two who confirmed.

Mind you, one of the hosts for the event says he's in Moncton, New Brunswick. I suspect with such a distance he won't be there, ever.

The West Side is a weekly free newspaper delivered in my building. Although by title you'd think it only covered the West end of Montreal, and for the most part it does (West Island, Montreal West, etc.). However, it also deals with the downtown core.

I picked it up this week because the feature article dealt with my favorite jazz restaurant-bar in the city, Upstairs - which is a basement place. Makes the name catchier, eh?

Anyway, the article is about a logbook the owner started there a few years ago for staff and customers alike. Jazz and Blogging... a combination that'll prove very popular with me. [smile]

I haven't done this in awhile: the Friday Five:

1. What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why?

I've always been a bookworm, so English was my favorite class overall. Once I was in Secondary 5 (Grade 11 for my US readers), I got hooked on Computer Science.

2. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?

I mention my favorite teacher on my personal site: Hope Hoey. She was my teacher in grades 3 and 5. She encouraged me to work with my imagination, and to develop the intellect they found then.

3. What is your favorite memory of school?

That would have to be the opening night of my grad year musical One Born Every Minute. I played one of the male leads. I still have it on videotape... I have to get it digitized very soon. The tape has withstood 17+ years, but I don't want to continue to tempt fate.

4. What was your favorite recess game?

I wasn't much into activity, so I can't say I had one.

5. What did you hate most about school?

Kids can be cruel, and the ones I grew up with were no exception. Racial slurs, pennies thown at me, and worms (because they creeped me out). Hard to narrow it down to one.

A day later, and I just created an online tile at The Yahoo Online Memorial Quilt.

You can too. If you do, you can link it to mine. I'm a85bebb47e.

I've tried to avoid facing this all day, but that's like ignoring the proverbial elephant in the corner...

Today is September 11th. The first anniversary of the horrific events orchestrated by evil men in the Middle East.

I, like most, saw it live on TV when it happened. I'll never forget. Nobody ever will.

OK, this may seem a bit sad to some... but I do anything I can to bring more visitors to this 'blog. I know: I'm such a geek. :) :

This is my new blogchalk:
Canada, Quebec, Montreal, NDG, English, French, Jeff, Male, 31-35, jazz, science fiction. :)

This coming Monday, my parents will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. I've been there for 35 of those years.

Wow.

I watched two parts of the Third Watch season opener on A&E tonight. The opener was set just before the September 11th tragedy and in the aftermath.

I couldn't watch the third part, because I was already an emotional wreck.

The first anniversary this year will be brutal.

I've now gotten Pedigreed... now I can find out what blogs are inspired by this one:

I'm putting this here rather than in the site template; I don't want to make the site design even busier.

CNN.com - Skakel gets 20 years to life for Moxley killing - August 29, 2002

I think this will be the first Kennedy relative to go to prison...

Well, I'm guessing that the folks who run Blogger are at Gnomedex, as I've not yet had an answer on this problem: while this blog looks fine on Internet Explorer, it's messed up on the different flavors of Gecko browsers. Each post gets progressively smaller in font size, until it's practically dots by the end of the page,

I've looked at the source code, and can't figure out why this happens.

If you have an idea how I can fix this, drop me a line at croft[at]bigfoot[dot]com. I'd say to post a comment, but the comment server is down at the moment.

Charles Bronson is the latest star announced as having Alzheimer's disease. He's 80 years old.

Bronson is famous for the Death Wish movie series, and helped contribute to Sergio Leone's Spaghetti western films years ago.

I'm grateful to AOL. Why? Because they provided me with two new drink coasters...

Oh, I know it's part of their non-stop campaign for new users, when they send out their CDs in the mailbox... but I never plan to join them - and since they switched to CDs from diskettes (which I could reformat and reuse), coasters seem the only thing these discs are useful for.

Further stuff on Elvis: I saw a show on Bravo tonight, speaking with friends and former lovers about the King.

First off, Colonel Tom Parker was a cold-hearted bastard. When told of Elvis' death, he said something to the effect of "Nothing has changed. I'll still get my 50 percent.". Nice to know Elvis was managed by such an insensitive turd.

Secondly, his life was really screwed up from the sound of it. Yes, he was a great entertainer, a singer whose music will live on for a long time. Outside of performing though, he was really, really messed up.

This isn't jazz-related, but it does tie in with a musically significant icon:

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.

True, so many impersonators have made him the butt of jokes. True, he's on far too many paintings on velvet, and here in Montreal I've seen way too many pictures of him...

One fact is still true: when he debuted to the public for the very first time, he revolutionized the landscape of popular music. No rock star ever had the impact he's had. The Beatles are a very close second - but if you ask someone to come up with a rock star off the top of their heads, 9 out of 10 times Elvis will be the first name that comes to mind.

