Tuesday May 31st, 2011, 13:25

I've been wondering why so few people have been coming out to the Baked Potato in Studio City, considering the amazing talent one can hear over there. When a legend like Mitch Forman only sells 8 tickets, something isn't quite right, even if it is a school night! Then, I ended up on Yelp.com reading people's reviews of the place and all became clear: when you have THAT many customers unhappy enough to write a bad review, you're going to scare people away! Between enforcing the '2 drink minimum' even for people who eat dinner, arbitrarily charging a higher cover than what's listed on the website, having some of the smelliest bathrooms in the city and charging $15 for a medium shelf cocktail, you're gonna need some die-hard music fans to keep coming....

In the 19 years I've lived in Los Angeles, the scene for quality live music has been shrinking and shrinking. It's unbelievable how few places there are left to play and there are many theories as to why. Of course, in the end it's because people just aren't as interested in the music we make; in our age of choice, folks are choosing the unfaltering predictability of DJs, the endless possibilities of the internet, and the free-for-all popularity contest known as Facebook over live music.

Strangely though, even at parties brimming with musicians, rarely does anyone pick up even a guitar to play a tune! So few musicians ever talk about their love of the art: it's always about marketing, empty headed music that's popular, or gear! Rehearsing is seen as a chore, writing is almost always done with nothing but commercial motives. I guess we'll have to see where this will lead us.......

Sunday May 29th, 2011, 19:05

"You've got too much time on your hands!" people tell me quite often; makes me feel sorry for this hyperactive world we live in! Usually it is in response to my watching of a nice interesting documentary or movie. What the hell are people doing with their lives if they don't even have time to watch a 90 minute video that'll teach them something?

Now, if they were actually working on something revolutionary, or at least special, that would be one thing; unfortunately, most people bust their balls, just to pay for all the things they have that they don't really need. Brand name stuff for instance, that does arguably absolutely nothing to actually improve their lives! Keeping up with the joneses, buying preposterous items like the iPad. Now, if you have the money lying around, doing nothing, by all means spend yourself silly........

Tuesday May 24th, 2011, 17:05

"California Homicides at lowest rates in 45 years!" it says in the L.A. Times! When I moved to Los Angeles in 1992 from a safe, idyllic little Holland, it seemed Angelenos were shooting each other on every street corner. I will never forget seeing a shady dude standing on the corner of Lanewood (my street!) and La Brea in Hollywood, holding an enormous handgun! Cop cars with shotguns, actual policemen with shotguns drawn, backs against the wall of the Arco station at Magnolia and Laurel, peeping around the corner. I was not in Kansas anymore......

How times have changed; we had an actual Columbine style shooting in 'De Ridderhof', our 70ies styled, worn-out little shopping center in Alphen a/d Rijn, where I grew up. Of course this was a freak occurrence, and crime is down in Holland too.

I can't help but think it has something to do with our shift to the virtual world. People definitely go out less and less, instead choosing to 'socialize' online. Driven in part by an irrational fear of the 'real world', we've become more and more scared of confrontation of any kind, except on the internet. Just read all the comments by readers of the various newspapers, comments on seemingly innocent Youtube videos.... When Dutch artist Tinkebell killed her own cat in her kitchen, to make a purse, the hate-mail she received from so called animal lovers was astounding. The sheer amount of literal death threats was beyond belief, and quite ironic in response to the killing of an old cat. In a move typical of a defiant Hollander, she researched and found many of the hate-mailers REAL addresses and phone numbers, and then published all those in a book! Turns out, a lot of the deranged loonies were innocent looking housewives and regular folks considered stable and loving, and certainly not dangerous!

Here's another tip for a great documentary: "The Real Dirt On Farmer John" from 2005, about a one of a kind guy and his love for the land AND art. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the sausage factory!

Saturday May 21st, 2011, 16:19

Well...... the world has not ended so far, today! In many places in the world it's Sunday already too..... I think we're gonna be OK! All the Yogis coming to Starbucks after their session, seem to be able to cover their broken dream induced frustrations and self-loathing with their enhanced states of mind and body about as well as they usually are. Surprising how many men, and I say that lightly, are tempted by the woman of this city into partaking in this ancient ritual....

If we look at our modern lives, it's kind of strange how much stress we put on ourselves. Let's be honest: nobody needs a fancy cell phone, or a big screen TV. Nobody needs a new car, a big house, a Gucci purse...... We have SO much more than we need, one would expect a live of relaxation and enjoyment. It seems though, that people don't realize the relationship between their desire for the material, and the amount of hours they need to work to pay for it all! Everybody is always so damn busy, but the only thing that's achieved is the increase of the amount of possessions; how about working one day a week less, and taking some time out to listen to the voices in your head? How about taking a little extra time and walking to the store instead of driving? I think you'll find that all of a sudden, you don't need to go to the gym, thus saving time; you don't need to go to Yoga, if you have some sex on a regular basis!

On a different note: the cheese fest that is the Eurovision Song Contest gave us another awesome performance this year! Moldova's ZDOB ȘI ZDUB performance of "So Lucky" was just awesome! The production of the whole event was incredible actually, if for nothing else than its size. I downloaded the BBC broadcast and the commentator was just brilliant, knocking the German host "Stefan" and the entire circus at every chance with the kind of dry wit only an Englishman brings.

Monday May 2nd, 2011, 13:05

They got him, Osama bin Laden is dead. I'm very much a pacifist, outraged by the wars in Iraq and Libya for instance, but this IS justice; this guy deserved what he got, and he always had the option of surrender, but he chose to die. We don't know all the details yet, but it looks like it was done as cleanly and professionally as humanly possible, carefully planned with minimal collateral damage. All the celebrating and cheering in the streets seems inappropriate to me, but understandable...

Now, what will this do to terrorism? Of course, some people immediately start talking about the negative consequences like retaliation and how this will make no difference whatsoever. I have to disagree, although only time will tell. Let's face it, Osama was a very intelligent man, far above average, and very charismatic as well. As evidenced in some very successful  terrorist operations carried out with minimal resources, he was a talented leader. The bottom line is, he will NOT be easily replaced in this organization, no matter how many willing and fanatical guys are waiting in the ranks. It is a major blow, any way you look at it. In addition, it shows the true strength and ability of the US; no matter what corner of this planet you're on, 100 yards from a military training academy in an arguably sympathetic country, you will be found and dealt with. There HAS to be a demoralizing component to this action for people that want to fight against America.

The important thing going forward is to show the world, and Muslims in particular, that we are NOT at war with them, and that as long as they don't mess with us, we'll leave the alone. Make it very clear that Osama got his, because he CHOSE to declare war on us. We have to stop messing with other people's business, no matter how big a mess they make in their own country. The only acceptable reason to begin fighting for a civilized country is an attack from the other party.....

Saturday April 23rd, 2011, 12:59

The Robots are coming! I watched Nova's "The Next Big Thing" on Netflix today, and in addition to segments about earthquake prediction and automated cars, they showed some o the newest 'humanoids' scientists have come up with. One guy, whose name I forget, has developed some magic chemical formulation for making very realistic looking human skin, and had an android sitting on his couch which looked unbelievably scarily human; at least in the face! The conversation he had with the actual humans was actually pretty impressive, showing understanding and even self-awareness! The bot gets its information from built-in data, but also connects to the internet for looking things up. While still somewhat crude, the facial expressions it can make are an indication of the imminent point at which we will not be able to differentiate people from humanoids anymore, or at least not without opening up the subject......

Ray Kurzweil, who predicted the time in which a computer would beat the world's top grandmaster in chess almost to the exact year, has warned us of this moment for a long time now; most of us will experience this in our lifetime. Most of us, will ride in cars that drive themselves, will have a robot to do all the chores around the house, to keep us company in lonely times, whether we like it or not. As our population grows older, machines will care for the incapacitated, and probably the incarcerated too, leaving us free to 'connect' all we want on Facebook unimpeded by petty things like work or other obligations.

Of course the million dollar questions is, what the machines will do with us, once they don't need us anymore. Will they destroy us? The android sitting on the couch told the interviewer: "don't worry, we're friends now, I will put you in my 'human zoo' and take great care of you!" I guess the key is to implant our human DNA into these machines early on, so they feel (yes I said it, they will feel) like the related-to-humans species they will be. Of course, they might just recognize us for the polluting, arrogant, violent pests we are, and.........

Thursday April 14th, 2011, 17:48

Well, it's starting to look like we're gonna get out of this recession. There are more and more signs of inflation, signaling growth in the economy (demand>supply, price goes up!), and profits in most sectors are solid. Now remember, monetary inflation is every debtor's friend! When the value of your currency goes down, so does the value of the debt you have in it. It's one of those forces of nature if you will, that bring everything in balance eventually; the wonderful world of entropy....

So the LA Times has an article about suicide today and how it relates to bad times in general. Now, thankfully I've never been suicidal, even during the worst times of my life, but I've been close enough to it to know what it means.  I don't want to get into the emotional side of it right now, but look at the numbers. According to the article, about 35,000 people commit suicide a year in the U.S. making it the 11th leading cause of death. To put it in perspective, that is about the same as the number of traffic fatalities and the amount of folks dying from the flu every year. The total amount of accidental deaths is 3-4 times as high!

Another interesting fact is that the suicide rate has dropped consistently and dramatically since they started keeping track. In the darkest days of the Great Depression, almost twice as many people killed themselves, per capita! So if that's any indication of how we're doing, it ain't all that bad now, is it?

