“The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is right now!”
– Chinese Proverb
– as told by Victor Wooten
Bill E. Bob’s very first #EveryDayPhoto, taken March 24, 2011, #10YearsAgoToday!
“yes! nerds don’t love everything. nerds love what they love! to the extent I’m a nerd, I’m loving different stuff than I thought I would’ve loved a long time ago. and I’m okay with that!”
– Bill E. Bob, 3/24/2013
“Love is always the goal,
but pain is what connects all of us.”
– Woody Shaw
Photo: Tom Marcello, 1978
Traveling on the Road to Hana-lytics!
It’s a long story… 🧐
Meanderings – The Accidental Magazine
Once upon a time, 27 years ago, this guy I know accidentally created an internet magazine called Meanderings, beginning with this article:
The Female Touch:
Before I begin, I should tell you a little story. I was born of the Colored/Negro/Afro American/Black/African-American persuasion (although I’m still, 42 years later, trying to figure out exactly what that means!). However, in 1984 while attending a finance seminar at the University of Michigan, I, along with my seminar mates, filled out a “lifestyles survey,” designed to tell us the risk of various aspects in our lifestyle, like smoking and drinking, killing us before the age of 50. Being only 32 at the time, I was really interested. When I got the survey results back, I was shocked. I didn’t smoke, rarely drank, was an avid runner and tennis player, so I was in excellent shape. Nevertheless, it seems I had a very high risk of dying young. The reason: I was black! We’ve all heard the statistics about young black men having a high risk of violent death at a young age. Well, there you go.
Most of the others attending the class had no such risk, but they were all white. When I asked aloud about the results, the surveyor explained that the sample upon which the survey’s predictions were based contained very few blacks. He also said not to worry: given my occupation, income, lifestyle, excellent health, etc., the survey results really didn’t apply to me. For purposes of reading the results and determining my risk of early death, I was “white.” So, in the future, if I write something you don’t like, please don’t call me an uncle tom, because, I’m really white!
There’s more to the story, so read on.
I chatted with the author recently. He told me he wishes he had better editing back then. Go figure!
some of my best ideas started out as miss-takes…
I’m totally in love with this most beautiful duo version of Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring by Cesar Camargo Mariano and Romero Lubambo:
Joy Spring! It’s the #song4today!
#OutwardImprovisation!!!
“The best thing about facilitating is not what you prepared for. It’s what is called (or pulled) out of you by the need in the room at the time.”
– Jim Ferrell
“This is not meant to be ‘clever.’ It is fact. Politics is the first 90% of getting anything transformational done. PERIOD.”
– Tom Peters
#JazzChurch 47 - Sunday, March 21, 2021
Joyspring is Here (and Can Really Hang You Up the Most)!!
#jazzchurch 47 – Sunday, March 21, 2021 – featured music by Ben Wendel, Houston Person & Ron Carter, Charlie Haden & Kenny Barron, Walter Norris & George Mraz, Cesar Camargo Mariano & Romero Lubambo, The 5th Dimension, Tony Williams, and Earth, Wind & Fire, among others shown below:
- Impromptu (The Rodriguez Brothers)
- March (Ben Wendel)
- Joy Spring (Houston Person & Ron Carter)
- Spring Is Here (Charlie Haden & Kenny Barron)
- Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (Walter Norris & George Mraz)
- It Might As Well Be Spring (Sonny Stitt)
- Joy Spring (Cesar Camargo Mariano & Romero Lubambo)
- ny 2000 (Donald Harrison)
- I’m Gonna Be Happy (Freddie Redd)
- Blues In Motian (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian & Geri Allen)
- Strivers’ Jewels (Buster Williams)
- Rise and Shine (Robert Glasper)
- Geo Rose (Tony Williams)
- Turnaround (Charlie Haden feat. Hampton Hawes)
- Inner Urge (The Blue Note 7)
- Deeds, Not Words (Max Roach)
- When We Were Free (Pat Metheny)
- For Duke P. (Bobby Hutcherson)
- Stoned Soul Picnic (The 5th Dimension)
- Funkin’ for Jamaica (Tom Browne)
- Mr. Spock (Tony Williams Lifetime)
- Be Ever Wonderful (Earth, Wind & Fire)
Apple Music Playlist
Here’s an Apple Music Playlist containing songs from this episode of #JazzChurch:
Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-4ish PM PDT. Past episodes are available here as well.
Where else can I find #JazzChurch?
- Postbop.com: Livestream plus audio archives and information for all past shows
- Twitch Livestream: 1-3pm-ish PDT on Sundays plus audio/video of recent shows
- Soundcloud: Listen to past shows and subscribe to receive notifications and listen to future shows
Things are getting better…
3/20/2020: So this is what being a (self-proclaimed) Chief High-Five Officer has come to!
#StaySafe!
#TakeCareOfYourself!
#ideasfor2020!
I’m thinking about maybe doing a podcast. What on earth would I talk about? Who would be good guests? Any ideas?
I hadn’t seen this before today:
Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer sparked a massive police response in late January after confronting a Black man driving near his home, telling a 911 dispatcher the man “threatened to kill me” — an allegation he retracted upon questioning by Tacoma police.
…
Troyer, who is white, said he did not racially profile Altheimer. He said he began following the carrier because he saw a driver he believed was behaving suspiciously in his neighborhood in Tacoma’s West End. “There is nothing to do with him being Black,” Troyer told The Seattle Times.
