I plan on visiting Mt Etna. Also "unsavory" is an excellent word. I need to use it more.


On a side note; when in Seattle recently I was in some super hipster brewpub/bar where everyone was a twenty something in age. They did not take cash. Was told so when I whip out some bills. No problem of course. The strange thing was when I ordered a pizza they wanted to text me when it was ready. No just saying my name from the food order station when only 20 ft away.

In other words; if you did not have an iPhone (or equivalent) to commutate and pay (or a credit card) you were a bit of a substandard human or too old to be there. Personal face to face communication is keep to a minimum. Generational differences are becoming more and more noticeable. It all just enhances my old man curmudgeonly worldview.

It's rehearsal and the show is tomorrow.

The singer gets in and is reading the lyrics off her phone. This isn't exactly bad, but...

I start by asking her what piece of music she liked the most. "I don't know, just start with something."

She missed every beat and every entry. I had already sent music w/ lead lines. Now, this is complicated since I'm not a singer. SOP in this case is either "try" to sing it yourself or send along lead lines using piano or guitar. If singers had any idea what guitarists generally get in these situations...

I decided his would be a good time for some quick guidance and feedback, so I pause and show where section A, B, and C is. Section C is a break.

She proceeds to tell me that she couldn't hear any chord changes, any beat changes, and it was all just the same thing over and over again. The difference between A and B is a bit subtle, but they definitely aren't the same. Section C is drastically different. I played the sections again with the gain turned, and she still couldn't hear anything.

She then says that I never sent her lead lines (false) and that there was no difference between the regular music and the music with the lead lines (definitely false), and that I said "do whatever you want." This last is true within the parameters of staying in line with what I sent.

Anyhow, she then proceeds to tell me that I'm too disorganized, I should play piano, etc.

Okay, she had 2 weeks to let me know that my music isn't her cup of tea. She had two weeks to tell me that my music is too simplistic and nothing but a drone of 4 chords.

nice pics, John, and congrats on the score!

Small tourneys, but those and cash games paid for the trip.

People still allowed to win money at poker? huh

this is wonderful for john and the masses. it gives hope to all.

Anything that gives me hope gives hope to the masses.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/1tqxzWdKKu8

how can you not like this. even schlitzy will watch all the way through.maybe more than once.

Surely this doesn't happen to everyone.

Take car for oil change. Woman next to me says, "Hi, Cuba" to service writer. Turns to me:
"Doesn't he look like Cuba Gooding Jr.?"
Me: "More like Cuba Gooding Sr."
"Who's he?"
"Lead singer for The Main Ingredient"
"I don't know them."
"Sure you do."

I begin singing; she and Cuba join in.

Nice. Been a fool many times myself.

By the way, I change my own oil. Had to get that one in before Ray Zee.

admitting he is on a slippery slide

I had a nice, alcoholic Italian meal today with Uncle Mick and Aunty Linda. Right in the middle of London, among Five Guys, Shake Shack, etc., some family restaurant somehow survives:

http://www.piazza-restaurant.co.uk/

Aunty Linda, from Shoreditch, a successful saleswoman, was a beauty in her day. Even as a boy I could tell she just oozed feminine sexuality.

A nice, alcoholic meal is always welcome.

Alcohol minus the food is always the best idea.

The gig wasn't a total **** show. I got there early (hooray) and it pretty much went downhill from there.

Bartender: "You have a band, right?"

...sigh.

I get on stage, fire up the backing tracks, and they are sort of whacked because I mix in mono and the system is stereo. I can barely hear anything on stage (typical), but the crowd seems to dig what I'm doing, so it's okay until I decide to go off on a few tangents.

Some guy decides he wants to be my drummer for the night. I have no idea who he is, but he hops up on stage and stares at the drum set. He walks around and finds a single drum stick and starts pounding.

Some lady walk up to the stage and cajoles him off. Two minutes later, the drummer is back on stage.

I fire up more backing tracks and all is well for the moment, then the drummer is back.

Sound guy isn't sure what to do at this point, and I'm just looking at him like "I don't know who this guy is... what am I'm I supposed to do right now?"

The guy gets off stage, but then he gets back on a few minutes later. Lady drags him off and more conversation / chatting as they are standing around the drum set which is but 2 feet away from me. I'm just playing as if there is nothing happening, but wtf?

I get off stage and just sit alone with my beer and go home during the next set. Glad that one was over, but all in all, the place itself wasn't that bad. Just that everything that could have went wrong went wrong during the past week and there was just no way I could have expected the night to be normal.

Ah, Dave. Hope you're still playing around LA when I visit this summer. I won't try to play the drums.

JC, if you try to play drums, at least I can claim I know who you are.

I'll be gigging around, I'm sure. I do have to take a short break: one my nails is messed up and that'll probably take a week to fix itself.

Dave,

You won't admit it if you see me attempt to play anything. Hope to be in California again in late May for a couple weeks.

I thought I was done attending weddings, but the past two years colleagues' children have gotten married. I've been fortunate enough to be invited. Another coming up this year. Now if I could only get to see my remaining niece and nephew get married, I'd be a happy uncle.

If my plane is shot down over Rome by the Russians wanted to say it has been a Riot, Loungers!! Ciao. I'm stuck on a plane with a bunch of crazy Italians.

Best of luck, Zeno. And "crazy Italians" may be redundant.

he needs more than luck , needs you there to guide him through

Like most people, he'll be fine without me.

My friend Bones and I celebrated our 40th birthdays today. Our friends would say we knocked off 25 years. Our wives would say we added 25.

the tax year is almost over.


Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do.



The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80." The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.



But what about the other six men -- the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from every body's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay!



And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free.



But once outside the restaurant, the men began to count up are their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!" "Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!" "That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.



The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is better