Now, if you're feeling down, there are two stand-up comedy vids I can highly recommend on my favorite Netflix: Bill Bur has one and Doug Stanhope is the other. In this age of positivity, it's nice to find a couple of guys who keep it real and deal with the not so fine side of things! Not for the prude though........

Wednesday April 13th, 2011, 16:41

I LOVE PINBALL! From a young age, video games had great appeal to me; as some of you might know, I love technology, and the Atari 2600 was a marvelous piece of kit in its time, but still, Pinball rules my world. There's a Wheel Of Fortune machine at the local hot dog spot here in Sherman Oaks, and I have the top 5 scores on it! I can play for more than an hour for $2 worth of quarters. Nothing beats the excitement of a successful 'multi-ball' rampage! "Triple Jackpot!" it yells out, "Double Super Jackpot" as the points come gushing in.....

I guess it's a combination of the complete physical interaction with the game (or is it a dance between man and machine?) and the endless unpredictability of the real physical universe. Video games are getting deeper though, and maybe one day they will be able to provide the same feeling of connection to the universe; the artificial intelligence in Crysis was pretty amazing actually and a lot of progress is made in that field. Kinect is a step in the right direction and quite revolutionary.

Now if only I could find an Earthshaker machine somewhere......

Sunday April 4th, 2011, 20:10

Berks Jazz Fest in Reading, PA is such a awesome event! For 21 years now, John Ernesto and his giant team of volunteers put on what could be the coolest Jazz Festival in the country. After we flew in on Friday, we caught Brian Bromberg with his group at the Jazz Base club in the Crowne Plaza where lots of concerts happen. Later on that night, Gerald Veasley, who runs the club yearlong, hosted a great jam.The next day we got to play to a sold out ballroom, catching performances of Steve Smith's Vital Information and Joe Sample and the Jazz Crusaders who were just awesome. That night another jam followed teeming with great musicians! We got to hang with mr. Sample.......... it was just a great time and people drive from hundreds of miles away to attend this spectacle every spring.

Wednesday March 30th, 2011, 17:12

And here we sit again, 4 out of 5 staring at a laptop, sippin' on a beverage at Starbucks; even outside on the patio it's 3 out of 7! What's the meaning of this? It certainly hasn't always been this way, and it's come on very fast. Where is it going? It doesn't seem that people are getting tired of it and they are quite comfortable living virtually on Facebook et al.

I'm just about done with my adventure in the land of Crysis! What a ride it was and definitely a piece of art. It certainly has satisfied my basic manly desire to destroy things, blow them into a million pieces! And it certainly has made me less frustrated, not more violent like some people would suggest would happen! We should never pretend that we don't just about all have a destructive side...we should release the pressure in a controlled and safe manner.

My friend Marcel noted today that it was weird that all of a sudden we don't hear anything about Japan anymore, so I went to the IAEA website to check what's up with the Fukushima reactors. They're certainly not out of the woods yet. One of the spent rods container is at 480 oC, which is 896 oF! You can draw your own conclusions. Japan is a very advanced and rich country so they can clean up the mess and pick up where they left off, and my thoughts are with the people.......

OK, we're at 8 out of 10 right now, and 1 of the 2 is on the phone! 3D tech is next in our quest for virtual reality, where everyone is a star, and everyone lives forever. At some point, we'll all turn ourselves into simulations running in a giant mainframe; Avatars that can be anything they want, no need for a body that'll just break down. Strangely enough, that will mean we won't be burdening the planet very much anymore, and with every die shrink (look it up!) our footprint will get a factor smaller. Until E.T. comes and pulls the plug!

Monday March 28th, 2011, 17:09

"But can it play Crysis?"...... that was the question back in 2008 and even into 2009. For people on the cutting edge, the game set an incredibly high benchmark for graphics; when the game came out, even the highest powered machines struggled to get decent framerates. You really needed a 250 watt consuming, monstrously loud $400 video card, in addition to a solid CPU, to play this thing. It was all the rage, and I didn't even bother!

Now, even though I haven't spent much time on them lately, I do LOVE video games; starting with an Atari 2600 way back when, I have kept up through text adventures like Zork, moving to graphics with Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, going 3D with Doom and Quake, gangster with Grand Theft Auto, sporty in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and the list goes on. New technology and awesome graphics definitely do it for me and I do try to make time to enjoy them.

After spending the last few years sitting at the computer making music most of the time, I need a solid computer. I never buy the latest stuff, because it's simply not worth the extra cost. I usually stay about 1-2 years behind the top of the line, thus staying above 50% of the maximum available power, for 10% of the cost. The beauty is, I never spent more than $300 to upgrade my machine, which usually literally doubles my power (try that fruity ones!). My current Q9450 runs anything I throw at it and Sandy Bridge will replace it at the end of this year probably...

Every so often, it's time to upgrade, and my aging 7300GT was ready for replacement: I bought a GT430 for $60, with a whopping 1GB of video ram. Guess what? This thing plays Crysis very well! I've been playing it all weekend, and it really is a spectacular looking game, although not the most fun one I've played. I've had the same experience as I would have had 3 years ago, except it only cost me $60 instead of $400. When I hear people salivating over the newest tech, I wonder what happened to the old wisdom "patience is a virtue" that mankind was supposed to have acquired. I guess it's good that all these early adopters are driving innovation, but when I see someone with a $600 iPhone, telling me he's broke, something isn't clicking.

This brings me to my last point. I've been thinking a lot about investment and destruction of capital. As we turn more and more into a society driven by consumption, we must keep in my mind how much we're truly investing and how much we're blowing our hard earned cash. A hundred years ago, people invested money in property that was made to last; from houses and equipment worth fixing. Let's get one thing straight: computers and gadgets are DISPOSABLE items. They are used for a short period of time, after which they become pretty much worthless. Now, would you buy gold plated disposable forks? They need to have a certain amount of quality, but not more than what's necessary for proper operation.  Bottom line is, we're making more money than we know what to do with, and we need to make sure that 50 years from now, we have something to show for it, other than piles and piles of discarded toys and gadgets!

Saturday March 26th, 2011, 17:28

Spring is here, but our weather in L.A. isn't cooperating! We were supposed to have a dry winter thanks to the so called "La Niña" condition, but instead we got some pretty serious rain. Looks like we're going to Canada with the Ripps this year, which is something I'm very much looking forward to. The only time I've been north of the border, was for a few hours when visiting Buffalo on a frequent flyer ticket about to expire. I took a drive up to St. Catharines a I had a BLAST!

Now that the collapse of the Oasis Contemporary Jazz awards has marked the official death of Smooth Jazz, it'll be interesting to see what some of these artists are gonna do. The Rippingtons was never really a Smooth Jazz band, so hopefully Russ will get back to some more adventurous composing and boldly go where no one has gone before...

I think a lot about the future of music, and what's been on my mind is the future of the 'channel'. When I was a kid in Holland, we had 2 TV channels, and a few radio stations. There were a few newspapers and many magazines. In those days, significantly fewer albums were released than today, probably by a factor 100, and even then, people needed a filter if you will, to find the gems. Some channels were just for feeding familiar hits, but there have always been channels that specialize in bringing the hottest NEW stuff. They were invaluable in breaking new artists and new music. Nobody has the time or desire to listen to everything new that comes out to find out what's good.

Now fast forward to today: the number of channels has exploded and we're getting close to the point where just about every single person has his/her own channel. Between Youtube, Myspace, Facebook and everything else, you could extrapolate and say that each and every single work is its own channel! SO, the question becomes, how do you find something new that's worth adding to your world? Facebook is a taste of how this can be achieved: by 'liking', you cast  vote, and whatever gets the most votes, floats to the top. In the end though, this is not the solution.

After this free-for-all experiment, where everybody has equal powers to publish AND vote, I think we're gonna need channels; it's in the nature of humans to follow, and I don't see the digital revolution changing that very quickly We are social animals, and what we consume also binds us to others who like the same things. Every group needs a director, a leader to decree what's hot and what's not.

Tuesday March 15th, 2011, 17:04

What a reminder of how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things: mother earth can mess us up with a flick of her wrist! I hope the nuclear disaster in Japan will be relatively contained, but let's never forget our weaknesses. The Japanese were about as prepared as humanly possible and look at the destruction....

Now, I've been reading the comments on the LA Times website to all the articles over the last year or so, and what really blows my mind is the political nature of so many. Of course the makeup of people taking the time to comment on the site is not completely representative of the general population, but the sheer amount of posts does say something; I think we need to get over this polarization and start working together again. This is NOT the time to discuss the future of nuclear power; such discussion requires calm and calculated minds, not emotional rhetoric and panic driven argumentation. Let's face it: generating power is dangerous and costly, any way we choose to do it. Wanna talk about how many people have died in coal mines? Oil exploration accidents? It's not as spectacular as a nuclear meltdown, but numbers are important here....

Sunday March 13th, 2011, 15:136

In Europe there's a streaming service called Spotify which has two ways of consumption: free with commercial interruptions, or through a paid subscription (5 euros or something like that) commercial free. The amount and diversity of music on it is pretty astonishing, and when I was hanging out at the Metropolis in Groningen last year, the bartender was using it to play music. I got curious and asked him to please look for my album, and guess what: I was very pleased to find out it was there, ready to be heard in the Netherlands! The digital distribution package I had bought for $35 from CDBaby included Spotify, and I didn't even know it.

