The MJB is at Crossroads of Bellevue (Seattle) tonight from 7:30 to 10 PM. The Eastside Swing Cat’s dancing pro’s will be there two. Come hear and dance to the Swing tunez from years gone by. The emphasis tonight is on Basie, ‘cuz no one swings like the Basie band.  :o)

Be there or be square.

… how much I luv Bing.com?

For example, if I’m feelin’ separation anxiety from our trip to New Orleans, I search on the string “Redmond Cajun restaurant” and see this:

When I want check the status of camera’s this year so that I can get something for my son I use something like “fujifilm camera” or “camera reviews”. It’s just that easy. ‘cept that I bought myself, yet another camera.  ;o)

How about ‘seattle traffic”:

That map, my blog posse friends is *very* telling. I instantly know the Hwy 520 bridge is a parking lot! Let me know what you think of the Google-slayer search engine, Bing.  :o)

Although admittedly a cartoon that requires knowledge of some current happenings in the world of punk art, this still tickles me.

Mostly this is a bookmark for me to go look at this site more when I’m not at work. (Darn Twitter and their tease merchants!)  :o)

Most families on the Pacific Coast in Washington do not have air conditioning in their house. So this is very hot weather for us as projected for this week in the chart below:

While this is probably not noteworthy in much of the United States, I can tell you it is scorching weather for us. I argued against AC in our house for a number of years until I realized, I’m at an AC workplace and Suzy was in a hot house! After extensive research we purchased a heat pump which saves us money when we heat and cool the house. My manager Kate said that as the temp continues to break records that we will be very happy that we purchased the heat pump when we did.

My mom had the same challenge convincing Dad. I’m guessing that as the temps soar this Summer, Dad is going to be very thankful they invested the money to get a heat pump too. The cost to cool the house has not been catastrophic because we save money in the winter time and we don’t water our grass (allowing it to go dormant in the Summer) which saves us about $300 a month. We also have mostly indigenous plants in our yard which means we rarely, if ever, water the yard. And still the hydrangeas are blooming, the fruit trees thriving, and the Cypress trees growing 4 to 6 feet a year.

Suzy and I took our son Aaron’s family to Fortunato's Coffee & Wine Bar in Woodinville (Seattle). I just happened to have my video camera <smile> a captured this duet with a composition that Dave penned when on jury duty titled Juror Number Two. Dave Anderson's on that sweet Mark VI with that wonderful sound and patina. Brad Benefield's doin' his thing on a guitar/bass instrument hooked up to a synthesizer playing as if it were a piano.

This combination means he plays his guitar in a seemly non-guitar way. With this Frankenstein stringed instrument the top two strings can be bass and the bottom four are guitar. But that means that Brad has to arrange the music to work within the limitations of this setup up. It doesn't hurt that he makes it look easy.

This song spoke the most to me in the first hour set. I was trying to discern why and didn't find out till later that Dave had penned the tune himself. So his sax sultry sounds were inspired and the voicing very nice indeed.

See more at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

I keep seeing this cartoon on different blogs and such. Wikipedia has a good article on Adam and Eve which talks to the story based on different religions. This just tickled me. So I thought I’d share it and see if anyone knows who the artist is.

Suzy and I visited the Big Easy last weekend. I was using that handle for NOLA and so many kids (20 year olds) didn’t know what the big easy was! We visited to play in the National Community Band sponsored by the Sousa Foundation. I played alto sax and Suzy played clarinet.

We used miles off our credit card to pay for the plane trip and staying at the Ritz Carlton hotel. So all we paid for was food and the Trolley.

     Ritz Carlton Hotel                                             Trolley on St. Charles Str.                      Exclusive gated community

The weather was between 95 to 100 and very humid. But the people were nice and the food excellent. And the sites were very interesting although we stayed out of the troubled and Katrina-damaged areas:

   Loyola University                                  Campus Greenery                                Alternative transportation

The band was stellar and of the five alto saxes, I was the slug in the group. Excellent musicians with a good ear for intonation and a great sense of rhythm, these folks were a joy to play with. There were many teachers, semi-pros and music major types in the ranks.

     The Sax Guyz                                               People arriving                                    Tulane University

I didn’t take as many picture as I did last month of Europe, but I put all of them that were good enough on my Facebook site. Here are a couple more pictures.

  Southern Iris?                                         Suzy and the Church tree                    So many southern mansions

We had an uneventful flight both ways on United Airlines, really were spoiled rotten at the Ritz Carlton hotel, and jammed 4 daze of music and activity into three. Arriving back home at 1 AM in Seattle on Monday morning, work was a challenge.

