Economics

Well, I haven't been on this rant for quite sometime and want to not try to make this a rant but rather explain some things, maybe even get some perspecitve from other people to see what they think.

The issue of covers / minimums have come up recently at The Cellar. Now as I have probably said before if I had a dime for everytime someone gave me a suggestion or said 'the problem with The Cellar is...." I would be very rich man. I also admit that at times I can be somewhat stubborn and a tad defensive. I do however take what people have to say to heart and often think about criticisms, suggestions etc. in the few private moments that I do have.

Running a jazz club is an econmoic nightmare and there are so many 'x' factors on whether or not we're going to have a good week, a bad week etc. Let me break down some things and make some comparisons.

Last night I went to a good friend of mines for dinner. I bought six pack ($15.00) and went to his place and listened to some great records. I had a great night and it was a lot of fun. For the same price I could've come to The Cellar and heard the fantastic music of Zapato Negro. $5 cover which for that band is cheap and what I feel is a measly $10 minimum (I'm saying this as if I'm not the owner) I should say that on Wednesday nights we have made a huge effort to make it affordable. $5 cover, $7 appies and $3.75 pints of beer.

On Tuesday I went and saw 'Little Miss Sunshine' at the movies for $8.00, before the show some friends came over for some cocktails which I provided and a rough cost of $2 per person (3 people, 2 drinks each) totalling $12.00. Total for teh night $19.00. A fun night (great movie by the way). I could've stayed home and practiced and saved my money and come to The Cellar on Thursday to hear Al Matheson's New Orleans North for $10 cover and a $10 minimum. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Its a personal choice and its perception. No one ever even considers spending money on booze at the liquor store, cds at A&B Sound, movies whether they are good or crappy, marijuana, $5 lattes from Starbucks etc. but as soon as you have to pay (in the case of Wednesday night) $15 to hear one set of music (if you come for the second set) seems to have some people up in arms. The Cellar provides the Wedneday night band at a loss if there are less than 80 people in the room. We have to pay staff, rent, hydro, gas, phone, food costs and on and on and on. We are providing fantastic entertainment (most nights the best in the city) and our food and service have never been better in the past 6 years in my opinion and in the opinion of a lot of customers lately.

You could argue that we don't advertise our policies enough etc but its a fine line between accosting people with policies and rules and having faith in people that they understand the drill. We do our best to advertise the rules on our site, the girls to a good job and explaining people as they come in and Joanne (our reso girl) does a great job and making sure that people are aware of what the covers and minimums are.

If you want to see a movie you have to pay, if you want to drink booze at a friends you have to pay, if you want to drink fancy coffees from Starbucks you have to pay and if you want to see high quality music in an optimum environment you have to pay. I do everything in my power to keep ticket prices low (to low) and minimums to a fair and respectable level.

My suggestion for people that just want to come to the club for 1 cup of coffee at $2 per person and listen to music and not pay a minimum is to go to Starbucks and get a tall, nonfat, hazelnut, whipped, double dripped, yada yada yada and buy their compilation CD 'Jazz For Lovers' and enjoy the music in the comfort of their own home. Im not being a smart ass, Im being quite sincere. I don't think there is anything wrong with it. As the owner of The Cellar, I often choose to stay home and sip a martini and put on a record instead of going out to hear live music.

I absolutely love The Cellar and I love the people who continuously support us, the musicians who play here and the staff that work here. In the end however I have absolutely no control over what people perceive as a to much or to little. I do what I feel is far and try to provide a place for people to come and enjoy high quality food, service and music. In the end its really not my decision as to whether people want to pay for it or not. Its the decision of the people that do come and pay. Im only asking that before people complain they really think about whats going on here and make the same comparison that I made above and ask 'is it really any different?' The answer to me is NO, its no different.

I don't want this post to sound confrontational or accusatory. Im just expressing some general view points and addressing some things that have recently come up.