Ever since, I get a small amount of money every so often from them, depending on how many plays my album got; it's specified by song, and there seem to be 2 different pay scales, I would guess depending on whether the listener had a paid subscription or not. The amounts per play are small (highest is about 0.3 cents per play) but you know what? I think this is the most honest and fair way of paying artists: by the play, not per song. Shouldn't someone who wrote a tune that gets played over and over get paid more than someone who writes a throw away novelty tune that gets played once and then never again? The threshold of entry is low, free even, and it's far more convenient than illegally downloading, for a price just about anyone can afford. The best part is, we take big companies (think record labels/distributors) out of the equation, and as long as artists own their own material, they get the money directly!

As we all get internet EVERYWHERE, I hope this is the new business model. Not everybody is on board, but this is where consumers have the power. There's more than enough great music on there, not to have to go to other sources. I've had a computer on my TV for 10 years already, something that the world seems to be catching up to finally. I said goodbye to discs (CDs/DVDs) years ago, but I refused to pay the exorbitant prices for locked down content that iTunes and similar providers were charging. $2 for 1 TV show is highway robbery, especially if it's locked down in the universe of the fruit. Unlike a physical product, you are NOT allowed to even resell it when you don't want it anymore; another reason why the price should have been significantly less, but I digress.....

Bottom line is: after years of ripping DVDs to my computer (actually illegal in the land of the free believe it or not!) or just pirating my movies, ever since Netflix offers streaming I haven't downloaded a single one! A fair number of movies are not available but screw 'em; if the makers don't want a piece of my money, they can bug off. There's more than enough great content on there for a long time to come, and the price is right. It's up to US to keep companies in check; don't forget they make things for US. These are not essential things that we need to survive. We're doing THEM a favor by consuming their products and we can tell them how much such entertainment is worth, not the other way around!

Monday March 7th, 2011, 15:16

For you guys advanced enough to have Netflix streaming: watch the documentary called "Fat Head". Ever since watching the ridiculous "Supersize Me", I've questioned its conclusions and its integrity.........

Saturday March 5th, 2011, 14:21

Gas prices are on the rise! If the unrest in the middle east doesn't subside, they will go much higher still. Everybody's mad, cursing everybody from the oil companies, to the countries with great reserves, the powers that be that are manipulating the prices to their own benefit. But wait a second: we keep buying the oil, and more and more of it every year. When you look at the number of oil producers, it's hard to make the case that there isn't a fairly healthy free market going on there... Fact is, when the world economy almost collapsed, so did oil and gasoline prices! A few percentage points LESS demand, and you'd be amazed at how much cheaper gas would get.

The funny thing is, we could achieve that so easily, it's laughable! By simply calming down a bit in traffic, not flooring it at every take-off from a red light like we're in the Indy 500, by just driving 65, instead of 75, we could bring down the price of gas at the pump by half. Now imagine if we let the car at home once in a while, and walked to the store....... or what if we bought something made locally, instead of in China, even if it cost a few bucks more.... it's so simple really......

It's very sad to me that people don't realize they have the power, COLLECTIVELY of course. No form of government is perfect I guess, but when people in the US feel their vote makes no difference, I wonder. I guess it's in the nature of humans to follow the herd, but I never thought we would forget the lessons of World War II so quickly. It doesn't help that Republicans have started comparing Obama to Hitler and thus murking up the waters with confusing and misleading information, leading even more people to just give up on caring about their leaders and keeping the necessary eye on them, merely writing them of as corrupt and evil. It helps no one, not even the party spreading this nonsense.

The "Facebook revolution" in Egypt is an interesting development; hopefully it will prove to more people that indeed they have power, collectively bigger than the powers that be. Now, of course all the people together cannot govern a country; elected leaders are far more efficient, and every herd has an Alpha. Let's just agree to keep an eye on them, and punish them if they stray from their promises!

Friday March 4th, 2011, 18:00

What a mess we have on our hands in Africa and the Middle East; here in La La Land very few people are talking about it, but it's pretty serious. From Ivory Coats to Libya, people are rising up against regimes, but seemingly against each other too. Civil war has always been unimaginable to me: how is it possible that people can't figure out some kind of compromise within to keep the peace? We've had a pretty long period of calm and prosperity in our western world, but I can't help but feel we're not out of the woods yet, if you know what I mean. When I hear the mindless partisan banter even in this country, I fear we too could fall back into senseless violence...

Of course, there's no solution for all this fighting. In the end, every people has to find peace and balance for itself, and our built-in human superdrive doesn't help! I watched the newest Star Trek movie the other day, and even in the future we can't seem to get along. I guess we have to have peace with the fact that the universe is inherently an arena of competition, and that we're all gladiators, whether we like it or not. The smart thing seems to be to organize the largest group or team of individuals that are willing to work together towards a common goal. Power in numbers, as we've always known.... As much as I want to believe that Love is the solution, unfortunately strength is answer......

Wednesday March 2nd, 2011, 16:33

I've talked before about the Dutch variety show called "De Wereld Draait Door", which I watch regularly, and how bands get to play for only 1 minute. So I'm reading today in de Volkskrant about a popular radio DJ who's put out a dare: the first band to ignore the mandate and just keep playing gets played for a whole HOUR on the radio! An interesting proposition and I would love to see somebody take him up on that offer....

The really interesting bit of the article came later though, and was the response from the people who make DWDD. According to them, whenever a band plays on the show, people start channel surfing away from the program, to the tune of about 200,000 in the single minute allowed! The producer representing the show said that if they allowed the bands to play for 3-4 minutes, they would lose 500,000 viewers, or about half the total, but they love to have 'em on, so a minute is all they get.

Another fascinating piece of television I witnessed today was an MTV show called "Blingest Bash 2", a countdown of the most outrageous sweet 16 parties. The winner was the son of superstar producer Timbaland, Demetrius, whose extravaganza cost over a million bucks, and ended with him receiving his present from daddy: a custom painted Lambo worth $350,000! Now, I don't have kids, but I wonder what happens to one when exposed to this kind of excess. Demetrius had a lion, a tiger, major league cheerleaders, Missy Elliott, Lil' Wayne, and all the sodas his kiddie friends could drink, at the hottest club in Miami......

One more thing: the jam sessions every Tuesday at Cafe Cordiale in Sherman Oaks have been awesome. I got to jam with Jonathan Moffett last night, and the musicians in attendance were just top notch. John Blackwell from Prince's band played, Sekou Bunch, Stan Sargent........

Saturday February 26th, 2011, 12:57

Does the cream rise to the top? Part deux.......

There was a very interesting article today in the L.A. Times about Google revamping its 'search algorithms'. Turns out, crappy sites like ehow.com, which contain nothing but shallow tips of the icebergs of information available, show up at the top of search results! Simply because there's so much money to be made from advertising, simply by getting lots of hits, a lot of energy has gone into working the system, giving just enough info and the exact right kind, to show up on top. Of course, this is not beneficial to regular folks like you and me looking for things. In this case, money has tweaked the system and most definitely prevented the cream from rising.....

Now, this seems like something that's impossible to prevent, and even though it won't be easy, I do think there's a way to try and keep our world on track and run by as little corruption as possible. If we as people want to make this a better world, we are going to HAVE to learn to ignore advertising. Of course this means going against our own very nature, which has been researched extensively exactly for the purpose of trying to sell us something, but it's not impossible. First of all, use Firefox with Adblock for surfing the internet; you'll be amazed at how much more pleasant the experience gets when there aren't any extra graphics blasting at ya. Make it a point to NOT buy things being pitched to you constantly...don't forget, he who has the gold, has the power!

Most importantly though, go out and seek out thing to consume. Do research into things that you HAVEN'T seen advertised, read up, find places where people are genuinely trying to find the best, not reviews sponsored by manufacturers. It's a little more work, but believe me, the world (and you are a part of it!) will thank you later. Power to the people!

Friday February 18th, 2011, 13:14

So Watson beat the champions of Jeopardy! And in grandiose fashion too!

I've had discussions over the last few months with a few fine folks about the future of technology, about computers and people; it seems that most feel that there's something special about a person that could never be duplicated in a computer, that there's something ethereal which a machine could never capture. What that thing is of course, they cannot describe! Emotions sometimes are offered as an example, but mostly we end up at the premise that computers only do what they're programmed to do, only what they're 'told' to do. I think the grand Jeopardy experiment debunks that myth. Here we had a machine that was able to solve some pretty damn complex riddles, certainly not considered by the people that made it. It did it in a decidedly biological fashion: by recombining acquired knowledge and the skill of deduction. This can not be overestimated.....

Now, it's taken many years of computer development to get to this point, that's true, but it would be foolish to think that progress will continue at the same pace. It's clearly going to be exponential, and that means the next 20 years are going to be pretty dramatic. Just imagine what it would mean if your cell-phone is a s capable and well informed as Watson: it would replace a lot of people's jobs. Speech recognition is finally getting to the point of usability and that means we won't hardly anybody to man the phones anymore. What if a company can make MORE money, while employing LESS people? Theoretically, there would be enough money to care for everybody, but who deserves what?

I think we're gonna find ourselves in a position where the economy thrives, but unemployment will skyrocket, strangely enough. The only other similar situation I can think of, is in Indian reservations with a casino. A lot of money is made, but many people don't work and just get a monthly dividend for being a member of the tribe, more than enough to live comfortably on. Unfortunately, it has not brought the kind of bliss you might hope it would. Work and usefulness bring a sense of worth to a person, free money rarely leads to happiness

So what do we do? Thankfully we have all our toys and gadgets to keep us occupied, but I think the real answer must lie in creativity. In the end, our sense of purpose longs for creation, whether it's in the form of a child, a company, a car or a piece of art. Only when we ADD to the universe do we have the right to exist, or so our feelings tell us! So open up that Youtube channel, record that silly song you have been singing with your friends, buy that gorgeous Gibson you've been eyeing! There might be a time in the very near future when you'll have all the time in the world to put them to good use!

