None of the pictures that come up in an "images" Google search on my name are me.
None of the pictures that come up in an "images" Google search on my name are me.
October 28, 2005 at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Back, and, I hope, bad...The last birthday dinner was held last night, as Ann Patterson (7/30) and I got together for our kinda-annual celebration. She brought along the great sax player/composer/arranger Buddy Collette (7/30) and a few more friends with Leo dates. We saw "Cookin' At The Cookery," the bio play on Alberta Hunter. This is a cool piece of theatre--great music and performances by two actors playing several parts between them including Hunter at various ages and the people in her life, male and female, old and young. An on-stage band adds a lot. Nice to see bassist Tony Dumas in the band, as well as guitarist Ron Muldrow.
More later--work calls..
August 09, 2004 at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Today, the monitor arrived from Dell, overnight, in fact. Not bad service, really. I haven't plugged it in yet, but I'm thinking it's gonna work y'know? Gave Albina the perfect surprise b'day dinner tonight--six of her girlfriends at Campanile for sandwich night. She was totallly surprised, which was fun to see.
Worked yesterday on a pilot shoot for "Entertainment Tonight." I had Bobby Korda and Tony Doria sereneding Halle Barry as Steve Cojocaru interviewed her and romanced (not likely) her. I must admit, it was a cute bit of nothing, and, yes, she's perfect. Pix to follow; they're on a roll of film which I have to shoot out.
Beach tomorrow, no work. Check Kevin's site for all the G4/Tech TV stuff. Patrick is gone, Cat is gone (go here for that).
July 15, 2004 at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Yesterday, I got a call from Dell in response to my letter. A nice guy in Executive Technical Crankiness, or something, was eager to hear my complaints. He promised that Dell had no wish to render bad support, etc., etc., assured me that heads would roll, blah blah. I'm sure he's sincere, as much as that matters. I just wonder how high this stuff really goes--when he promises to forward my complaints, does this mean that I'll become the source of boozy laughter at the Bangalore Christmas party, or, exactly, what?
The long and the short is they're giving me a 19" LCD monitor for less than half price, and they're picking up shipping and tax. Apparently the $300 blood money was, ah, unauthorized, but wholesale on accesories is cool. It's true then, I can be bought, but only if the price is right. It's also true that I've had good luck with Dell hardware so far, it's just the service that stinks. If that point is made, and they're willing to acknowledge the incredible mess I went through, then good for them, and good for me.
The Monktet gig was great, if little heard and seen. Pix are up, as well as pix from Santa Fe gig last week. Saw "Farenheit 9/11" last night. Everyone needs to see this film, and see it before election day.
July 13, 2004 at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OK, first off: the last posting was a lie. Not a real lie, 'cause I thought I was backed up, but, boy howdy.. Here's the deal: I needed to re-install Win XP here in the studio. Simple enough, right? My mistake was that I called Dell tech support for some advice, and the advice was wrong in a big way, and all the data on my 120 gig drive got burned. Even though I told the tech that I had two drives on the bus, even as she congratulated my foresight when I said that I had backed up to a combination of CDs and to a second, internal, drive, even as I asked for her assurance that she wasn't causing the second drive to be partitioned in the process of installing Windows on the primary drive, it was all happening--the partition, the reformatting of the non-bootable drive, the whole disaster unfolding. When I rebooted, I found only one hard disk in the system. Yes there are companies that can get this stuff back even after a repartitioning (that's how they caught Enron and Adelphia even when the bad guys thought they had gotten away clean)--maybe, but they don't promise anything, and you pay up front, even if it doesn't work. And you pay pretty good, $1200 to $1500,to start, AND IT MAY NOT EVEN WORK. If I'm going to gamble, I'll go to Frankie on the corner; I like his odds better.
Anyway, that big 120 gig drive was all music--a lot of music--mine, and maybe yours. Demos and source cues for "That's My Bush," "Arrested Development," "Scorpion King," "General's Daughter" and more. I have mixdowns on CDs for the most part, but the basic tracks are gone, as are a lot of my own demos. some of which were works-in-progress. In fact, if you've recorded here in the last few years, I hope you've saved your mixes, and I hope you're happy with them 'cause the tracks are gone, baby. You may want to give me a call, in fact...
And, then apres-ca, le deluge--trying to get Dell to deal with this was the real disaster in terms of lost time. Hours--days, really, spent on the phone, shuttling from tech-support to customer service and back, as they tried to first figure who to blame, then how to avoid compensating me, then, finally, who should compensate me and for how much.
A word of advice, bitterly learned--when a Dell tech support operator says he will call you back at an appointed time, do not fall for that. When the tech gives you an extension to call if he doesn't reach you--don't believe that one either, especially if it's ext. 48111. That is the tech-support voicemail motel--messages get in, but they don't get out (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA) into which all calls disappear, never to be seen or heard (let alone returned) again in this world or the next. And, they are not above giving out random-numbered extensions that don't even exist in the system, just to get a really great laugh in the ops break room over tea and dal, no doubt. And, keep all of your customer identification numbers handy--you'll give them, as well as your complete name/address/phone number to each and every operator and tech you speak with, for "identification purposes," of course. Yep, each one. And customer service ops are totally clueless about computers, so you'd better keep a tech-support op on the line, just in case.