Day 15

Well, our trip has come to the end. A great run here in NYC but I have to say we're ready to come home. 2 weeks is a little long in NYC especially on the pocket book. As we both thought, our last days would be spent running around buying a few things that we overlooked or passed on during the first few weeks. Alana found a great store on Jim Rotondi's suggestion called Filene's Basement. Some killing deals once again. I left her there for a few hours while I went and searched for a Lou Donaldson record. I wanted one for him to sign when we saw him later that night. We came home and relaxed for a few hours before heading to 106th and Central Park West, the old stomping grounds of Duke Ellington. Jazz Mobile is a great organization that puts on these summer concerts on a trailer that is pulled by a big pick up truck. Its pretty funny. Ellington Plaza was packed. The first set was a singer named Cynthia Scott. She sounded good but the main event was Papa Lou Donaldson. It was amazing at least for 2 songs then this singer came up for the rest of the set and Lou was as disappointed as I was but that was the gig. Lou sounded killing for 2 songs. Perdido and Caravan and then as I said the gig was kind of ruined by this singer but oh well! Rotondi as usual ripped it up! I met Lou which was a thrill and had him sign my album. Im starting to build up a nice little collection of signed album covers: Walton, Fathead, Donaldson, Monty Alexander, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, Charles McPherson, Tom Harrell, Mulgrew Miller, Houston Person etc. Anyways, after the show we went with Ian and Jim to a fantastic Indian restaurant for the best meal of the trip so far and then headed to Smoke for a quick night cap and then home!

Day 14

Things are definitely winding down here in the big city. We have seen a lot of stuff in the short time we have been here and its been really incredible! We took it easy for the better part of the day today, just hanging out. We went down to 42nd Street again and met Jim Rotondi for dinner at a great pub....the name escapes me. For me it was the best meal that I had so far. Beef Sirloin Stew!! Wow, it was really happening. We checked out Jim's new apartment which is very cool. He just moved into a bigger place and he's pretty excited about it. We then headed down to 50th Avenue (off Broadway) to check out our show. Altar Boyz. It was freaking hilarious. Im not much of a musically fanatic but I have to say this was a really awesome show. Alana and I were laughing throughout the whole thing. It helped being in the third row center so you could really get a sense of what was happening. Going in I think we were a tad disappointed, perhaps settling for this one instead of forking out the bread to see Avenue Q but after the show we didn't feel we had settled at all. It was great!

We stayed down in Times Square and had a drink or two before heading back Uptown to our Harlem Home.

On the agenda for today: LOU FREAKING DONALDSON free in the park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and some shopping.

Day 13

Today was a very very chill day. Not much to report. We went down to Times Square to hang out and see if we could score some cheap Broadway tickets. Score we did. 2 tickets to Altar Boyz, 3rd row center for $40 each which is a huge score. We're going tonight. It was really really muggy today again so after that we came home and chilled out in the comfort of Ian's air conditioned room and then went for dinner. It was hilarious because we ran into Roger Lent on the street. Roger is a great trumpet player/piano player that I went to North Texas with. He was with his friend, or girlfriend and they invited us to join them for dinner. It was a very pleasant suprise and we just hung out, had some food and just chatted!

Thats it!

Day 12

Central Park was on the agenda yesterday. It appeared to be a perfect day, kind of overcast and it looked like it wasn't going to be to hot. Boy were we wrong. It wasn't really hot but it was by far the muggiest day since we've been here. We started the day off right by taking Ian to a nice breakfast at The Kitchenette. He has been so good to us here. Then it was down to Central Park. We actually took a really nice walk through the park to get to the Loeb Boathouse where they rent bikes. They only had these little piddly cruisers left, one speed and almost falling apart but I have to say they did the trick. It took us about 40 minutes to ride around the park and it was beautiful. It was neat being in the middle of NYC in park. It was full of runners, roller bladers, bikers, boaters, roller skaters, dog walkers.....you'd think you were at Stanley Park minus the water. We stopped and took some nice pictures. The ride was actually quite a good work out. The whole park is 6 miles around.