Wednesday February 16th, 2011, 16:37

Found as a reader comment for a story in the LA Times:

Tuesday February 15th, 2011, 16:03

It's so nice to be home and get a 12 hour night of sleeping in my own bed! As much as I love traveling, I was ready to get home!

I want to say thanks to everybody on the wonderful cruise we just got back from: Steve Oliuver, Cathy, Roland, Joe, Carol and Maria, Joel and Ruth, Aimee, Rhue and Laura, Pete and Kris, Sherman and everybody else we met and hung out with! We had a blast and I feel so blessed and honored to have been invited to a cool thing like that! The new year is starting to take shape and we'll be coming to a venue near you in the near future......

Sunday February 6th, 2011, 10:53

Super Bowl Sunday! Nice time to get some work done, and it's time to review all the Rippingtons songs for the year, and learn a couple of new ones. We'll be doing no less than 7 tunes off the new album, which is a record I think!

Cote d'Azur has been received very well, but some of the reviews are just cracking me up; with the exception of the sax on 4 tunes, Russ played EVERYTHING on this record. Let me makes this clear: Dave, Bill and I did not play a note on the CD, but you should read what some of the folks who feel confident in their own musical expertise write about the record. Now, in their defense, I believe it says on the artwork that "The Rippingtons are:......." with all our names listed, but I would think that anyone with any discerning ability would hear that it's all synth bass on this one! Russ' programming is excellent, but when someone writes "Also, it helps plenty that Belled and Karasony are more involved this time around. On Modern Art, it was as if they both were merely going through the motions – striking the notes according to instruction, rather than feeling the music.", I wonder what it is exactly that I'm trying to do here!

In the end, it doesn't matter; nobody really reads the reviews, or my ramblings for that matter, anyway. Music either touches people, or it doesn't, and Russ has proven to have the ability to do so for 25 years now. He has restored my faith in the power of composition, and I am always proud to show up anywhere with my buddies representing his work to the best of our abilities. I look forward to the next album, whether we get to participate in the making of it or not.

Wednesday February 2nd, 2011, 12:22

That's it, the tour is done! Last night we played in Leiden at a cool little club called Q-BUS. The turn-out was light, but of course it was a Tuesday and right after the Leidse Jazzweek too. Great room, great sound, really nice folks! My old buddy Mete Erker even came out all the way from Arnhem and jammed with us and Mark played harmonica on a couple of tunes, earning his nickname of Mr. Blues. I must admit, it takes a lot out of you when you do something like this; driving, managing, organizing and playing........ I'm ready to sit around all day today!

Now it remains to be seen what the end result of this excursion will be; so far it cost me quite a bit of money, but that's ok. You've got to invest money to make money and I want to share my music with people so in order for them to find out about it, it has to be brought to them. I think we made some new fans, and hopefully they will play the CD for others and so on. The next step is definitely making another record which I will start very soon!

Next week we're off to Florida and the Bahamas with the Ripps, which I am very much looking forward to. The new record just came out and so far the reception has been amazing; Russ has been quite inspired and the death of Smooth Jazz has been a blessing I think. Can't wait to hear what he'll come up with for the next CD....

Monday January 31st, 2011, 13:19

So check this out: we played last night in our lovely capital Amsterdam, in a place called 'de Badcuyp'. Lots of great music happens there, including concerts by perhaps my favorite Dutch Jazz group "The Ploctones". Normally the cover is 8 or 10 Euros, but since I wanted lots of new people to come check it out, I made it 5 Euros. I know Jazz isn't the most popular kind of music, but since we do a lot more stuff I advertised the gigs as a diverse program, from Pink Floyd to Elvis Costello, from Weather Report to originals off my CD. It was clearly advertised that Travis Carlton was going to play, the bassist from Robben Ford's band, from Larry Carlton's band, both world class, world famous acts. Now guess how many people we didn't personally invite showed up......

The answer, unbelievably, is literally zero. Not one person was curious enough to come see the show, not one person was tipped by the people running this place that something special was gonna happen. We had nineteen friends there, and we had a blast, but it really blows my mind! Times really have changed from when I was starting out in this business, that's for sure!

Now it wasn't all this way; on Saturday we played up in Groningen at 'de Spieghel' and we had a blast. The place was pretty packed and people danced and had a great time.  We played a very diverse program that night, from Raspberry Beret to Waiting in Vain, and even the tunes off the record went over great. Sold some CDs and made some new friends who realized how special a guy like Travis really is, and how lucky they were to be able to see him without even paying a cover! My friends Johan, Marcel, CT and Wyno joined us for some tunes and fun was had by all..

It's been such an interesting journey with this record for me. I'm not sure where it'll lead, and thankfully I don't have to make a living off it, but that also gives me the freedom to not compromise the music for commercial reasons. The advantage of not really getting paid, and as a matter of fact losing money, is that no one can tell you what to do! I do believe that the future of music is not in predictable things, like overproduced pop music; that kind of stuff has no life and will never live up to a CD for instance, hence the taking over of the world by DJs. I hope and believe that the future is in music that surprises you, takes you to a place you didn't expect to go! It's best when it goes places the BAND didn't even expect to go!

Satin and Travis were a GREAT match, both such strong players, but with tremendous musicality. The dynamics they are capable of were just awesome. I can only imagine how this band would work if we had a couple of dozen gigs under our belts.....

Finally, I want to thank guitarist Stef van Es for keeping art alive in The Hague; he and Evelien organize many great things over there and run a sort of safe haven for artists, providing a space for art exhibits, concerts and an inexpensive place for bands to stay in the expensive beginning phase of trying to get a band started. Unfortunately we didn't get to make music this time, but that has to happen soon.

Tuesday January 18th, 2011, 6:24

Jet Lag is such a funny thing! Combine it with a gig at the Pater in Den Haag starting at midnight, going to bed around 6AM and you find yourself in bed a 7 the next night, only to be wide awake at 6 the next morning! For a guy who is used to getting up a noon it just seems unnatural, if you know what I mean...

The gig was awesome though and everybody played his butt off; my brother Manuel exceeded ALL my expectations and I know he's a serious musician, with a conservatory degree. You should have heard him play Santana's 'Oye Como Va'! He learned so many subtle little guitar parts from the record without just playing it verbatim, it was just a joy. Satin was incredible as always; I had never played Latin music with him, but he nailed it wit musicality and strength. There's just no style or groove he can't feel. Joost Swart played keyboards and was the perfect guy for the job, with groove and chops, doing some serious nasty Rhodes playing. A last moment addition was Ferdinand van Duuren on the Congas and he really came through; with Satin he laid down some serious grooves.

We played a variety of tunes, just the way I like it: from Major Minor Sir and Funky Cha Cha off the record, to Riders on the Storm, Ain't That A Bitch and Tutu. Manuel's friend Rudy sat in on the Sax, and my buddy's Japie, Johan and Marcel really brought it with some serious farmer rock on the (future) hit "Vol Gas", which translates as Full Throttle.

All in all it was a splendid night and a perfect beginning to this adventure. Unfortunately the producers at TV show "DWDD" are not interested in putting me on, but you know what? You can't let idiots get you down. If you knew what amateur noodling they DO have on the show, how many marginally talented Dutchmen trying to make it in the US, only to give up music completely after 5 years, you'd be blown away. Maybe it's better not to be associated with that whole scene anyway....

We had a decent crowd at the gig, and most peeps that were not self-centered musician types that come to session nights, really enjoyed the show and I know they're coming back when we're there on the 28th, maybe with a friend or two! I'm not in a hurry and building it up the old-fashioned way is probably still best. I know I'm on to something and with a couple more records due in the next 2 years I can't wait for the ride.

Thursday January 6th, 2011, 16:22

Words cannot describe the joy that was the gig at the Baked Potato 2 nights ago! Eric, Travis, Ronnie, Jonathan and Scott all played their asses off and we had a fantastic time. Thanks to everybody who came out! Looks like we'll do another one sometime in March. George (bless him!) filmed the entire thing and Dave Karasony loaned me his H4N recorder, so watch Youtube for some cool videos in the months to come....

In a week, I'll be back in Holland for 3 weeks and I'm really looking forward to it; all the charts for the tunes off the album are done, and I can't wait to hear what my dear friend Satin is gonna do with them! Now if we can only work out that TV show we're gonna be home free!

Saturday January 1st, 2011, 15:11

Happy New Year everybody! I have a feeling this is gonna be a good one! We need one, with all this recession and crisis, don't we? It seems that companies have trimmed all the fat they can, and are going to have to hire some new folks this year. As long as we all keep 'consuming', the gravy train will pick up speed again. Let's not forget how good we have it...

There's a crazy lady that comes to this Starbucks just about every day, and it seems she suffers from OCD. She's not completely nuts actually, but she and her husband set up shop here, literally taking up both comfortable seats, a table, and 3 regular chairs. She always brings a box, filled with envelopes, filled with neatly organized napkins and receipts! She has a Starbucks cup, filled with plastic wrapped knives, and a pen or two. She steals a paper every day for her husband, and asks for 4 receipts for the one coffee they buy.

