timothy c goodwin.nyc-based actor, photographer, writer, and cohost of The Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
post 213. barprov debuts.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
post 208. victory over horseshit.
post 207. the apothecary @ daily perks.
post 206. impatience is making me wait.
post 205. late again.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
post 204. a visit from becky.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
post 203. listening to lots of johnny cash.
i woke up this morning
there were three things missin’
you
my dog
and my beer
so i got my gun and my pickup truck
hopin’ i’d have some luck
lookin’ for you
my dog
and my beer
drove in to town and i looked around
heard from a bar a familiar sound
it was you
my dog
and my beer
you brought up all those dark things of old
so i shot you
and went looking for my dog and my beer
ol' gromit was sittin in an alleyway
he barked a question in a slurry way
you shot your wife
i said, listen here dog
where’s my beer?
but i was standing there, real happy and glad
‘cause i didn’t never done did like that dog no how
like that no-good maybelle i did shoot my dog
didn’t feel it was no wrong
'cause no woman
and no dog
can take my beer
but there were some men who didn’t think the same
while looking for my beer they called my name
the sheriff
the judge
and the warden
so let it be known that you should think
the next time you want to have a drink
that your wife
and your dog
ain’t more important than your beer.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
post 202. django.
Django Reinhardt was the first hugely influential jazz figure to emerge from Europe -- and he remains the most influential European to this day, with possible competition from Joe Zawinul, George Shearing, John McLaughlin, his old cohort Stephane Grappelli and a bare handful of others. A free-spirited gypsy, Reinhardt wasn't the most reliable person in the world, frequently wandering off into the countryside on a whim. Yet Reinhardt came up with a unique way of propelling the humble acoustic guitar into the front line of a jazz combo in the days before amplification became widespread. He would spin joyous, arcing, marvelously inflected solos above the thrumming base of two rhythm guitars and a bass, with Grappelli's elegantly gliding violin serving as the perfect foil. His harmonic concepts were startling for their time -- making a direct impression upon Charlie Christian and Les Paul, among others -- and he was an energizing rhythm guitarist behind Grappelli, pushing their groups into a higher gear. Not only did Reinhardt put his stamp upon jazz, his string band music also had an impact upon the parallel development of Western swing, which eventually fed into the wellspring of what is now called country music. Although he could not read music, with Grappelli and on his own, Reinhardt composed several winsome, highly original tunes like "Daphne," "Nuages" and "Manoir de Mes Reves," as well as mad swingers like "Minor Swing" and the ode to his record label of the '30s, "Stomping at Decca." As the late Ralph Gleason said about Django's recordings, "They were European and they were French and they were still jazz."
A violinist first and a guitarist later, Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that probably accounts for some of the originality of his style. According to one story, during his recovery period, Reinhardt was introduced to American jazz when he found a 78 RPM disc of Louis Armstrong's "Dallas Blues" at an Orleans flea market. He then resumed his career playing in Parisian cafes until one day in 1934 when Hot Club chief Pierre Nourry proposed the idea of an all-string band to Reinhardt and Grappelli. Thus was born the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, which quickly became an international draw thanks to a long, splendid series of Ultraphone, Decca and HMV recordings.
The outbreak of war in 1939 broke up the Quintette, with Grappelli remaining in London where the group was playing and Reinhardt returning to France. During the war years, he led a big band, another quintet with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing in place of Grappelli, and after the liberation of Paris, recorded with such visiting American jazzmen as Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko and Ray McKinley. In 1946, Reinhardt took up the electric guitar and toured America as a soloist with the Duke Ellington band but his appearances were poorly received. Some of his recordings on electric guitar late in his life are bop escapades where his playing sounds frantic and jagged, a world apart from the jubilant swing of old. However, starting in Jan. 1946, Reinhardt and Grappelli held several sporadic reunions where the bop influences are more subtly integrated into the old, still-fizzing swing format. In the 1950s, Reinhardt became more reclusive, remaining in Europe, playing and recording now and then until his death from a stroke in 1953. His Hot Club recordings from the `30s are his most irresistible legacy; their spirit and sound can be felt in current groups like Holland's Rosenberg Trio.
post 200. sometimes, i just wish i was smarter.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
post 199. aeon flux.
anyway, i'm a big fan of the animated shorts ("tide" makes me giddy) and the "third" season -- the first of the half-hour episodes -- but i find the shoddy, seemingly lazy animation of the final season a distraction that takes away from the stories.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
post 196. wallace and gromit: curse of the were-rabbit.
...wensleydale?
Friday, February 10, 2006
post 195. barrel of monkeys.
the class watches in early-morning amazement.
Monday, February 06, 2006
post 194. his excellency.
post 193. because it's so ludicrously over-the-top. and it has babes. that's why.
benny benassi's satisfaction.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
post 192. the matador.
post 191. unfiltered writing; feeling the desperate need for typing lessons.
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