Worcester Jazz

My musical partner, Rich Falco, got a gig for us playing jazz every other week in Oxford, at a place called Oxford's Casual Dining. Rich indulges me, perhaps because bassists are in short supply, so I'm happy to do the gig with him, since I learn more by playing with him, and we make some pretty good music. Click http://www.gigmasters.com/hear_audio.asp?rowid=20202&sequenceID=1 and listen.

Playing regularly anwhere is difficult, because any slow night might mean that the owner could cut you loose. So I do like to promote these gigs, andI post on Craigslist and Socialweb and hope to gain the attention of the local press.

It's the latter that's proved difficult. We can't really advertise; we're too poor. Tyra Penn has included us on WICN's club updates, bless her. But the Worcester press, which in most other instances stresses the local angle, tends to pay the most attention to jazz acts from out of town. Articles and items featuring local rock acts are common, too, most of whom aren't even paid musicians. But not jazz. And not us.It seems odd that more attention is paid to amateur musicians in rock clubs than experienced professionals who ALREADY know how to play. Call it the American Idol phenomenon.

I don't want to sound bitter. Rich is already well-known in the area's jazz community, so I can understand that local press might feel that he doesn't need more press, and people might not be interested in finding out more about him. But look at the "jazz scene" in Worcester right now. Java Hut closed, so there's no jam session there. There is no club in Worcester that features jazz, nor any restaurant that hires jazz musicians to play regularly. Oxfords Casual Dining is pretty much it, from what I can tell. Yet OCD (not a pretty acronym, but I'll use it) is not even in club listings, even though jazz is a regular feature there, and it's the ONLY JAZZ IN TOWN! You'd think that alone would be news.

Old Medicine for New Ills

The recent crisis in the financial markets outed not only a Francophonic fraud, but also Republican rigidity. When banks need to “write down” their loans because assets securing the loans have lost value, money disappears from the economy. That money must quickly be replaced if markets are to remain secure. The quickest, most effective way to keep enough money circulating is for the government to take measures to get money to those who are most likely to spend it. Unsurprisingly, those most likely to spend their money are those too poor to pay any income tax. And those least likely to spend are those who have more than enough money to pay their bills, and who do pay income tax, especially the wealthiest Americans.

Yet the Republican response was to endorse tax rebates that don’t benefit the neediest, and to urge extending the Bush Administration tax cuts for the wealthy, due to expire in 2010. John McCain was a notable proponent of the latter measure. Now if those tax cuts promoted continued economic growth in the first place, why are we facing a recession now? If the Bush tax cuts were the economic panacea their advocates claimed, we would be worried about inflation, not recession.

Republican economic thinking is consistent no matter what the economic circumstances: cut taxes on the wealthy and those with the largest incomes. Yet this inevitably hurts the middle class and the poor, on whom both economic and social stability depend.

No-Ped in Worcester

Although I called it a moped, my Tomos is apparently a "no-ped" in that it has no pedals. I've been riding it to work and back when weather permits (we had a recent spate of good weather), which is 40 miles round trip. The bike runs great, but I have to say, the seat sucks. Not very comfortable after a mile or so, and very uncomfortable after ten miles.

In spite of this, I've put over 300 miles on the Tomos, which my wife has nicknamed "Zippy," apparently in reference to the pinhead that rides it, moi. A friend of mine, when he saw the Tomos, asked me, "So have any of your friends called you a crazy idiot yet?" I've gotten some odd looks, but drivers seem to assume that I'm on a motorcycle, which in traffic is a good thing -- they come up more slowly -- and I feel much safer than when I've ridden a bicycle in the same circumstances.

Now that I've put on over 250 miles, some maintenence needs to be done. I've got to change the oil and tighten the chain, for starters, so I'm not commuting on the Tomos until I've made sure I don't run out of oil or throw a chain. Throwing the chain would be VERY BAD. But I'm looking forward to spring, and A NEW SEAT.