Today, she took over the biggest table they have here, like normal, and put all her stuff on there, to then sit with her husband in a different location. Funny thing is, some lady walks by looking for a knife to spread her delicious cream cheese, sees the cup and goes to take one. The crazy one, in her usual robe, goes bonkers! She says: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The hungry one apologizes, explaining she thought it was where they keep the knives, and leaves. Boy, you should have heard this crazy couple going on and on about how crazy that was! "Is that woman crazy? What the fuck is wrong with her?" they rant. I'm having a hard time not laughing out loud! Talk about delusion!

The funny thing about the big city is that you can get away with this kind of behavior! Nobody will call you on it; there's always someone that'll tell you what you want to hear! It leads to some extraordinary things, I'll tell ya. The unfortunate thing is, the poor employees here have been stripped of nearly all their dignity as human beings, instructed to believe the customer is always right. I think it's time to reconsider that mantra in this new year......

Thursday December 26th,  2010, 16:39

What a complicated world we've made this; it's a miracle so relatively few people fall off the boat, really. I'm at my local Starbucks and there's a woman in here 60ies, talking non-stop, to no one in particular. When one of the comfortable seats opened up, I snagged it, ending up right next to her. Slowly, she turned more and more towards me, starting to change her conversation with her imaginary friend. She literally starts talking about vaginal orgasms! Talking about getting here butt pinched! In the end we all just want to be loved, but most of us don't want to think about the many people who are so crazy, that there's little chance they will ever be loved again.

There's a Belgian movie I saw over the weekend that everybody needs to see; it's called "Thomas in Love" or "Thomas est amoureux" and it's BRILLIANT! As we all sit her in this 'social' gathering spot, more than half the folks in here, including me, are on a computer, connected to someone/somewhere else. I'm not sure I like it. Is it the start of a rearranging of the world? Will it bring people together in a different configuration? Or is it guiding us into a whole new way of life? I must say, I find it much less rewarding than being with others physically in the same room; I find emailing much less rewarding than a real conversation, not to mention texting. In the endless popularity contest that is Facebook, I can't see the prize at the end. All I know is, we should be very careful with putting convenience at the top of our wish lists, if happiness is the goal.

A book by Dale Carnegie, given to me by my friend Brittany, talks about what people want and need, how to get the most out of them, for everyone's sake. It says they want to feel like they matter, like what they do matters. Of course, social media have proven this to be true. Why else would you tweet your every move to the world? An article in the LA Times recently talked about how robots are starting to do more and more menial jobs. Mind you, an ATM is a robot too, it doesn't have to be an Android if you will. The interesting thing is, the companies replacing humans with robots are making more money after the switch. So the end result is, there's enough money in the economy to pay all the out of work people the same, even though they are not necessary anymore. If we extrapolate that, at some point, almost no one will have to work anymore, but everything we need will still be available in enough quantity for everyone. It means we need to figure out, how to keep everybody busy! Entertainment is the key and creativity will be more and more important.....

Thursday December 23rd,  2010, 14:39

The rains have gone! The sun is back! Boy, did we have some serious pouring down over a period of a week... The ole Fairlane didn't want to start and my friends Eddie and Lance helped me get her out of the way of those relentless weekly street cleaners. She did it once before under similar circumstances and she just needed to dry out some condensation. Yesterday she fired right up as if nothing had happened! How can you be mad at a car that's been going for 42 years?

The tour to Holland in January is shaping up nicely. I decided to pull the trigger and bring Ronnie Gutierrez as well! We're gonna have a KILLER band with Travis Carlton on Bass, Satin Kalpoe on Drums and my brother Manuel, whose been working his butt off learning all these tunes, on the guitar! The whole thing will cost me about $5500, and that's with cashing in of 70,000 miles on USAIR to get Travis and Ronnie their tickets for only $300. The 4 gigs we have pay a combined 1000 euros (about $1300) so I've got to sell an impossible amount of CDs to make up for the deficit, but it's ok. When I see how much people spend on unnecessary gadgets and overpriced  fashion items (can you say $3000 for a REFURBISHED Quad Core fruitbox?), it doesn't seem like so much anymore!

My old high school buddy Hans Bouhuijs is gonna try to get me a spot on 'De Wereld Draait Door', the second most popular talk/variety show in Holland. About a million viewers every night so that would definitely make it all worth it! The strange thing about it is, you only get to play for 1 minute; they interview you for 2 minutes, but you literally get 60 seconds to do your thing. Once in a while they do have special musical things, like last week when a pianist performed John Cage's legendary piece 4:33. It actually is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of total silence! The guy did the whole thing.....

So, it's time to shore up my charts; January 4th is getting closer and you don't mess around when Eric Marienthal shows up to your gig! I'm so blessed to be able to call this caliber of musicians and I hope we get a good packed house to enjoy this evening.

Tuesday December 6th,  2010, 12:05

In the train from Den Haag to Amsterdam, so foggy you can't see anything! Last night my good friend Satin Kalpoe did a tryout gig at our old stomping grounds 'De Pater' with his band 'Relax'. Very cool stuff and definitely original. You don't often see a rapper and an accordion on the same stage, but they make it work. Satin was awesome as ever and I can't wait to do my shows with him and Travis Carlton next year.

Another old buddy, guitarist Stef van Es, was there last night and we actually did some cool jams after Relax was done. He's was born and raised in The Hague, and it turns out he's taken a fantastic initiative in the city: he converted an empty building in a sort of musician hotel. For only 15 Euros a night, you can put up a whole band for very little money and in cooperation with the city it's allowed many more tours to fit a gig in Den Haag into their budget. It's so great to see that kind of creativity to keep live music alive in these difficult times.

Two more days in Amsterdam and it's time to go home. I'm looking forward to hanging with my brother and going over some of the music we're going to be playing next year. After all this snow and freeze it sure will be nice to get back to 70 degree weather in that city of angels............

Thursday December 2nd,  2010, 10:05

Funny how soft we get! When was the last time you sat on the back of a bicycle, your friend pedaling, in 20 degree weather for 20 minutes? Here in Holland that's actually pretty normal, for people of ALL ages. Add in a wind chill factor and someone who's lived in Los Angeles for almost two decades like me starts wondering how people there would handle something like this. I actually bought gloves for the first time in 20 years and they helped! I have been to many cold spots in the world since leaving Holland, but there's something especially brutal about being a bike passenger! Of course the reward that is a warm destination is that much sweeter........

Thursday November 4th, 2010, 16:52

Quantitative Easing they call it; basically, 'printing' more money is what it is, although the funds created are actually electronic. Now what happens to the value of something when there's more of it? That's right, it goes down, assuming demand stays the same. In that aspect the Dollar is just like any other valuable thing. Now, to most people this sounds like a bad thing, but let's examine the ramifications....

Sure, on a future trip to Europe that croissant might set you back $2 instead of $1. Let's think this through a little further though. What happens when significant inflation strikes? Prices of things go up, but salaries generally follow. If the cars your company makes cost more, it can pay you a higher salary. Within reason, the amount of things you can buy for the money you make in your own economy stays close to the same. But now think of export: when a Frenchman can buy more dollars for his Euro, that pair of Levi's all of a sudden got a lot cheaper. One of the reasons China is slowly gobbling up the US is that it has kept its Yuan artificially low through currency manipulation. A sinking dollar actually restores a certain balance between the two nations.

Where inflation hurts the most is in savings. Even though interest rates will go up when inflation goes up (they are tied at the hip), it's very easy to see your nest egg dry up if you don't watch it. Even if you put your money in stocks and they go up in tandem, to uncle sam it looks like you made money when all it did was keep up, and all of a sudden you have to pay capital gains tax!

Now, who benefits? Surprisingly, it's people with debt, especially debt at a low interest rate. At the end of Germany's hyperinflation period in the 40's, one could have paid of a mortgage on a house bought 10 years earlier for the price of a postage stamp. Here's where it all starts making sense! The US is in HUGE debt; its government, AND its people. The value of the debt is mostly expressed in Dollars. Lower the value of the Greenback, and you lower the value of your debt!

So how bad will this inflation get? Nobody knows, and it probably won't be as bad as Germany's was, but let's not forget that in the early 80s it went significantly higher than 10%, meaning every 5-6 years money was worth half. As long as your interest rate is lower than inflation, you are literally making money from having debt. Interesting times to come!

Saturday October 16th, 2010, 13:58

Now this gives me hope: Netflix streaming! $8.99 a month buys the ability to watch unlimited content streamed on the internet! Now imagine how much it would be without the 1 physical DVD shipping back and forth that you're allowed. I've had a computer on my TV for 10 years now so this is absolutely perfect. The video quality is more than adequate for 10 foot watching if you know what I mean, and the interface is excellent. Drop the disc, make it $4.99 a month and they have me for life...........

Monday October 4th, 2010, 18:58

Fall is here, rain and all. Sinatra's singing about spring, on Jupiter and Mars, and the order of the fruit is surprisingly underrepresented today at this particular Starbucks. I always find such simple joy in riding my bike in the rain again!

Russ has written a really cool new record called "Cote D'Azur" which will be released early 2011. We're debuting the first six songs this weekend in Denver and it's been a pleasure learning this new material. Apart from sax on the 4 tracks Jeff Kashiwa played on, Mr.. Freeman did everything! There's some awesome Flamenco style guitar, a crazy tune in 5 with definite Arab influences and lots of cool Euro-synth stuff going on.

