We don't fill in a formula of departments and features and tips and quips every hour every day every week.We're jamming.
We just make up our content on the fly. No going back. No edits. Mainlining others' thoughts.
Lock and Load. Fire and forget.
It's like an endless orchestra of brain musicians high on brain jazz.
If you can type and have something to say, you can sit in on the session and jam.
If you can take it high, if you can take it low, if you can tie it in a knot, if you can tie it in a bow. If you can throw it o'er your shoulder like a continental soldier...
You. Can. Play.
You can play. Any number can play. ANY NUMBER can play a number and that number is always an unknown number. But if you can play unknown numbers you can sit in on the session and jam.
If not, you can just login and kick back and watch the others go at it.
You never know what you're going to get, or which way the next person is going to bend the thread in your head.
You're just there, in real time, and saying, really, whatever comes into your head.
Sometimes its flat, even more often predictable, and, yes, it can get really boring.... just like a lot of modern jazz.
But still, there are times -- rarer now to be sure -- when the whole thing....
Just. Takes. Off....
And you find yourself thinking things you never thought you'd think remembering licks long forgotten and saying things you never planned to say to a lot of people who are coming right back at you, jamming harder and seeing if you can all somehow take it higher.
Not to be profound, just to take it around. It's like being in a Doctor Strange far out on the range in an intellectual groove and you've got lift off.
Have this happen a couple of time and you're hooked, man. Like me, man.
I've been hooked for years, man....
but it doesn't rule my life,
.... man.
First published here in 2003, but written for The Well in 1989.
Posted by Vanderleun at April 10, 2011 11:59 AM | TrackBack
Can't say that I do jazz. At best I hope for strands of fantasia, but most of the time it's idle brain farts. But the best any of us can really hope for is to spark an idea in a reader. Where the idea leads to, that's up to others.
So we write about what we consider important enough to write about. You of failed attempts at apostolic rehabilitation (rather reminiscent of the Middle Kingdom attempts to rehabilitate Set), and I of imaginary paleontology. And if we entertain somebody besides ourselves, cool.
But what we're really doing is entertaining ourselves. Pleasing ourselves as the old song put it. For if we weren't interested in what we write, we wouldn't do near the job we manage to achieve. And out there is somebody or somebodies who actually like your toodlings on the sax, or my noodlings on the piano. Or whatever forced musical metaphor you prefer.
If we can amuse, entertain, spark then we have done well.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg at April 17, 2006 9:50 PMSometimes its flat, even more often predictable, and, yes, it can get really boring.... just like a lot of modern jazz.
But still, there are times -- rarer now to be sure -- when the whole thing....
Just. Takes. Off....
That little thing, when you know something is right, is worth a lot. Like when I get the turn of the phrase just right in a brief. Or when the quip just appears on the tongue.
Still.
To inflict self-indulgence on an audience as you search for that right combination is a lot to ask of an audience. To spend two of their hours as you search in your pockets seems to be a bit much to ask. 'Stick around, I'll produce something magical' is a heck of a thing to ask and do, and that kind of serendipity can't be conjured at will. The muse comes in her own time.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at August 20, 2009 4:15 PMWho let the theremin player take over the White House? That cat is harshin' the mellow.
.
Posted by: Joan of Argghh! at August 20, 2009 7:12 PMBanjos,bass,fiddles,guitars,gospel,harmony. Yeah that'll do
Posted by: Circe at August 20, 2009 7:44 PMWhere's Ken Nordine when you need him?
Posted by: Rich Fader at April 10, 2011 9:42 PMThe Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it'll do even better in those areas, but for now it's a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod's strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
Posted by: 5815 ugg boots at January 16, 2012 1:00 AM"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated to combat spam and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.
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