Peace, At Last

I never paid any attention to Etta James until one summer night in Kansas many years ago during a long trip I made in my VW van. I met a guy who collected records--LPs--vinyl, mostly the blues. I loved this song so much, I asked him to copy it onto a cassette for me. It was nearly all I listened to all the way back home to California.

Thank you, Ms. James, for all you gave us.

Just Wow!

Here's a video of our own Bob Slentz-Kesler's group, Avante. They're fabulous!

Bob is the author of three books, numerous articles, and a blog called Neither Clever Nor Witty. Worth mentioning is the fact that the photos used in the video are the only ones I've ever seen in which Bob isn't mugging for the camera. Until today, I'd never seen what he actually looks like—and we've been blog buddies for 10 years!

The Essence of Yo

Once upon a time, back in the '80s, I amassed a collection of yoyos. I remember how it started, too. I was working as Maestro Salazar's assistant with the Ventura County Symphony at the time and one night at a Nutcracker rehearsal, the guy who played the bass clarinet pulled one out and began using it. It was like a meditation. Beautiful, fluid, calming. He didn't do a lot of tricks, or show off, he just...  yo'ed. I enjoyed watching him so much, he gave me that yoyo. We were, all of us, sitting in the orchestra pit and things can get kind of chummy down there...