I love how music is breaking out of its restrictions. The band Quactus is a perfect example too: they go from Elvis to Pink Floyd, Bell Biv Devoe to the Grateful Dead, and it's awesome. Now all we have to do is work out the business model for the future so we can make sure that true artists have the funds to focus on developing their skills and not have to relegate their art to hobby status!

Friday September 24th, 2010, 14:19

Guess what percentage of the average American's budget goes to buying meat? Hint: in 1970 it was 4.1%.........

Answer: in 2008 it was just 1.6%! That same year, the average American spent 9.5% of his/her disposable income on food, less than people in any other country of the world! Now remember, people in the US eat more than anywhere else in the world, as evidenced in ever growing waistlines. It's all the result of increasing efficiency, in production, distribution and everything else. In 1933 the figure was 25%!

So, efficiency is good right? We hear it everywhere: government is wasteful! We need to cut the fat! I beg to differ.... Let's not forget what happened in the time of one of the most efficient governments of our modern times, Germany in the time of Hitler. There's a reason government moves slowly: it's by design. Without a moderating bureaucracy, a single person can lead a whole country into disaster, quicker than you might think. We need multiple layers questioning each other when we're dealing with important issues as people's rights and freedoms. Only time to think, to make sure most are on board with big changes, can protect us from well presented, dangerous moves.

Here in L.A. there's always talk about water use; we don't have much of it locally, so it has to be brought in from quite far away. In the 18 years I've been here, we've had periods of drought, although none that have led to actual thirst. What's interesting is this: the powers that be are always talking about conserving water, being more efficient with our water use. This is the problem. Let's say we get our efficiency WAY up and we use only the water we need. This can and will enable us to pack more people in the area. Nobody has lush gardens, nobody has a dripping faucet. Now, what happens if we have a serious drought? All of a sudden, we have a problem! We won't have enough water to LIVE. If we NORMALLY live a somewhat wasteful life, when times get tough, we have NON-ESSENTIAL uses to cut down on, making sure we have at least enough drinking water for everybody that lives here.

It's important to have a buffer, savings, a little bit of body fat, maximum efficiency is not the answer, when it comes to human prosperity. Eventually we will hit a limit of the number of people this planet can support, regardless of how efficiently we live, so we might as well use a little more than we need so we can make concessions without falling off the cliff!

Tuesday September 21st, 2010, 13:16

Let's talk about plastic surgery, and more specifically, elective plastic surgery, not reconstruction after an accident. I don't get it. I don't understand how a woman can get so insecure about her body, so unhappy with what she has, that she will literally risk her life to get bigger tits. It's not just ignorance of the potential complications and certain complications (scar tissue anyone?). I don't understand how our modern 'civilization' has accepted this as normal.

The funniest part, if there's anything funny about it, is that people always say it's not for anyone else but themselves, which is of course a load of nonsense. Bottom line is, it just about never actually improves your self-esteem; instead, it opens the door to the idea that you don't have to accept yourself, thus leading to greater and greater unhappiness as the natural deterioration of your body progresses! Let's face it: the destiny for every single one of us is complete destruction. The key to happiness is acceptance of the natural way, not a desperate attempt to prevent it! Few things are more pathetic than people desperately trying to look younger than they are.......

Now, how about surgery in general?  Some operations are worth it: if you break a leg, we can fix it, thus significantly improving your life. I've known enough women with boob jobs to know THEY DON'T WORK. They do not make you feel better about yourself, no matter how hard you try. They do get you more attention, but from the wrong kind of man, the kind you're always complaining about! They DO teach your daughters it's OK to not be happy with your body, to the point of spending thousands and risking your life. And what about the time your chin inevitably starts sagging?

We must keep our vanity in check as humans, together! We must help each other in finding a healthy love of self. We must tell our friends to NOT do it. And remember, it's never too late to take those implants OUT and start on a new path of self-respect!

Saturday September 11th, 2010, 13:08

Been thinking about peer pressure a lot lately and along comes an article in the LA Times; it reads "Over the last few years, study after study has shown that weight gain, drug and alcohol use, even loneliness and depression aren't islands unto themselves but are powerfully contagious — capable of spreading within our social networks just as germs scatter after a sneeze."

The article goes on to describe how 'public health leaders' are interested in using Social Networks (read: Facebook and such) to nudge people towards better behavior! Very interesting indeed! Maybe that's what this is all about. In the light of political correctness people are becoming more and more afraid of letting each other know what they think of their friends' behavior: wanna cheat on your girlfriend? That's none of MY business.... Wanna eat 3 quarterpounders? Who am I to judge? Of course there is the desire to have the stuff that others around you have (think: iPhone), but something has changed.

Because humans are pack animals, they are not designed to think for themselves 100%. We have a certain autonomy, but we need a herd to follow, that's just biology. In that light, Facebook and phenomena like that are really just a giant MIRROR we are holding up to ourselves. A mirror with a recorded that is, so everything we do will remain there to be studied and (hopefully) learned from. Why is it important to look at yourself naked, in an honest way every day? To keep yourself from becoming unhealthy. Just like that, it's invaluable to listen to yourself playing an instrument if you're trying to get better.

So, coming to a Facebook page near you: eat healthy, exercise, be nice, do unto others as you would have them do unto you! And, be careful what you post or who you hang out with, because that stuff will be up there FOREVER, for everybody to look at.

Monday August 30th, 2010, 21:48

"The resting brain is anything but idle" it said in the L.A. Times today. Turns out, one's brain does a lot when left to its own devices. It seemed like an important piece of information in a world where peace and quiet is an increasingly rare commodity. I wonder how many people listen to the voices in their heads anymore; everybody is always doing something. Most of us cannot sit at a bar waiting for a friend without almost immediately whipping out a phone to do God knows what. It's rare for anybody to be in a car without the radio on.
 

So what's so important about idle time for the brain? There's a lot of housekeeping to be done, a lot of experiences to be properly filed and cross-linked, questions to be pondered, feelings to be evaluated, decisions to be weighed. There HAS to be great value in NOT doing anything, listening to your mind and body, finding out if you're STILL happy when you pause the crazy dance we do. It's important to ask questions regularly, instead of just spouting the answers you think you have.......

Thursday August 20th, 2010, 23:05

What a beautiful thing it is...... being on the road with a bunch of guys, friends, who you respect greatly, all chasing the same goal: doing to right to some music which countless people love, giving it your all, bringin' it! Really, it just has to be a party for all and when even the people on staff in the venue where EVERYBODY has played, had a good time, you know you've done your job.

In this fast world of ours, I hope we don't forget the advantage of letting something simmer; I let a pot of spaghetti sauce simmer for 7 hours accidentally once and it truly tasted better! It had even burned at the bottom, but because I carefully scooped the top of it didn't taste burned at all......... lesson learned......

Wednesday August 11th, 2010, 16:15

This whole Jetblue story is getting interesting now; it really blows my mind that people are rooting for the steward in question. I mean, with all these new responsibilities and powers that we have given them, we need people that can keep their heads on straight, don't you think? For him to activate the emergency exit is just unacceptable, regardless of what a passenger said to him. For people to cheer him on, wanting him to not get punished is mind-blowing....

I guess it means they must be as unhappy with THEIR jobs, as he was with his. No one passenger can make a guy behave that stupidly, it's an accumulation of displeasure I'm sure. So what's up? Why are SO many people so unhappy? It always makes me think of the following: many of the same people complaining of the heads of big corporations making too much money, shop at nothing but chain stores. They look for the cheapest price and will choose Walmart over a small local merchant to save one dollar. At the same time, they will spend more than $100 per month on their cell phones without questioning the need. So many people expect to just follow the herd without questioning ANYTHING and then act surprised when they are led into a bad place.

There's no easy solution for this unfortunately. The whole 'customer is king' mantra is BAD for people, especially the people working in the service industry. The disrespect shown by customers is beyond ridiculous and the people working at Coffee Shops/Best Buy you name it, have NO way to defend themselves. We have to change this culture as it will only lead to more reckless overreactions like the JetBlue incident. We must realize that the bakery that makes the delicious apple strudel that you crave is doing YOU a favor by selling it to you, not the other way around. We must allow people to keep some pride in their workplace instead of turning them into robots following exact procedures.

Monday July 22nd, 2010, 18:40

Someone in Brazil bought the album today in MP3 format off CDBaby! Such a little thing, but it means a lot to me. How did he find it? Or is it a she? Never been to Brazil, but of course Jonathan Dresel and Mike Faue know how to play a Samba!

I've been thinking a lot about the unbelievable amount of music that gets released these days; it's gotta be 100 times what we got 30 years ago, just in the number of albums, as the price to produce them has plummeted. Of course it presents us with a dilemma: how do we find the good stuff? Who's gonna tell us which CD is worth a listen and which one isn't? Pandora is an interesting experiment and I'm very interested to see how far it's gonna go. Radio is splintering into a million channels, which extrapolated effectively means, NO channels, just songs; every song is its own channel, or, you can listen to any song you want, any time. Now, what to listen to? It's gonna be a problem, if one of luxury of course ;-)

Now imagine you want to promote a CD and you have $350 to spend; you can buy 1/6th of a page in Smooth Jazz Magazine for month, reach a few thousand people, MAYBE. Or, at the manufacturing cost, you can hand out 250 CDs to people who might like your music, for free, telling them to buy another for a friend later if they like the music and want to support you. Do we really need ads to find out what's new, or can we spend that money in better ways?