And then, after I had reinstalled WinXP, written off the data (o lost!), reloaded the stuff I had assiduously backed up to CDs before the re-formatting, I thought Iwas sitting pretty. I even wrote it here, in this very blog. But noooooooo--I then began to get low memory page warnings. Yes, that install had gone bad, so, at two AM, I first did a repair, then another reinstall. This one seems to be stable, so far, and it's been over a week since then. All programs and data are back up and running and for good now, I hope.
After most of the swelling had subsided, I did not let all this fiddle-dee-dee go on without a response, and I finally got an offer of $300 from the bastards, which I turned down with thanks. That was it for phone stuff; I've now got a letter working its way through the system at "Executive Support," the highest iteration of Dell customer service (and I use that term advisedly). I worked myself into the very highest of high dudgeon for that letter, I'll tell you. Funny thing is, I have really liked this Dell computer (Dimension 8200); it's been a great workhorse for me and has been, essentially, trouble-free. I'd buy another; hell, I probably will buy another. But like other companies I've encountered lately (Closet World comes to mind, and they've been out here twice; and our last housepainter) the product itself is fine, but the after-sales service is shitty.
It's been a journey, notable most for the sheer amount of time that it took between the actual computer mess and just dealing with it. Hard to believe that the better part of two weeks, all I did was talk to Dell and gig. My family saw the signs of impending doom and left me alone, for the most part. I saw Sarah desultorily leafing through some Mac literature, and don't think I wasn't tempted too.
So there you have it...Sorry if I've been a recluse lately, but you at least know that the time was well spent. Yeah, right. Watch this space for the thrilling conclusion.
July 09, 2004 at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I'm back up in the studio. Thanks to all who have leant sympathy or advice. I'm waiting to see what Dell is going to do; meanwhile, if you have recorded here or if I have scored for you, you may want to give a call. I'll post the whole sordid tale as soon as the swelling goes down a bit more.
Good TechTv news here.
June 23, 2004 at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Two Dell tech support calls later, and a lot of reboots, and I'm back up. There is still a lot to do--a ton of drivers to reinstall, all the MIDI stuff and Cubase and Cool Edit and the Gina drivers alone. Oy! And I'm still getting a black screen before Windows opens up, so we'll have to see about that. A whole day has gone into this so far, and I'm not nearly through yet, but I've gotta rest.
Later.
June 18, 2004 at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I'm in the special circle of hell reserved for those with weird computer problems. To make a long day shorter, I think I'm heading straight for an XP reinstall, so I'm backing up a lot of data now, Just to be sure, of course. This after a not-too-helpful call to Dell tech support, outsourcing at its very best. The tech there is apparently geared to people who know absolutely nothing at all. Why not ask a few questions, see if I'm up to speed? When she started to spell "c-o-n-f-i..." I'd just had enough, that's all, and I told her so. Nicely, but firmly, I hope. So I'm backing up, prepping reformatting the disk and doing the XP thing, followed by acres of drivders to reinstall and troubleshoot. Give a call--I'll be here all day. Giggy this week too-Tues, Weds, Thurs, Sat. It all comes to a halt after this week though. I'm open; just call.
June 18, 2004 at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Back to it after a nice one-day gig trip to SF. I really think San Jose may have the best climate in the country. So much easier to fly into SJC and drive into the city. No worries re weather delays and other SFO bullshit.
Yesterday I was on a panel as part of the Global Entertainment Conference back here in LA. That sounds much more grand than it really is. It was so cool to be seated with the great arranger Jimmie Haskell. If he had never done anything after "Ode To Billy Joe" (and he has done much) he'll always be revered for that chart alone. As far as the rest of the afternoon--I don't think we covered much of what had been planned, unfortunately. A five-person panel with only one hour to talk--how much can you really do? I know we didn't talk much about sidelines and the various ways that music gets into a picture, but maybe next time.
TechTV News is all from Canada--Leo is going to TechTV Canada to do a new version of CFH. Now--how do we get that down here? And why are they so smart up there--it's the same company, eh?
June 14, 2004 at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The best comment on Ronald Reagan comes from Ben Stiller's character in "Flirting With Disaster." Seeing a hack portrait of Reagan to on his (presumtive) birth-mother's wall, he says with some discomfort (I'm paraphrasing, but it's close to this) "I always felt like I could have appreciated him more." There's a liberal's true discomfort with the whole Reagan thing, in one sentence: I'm certainly no fan, but this was an immensely popular man and politician, though he never seemed very likable to me, with his pettiness and narrow, paranoid worldview. He touted "family values" but was alienated from his children; was unflinching in his devotion to lowering taxes but tripled the federal deficit; as governor of California he was pro-abortion rights and a friend to environmental crusaders; percieived as a strong leader, he was obviously at sea in the world of White House protocol easily manipulated. A mass of contradictions, but often seen as a simple ideaologue. Go figure.
TechTV news: Kevin's site says he's moving to LA. Sarah's still mum; Cat has a chat tonight at 5PM our time, Leo's vague . If Patrick doesn't move to LA, who's up? The boards are full of hue-and-cry; G4 seems to be saying they'll be responsive to viewer sentiment, but really, will they? By the way, if you mistype G4, most commonly you get G$. Coincidence? I think not.
Nice gigs this week, with Chris Larson last night, and a cool jazz quartet I led for Steve Rawlins on Saturday.
June 07, 2004 at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
P.G. Wodehouse: The Jeeves and Wooster Omnibus
It never gets old. Never.
Jean-Noel Bassior: "Space Patrol"
My sister's book. I'm so proud of her! It's also a really cool book about early TV and making a show out of nothing.