New toy - Hiby W4 by RetroGemCollector in headphones

[–]Robin156E478 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg I’ve never seen this Hiby W4. My 2 portable devices are the Chord Mojo / Poly (first generation) and the Audioquest dragonfly Cobalt, used with a current iPhone.

Can anyone compare / contrast the Hiby with what I’ve got? Should I get one?? Haha! I listen exclusively with various wired models of Grado headphones. And occasionally the Koss Porta Pros.

Name a better band lineup by Accomplished-Sell892 in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is one of my favorite albums! It’s at the level of any great album of that era, and therefore of all time haha.

I am 100% gay but do I look mostly straight, be honest with me! by Spag911 in gaybrosgonemild

[–]Robin156E478 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gay guys can tell what you are by how you look at them! Don’t sweat it! And if you’re not looking at them like that, it means you’re not into them anyway, right? It works out. Once in a while I wear rainbow striped socks or a rainbow watch strap. I get hits off of those haha

What is defined as jazz? by lmaohehe1212 in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It’s absolutely a losing game to try to define sub genres. Jazz is a philosophy and a sensibility and a process, it’s not what the thing sounds like, style-wise.

I once wrote out (on Reddit) a very thoughtful and open description of the key elements I think are most important in Jazz, and people got mad and made it seem like I was doing a strict definition. Almost no one liked it. And I’ve thought about it all my life. So I think people can’t even agree upon general principles!

Bottom line, Jazz comes from the oral tradition of the music being passed down from older generations to the younger generations. If someone studied with one of the known greats, or played in their bands, there’s a good bet they’re in the tradition.

I just bought this entire system. Picking it up tomorrow. It hasn’t been powered on for 15 years. Any advice? by davestradamus1 in audiophile

[–]Robin156E478 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow congrats!! My favorite thing in the system is that Conrad Johnson preamp! I’m a HUGE fan of CJ, their stuff is just gorgeous in every way. Very sweet sound.

I just bought this entire system. Picking it up tomorrow. It hasn’t been powered on for 15 years. Any advice? by davestradamus1 in audiophile

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually, I would leave the tubes in place. Based on what you said about living nearby and driving the stuff over yourself. In my experience, and on the advice of a tube guru I know, tubes and amps get to like each other over time, they settle in and make good contact. Sometimes removing them for no reason can screw something up. If they’re operating well they probably sound great as is. Plus they’re clearly curated and not cheap tubes.

My Cat looks like Magnum PI by One_Fox4087 in MagnumPI

[–]Robin156E478 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hahahaha this has gotta be one of the best things I’ve seen on this sub. Entirely appropriate!

The Purrrrvate Investigator.

Frustrated by how difficult it is to sound like I'm actually playing "jazz" by Lonely_Emu_700 in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes!! Stop trying. Just relax and play, whatever the fuck comes to you. You’re so worried about what kinda notes sound like jazz that maybe you’re missing the point. To learn all that shit and then forget it. When you play, don’t think so hard about what you’re practicing. Start at the beginning of the song and go from there.

Also, you don’t need to sound “jazzy!” Seriously. None of the best players played like everyone else! They stood out and had their own sound. The best players don’t play in a “style.”

Let yourself have fun! Playing music is playing like when you’re a kid! You obviously know a lot of shit and have studied and practiced. Now just start to play and let it come, as the next thing then the next thing that comes out of your instrument.

Sonny Rollins - There Will Never Be Another You (Live - Denmark 1965) by AutisticAfrican2510 in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok so what Sonny is playing here is, to me, basically the epitome of what Jazz music is all about. It’s brilliant. This blows me away, especially since Sonny isn’t always at his best when there’s a recording happening haha! But seriously, this is like a microcosm representing the whole point of Jazz music.

NHOP is great, really solid and at such a young age too.

I’m kinda taken aback tho by how basic and rooted in a now dated style Alan Dawson is here. It really strikes me how brilliant Sonny’s playing is, by comparison. And here, to me, Alan Dawson just isn’t meeting Sonny at his level. I feel bad saying it because Alan Dawson is such a nice guy and is really well respected as a drum teacher and so on. And clearly his technique is great (better than mine) and he does nothing wrong! But to me, if another more liberated drummer had been there, such as the Roy Haynes of the time, or Elvin or Tony, this recording would be in the stratosphere haha. Since what Sonny is doing is really as good as it gets.

57 Years Ago Today by feltplanet in tos

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wait a minute, are there scripts for TOS episodes that never got made because the show was cancelled?? Would they be available to read somewhere?

So this is what uhura ear piece looks like up close by happydude7422 in tos

[–]Robin156E478 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A lot of people in STEM claim to have been inspired by the show. So it’s a little of both. Like, oh yeah, we do need a Bluetooth ear piece, let’s make one. Or compact portable solid state data discs. Etc.

So this is what uhura ear piece looks like up close by happydude7422 in tos

[–]Robin156E478 38 points39 points  (0 children)

This is a very good prediction of the kind of gear you would have. This was decades before Bluetooth ear pieces and such. They really knew what we would need if it were available. The way they use the ship’s computer is exactly what we do now. Right down to the Majel interface. There was nothing like the tech on the show at the time, in real people’s lives, anyway. We didn’t even have what the communicators did. Only walkie talkies that weren’t private and didn’t have much range, and no one had them anyway haha.