The newly elected sheriff expressed surprise Tacoma police had written an incident report about the encounter, noting Altheimer was not arrested. “I thought they solved it that night,” he said.
Yeah, right!
It’s a paradox. #TheMountainIsOut and the sky is at its most colorful best during early winter mornings. That’s also when the Mountain and colorful sky are visible the least. I’m always looking, frequently disappointed, yet always appreciative.
I’m up early and can see the outline of Mount Rainier. I think, “Today’s the day! It’s gonna happen!”
Then the fog rolls in. 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾
#ThatsLife!
“In the last 50 years, out of almost 3 billion votes cast, there have been about 1,500 proven instances of voter fraud in the U.S. 1.5 million people have died from guns in the same 50 year period. Republicans are more interested in putting restrictions on voters than they are on guns.”
– Matthew Dowd
Black and brown voters. Young voters. Democratic voters.
”If you cannot explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it.“
– Prof. Richard Feynman
Nervously I Speak…
I came across this article with great public speaking advice – Why Introverts Can Be the Best Public Speakers:
“It turns out that a public speaker’s most important asset isn’t their theatricality, their story, or how extroverted and boisterous they are.
“It’s their capacity to help their audience to believe that change is possible.”
Not that I’m an expert or anything, but I believe better public speaking comes down to thinking about the audience and what they need. That’s hard to do if I’m nervously thinking about myself, what I need to get from this presentation, or even how I’m doing right now delivering this talk.
How do I stop worrying about myself and how I’m doing? Take a deep breath, ahhhh, and think about the audience!
Nice article!
Big news. #HappyStPatricksDay
– Sandy Boynton
Sign of the Times, 3/16/2020.
#JazzChurch 46 - Sunday, March 14, 2021
Honoring Women in Jazz
#jazzchurch 46 – Sunday, March 14, 2021 – featured music by Betty Carter, Terri Lyne Carrington, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, Geri Allen, Tineke Postma, ARTEMIS, Joni Mitchell, Emily Remler, Kate McGarry, SFJAZZ Collective, and Nubya Garcia:
- Dull Day (In Chicago) (Betty Carter)
- Fleurette Africain (Terri Lyne Carrington)
- Four Women (Nina Simone)
- Transformation (Terri Lyne Carrington)
- Love Notes (Betty Carter)
- Up Jumped Spring (Abbey Lincoln)
- That Girl (Geri Allen)
- The Gathering (Geri Allen)
- Lover Man (Betty Carter)
- Freya (Tineke Postma)
- Down Here Below (Abbey Lincoln)
- Voyage (Tineke Postma)
- Nocturno (ARTEMIS)
- Joy and Wonder (Geri Allen)
- Throw It Away (Abbey Lincoln)
- Goddess Of The Hunt (ARTEMIS)
- Goodbye Porkpie Hat (Joni Mitchell)
- Daahoud (Emily Remler)
- The Meaning of The Blues (Kate McGarry)
- Sisters On The Rise (A Transformation) (Terri Lyne Carrington)
- Pray the Gay Away (Terri Lyne Carrington & Social Science, feat. Raydar Ellis & Nicholas Payton)
- It Might As Well Be Spring (Kate McGarry)
- I Got Lost In His Arms (Terri Lyne Carrington)
- March Madness (Sfjazz Collective)
- Source (Nubya Garcia feat. Ms Maurice, Cassie Kinoshi & Richie Seivwright)
Apple Music Playlist
Here’s an Apple Music Playlist containing songs from this episode of #JazzChurch:
Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-4ish PM PDT. Past episodes are available here as well.
Where else can I find #JazzChurch?
- Postbop.com: Livestream plus audio archives and information for all past shows
- Twitch Livestream: 1-3pm-ish PST on Sundays plus audio/video of recent shows
- Soundcloud: Listen to past shows and subscribe to receive notifications and listen to future shows
”Absolutely! I had a great time! I got to be nosey! That always works for me!“
Happy Birthday, Ms. Bill E. Bob!
Q. What would an Outward Mindset require of Mr. Tibbs?
By 1967, [Sidney Poitier] was one of the most popular actors at the box office. In one of his roles, according to the script, a white man, a racist, slaps him in the face. He was not supposed to retaliate, but he courageously requested a change in the script, insisting on playing his characters with dignity.
In the movie that came out, the racist slaps him. But, with the change he insisted, he slaps the racist back.
“This was the slap heard round the world,” according to director Norman Jewison - when the racist plantation owner Endicott slaps detective Virgil Tibbs in “In the Heat of the Night”, and Mr. Tibbs, portrayed by Sidney Poitier, slaps him back.
“A black man had never slapped a white man back in an American film. We broke that taboo,” said Jewison.
Race/Related: Signature Photos From Our Black Photojournalists
Last month in honor of Black History, we (New York Times) highlighted on Instagram nine exceptional photographs taken by nine Black staff photographers of The New York Times. Collectively, those photographers — the only Black members out of 76 in the history of the photography department — have 250 years of experience at the Times.
Here is a bit about the photojournalists, and a signature photograph.
The Brooklyn Bridge in February 1998. This image was tinted red when it was published to celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend. Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
Chester was my favorite New York Times photographer…