Man... I'm currently staying in my air-conditioned bedroom. The heat is unbearable right now!

There's an old joke about Canada: when it's mentioned, people almost automatically ask, "Don't you have to wear your winter coat all the time?"

Well, this summer we've seen record-breaking heat of over 30 degrees Celsius (that's over 90 Fahrenheit). Today's high was 35 degrees, and with the humidity felt more like 42 - which would be around 108 Fahrenheit.

Winter my asp.

I mentioned my re-attempt to enjoy a Diana Kraal CD here awhile ago... thinking of it reminds me how much I wish Holly Cole was releasing a new album soon.

Between me and my friend Pat, we have pretty much everything that she ever released on CD or (*gasp!* low tech here) cassette tape.

I think it's safe to say we're fans. :)

This seems to be the week for sad celebrity news... first Josh Ryan Evans (the supposed youngest trial lawyer on Ally McBeal and the silly character Timmy on the sillier Passions) died at the way too young age of 20... now Charlton Heston announced that he has a neurological condition similar to Alzheimer's Disease.

I don't like the beliefs he's often preached... I'm very strongly against the NRA - but I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

No "Friday Five" answers from me today... the questions all center around a car. I don't drive - don't even have a license - so what answers I could give for that set would be pretty dull.

I was struck this morning by a fact: I think I've absorbed some tendencies of seniors in this seniors residence by osmosis.

Regardless of the time I go to bed, I've been awake for 7-ish in the morning most days since I've moved here. I'm a guy who rarely got out of bed for years before 9-something in the morning, usually even later. This with my radio alarm starting at 8:30 AM!

I'm getting geared up to look for a pod.

I just finished customizing my new blog location at Fateback. The webrings are likely broken, but most of them are offline for the moment anyways. When they send me the standard note of broken link, I'll fix them again.

You'll see a preview here of how this blog will look once I move it. I was intending to do it this evening, but the file paths on Fateback are a bit complex, and I need to figure them out first. So for now, the front page is how I plan to make things look.

I'll be moving this blog soon... I took poster Danielle's suggestion and set-up an account on Fateback.

As I said before, I've been happy at Angelfire. This has been my server for about a year since Freeservers started charging for FTP use (thus making the 'free' in their name a lie). I just feel the need to go to a popup-free site, and I can't really afford a domain and hosting right now.

I'm using this as reason to redesign this site again. I'm hoping I'll be satisfied with the results.

This week's questions interested me. From Friday Five:

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from?
   The short answer is: I'm multi-generation Canadian.
   The long answer: Eastern Europe. Poland, Russia and Romania. Ironically, folks always think my origins are Mediterranean.


2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit?
   Definitely Romania. Possibly Russia too. I'd just like to see the border area where my grandparents came from, Bysarabia.


3. Which would you least like to visit? Why?
   Paradoxically, the answer would be Russia as well. Mainly because of the religious persecution and the pogroms.


4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage?
   Not really, because I don't really know much about the cultures.


5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)?
   My grandparents on both sides. My dad's parents came from the Russian and Polish areas, my mom's parents from Romania.

25 %

My weblog owns 25 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

I'm not as obssessed with blogging as I thought. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

I'm getting restless about this Webhost again... maybe it's due to all the blog designs that I've been seeing through NextBlog lately, maybe I'm just hankering for a new design...

Angelfire has been a solid host - the popup banner is a bit annoying obviously - but maybe I should move to Blogspot? Or, maybe I should just redesign my template top to bottom... reader opinions?

Life During Wartime

Nothing like a good bit of political thrashing to interest the soul.

I updated my Spinner radio program today to version 4.0. Since I'm still on dial-up internet, it isn't advantageous to stay connected all the time... but the sound quality was still good, with no buffering slow downs.

I started on the All Jazz channel. I tried one or two others briefly, but came back to the jazz quickly. :=]

The download URL is here.

I just updated the template file for this blog again. That's the second or third time today.

I just wanted to say something as well. I can't stand a blog with tons of cosmetic changes during a day but no additions of real content.

Following a link from another blog to Colorgenics.com, I took a test to determine my personality color.

As Blue, I'm one of the more creative and sensitive people, but also one who's faced a lot of adversity and am leery of more.

This test amazingly reflected me to a 'T'.

Save Internet Radio! -- Encourage the U.S. Copyright Office to reject the CARP recommendations.

Considering that I often listen to internet jazz stations (when I have access to a high speed connection), it's a given that I'd highlight this.

"If his presence does nothing for you, you're not human!"

That statement of sheer ignorance I just heard on the news uttered about the Pope's visit to Toronto.

Funny... I'm Jewish, so that doesn't make me human? As a person with MS, one who may be helped by embrotic stem cell research - a line of research this Pope has condemed - I'm not human?

Moron.

This is the last weekend of this year's Just for Laughs festival.

