JJ
Social Media and All That Jazz
I went down to Blues Alley last night to see my favorite jazz artist, Arturo Sandoval. Arturo is one of the greatest musicians alive and has an amazing life story. I mean, how many people can say that Dizzy Gillespie helped them escape from communist Cuba? (Check out the movie about his life starring Andy Garcia: For Love or Country)
Arturo is a Twitter user and as usual social media played a role in my adventures. Enter Jimmie Bise of The Sundries Shack and The Delivery fame.
@sandovalarturo1 Sir, my friend @anthropocon (a huge fan) is at your DC show tonight. If you have time, would you say hello to him after?
— Jimmie (@jimmiebjr) May 17, 2013
@jimmiebjr @anthropocon Absolutely Just come up the dressing room after showIt’ll be my pleasure
— Arturo Sandoval (@sandovalarturo1) May 17, 2013
@sandovalarturo1 Thank you! I’ll have him bring this tweet. You’ll make his day.
@anthropocon
— Jimmie (@jimmiebjr) May 17, 2013
Awesome, right? Except for one thing: being a polite music lover, I had turned off my phone for the show and didn’t see this exchange (or the text message Jimmie sent me about it) until after I was already out on the street and people were filing in for the second show.
@sandovalarturo1 @jimmiebjr Argh! I had my phone turned off for the show and didn’t see this until after we left!
— Jim J (@anthropocon) May 18, 2013
@sandovalarturo1 It was an excellent show as always though. I was right in front of Ed. You guys are all amazing players. @jimmiebjr
— Jim J (@anthropocon) May 18, 2013
@anthropocon @jimmiebjr thank u very much
— Arturo Sandoval (@sandovalarturo1) May 18, 2013
Social media is so cool.
Buy Arturo’s new album Dear Diz. Go see him play when he comes to your town. You won’t regret it. He’s still got two more nights at Blues Alley this time so if you’re near DC see if you can still get tickets. A great performer and a really good guy. Support live jazz.
If you can’t do any of that at least check him out on YouTube.
Special Effects Pioneer Ray Harryhausen Dies at 92
I was always fascinated by the stop motion animated monsters in the old creature features. Most of that work was done by Ray Harryhausen. Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, It Came From Beneath the Sea, Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth…the list goes on. Sadly, Mr. Harryhausen passed away today at age 92. Here’s a sampling of his work.
MD Democrat: IT’S MY JOB TO TALK AND YOUR JOB TO LISTEN
At a park scheduled to become a new elementary school, Baltimore County executive Kevin Kamenetz showed true Democrat colors this week when confronted by citizens who oppose the construction. Protesters say county officials have refused to meet with them so Kamenetz shouting, “It’s my job to talk and your job to listen,” probably was absolutely the worst possible thing to say.
This sort of attitude seems typical for members of the Maryland Democrat machine, whether it’s a county executive building a school or a U.S. Senator forcing Obamacare down people’s throats. Delegate Justin Ready apparently concurs.
@anthropocon That pretty much sums up #MDDems attitude. Need voters to rise up & change that & #GOP candidates to show that they’ll listen
— Justin Ready (@JustinReady) April 28, 2013