After the park we headed down to the World Trade Center site. Alana had never been and I think its important that if you're in NYC you go to the WTC site. It was pretty glum. Not a lot to look at other than big hole but there were lots of tributes in the way of art and plaques to read and look at. It really gave us a sense of what went on that terrible day. On tv there have been a lot of specials on 9/11 I guess because of the upcoming 5 year anniversary. We didn't stick around to long. What we did find however was a store called Century 21. Oh boy, if I had more money it would be like hitting a jackpot. I have never ever seen a store with a sale like this. Up to this point we have seen a lot of cheap clothes in NYC but they are just that, cheap!! Century 21 was name brand and quality stuff on for sooooo cheap. Alana was in heaven, so much so that I think she's going to go back before we go home and look again when there aren't so many people.

We headed home, ordered some good Italian food and hung with Ian. I can't tell you how great this guy is. He really is a wonderful cat. We have been listening to his new record which sounds great. We went for drinks at TOAST and met Adam Scone there (a great Hammond B3 player) and just hung out, drank and ate! Good friends, good drinks, good food....good time!

Day 11 and a forgotten story from Day 10

Another good day in NYC. We walked through Central Park and down 5th Avenue and arrived at the Museum Of Modern Art. It was Target Friday which means there is no admission. The museum was very cool. It was very very packed but very cool. Some wonderful photography displays and some very nifty art displays. We spent about 90 minutes in there which is hardly enough but it was enjoyable nonetheless. After the MOMA we headed down to Broadway and 8th street but we took the bus which was really cool. To my knowledge I had never taken a bus in NYC and it was cool because of course its street level whereas the subway is all underground. It was cool ride. Alana wanted to head down to a few clothing stores that she had seen a few days earlier which was great news for me because there happened to be a spectacular record store nearby so we parted ways for about and hour and did our own thing. Amazingly I didn't buy anything, the store had some incredible things but it was very very overpriced and the two owners were extremely rude so why bother.

We then headed to the village to get some food, we were both extremely hungry and wanted to go to John's Pizza which Ellen Degeneres as well as native New Yorkers claim is the best pizza in New York. The Village was hoping, I mean it was packed everywhere. There are restaurants on every corner and they're all packed to the rafters. Its a neat atmosphere being in The Village on a Friday night. Everyone is all dolled up etc. Fantastic. We couldn't find John's so I called Joe Strasser and he directed us there and also invited us to Smalls to hear a band he was playing with. Of course he put us on the list. More on that in a minute. The pizza was great, I don't know if it lived up to all the hype but it was good. Alana and I were so hungry at that point I think cardboard would've tasted good. We had pitcher of Root Beer, man I felt like I was 10 years old! After dinner we cruised around The Village again and then headed to Small's. What a great club. Its downstairs, very small but more character than you can imagine. The band: Joe Magnarelli on trumpet, Steve Wilson on alto, Gary Versace on piano, Neil Miner on bass and Strasser on drums. The band was fantastic. Versace was particularity impressive playing amazingly inventive and creative solos. I only know him as an organist and heard him just once with Ingrid Jensen at The Cellar. He was very very impressive as was the rest of the band. After the show we headed home and caught the end of the longest 9 inning baseball game in the history of MLB. Something like 5 hours. The Yanks beat the Sox.

I forgot to write about meeting Joe Fields at Dizzy's on Thursday night. See, I put out a record a few years back by The Anniversary Quartet. Admittedly I didn't do enough research and soon found myself in a heap of trouble because 2 of the musicians on the record were under contract to Joe Field's High Note label. Alana and I were sitting at the bar and Cedar Walton announced that Fields was in the audience. He was sitting at the other end of the bar. I figured I'd better say hi but would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous. I wrote a note on a piece of paper, gave it to the bartender and asked him to get Joe a drink. Well, it went over well. He came over hugged and kissed Alana and gave me a big hug and a little slap on the face. He then proceeded to buy us a few drinks and all the stuff that happened....well...it seemed like water under the bridge....whew!!!!

Day 10

Well, as if this isn't becoming a little predictable! Another late start to the day. We were out of the house by like 1:30. Not bad! God I love holiday's. I don't think I have ever been able to be this lazy on a holiday in my life. Its great! We had plans to shop the 'other' side of Broadway yesterday and end up in little Italy for dinner. We did just that with a little stop over (only 10 minutes) at The Jazz Record Center. They had a copy of a Cedar Walton record that I wanted to get so he could sign it later that night! There wasn't much on the other side of Broadway but there were a few shops that were very cool. I got a nice pair of jeans for next to nothing. The sales in this city are really unreal! We were excited to end up in Little Italy only to realize that it was a complete bust. Lets just say that Little Italy in Vancouver kicks NYC for sure. There was absolutely nothing there. We were hard pressed to find a restaurant. Once we did it was very very good but we were hoping for a few more choices.