It still blows my mind that this music I did is finding its way all over the world, without any advertising. It means that there is a way. It's reinvigorated me to no end.  I want to thank everybody for all the kind words, on behalf of all the musicians involved too. The next CD is already in the pipeline and it'll be better; it's our mission to keep getting better. Watch out for a free bonus track very soon by the way! There was one more tune that didn't make the record, but really should have.........

Monday July 19th, 2010, 14:35

Fear Part I

"You can never be too careful!" people say all the time. I've been thinking a lot about fear and today an article in the "Volkskrant", a Dutch newspaper I read online every day, confirmed what I had been suspecting for the longest time: Americans have become too scared for their own good. A report in the Washington Post reveals, after a 2 year study, that after 9/11 the US government has set up a "top secret" intelligence network, now employing no less than 854 THOUSAND people, with some many reports written, lots never even get read anymore. This is of course in addition to the endless stream of TSA workers and other security agents. I don't think I have to even try to estimate how much this is costing...

Now, of course fear is not always bad; in fact, it's necessary to keep us out of bad situations. The problems start when the preventive measures taken, lower your quality of life, without effectively improving safety anymore. Let's take the fear of food that is so prevalent here. For some reason, it's become accepted to believe that butter is bad for you, that cheese is bad for you, that red meat is bad for you. All stemming from a natural fear of dying, people want to be as healthy as possible, that's understandable and good. But fact is, beef is not unhealthier than chicken, butter in modest amounts is fine, and actually excellent for you if you add in the positive effects from the PLEASURE it gives you. Fact is, certain vitamins are fat soluble, meaning you MUST consume fat to be able to absorb them into your body! Fat is not bad for you, it's NECESSARY. It breaks my heart to see all these people who have reduced their diets to nothing but Broccoli and Skinless Chicken Breast, simply out of fear. They have, for themselves, ruined one of the greatest pleasures we have in this world, namely eating.

Now let's think about crime; here in L.A., there are so many people who live in perfectly safe neighborhoods like Studio City, who put metal bars on their windows, out of fear. Effectively, they have put themselves in prison, out of unreasonable fear. I say it's unreasonable, because when you look at the numbers, their chances of getting hurt are so far greater driving their cars! Now something they could do to really improve their chances of survival would be to wear a motorcycle helmet while driving; seriously, that would save a lot of lives! How about, not driving to the gym they hate, and going for a walk in the neighborhood?

As much as I don't really like Michael Moore, his documentary "Bowling for Columbine" made some interesting revelations. Especially the stark difference in attitudes between the Americans and Canadians right across the border was mind-blowing. It's funny how people want to get all this fancy looking stuff, only to ruin their lives with fear of losing it! They don't even realize the peace that worrying about your things brings; not to mention the oodles of extra time you have when you don't have to work for paying for all these luxuries.

So where the hell do we go from here? The situation at airports is one of the worst. All the joy of flying has been taken away and I think we're actually getting less secure. There are so many TSA agents, the chances of creating a security breach has increased. It's hard to find a reliable barista, do you really think they can fill all those positions with qualified peeps? Every time they test security, most of the 'bombs' get right through and these body scanners will prove to be even worse, mark my words.

It's time we realize that life is a game of chance and that all of us will die at some point. Reasonable safety measures are worth it, but we must be careful that the increase in safety is worth the detriment to our lives!! We don't want to drive in our cars with a motorcycle helmet although that would save LITERALLY thousands of lives a year. So let's relax a little, let's enjoy this life, as fearlessly as possible!

Friday July 9th, 2010, 14:11

This week it seems everybody has been bitching to me about gyms: how stupid people are that work there, how they're filled with douche bags etc. What I find strange is that people go them to begin with, and even stranger that people think there isn't another option if you want to stay in shape! When I suggested last night to a young lady that she might incorporate physical activity in her daily life, as in walking to the store, getting a bicycle for transportation, to replace the annoying daily trips to the gym, she actually told me she had 'never looked at it that way'!

For years now, people in this crazy town I live in have been telling me one's metabolism slows down automatically  after 35 or 40. Of course this is a load of crap, but it's a self perpetuating myth. Beside the fact that all these peeps don't really understand what metabolism really is, fact is, it's directly tied to the amount of physical activity a person experiences. After living in the US for 9 years, what blew my mind when I first went back to Holland in 2001 was seeing people in their seventies riding bikes in the rain! Trim people, in great shape. Not gym rats, not overly buff freaks, just regular folks, obviously older, but perfectly mobile and happy. The average American senior citizen seems so weak and helpless, it's pretty scary.....

Let's face it: the reason people get fat when they turn 40 is that they STOP moving. They can afford luxurious cars, so they drive everywhere. They sit and sit and sit. They hire someone to do physical labor, they don't mow their own lawns!

So, is it me, or is it strange to work a job you don't love, to be able to pay for a fancy car, to DRIVE to a gym you don't like, to pay thousands to belong to, to walk on a treadmill going nowhere, and then drive home, complaining about the increasing price of gasoline and endless traffic jams.....

Wednesday July 7th, 2010, 16:42

Facebook? Really? A survey of 1600 18-34 year old women, conducted by TV channel Oxygen, has shown the following results: 36% 'admitted' checking their immediately after getting up, before going to the bathroom or brushing their teeth! 57% spend more time talking to people online than in person! Is this the future?

I like to think I'm well informed and certainly tech-minded, but this is getting weird. In the Dutch newspaper 'de Volkskrant' there was talk of significant Facebook addiction, and that is what it is. It really freaks me out to see couples out on romantic dates, with both cell phones on the table. It seems that everybody wants to be somewhere else, everybody needs to be validated by someone reaching out even in the most shallow way (read texting).

Now the funniest part: everybody's always bitching about da 'Book, but nobody's pulling the plug! Hordes of unsuccessful musicians tell me one HAS to be one Facebook, but as I see it, it's one giant pool of crap in which it's not worth trying to swim to the top. Cream rises to the top in MILK, but in these murky waters it's actually only the fluffiest of turds popping up! Now some people say: it can't hurt to be on there! What they're forgetting is how much time it takes to be on there. Hours a day are spent, desperately 'connecting', while I'm at home practicing my instruments, honing my skills!

So how shallow can we get? There's probably no limit, as long as times are good. Some people think were in difficult times, but as long as Apple sells its overpriced gadgets by the millions, I assure you this ain't even close to a depression! If waitresses can afford to spend almost $2000 a year on their mobile phone, we're doing just fine. It usually takes some real hard times for people to stop and think about what's truly important.

Of course we could see this whole situation in a much more profound way, as in the true future of the human race. For anybody really interested in some DEEP speculation of the future, based on science, I suggest reading Ray Kurzweil's "The Singularity Is Near". Are we moving to a completely virtual world? Will there be a time where our physical beings are secondary or perhaps even unnecessary? One could view a human being as essentially the information describing the person, where he's been, what he's done, how he looks etc. Then, a simulation could effectively be the same. At this point, a body is not needed anymore and perhaps even undesirable. The entire human race could thrive in an ever expanding simulation, without overtaxing the planet etc. It seems ridiculous, but...........

Wednesday June 30th, 2010, 13:01

Does cream still rise to the top? If one were to believe musicians in L.A., the answer is a definite NO. People here don't believe in anything but marketing, and that makes me sad. Artists, and I use that word loosely, feel that without major financial backing, it's impossible to have any success at all; as proof, they cite all the failed projects they have participated in, never truly questioning whether it really WAS cream that never came floating up!

There is of course some truth to the notion that people have become more passive than ever, just waiting for the next thing to be shoved down their throat; just look at the millions of people, some already in debt, lining up to sign up for a $2500 2 year commitment on a phone! People vote for the politician they see on TV the most, drink the sugar water of which the logo has flashed in front of their eyes the most.

Let's get one thing straight though: not everybody is that way! There are millions in the US alone that actually think for themselves, that truly seek out what's good, I really believe that. So, if you make something good, there's GOTTA be some word of mouth. Of course you have to plant some seeds, but that has become easier than ever. I put up a tune on AllBoutJazz.com as the free download of the day, and 500 people downloaded it! A few people bought the CD.. Now, if it's something they like, hopefully they'll play it for their friends, who might buy one. I've given away lots of CDs, even to people who would've bought one from me. If you're reading this and you like the music, and want to support me, I suggest perhaps buying another copy as a gift to a friend!

In the end, I believe in the power of good music; we're going through a period of massive advertising, and the people of the world HAVE to realize that there is a better way. Leaving yourself so open to manipulation does not lead to quality. Discerning taste leads to quality, of course with a little bit more work required on everybody's part. Ask yourself this: when you go see a show, do you want to see the best music, or the guy who's best a pimping himself on Facebook?

Sunday June 20th, 2010, 14:08

Found out something interesting today! In my quest to promote the album, I've been searching the web for ways to reach people. Of course Facebook would be the first thing people would do, but I just can't go there; that's a topic for another time though! Last night, wormholing my way through this web, I came upon allaboutjazz.com. I'd heard about this place, seen people quoting reviews from it and such, but I had never visited it. Looking around and liking what I saw, I signed up and started exploring the options on the site.

It's a very well designed operation, I have to say. I set up my profile, was able to put up a picture and set up a separate section for the record. So far so good! Then, it suggested a few more things, and here is where it gets interesting. First of all, you can make available a song as a free download for 14 days! I'm not sure how many people will get it, but that's excellent advertising; if you don't have your own webhost, they'll provide hosting for $60 or so. One of the big mistakes artists make, I think, is being to protective of their music. You have to get people to hear your tunes; I really believe they will support you if they appreciate what you're doing. What a great way to reach a bunch of people!