I'll miss it all - again - but at least there'll be a larger chance that I can make the next Blog Meetup. Maybe the street won't be blocked off this time!

Well, the first Blog Meetup has come and gone. I tried to attend, but the choice of venue made it impossible.

I'm guessing that a majority of people chose a downtown Second Cup location because it was in the middle of the street festival for Montreal's summer Just for Laughs.

Problem is, that means the street access was blocked. As a person with a physical disability, I took Adapted Transport, and they couldn't get through. They could leave me outside the blocked off area, but a) I'd be tired out just footing it to the place and b)I'd have needed to leave early just to maybe be at the right place to get picked up for home.

Result: I went there only to have to come straight home. Bah.

I own one Diana Krall CD, Love Scenes. I tried to listen to it again yesterday; I wasn't terribly impressed with this performance many years ago. Frankly, it still doesn't grab me.

Tomorrow evening is the first ever , and it's raining heavy.

I hope it isn't raining like this tomorrow! Unless my Transport cab is close to the door, I'll have trouble getting there.

Blogathon 2002 is coming soon. There's really no point in my taking part though... not having an always on connection, I can't leave my net feed on for 24 hours straight; that would tie up my phone line.

At least I'm taking part in the Blog Meetups, so I'll be getting to socialize a bit more.

Enetation is down again, so my comment system is offline. Not that anyone has used it yet... still, this is the drawback of free services I guess.

I just made a few more modifications to this blog, including adding code for my affiliation to Ebay.ca.

It won't cost you anything to become a member there, but they'll pay me a small amount for anyone who joins from here.

It's no secret that I intend to go to Worldcon 2003. I'm saving up for it, but the World Science Fiction convention will cost a lot for me. Every person who signs up to Ebay through me will help me to afford this event.

I already have an account myself. As soon as I can get my scanner installed again here, I have a box of Dragon magazines to sell through there.

Another Hollywood legend has died: Rod Steiger.

He won an Academy Award for his role as a bigotted sherrif in the film In the Heat of the Night. He also acted in over 80 films total.

He was 77 years old.

I haven't spoken about the music industry and MP3s lately, but this latest bit of news shows the industry's blindness showing yet again:

The industry has again had a record loss in sales. The reason bigwigs give for it: song piracy online.

Uhm... morons? The record sales year you had in 2000? That was before you attacked Napster and MP3s!

David Bowie in interview has spoken in a more intelligent form: he said essentially that in 10 years, copyright for music will be obsolete. The music industry has to accept that and find a new way to do things, or it'll be extinct too.

Rosemary Clooney a classic singer dating back to the Swing era, one of the last surviving stars of the movie White Christmas, has died. The announcement was made on the air tonight.

She will be greatly missed. By me as well.

Unfortunately, because of the weather, I may again miss the Montreal Jazz Fest.

As I mentioned in my last post, high heat makes me feel sluggish... and that's the case right now. I can't stay awake more than an hour at a clip.

This really stinks.

It's now officially summer. Hip-hip... bleh.

Like many MS'ers, heat makes me sluggish - actually, it makes me need to go back to sleep multiple times per day. That's throwing my writing off-kilter too.

My folks bought me an air conditioner. I'll hopefully have it soon.

I've added another comment system to this blog. What I like about the LiveJournal concept is the ability to grow communities via commentary. The last comment system I tried went out of business (rather, they became a pay system) so I guess this is take two. :)

I'll be tweaking the color and design settings over time, and publishing it to the whole site.

I finally got to reading about the line-up at this year's Montreal Jazz Fest. About time, since the newspaper was dated May 8th!

The concerts listed were the pay ones, and the shows are probably sold out by now (the festival starts on the 27th) but they make for an interesting view of where the organizers are going:

They open with Herbie Hancock and a tribute to John Coltrane and Miles Davis, two jazz legends in their own right. Jack DeJohnette (his son was a member of the band Me, Mom and Morgantaler) also has a show, and there'll be a celebration of Dave Brubeck's 80th birthday too.

Then we get the "Huh?" stuff: a show with Grammy Hip Hop winner Lauren Hill, and another show with Peter Gabriel - artists with nothing whatsoever to do with the jazz field.

In other words, the line-up is par for the course.

Site Officiel - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.- Official Site

The festival starts earlier this year... and it's the 25th anniversary too.

I don't know if I'll get to take advantage of it - even if I'll be able to attend this year! - but I'll definitely buy my "Friend of the Festival" card/CD. I missed it entirely last year; don't want that to happen 2 years in a row.

Blog by Night

I linked to the old version of this site, before it got its own domain.

The language can be harsh, but this is from a fellow Canadian, and a fellow former Atari computer user. Those two facts make it link-worthy.

Bob Hope's 99th birthday was this week. Wow.

When I think of how his contemporaries in the comedy field are no more, it makes the fact that he's still with us all the more precious.