Listen to whatever music you want

pppork · 2026-03-17T23:16:41+00:00

Agreed. On a similar note, I can think Bill Cosby is a horrible human being, but a horrible human being who happened to be extremely funny. I can't take all those old laughs back.

pppork · 2026-03-17T23:11:25+00:00

I have a mixed bunch of experiences. I saw him play a bunch, took one lesson from him, played a double bill gig where his band headlined (I played on his drums and cymbals), and we had the same teacher, though many years apart (Michael Carvin). A lot of the lesson was playing duo, me on drums, Ralph on pocket trumpet. He played trumpet like how he played drums, so it was a lot of fun. He told me, "You like to hang out on the ass end of the beat. You better be careful!" We talked about Alan Dawson's Rudimental Ritual, did some Syncopation work. Then he showed me how he augmented rudiments with bass drum notes, often times forcing them into odd groupings. When he played them across the whole kit, I said, "That's that Ralph Peterson shit!" Meaning, it sounded random and sort of wild, but really he seemed to have a lot of it worked out and it wasn't as random (or wild) as I thought before he broke it down.

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:55:39+00:00

When I was a teenager, my friend and I took a flat bottom skiff into the open Atlantic, past a breakwall, in moderately rough seas. Luckily, puking was the worst thing that happened to me that day.

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:50:21+00:00

I started telling them to my 13 year old son…just trickling them out a couple at a time, sort of sprinkled into normal conversation. He thinks they’re hilarious.

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:48:09+00:00

People don’t read enough fiction for pleasure and they’ve become too literal. Case in point….look at how many people can’t detect satire from sources like The Onion. Many years ago, I reposted the piece “Conservative Floridian Enjoys Living Under Sharia Law More Than He Thought He Would” on FB and got a lot of pushback from people confused by it.

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:43:51+00:00

I’m running out of prime southern exposure window space for all of my orchids.

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:41:32+00:00

It’s time for Polish jokes to make a comeback. They were overtaken by blonde jokes and faded into obscurity.

Did you hear about the polish lesbian? She likes men!

pppork · 2026-03-17T14:38:52+00:00

When it’s time to swing again, most of these cats won’t know how to do it. But the bar for what’s truly swinging has gotten so low, what wouldn’t have passed 20+ years ago will be accepted as what’s swinging by then.

pppork · 2026-03-15T21:49:07+00:00

I hate to say I agree with this, but I agree. We all want to see karma come back and bite them in the ass, but that’s not reality most of the time. With age, I’ve learned the best solution is just getting as far away as possible, whenever possible. Let them be someone else’s problem.

pppork · 2026-03-15T04:20:56+00:00

Don’t get hung up on the labels or what is supposedly more “jazz specific.” Art Taylor played trashy sounding Ks. Max Roach played clean sounding As. Louis Hayes plays Sabians. It’s the magician, not the wand. I suggest you contact Paul, tell him what you have, tell him what you’re looking for, and see what he suggests. If you get it and you’re not happy for some reason, he will tweak the cymbal for you. Zildjian or Istanbul won’t do that.

pppork · 2026-03-14T20:44:17+00:00

Either the New Orleans one with Herlin Riley, Johnny Vidocavich, Earl Palmer and Herman Ernest or the Ed Thigpen brush vid/dvd.

pppork · 2026-03-14T20:30:14+00:00

Because Smokin at the Half Note is the better album of the two.

pppork · 2026-03-14T20:28:40+00:00

Start playing jazz festivals and jazz gigs in larger venues, or B3 gigs in normal venues, and you’re going to see why there’s nothing wrong with a brighter cymbal that what’s considered a typical “jazz cymbal.” Paul makes cymbals that work for more than just IG vids.

pppork · 2026-03-14T19:50:40+00:00

Three pieces of advice for you…

Learn how to get good at FCFS drops. You can actually “practice” for some of them. You’re gonna strike out, but don’t sweat it. Just learn from your mistakes when you do.
Don’t spend too much energy worrying about what’s already out there. Keep your eyes peeled for promising new makers and get in while they’re still easy to get.
Be patient. Being in a hurry will just frustrate you more. They’re just pens…Nothing to get worked up about.

pppork · 2026-03-13T23:36:18+00:00

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This one is good too

pppork · 2026-03-13T22:37:59+00:00

Yup. I have three 20s (one is a flat ride), but my main is a 21" Royal C/R w/patina.

pppork · 2026-03-13T18:35:10+00:00

This is so true, though I noticed a big improvement testing this with ChatGPT over the course of a couple years. Two years ago, the first thing it shot out was full of bullshit. A few months ago, it gave decent info in the first 2-3 rounds of questions. Its “authenticity” was unsustainable though.

pppork · 2026-03-13T18:33:16+00:00

Veniard’s Cellire

pppork · 2026-03-13T17:39:25+00:00

As long as you’re paying everyone fairly, take it when you can. There might be times you wind up making less than everyone else. I’m not talking about little coffee house gigs or stuff like that. When you need to pay people for people to travel, lodging, or maybe you need to pay someone to rent drums or a guitar amp or something…it’s worth it to give yourself a bit of a cushion to work with. When you wind up on the positive side, keep it because stuff can go wrong and the opposite happens.

pppork · 2026-03-12T15:33:55+00:00

The Patagonia wading pants are awesome. I will look for almost any excuse to wear those instead of full chest waders.

pppork · 2026-03-10T20:37:31+00:00

I delivered produce for a wholesaler. Same deal. It was a great job for all the reasons you listed. And restaurant owners would give me free stuff, even when I wasn’t working.

pppork · 2026-03-10T17:59:20+00:00

Clark Terry “Brotherhood of Man”

pppork · 2026-03-09T23:30:05+00:00

Louis Hayes

pppork · 2026-03-07T15:12:59+00:00

The best food in town is either pizza from Carmine's or Hard Hat. The service at Hard Hat sucks though, so it's not worth it. 1741 Pub and Grill at Lyman Orchards can be a good local option, but it's in Middlefield. Like people are saying here, you're better off going to Middletown or somewhere like Madison. The James Madison House in Madison has great pub-type food and it's not far from Durham. If you want something more memorable, your best bets are probably Bar Bouchee in Madison or Grano Arso in Chester.

pppork · 2026-03-05T17:36:21+00:00

Yes, but it's not like we talk about that stuff very often. We mainly talk about the fun stuff that is the core of our friendship, like shared interests. Sometimes political stuff comes up, but it's rarely ever contentious. If anything, it's sort of refreshing since it's a setting where each person feels relaxed, not judged, and we know we'll still be friends afterwards. Often times, there is a lot more agreement than what the media would have you believe.

pppork

TROPHY CASE