This exercise done by Brad Benefield (one bad ass bass player in a number of bands). He did it so well and it is only available to those on Facebook that I thought I’d share it with my blog posse. Well done Brad.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's kinda fun.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Your Artist: George Gershwin

Are you male or female: Here Come De Honey Man

Describe yourself: Jazzbo Brown

How do you feel about yourself: What Are We Here For

Describe where you currently live: Somebody from Somewhere

The first thing you think of when you wake up: Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: An American in Paris

Your favorite form of transportation: Drifting Along With the Tide

Your best friend is: Someone to Watch Over Me

Your favorite color is: Rhapsody in Blue

What's the weather like: Summertime

If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: Nice Work If You Can Get It

What is life to you: Slap That Bass

What is the best advice you have to give: It Ain't Necessarily So

If you could change your name, what would it be: King of Swing

Your favorite food is: Catfish Row

How I would like to die: Leaving For The Promised Land

My soul's present condition: How Long Has This Been Goin' On?

The faults I can bear: I Got Plenty of Nothin'

How would you describe your love life: Love Is Here To Stay

What are you going to post this as: Porgy's Lament

My coworker and friend Renee notes her fav quote: “But we're not knocking it. Facebook is all about lesser friends, and there's nothing wrong with second-tier.” Ouch! This from this article on MSN Tech:

 Facebook Updates: What Kind Do You Write?

After using Facebook for a while, you notice that people tend to say the same things over and over in their status updates. They are bored at work, they're behind on sleep, they have big news ─ or they just want to tell you how generally cool life is. We take a look at the 10 most common kinds of Facebook updates.

I gotta tell you, I wish I had said much of this to my Facebook peeps. Instead I will tell you how I cull my stream (on the home page) so that I only see posts from my bestest family and friends. I have told this to so many friends that I thought I’d post it for you.

1. Prune your friend list at least twice a year. If they haven’t said anything memorable in a year, they’re gone. Be brutal unless they are family.

2. On the HOME page when a person or comment comes that you don’t want to see in the future, glide your mouse cursor over the right-hand side of the comment where you can then see HIDE. Select the person, app, or both and you’ll not see them anymore.

That’s it. And it makes my time on Facebook short and to the point. I have found that many people are using Facebook en lieu of blogs or even email. Who’da thought.   :o)

For my sister who believes way to much of what she reads from her friends.  ;o)

Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel and the Sofitel Melbourne often attract visitors from around the world who want to visit a loo with a spectacular view. Now Queenstown's newest hotel, Sofitel Queenstown, is joining that prestigious list with the most eye-opening male toilet of them all.

The second floor men's toilet, which services the complex's restaurants including Bezu and Fatz Cat, has been tastefully and aesthetically designed by the complex's developers Cam Marsh and Mark Perriam of Perron, and Brett Taylor of Group CDA. It features six unique individual 'stands' manufactured by Three Sixty Limited in Auckland.

But it's not the tasteful design or subtle lighting that has tongues wagging in the New Zealand resort town.
It is the six-metre long backdrop of life-size photographs featuring local models in varying poses directly behind each of the six stands - each with a full view of the action.

One has a tape measure out, one a pair of binoculars, another has a camera, a fourth is peering over her glasses and so the list goes on. Queenstown photographer Sheena Haywood shot the images of models from local agency Ican -- after Auckland model agencies turned down the job when they heard where the images were going to be placed.

Read more…

My dad dropped this off at my house after an afternoon of 4th of July festivities including grilled food, happy kids, exuberant pets, and family talk.

“Despite the 15% stock market rally of the past month, a nice rebound from the early April lows, the bear market in stocks that began nearly 14 months ago may yet have some life remaining. But at that scary low point, even if you were a prudent investor, and even if you had seen the decline coming, you may well have had at least two second thoughts: "Why didn’t I cut back—or even eliminate!—my equity holdings a year ago?" And "What on earth should I do now?" – John Bogle, Founder of the very successful Vanguard Group.

Pillar 1: Investing is not nearly as difficult as it looks

Pillar 2: When all else fails, fall back on simplicity

Pillar 3: Time marches on

Pillar 5 Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Pillar 6: The eternal triangle

Pillar 7: The powerful magnetism of the mean

Pillar 8: Do not overestimate your ability to pick superior equity mutual funds nor underestimate your ability to pick superior bong and money market funds

Pillar 9: You may have a stable principal value or a stable income stream, but you may not have both

Pillar 10: Beware of “Fighting the Last War”

Pillar 11: You rarely, if ever, know something the market does not

Pillar 12: Think long-term

Read more…

In Chandler, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, more than a dozen subdivisions are unfinished because of the economic downturn. The developer of this abandoned model home, Michael Roberts, chief executive of Charlevoix Homes, intended to turn a 35-acre former alfalfa farm into a community of 92 luxury houses, with prices starting around $500,000.

Photo by Edgar Martins

During the boom, Charlevoix Homes grew to 32 employees; it was recognized in 2006 by the state’s small-business association as one of the “50 Arizona Companies to Watch.” According to The Arizona Republic, Roberts’s wife hosted a show about real estate on a local television station. Last August, Roberts filed for bankruptcy protection, listing $118 million in debts. A fence has been erected to protect the three unfinished model homes from damage.

See and read more in the New York Times ….