[AGL] Gerry and Carolyn sound off

[Fontaine Maverick]

The conversation abt Fletcher, et al made me smile. Curmudgeonlyness came 
early to that group - and it was a good thing that Gerry and his ilk were 
around to keep things interesting.
I think we here in Austin are spoiled; we have so much good music 
available - not to mention good radio - that we get lazy (speaking fer 
myself anyway). I too have Rhapsody, and love making the playlists - some 
are based on Gerry's musings. But I am out of the house alot, and have much 
of my stuff on the little player (Sansadisc E200R) - but am not happy with 
wearing earphones. Or maybe I am not desperate enough to make that work.
Wish I could hear you sing in Portugese, G.
Font

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry" <mesmo at gilanet.com>
To: "survivors' reminiscences about Austin Ghetto Daze in the 60s" 
<austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: [AGL] Gerry and Carolyn sound off



> "No guitars, leave 'em in the car"

>

> I appreciated that sign, made me feel safe from wannabe folk singers.

> However, in the community in which I reside, they are a dime a dozen. Some

> days they are on the public streets (Silver City) dueling it out with one

> another. So far I have not heard one who is worth a damn...mostly children

> of the Rainbow Tribe persuasion. S.C. is not a good place for live music,

> couple of little joints, few if any good musicians among the regulars. But

> they do have a little scene and all the trappings. I generally avoid it.

> There is no jazz at all, no black people in the county and no tradition

> beyond the folk scene...the price one pays for living in the wilderness.

> When I first moved here they had the New Mexico Symphony come in every 

> year

> for a concert, but no more, just some traveling shows that are usually not

> what I would like to see. For awhile there was a faculty jazz group at the

> little college which played a few times each year (not so good but it was

> jazz) but the leader got caught screwing one of the students and his

> replacement is not so gung ho. So part of my reason for the elaborate

> personal music habits is that there is nothing live to see.

>

> The stock sound system in the Cressida is quite good, certainly good 

> enough

> for my old ears, I can hear the bass and the sticks on the cymbal. But it

> was limited to radio and tape. So I had an XM radio installed (bought it 

> on

> sale at Walmart) at an auto sound shop in El Paso. They had a 9 CD changer

> on sale at the time (Sony) so I had them install one of them in the trunk.

> Both new systems are set up to play through the FM, each has a frequency

> dedicated to it. I can play CD's or tapes or radio (conventional FM or 

> XM).

> With the quiet ride and the nice seats this makes the Cressie an ideal

> listening environment. For news I generally tune in BBC. All this takes

> miles off my commutes to Silver City and occasionally to El Paso and makes

> the trips pleasurable.

>

> We had our annual Cabaret Night last night here in Gila. Interesting how 

> the

> times change, performers grow up, appearances change, etc. We've been 

> doing

> this for 14 years now. I did a couple of bossa novas, right hand shaking 

> too

> much so I couldn't play much guitar but my voice was in good shape. Do you

> know "Gentle Rain"? It's a Luiz Bonfa classic, great tune. Also did "Eu 

> nao

> existo sem voce", a Jobim tune with a very simple and very beautiful 12 

> bar

> construction. And one original bossa nova called "October". For this area 

> my

> music is very exotic. For years I was the drum circle leader but no 

> longer,

> ears taking too big a hit. So my reputation has changed from the high 

> energy

> drummer to the old man singing pretty songs from Brazil...I am comfortable

> with it.

>

> As I recall, Fletcher and gang were products of the Beat coffee houses 

> where

> there was a little jazz but not so much. Lopez had visited the LA area in

> the mid '50's when the West Coast scene was hot. He was a big fan of Chet

> Baker but not of Trane and the Hard Bop era. We went to see Ella once and 

> he

> was not enthralled. While I wouldn't call them racists, they were not big

> fans of black entertainment either, maybe Odetta. They were definitely 

> anti

> Rock and Roll.

> G

>

>

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: "Michael Eisenstadt" <mike.eisenstadt at gmail.com>

> To: <austin-ghetto-list at pairlist.net>

> Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 7:19 AM

> Subject: [AGL] Gerry and Carolyn sound off

>

>

>> When Fletcher was sounding off on how lame jazz was once,

>> at his table in his bar, you and I started chanting 'a love supreme,

>> a love supreme, a love supreme.' no one else at the table had

>> any idea that you and I were doing John Coltranem this to a table

>> of the musically illiterate.

>>

>> remember, Fletcher (g-d bless him) had put a sign above the

>> door to the bar 'Leave your guitars in the car.'

>>

>> so it is interesting that you are still filling your life with music

>> as you drive to Silver City to do the groceries.

>>

>> please explain again how you listen to music in the Cressida.

>>

>> the Swiss station which id's the classical music AFTER it is

>> played, do it first in German then French then English.

>>

>> this one is a keeper along with WHRB, WKCR and, maybe,

>> WBGO. thanks carolyn

>>

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