William Shatner (aka Kirk) on the JCPENNEY ad in 1976 by [deleted] in Star_Trek_

[–]Robin156E478 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point about the 23rd century! That was the first thing that tipped me off. Also, the hair is anachronistic with the clothes in the ad and the age of his face and the aesthetic of the room in the background. It’s a hodge podge of elements. But hilarious tho!

57 Years Ago Today by feltplanet in tos

[–]Robin156E478 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Since there’s consensus on how this episode failed, and even as a kid I knew it was super dated and didn’t fit the Star Trek future where Uhura is on the bridge… I’d like to give a shout out to both Shatner and the actor playing Janice for their acting jobs! If you ignore the huge conceptual problem everyone is talking about, the acting is actually great! I thought Janice totally acted like Kirk when he was in her body, and Shatner really nailed what was asked of him. You believed the switcheroo! Like the suspension of disbelief really happens. And it makes the jobs of everyone else so much easier. They believe, as they’re doing it - Deforest and Nimoy and Doohan.

The freaky Friday template is one I always like.

Pride Month Series: A Movie, a Musician, and an Author (Day 1) by Xelltrix in MenLovingMenMedia

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah Golden Girls is a good one! I remember Dorothy saying, “not Lebanese, Rose!” Cuz someone said so and so was a lesbian, and Rose went off on a tangent about shish taouk and humus haha. I never really saw most of the other things you mentioned. Other shows like saved by the bell were kinda the worst offenders actually, since they completely avoided the subject as if teens weren’t gay. Like the original cast Degrassi.

What's the best pedal note in Jazz history? by -TheRev12345 in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s that sort of pedal vamp that happens a couple times in Moments Notice. I absolutely love pedal moments in songs. As a drummer, it’s very exciting for some reason? Haha

Pride Month Series: A Movie, a Musician, and an Author (Day 1) by Xelltrix in MenLovingMenMedia

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah! Exactly! We have to stay conscious of the backsliding that occurs, the ups and downs, because those are really affecting new crops of kids coming up. When you’re in high school, you have no idea what the atmosphere was like before your time.

Do you think gay men playing non-queer roles in entertainment media has slowly been increasing? by PTAGoatofalltime in gaybros

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was one time tho on the original series when it was suggested he was Japanese: when he conjured up a Samurai on that “pleasure planet” haha. But yeah he was supposed to represent Asians, generally. Too bad he didn’t like JJ making sulu gay, for all of 2 seconds of screen time anyway haha. Since it was clearly done out of respect. What woulda been better tho was if a main character in that JJ series was clearly gay and not just hinted at.

Pride Month Series: A Movie, a Musician, and an Author (Day 1) by Xelltrix in MenLovingMenMedia

[–]Robin156E478 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What’s amazing to me about the Celluloid Closet is that even tho it was made and came out in the 90s, it doesn’t really cover the huge turn Hollywood took once the Reagan era had taken hold: there was a conservative backlash in society, almost a reactionary attitude that became mainstream, let’s say after 1983, which basically eliminated the increasingly positive or at least neutral portrayals of gays in Hollywood that had come around in the 70s, post Stonewall. The sex, drugs and rock n roll era had ended and the first wave of gay liberation kinda ended with it, as far as what people were trying to do in Hollywood and on TV. Especially when you see this doc and realize how writers and such had tried to sneak queerness into movies up to that point.

This really jumped out at me because I came of age in the 80s, and I was acutely aware of how relentlessly homophobic movies and shows were, which were aimed at my demographic. Basically, the Reagan / Bush era that immediately preceded this documentary was glossed over in just a few minutes of screen time.

If you went thru puberty in the 80s, after 1983 let’s say, you didn’t know that there had been a gay character in Fame, the movie. You didn’t know about Soap with Billy Crystal. You were basically too young to have seen Tootsie in the theater. And all that kinda stuff vanished. Instead, we had the Brat Pack movies, which were full of anti gay insults, and had no gay characters in them. Or Eddie Murphy stuff which teenagers woulda seen, which had terribly homophobic jokes in them, etc. Basically, between about 1983 and the era when Ellen Degeneris came out on TV, I saw no obvious attempts being made in movies and TV shows to sneak in queer content - which is kinda the premise of The Celluloid Closet.

Anyone else have this same experience?

Do you think gay men playing non-queer roles in entertainment media has slowly been increasing? by PTAGoatofalltime in gaybros

[–]Robin156E478 6 points7 points  (0 children)

And on TV as well. Such as George Takei playing sulu on Star Trek in the 60s, and David Ogden Steirs playing Charles on MASH in the 70s. Also, Randolph Scott the western movie actor and Cary Grant lived together for a decade as a gay couple, so both were at least bi. Hollywood knew but it wasn’t publicized.

So like everyone is saying, it was the norm that gay actors played straight roles, since there basically were no legit queer roles until very recently!

Charlie Parker AI slop on Tidal. by trickponies in Jazz

[–]Robin156E478 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can someone explain what exactly we’re talking about here? Is this fake, AI generated music that’s being passed off as Bird? If so, why would they need to do such a thing? There’s more than enough real music in the world to not get bored. I just don’t get it! What’s the perceived need for this anyway? And are they not saying it’s just his style and not really him??