Issue # 138 Zzajrant

12/19/2013, 15:43:  My friends, I’ve been sitting here for the last two hours making sure that music sent to me for review is captured on my external drives for safe-keeping and later review.  It brought up a few thoughts about what some writers (& ranters) are always saying about jazz today… “no quality music”; “people don’t know how to play music anymore”; “techno is killing music” – what absolute rubbish; all you have to do is go to my QUEUE page & listen to a few of the artists who have submitted music to us for review, and you’ll realize right away that QUALITY and creativity in music truly have not gone the way of the dinosaur… I’m simply amazed at the quality of the music coming our way, and you will be too!  So, never “just listen” to all those naysayers – check out the scene before you pass judgement!  My thanks for all the music you’ve sent us – promoters, artists & (lots of) other interested parties – you’re all making this world better with your creative energies!

12/10/2013, 17:00:  You can’t tell me much about “strange”… I’m very much used to it as a part of my “normal” life these days… OTOH, the job interview (for a place in Korea) I had about a month ago came back with negative results about 20 days ago… so after a couple of moments reflection, I just put it behind me, figuring that it wasn’t in the cards.  This Monday, I got an email message asking me if I would be willing to RE-interview for the same job… despite what they told me the cause of that was, I’m still not sure why (or how) this happened.  THEN, I arranged for an interview at noon today…. & sure enough, when I showed up (on the phone) for the interview – nobody was there!   Hmmm… it’s arranged for tomorrow again, so maybe I’ll get that “second shot”… any way you look at it, at my age, it’s a blessing just to know that someone still wants me to work with/for them.  Now, IF it happens that I really get lucky and get accepted for this position – the ‘zine may slow down a bit – it will STILL be going, but I may have to slow my output down in order to cope with the demands of the new position.  I’ll keep you posted, for sure!

12/03/2013, 18:54:  I only just realized that I can (now) use my tablet to edit pages… of course, I knew I could do it via the tablet, but wasn’t aware that I could use a USB hub to connect both mouse and keyboard in order to do the editds.  This puts a whole new light on things… I believe I’ll be using the tablet more and more for this kind of work. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!!!

12/01/2013, 10;29;  Hard to believe that another year is almost over… spent most of the morning cleaning up my QUEUE file… i’ll be doing a bit more work on it over the next week or so, but what’s there right now if pretty accurate.  Keep those cards/letters/cd’s/DVD’s/etc. coming my way… 2014 is bound to be a fun musical year!

11/29/2013, 07:37:  I’m sitting here with Bobby McFerrin’s “Medicine Music” spinning… makes me think (for sure) of better times and things I have to be thankful for.  Cooking up a few leftover fried potatoes from yesterday’s homemade pork roast to go with my morning eggs.  A bit lonely, as all my clan is down California way visiting old family friends… OTOH, I’m enjoying what I have and hoping for better times in the months/years ahead… with music in my life, I’ve no doubt that will happen.  Also using this weekend to put final touches on a long-awaited “cleanup” – Gourd, glad i don’t have to clean stoves for a living – I’d not have one red cent!  At any rate, hope you/yours are all doing well on this fine holiday… Happy T-Day, to be sure, peepz!