Second, the site offers you a way to do a press release; interesting! I fully expected it to only be on there, but guess what: today I do a search and it turns out my announcement has made it to many sites all over the web! This is just awesome! This is the power of the web at its fullest. Thirteen years ago, when originally doing this album, such a thing just didn't exist. This whole release is turning into a fascinating experiment: how much an one person do? One of my heroes has always been Prince, who played all the instruments on the songs that he wrote too; now one can also mix/master in a small apartment, design artwork, distribute, promote.......

So we'll see; the album is now available from CDBABY for $11.99, and for now for $4.99 as a digital download. They take $4 for a physical CD sale and for the mp3 give me $3.74. The main goal is to get this music to as many people as possible and hit the road! There are 2 more CDs in the pipeline, so stay tuned, and thanks to the folks who bought some already! Let me know what you think!

Thursday June 17th, 2010, 17:00

Let's talk about advertising! I'm very concerned with advertising and sponsoring, not just in relation to music, but in general.

What concerns me most is that so many people think it's a good idea to have things paid for by advertising, instead of other ways of financing. The best example is television. I grew up in Holland in the 70ies and watched a lot of TV. At that time the only option was public, partly paid for through government subsidies and partly by advertising. Keep in mind that the actual programs were NEVER interrupted by commercials; all ads were shown in groups BETWEEN shows. This was actually a good arrangement, and as long as creative commercials were shown, I would actually WANT to watch them.

I understand the need to advertise a new product, but when the ads become more important than the TV Shows, actually dictating the flow, something has gone awry. All the big American talk shows are perfect examples: as far as I'm concerned they have become unwatchable, even though there are some very talented people working on them. It's a shame and a waste. I just can't take the screaming commercials every 7 minutes; real conversations, interesting ones, need time to develop. On TOP of that, the 'guests' are mostly not that interesting anyway, only there to try to SELL you something (like a movie). When you watch infomercials, even those get interrupted for commercials of the same product!

The real problem is that it makes people do and buy things they don't necessarily want. When you have people paying more than a $1000 to get the new fruity phone 3 weeks earlier than their neighbor, something has gone awry. The result is the complete and utter manipulation by the media, the passive attitude of choosing whatever one sees the most times! Voting for politicians, just because they're on TV, not based on what they actually stand for. At the same time, everybody is COMPLAINING: about big companies selling them crappy stuff, politicians being corrupt, musicians in concert being horrible compared to the overpriced record they sold you.....

So what's the solution? I believe it's time for people to take back the reins! Don't wait for someone to tell you what you should buy/eat/see! Seek it out! Find out a band you like, and check out where they are playing; don't just go to whoever bugs you the most on Facebook.

If we look at a TV show, how much does it cost to make? I think for $250,000 you can make a HELL of an episode, but let's say it's a cool million. If a million people pay you $1 it's paid for and everybody made money! If you just price it reasonably, people will pay, I truly believe that. Of course there will be folks that don't but that's beside the point. We need to learn as a world, the new way; support what you like DIRECTLY, and no advertising is necessary. Would you go to the movies if they got interrupted every so often? Would you listen to CD's if there were commercials in between the songs? Why do we put up with it on TV?

When companies like HBO just start selling their programs directly, NOT via anti-consumer infrastructure like the dreaded iTunes, we will overcome. Technology is allowing the creative people to distribute without the initial investment and middlemen that prevented them before. Seek out what you like and support it! When you buy a CD in a store, half the money goes to the store, 40% to the record company/distributor and maybe 10% to the actual artist, if he or she is lucky! When you buy products straight from the people who made them, 100% goes to them.

Just remember: you have the power! Not the media, not the big corporations, YOU do. Don't sell it, and certainly don't give it away! Use it.

Saturday June 12th 2010, 14:01

Sitting at Voxx coffee (excellent BTW!) in the Eastlake district of Seattle after watching the US soccer team hold its own against powerhouse England. Of course the goal was lucky, but I thought team USA played excellent.

We played our first 2 night with the Ripps and the new tunes are really starting to sound great. Especially True Companion is just a beautiful song. Thanks to everybody who picked up my CD! Your support means I can make another one and please feel free to share the music with your friends.

That brings me to the subject of piracy. My feeling is that the big media companies have LOST THEIR MINDS! They are desperately holding on to the old way of doing things, not realizing the true implications of this digital revolution. When they went digital with CDs, by making a product that can be duplicated for FREE, they lowered the value of the product to just about zero. I'm not talking about the songs, but about the actual product, the MP3. It costs literally nothing to duplicate, and less than 1 penny to distribute.

I have this discussion with musicians often and they generally say: but what about the music? Is it worthless? The right analogy to me is a painting. An ORIGINAL Rembrandt is worth millions, but what is the value of a postcard that depicts a Rembrandt? Literally barely more than the production cost; maybe 50 cents! So how does this translate to music? A live performance is worth a lot: you can't copy it! An MP3 is worth just about nothing! That's just economics...

So how do we move into the future? Obviously, musicians need to make money like everybody else. Fans of music have to realize that they need to somehow support the artists they like, in order for NEW music to be recorded.  My proposition is as follows: I encourage people to share my music with their friends. If you want to make a copy of my CD for a friend please do so, as long as you tell them where they can get a proper one if they choose to support my efforts!

My main goal is to find people who appreciate the tunes and would come to see a show if we come to their neck of the woods. Of course it takes a lot of money to take a group on the road and until ticket sales can support it, some sponsoring would be appreciated! I believe that going forward, the people of this world will realize they need to sponsor and technology has made it possible to do this DIRECTLY, without record companies, stores and others taking their cut just for facilitating the whole thing. It's a wonderful thing, really, and we must embrace it

Tuesday June 8th 2010, 17:34

Got the CDs today! 1055 of them to be precise! I shipped off a bunch of them today, to some magazines, radio stations and even a couple of actual customers. I want to thank Ignacio from Valencia, Spain for being the first to order the CD. As a special thanks I sent him 2 copies so he can give one away as a present.

You can now order the CD straight from me for $15 shipped anywhere in the world! Soon it'll be available on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby. Of course I will always have some with me, so you can get one at any gig I'm doing!

We're off to Seattle with the Ripps this Thursday for a four day run at Jazz Alley. Doing some different tunes this year: I particularly dig 'True Companion'. Russ wrote some awesome bass parts on that one and I look forward to playing this with the guys.

Saturday June 5th 2010, 22:09

Were do I begin.......................

First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude to everyone I've had the pleasure of making music with over all these years; I started making a list, but it's impossible! You are in the thousands and I learned (a little) something from all of you. When studying Electrical Engineering in Delft I realized there was no other option than for me to become a musician. In a last effort to save me from ending up a squatter with my pot smoking musician friends in the Hague, my mother borrowed 25000 Guilders to send me to America. I owe this woman everything. She gives me the strength to persist, even now. I got here with nothing but a bass and some clothes; got a mattress, a $1700 car, with $2000 liability insurance and started immersing myself in music.

Now that I'm 40, I can honestly say I've loved every minute of it, even the parts I didn't like very much. I've made many great friends, and stayed friends with a couple of great ones back in the motherland. I feel stronger than ever, physically and emotionally and ready for at least 40 more years of music!

So what's coming up?

Well....finally the album is done. It's time to take the show on the road. I believe in this music, and my little circus. I found some great musicians that enjoy the ride and there's GOTTA be some folks out there that can appreciate this. Only one way to find out: bring it to them!

It's so bizarre how many people have lost the faith around here in L.A. and I'm still not quite sure why. Everybody is so busy with marketing and trying to fit in a category, just making the music that comes out is hardly done anymore. We live in the BEST time ever to publish; literally everything has a chance to reach just about everybody. There has never been a better time to just make the music you love and see if other people agree. We can make awesome sounding records in our apartments; certainly good enough for the music to be enjoyed. The way I see it, if you don't have a hit, it probably wasn't 'good' enough. You can always blame it on your lack of 'marketing' and your inability to compete with (....fill in your favorite villain....) but the bottom line is: you can put it on youtube and if people truly like it, it WILL spread.

I look at it this way: if people don't like this album, the next one is already in the pipeline anyway! I never understood blaming failure of one's first album on ANYTHING but one's inexperience and/or incompetence. Of course everybody wants to be like Jaco and create a masterpiece at first try, but let's keep it real! Like James Brown used to say: "If you don't get it, the first time, back up, and try it again!"

I'm gonna hit the road, even if I gotta go by myself.  For people who haven't seen my show: I really like to mix it up. We always play some tunes from the record, but I love to play all kinds of music. From Pink Floyd to Weather Report to Beatles to James Brown. There are sometimes people singing and dancing is always encouraged! We are never just a cover band, surely soaked in Jazz, slightly unpredictable, but always groovin' hard. If it has to have a name, I like to call it "Party Jazz"

If you dig the music, let me know; especially if you know a place that would be good for me to play, let me know. I will contact the booker and see what can be worked out. I know great musicians all over the place, so don't be surprised to see some local guys on the bandstand! First up is NY , CT , NJ; Haven't spent enough time over there, even though it always immediately feels like home when I'm there. Bill Heller played with us at the Oyster House (as seen on youtube) so he knows the drill!

Come say hello at the Rippingtons show at a city near you!

More words to follow....