After dinner it was off to Dizzy's Club Coca Cola to hear Cedar Walton and his quartet. Walton of course on piano, Vincent Herring on alto and tenor, David Williams on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums. The band was killing! Everyone was in fine form and they all sounded great. I have been particularity impressed with drummers in this city. Joe is one of the finest and supported Cedar and the boys perfectly. Dizzy's is a great club. Its on the 4th floor of Jazz At Lincoln Center and overlooks Central Park and the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Beautiful. I met the boys back stage which was a thrill and Cedar signed my album. Vincent is very cool and it was nice of him to guest us! He is hopefully coming to Vancouver in April and if he does, do not miss this show! He is really amazing. We came home had a few beer and went to bed. Sounds like a good day to me!

Day 9

Well the problem with relaxing is that it makes these posts really boring to read for anyone that is looking for the exciting life that we're leading in NYC. Yesterday was another chill out day and we both loved it! Slept in, just kinda hung out with Spliffy. We ventured back to 125th St. in Harlem to see if the initial excitement of all the cheap clothes etc. had worn off and yup it did. Everything looked the same! I did buy a Wes Montgomery DVD for $5 though. Pretty cool!

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings played a fee concert in The Jackie Robinson Memorial Park Recreations Center in Harlem. It was amazing. Sharon is absolutely incredible and the band tore it up. It was a 90 minute show and we just kind of hung out and watched the people and watched the band. There were about 500 people there I would say and the merch table was a rockin with shirt, cd and record sales. It was a cool relaxing little hang.

Today....some jazz tonight. There has been no jazz for like 3 or 4 days. Pretty good for me. Cedar Walton at Dizzy's Coca Cola. We may go down to Broadway and shop on the other side of Broadway this time.....

Day 8

Well, not much to report on what happened on this day. We took some of Spliffy's advice. "Sometimes this city can break you and you just need to chill, sit on the couch and watch movies." After all this is a holiday right? Thats exactly what we did. Slept till noon, got up watched tv and just hung out until it was time to head to The Bronx to the Yankees game. We went to the "House That Babe Built" at 6:00 and just took in the great atmosphere of watching the Yanks. We were in the infamous bleacher seats. Since Guilliani came into power (and since left) the seats are non-alcohol seats which was actually kind of cool. Lots of young kids, families etc. It was appropriately rowdy however and so much more fun that sitting in the 'good' seats. I can't really describe the atmosphere but even if you're not a baseball fan you gotta go to Yankee Stadium and check it out. It was amazing. The Yanks won 6 - 3 and we got to see a few long balls which was cool, the most important of which was Johnny D's 2 run shot that tied the game in the 4th.

Thats it!!!!

Day 8

Well, not much to report on what happened on this day. We took some of Spliffy's advice. "Sometimes this city can break you and you just need to chill, sit on the couch and watch movies." After all this is a holiday right? Thats exactly what we did. Slept till noon, got up watched tv and just hung out until it was time to head to The Bronx to the Yankees game. We went to the "House That Babe Built" at 6:00 and just took in the great atmosphere of watching the Yanks. We were in the infamous bleacher seats. Since Guilliani came into power (and since left) the seats are non-alcohol seats which was actually kind of cool. Lots of young kids, families etc. It was appropriately rowdy however and so much more fun that sitting in the 'good' seats. I can't really describe the atmosphere but even if you're not a baseball fan you gotta go to Yankee Stadium and check it out. It was amazing. The Yanks won 6 - 3 and we got to see a few long balls which was cool, the most important of which was Johnny D's 2 run shot that tied the game in the 4th.

Thats it!!!!

Day 7

Sooooo much shopping...geez! We took the subway to Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center and cruised around for an hour before heading a little further downtown to 23rd Street. We basically stayed on the right side of the street and walked all the way down to Canal Street which took about 3 hours. Amazingly we didn't buy anything but boy was it tempting. Shop after shop after shop after shop....antiques, clothing, used records etc. Everything you can possibly imagine was there. By about 5:15 we were exhausted and decided to head over to Brooklyn a little bit early and walk around there a bit before heading to Chris' house. Williamsburg, Brooklyn is an up and coming area in the city and Bedford Avenue is packed with cool jewelry stores, vintage clothing shops etc and it was fun to cruise around there. There is also a great store called Brooklyn Industries but yet again we showed some restraint and left without any damage being done.

We got to Chris' at 700. His fiancee Michelle is a wonderful person and their new place is absolutely gorgeous. A quaint little 1 bedroom place decorated perfectly. True to Tarry's from he showed me the new projection TV system that he has. Everytime I see that guy he costs me at least $1000. He's the guy that made me buy the iMac, the Palm Pilot, the Treo phone. The coolest thing about the projection tv is that Alana really dug it so who knows. We may be watching the Canucks lose at our place before you know it.

Chris made a great dinner and we just hung out and talked and drank wine. It was a great hang with 2 great people.

Today, its raining, we're watching talk shows and killing time before heading to the Yankees game tonight. Yahoo....

Day 6

Okay, I got to eat real fried chicken twice yesterday! If that doesn't make this day the best so far, I don't know what will. Alana and I went to Sylvia's in Harlem on Lenox St. Sylvia's has been in business for 44 years and has become somewhat of an institution. We first heard about it on Global News in Vancouver of all places as a "have to do in NYC" kind of thing. They have a gospel brunch on Sundays. It was so good I can't even believe it. Hot Cakes and a breast of Fried Chicken and Alana had bacon and eggs. It was happening!!! They had a great gospel duo there that sounded absolutely wonderful. She went around to every table to ask where people were from while singing. Spain, Japan, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Germany. The place was absolutely packed with people and a line up to get in. It was great.

After breakfast we walked a long 125th Street and shopped. Amazingly enough we didn't buy anything but there was so many great clothing shops etc. We took a picture of The Apollo Theater. Very neat! A very cool street. Spliffy neglected to mention this shopping mecca right around the corner from his house.

After some relaxation home we headed to the American Legion on 132nd St. between 7th and 8th. Seleno Clark a great hammond b3 organist leads a jam there every Sunday night. I can't even begin to try to explain the vibe in this room. It is sooo heavy and so amazing to be a part of. The chef is known as one of the best Soul food chefs in Harlem. We had more fried chicken, collard greens, red beans and rice! It was absolutely killing! It took forever but it was sooo worth the wait. Seleno as always sounded great and hung out with us a ton answering all our questions. He is very cool and I'm hoping I can bring him to Vancouver at some point. The alto player did a gorgeous version of Misty and Feel Like Making Love. David Lee Jones. He sounded great. Super soulful and a big sound. If you come to NYC you absolutely cannot miss going to the Legion. We will be there next Sunday for sure!

No jazz planned for Monday or Tuesday for that matter (how do you like that Mrs. Stone) Going to Lincoln Center today for a bit and then heading to Brooklyn to hook up with Chris Tarry and his fiancee for some dinner. I hope Tarry isn't cooking, thats all I gotta say.

Day 5

I was a little concerned today because Alana agreed to come out to The Princeton Record Exchange with me. I was concerned because searching through thousands of records is not Alana's idea of a good time but she was doing it because she loves me....isn't that just the sweetest :) We asked Jim Rotondi if there was much to do in NJ and his response was " well I would never recommend anyone to go out there!" Oh well. We headed down to 42nd St. and transferred to the NJ Transit Train. An hour long ride to Princeton Junction and then we hoped on the DINKY to get into downtown Princeton. WOW! What an incredible place. I don't know what Rotondi was talking about. Princeton University is hands down the most beautiful collection of buildings I have ever seen. The campus is breathtakingly beautiful and Alana and I were in awe! We cruised around there for a bit until we finally made our way over to Tulane St. and the Princeton Record Xchange. Luckily for me there were a ton of little quaint shops in the area so Alana let me be and she cruised around the town. I spent a good hour in the store and found some very cool things all for a very very good price. I wont list them here but I will post another blog entry when I have listened to them but a quick synopsis: Sonny Rollins with the MJG, Horace Silver - Finger Poppin, Art Farmer - The Art of Art with Charles McPherson. There are a few more but will tell you about them later. After an hour I was clearly overwhelmed and realized if I spent much longer in there I was going to go broke. We left and took another leisurely walk around the campus before heading back to the DINKY and back to NYC.

We got home around 830 and then it was straight back out the door to Birdland where we had to guest tix waiting for us at the door for Lovano, Harrell, Jimmy Cobb and Cameron Brown. It was a fantastic show with Lovano really tearing it up. Harrell sounded better and better as the night went on but the highlight for me was hearing the powerful Jimmy Cobb. Wow, he was really smoking. I was hoping to meet him after the show but he was eating and I didn't want to bug him. I said hello to Joe Lovano and he was very very nice. The food was great at Birdland. Pricy but great. Alana had the Catfish burger and I had the Crab Cake burger.

After the show we walked around Times Square again! This time however it was cool because it was night time and it is really something to see at night. The amount of people is incredible. Packed with people spending money!

Day 4

God holidays are great. Slept again till 11. I love it! Alana hasn't slept till 11 her whole life! We went back to The Kitchenette for a great breakfast once again. The granola at this place is really happening. We then went downtown to 425 Lexington Avenue to hear a free concert by a fantastic alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo. He had a killing band with him. Jon Webber on bass, Joe Magnarelli on trumpet and Joe Strasser on drums. They played standards and swung their asses off. Its a shame more people don't hear DiRubbo because he really is a fantastic alto saxophonist. It was very cool, the concert was right in the middle of this courtyard right downtown and everyone was on their lunch break just hanging out listening. There was a little book fair going on to so Alana checked that out while I took in the jazz! After the show we hooked up with Strasser. This guy is such a great guy! We hopped a cab with him and went down to his apartment in the Village. I really wanted Alana to see it because his place is so cool. I mean its right in the Village! Strass had an appointment so he pointed us in the 'cool' direction to walk in the Village and we basically killed about 3 hours just walking around, checking out all the shops and restaurants. The Village is really one of the coolest places on the face of the earth. Im sure its not what it was in the sixties but still very very cool! Lan took a picture of me in front of the Village Vanguard! We were gonna head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but decided we were to tired. We took the subway home, had quick nap and then once again it was off to Smoke! David Berkman's Quartet was doing a live record and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene was playing He was nice enough to get one of us on the list which was very cool seeing as it was $25 to get in. The food once again was incredible. I had the burger with salad, yeah that's right SALAD. Alana had the chicken. Jimmy came and hung out with us and is really a sweet sweet guy and he plays his ass off. Im hoping to get him to Vancouver in the new year. The highlight was drummer Ted Poor. This guy is so young and sounded so freaking good! A fun night, good music, good food and good company. We got a little lost on the way home and ended up in some questionable areas but nothing serious. We were only lost for a few minutes and then got back on track. We came home and watched 50 First Dates and went to bed!

Today, well, Alana is really really excited. We're heading to New Jersey to go to the Princeton Record Exchange. She can't wait. Then we're heading to Birdland to hear Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Cameron Brown and Jimmy Cobb. We got guested for this one to! Nice!

Day 3

What a fun day today. NYC was a buzz with all the crazy stuff that was going down in London. I can imagine that with everything that has happened here in the past 10 years with bombings and terroists that people are glued to the TV or radio when there are potential threats etc. Wow! Kinda scary!

We were up early today and headed down to Pier 83 to take the Circle Line tour around New York City. We had a hilarious experience trying to get a scone and coffee that may not quite translate in this blog as being funny but I will try to tell it anyways. We went into this tiny little cafe in Times Square that was packed and just kind of waited in line quicly realizing that there was no real line and no concept on how to get served. Right as I was thinking of how to deal with this some lady said "this is NY, you just have to yell out what you want." The lady behind us was laughing really hard at Alana and I. