Jazzy Little Christmas

It's been a good Thanksgiving holiday. Last night, we stopped at Wal-Mart for some groceries and I made the most incredible buy on a boxed set of the Charlie Brown Christmas Collection, a three cd collection with everything not just the soundtrack from the original TV show, but also a CD with the soundtracks from other Charlie Brown specials and a tribute CD of the same music done by other Artists.

To those of you that may not know, the Vince Guaraldi Trio is responsible for the incredible music on the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Probably their best known piece is "Linus and Lucy" with that incredibly catchy piano riff we all love so well.

I never really never listened to Jazz as a kid. My dad and I would listen to country music most of the time in the truck. My father didn't sing much in the truck, but the times I do remember him singing, he was partial to Hank Williams Sr., who I still like.



We also listened to the other popular country artists, like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Red Sovine and the like. Since we went to CB Jamborees and worked in construction, country music was everywhere around me. At one point I remember owning a silver belt buckle, cowboy hat and boots-but I never really liked horses. I remember every Saturday Night, we would watch Hee Haw, which was torture to me except after the age of 12. At that time, I started appreciating the girls in the Daisy Duke shorts, but I decided it was best not to point that out to my folks. My mother liked Gospel, especially Nancy Harmon, and the Gaithers.

Around thirteen or fourteen I started becoming interested in Rock and Roll. It was the 80's and New Wave was really popular. I started off listening to Blondie, with such greats song as "One Way or Another" and "Atomic Love", and sadly, the disco hit, "Heart of Glass", (I'm not proud of that last one).



Then I remembered hearing the Talking Heads, and I knew I would probably never wear my silver belt buckle again. When I heard "Burning Down the House" and "Once in a Lifetime", I felt like every kid, in every generation, when they finally discover their music, their voice, their symbol for their time--the soundtrack for their time that will always be playing in their memories when they remember being young.



Sure, I rejected Country Music and most forms of Southern Gospel for Rock and Roll, but, I had never been introduced to Jazz. My parents didn't listen to it. No one I knew in my hometown of Bend, Oregon listened to it. The only time I ever really remember hearing it was at Christmas time, when the Charlie Brown Christmas Special came on. But there was something about it that went beyond the simple labels we give music. It was beyond genre and beat and lyrics, and was simply good. It was good the same way that no matter how educated your palate may become to truffles, fois gras and fine wines, you can always appreciate a hot brownie with vanilla ice cream. When I listened to that music as a kid, I didn't know how to express it in words, but I knew there was more to music than top 40 and MTV. I just didn't know where to look.

What I'm getting at is that there is something special about Vince Guaraldi's music that goes beyond image. Look at this picture:

Vince may be one of the least cool-looking guys ever, with his bandido mustache, flat top and nerd glasses. I mean compare him to my earlier pop heroes. He didn't have spinning, fluffy guitars, classic hot rods, and the type of girls that my mother would have never approved of hanging all over them.



He didn't have the kind of ultra, ironic, tongue-in-cheek humor of Devo-not to mention those cool hats!



Vince Guaraldi never had that permanent, hip sneer that the Police had. He never had songs like Synchronicity I where he explored Jungian philosophy.



But you know, Guaraldi's music has the kind of coolness that transcends what I thought was cool just because it was different from my parent's music. Maybe I just don't have the same attention span I did then. Maybe I'm just getting older. I still own CD's from all those bands, and even some new rock from today. I still listen to the music from my generation, but I always seem to go back to Jazz, especially the small combo stuff like the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

If you dropped Vince Guaraldi and any of the musicians I worshipped as a teenager in the middle of a tribe of people who knew nothing about modern music and had them play their best song for them, I would bet real money that Linus and Lucy would be the most popular song.

For me, Jazz speaks a language that is more essential, more complete. The vagaries of lyrics, marketing and trying to outdo the other band, are stripped away. The musicians use a framework of sheet music as a starting point and then seek where the groove will take them, starting with notes on paper and ending with the notes in the spirit.

Have yourself a Jazzy little Christmas...

-Juanito

How Well Do You Know Me? Take the Test...

Useless time wasters about esoteric information-isn't that what the internet is all about?

How well do you know John?

New Photos

I had to change my picture hosting service for my blog. Some of you may not have read some of the older entries, or have not seen the pictures with them. Below are links to some older entries that now have pictures on them. I also added some pictures that were not there before. There will be more to come later.

The Haircut of an Honest Man.
The Day it All Changed
"Remember Who You Are."
I'm Sorry
37 Years Old

John

La Hora Latina, (Living on Latin Time)

"Punctuality Drive to Combat Tardiness."

"Peruvians, Set Your Watches"

(Click the first link above to read a Reuters article about a government program to combat tardiness, and the second link to listen to an NPR segment about the same program)


The NPR Program on this explained that it is normal for Peruvians to be an hour late for business meetings. It also said that it was common for the previous president of Peru to be two hours late for meetings. At the start of this campaign, there were bells and sirens and even a cannon that sounded at Noon. This was the signal to everyone to synchronize their watches and start a new era of punctuality and order and efficiency.

Right...

Here's a quote from the president of Peru:

"We must stop this horrible, pitiful, disastrous custom of failing to be punctual," he intoned in a speech, inveighing against the $5 billion in annual economic damage caused, he said, by being late."~Peruvian President,Alan Garcia,Reuters Article

The NPR reporter explained that most Peruvians ignored the whole thing and life went on with life as usual. A government program is rarely able to make any real changes to entrenched cultural norms. I guess if they started handing out tickets to late people and taxing them for lateness, they might cause some changes, but I'm sure voting out politicians who make dumb laws would be the most substantial change.

The Latino world has always seen time differently than European and Asian cultures. It's obvious that Peru has a larger problem with time than most Latino countries. In fact, the reporter explained that when Peruvians plan to meet someone, and actually want them to be on time, they ask that they arrive on "English Time".

The most common word for "now" in Spanish is "ahora". One of the literal translations of this word is "this same hour". Certainly, there are ways in Spanish you can say this "this very moment",("este mismo momento" is one), but anyone who has been in Spanish speaking countries would agree that time seems to slow down to a certain extent.

When I was in Costa Rica, I was always showing up for everything way too early. If I was 5 minutes early for school, sometimes I would have wait for someone to open the building. Church generally started about twenty minutes late. I finally embraced what expats in Costa Rica call "Tico Time". For once, my life was unhurried, and even if I was a little late, I knew no one would be offended. There was a new social contract I had never known before. You would let me be a little late, and I would not care if I had to wait for you. For a gringo, it felt like I was getting away with something. There was time to smell the roses, time to gossip and drink another cup of coffee. Time stretched out unhurriedly before me, unrolling and stretching out like the endless blue water on the black beach of Playa Samara. It felt good...

I know this isn't just limited to Costa Rica and Peru. Mexico has long has a reputation of being a country famous for "mañana", meaning whenever you ask when something will be done, they off-handedly say "mañana", which means "tomorrow" as an exact translation, but really means "whenever" (cuandoquiera). The times I have been to Mexico, I haven't seen this as bad as uptight gringos describe it, but I have experienced that same time warp I felt in Costa Rica where everything slows way down.

I do remember rolling up to the border one day during the World Cup. Everything ground to a screeching halt as we waited in lines at windows and could hear "Goooaaallll!!!" coming from crackling portable TVs behind the frosted glass windows at the customs offices. We sat around on benches in the stifling afternoon sun, lingered in queues, and fed pesos to the pop machines for Coca Light and Fontana Naranja refrescos, but eventually paid for our permits, got our visas and climbed back into the delicious air conditioning of our Ford Econoline vans.

My own opinion about the Latino concept of time is somewhere between cynicism and romance. I know the attitude about time comes from both good and bad sources. The fatalistic attitude that comes from the conquest of the New World by Spain, continued on through the oppression of the rich and powerful over the desperately poor. The names changed, even the faces of oppressors and crooked politicians looked less and less European, and more and more indigenous. Sometimes things go slow because no one believes they will get better, or sees no reason to pursue efficiency when it only seems to benefit those with more money.

The romantic side of Latin time is this: removing the oppression of time leads to a slower, friendlier world. Over and over, I remember back to my teacher in Costa Rica telling me that people are more important than goals. Time spent building relationships, lingering over another cafecito, another dance, another song with friends, just one more taco, just a little more time with those you love...

I don't care if the sense of Latino time is from an ancient sense of passive-aggressive fatalism, or the prioritizing of people before soulless efficiency. I have lived a long time in the fast-paced gringo world and I find myself wanting a slower world. I know the old saying "be careful what you wish for" is true, but I just wish we could have the relaxed pace of Latino America combine with some of the efficiency of Gringolandia.

It may take longer to get things done, but we could spend that time getting to know each other instead of enjoying a solitary,modern life where you never have to wait more than five minutes for a cup of coffee...

Juanito.

John's Nitrous Oxide Play List

I went to get a filling today. I have a really cool dentist, he has the poshest office you have ever been to. It has gourmet coffee, fresh cookies, bottled water and all other kind of cool amenities.

I like it all except for his obsession with Bruce Springsteen. I have some respect for "The Boss", but I don't particularly like him. He seems like if Bob Dylan was a little taller and from New Jersey.

So I brought my own music. As they put that magic airmask over me, and I started smelling the cold, minty smell of Nitrous, I hit play and was ready for essentially a nap while someone beat on my face.

Its really hard to get the right kind of music for being under anaesthesia. The Police make me feel a little paranoid, and ZZ Top is a little scary. Yanni and Enya work really well, but most other things just sound like a blurry Captain and Tenielle song that wont go away. Then when the dentist actually starts drilling, the music is not that hot unless you turn it up way high, which I really cant do anymore.

Today I was tired of messing with the music and just set it to play all. My player holds about twelve albums or more, so at least I would have some variety if nothing else.

When I started feeling the numbness in my feet and the general feeling of ease, I was listening to the Country Swing Stylings of Charlie Adams singing "In The Army Now." I've been giving Country Swing a real chance lately. This is a mix of jazz, big band, and classic country music. Its happy, doesn't take itself too seriously and I love a good steel guitar. This is a much different and better kind of country music than the pop country stars like Garth Brooks or Shania Twain.

After that, the drilling started in earnest. For this time, the MP3 player started playing "Faint" by Linkin Park from the "Live From Texas" album. Some people dismiss Linkin Park as EMO rap, but I think they have some real talent and inventive lyrics. The hard guitar, heavy synthesiser and rap went perfect with the drilling noise.

After the filling was done, I had to lay there for about five minutes as I breathed Oxygen to clear my head. During this time, I listened to the Bob Marley and the Wailer's classic hit, "All In One." Classic happy music and so incredibly mellow. The album name is "African Herbsman", which leads me to believe it may have been inspired by more than just growing Oregano and Marjoram in the sun.

-Johnito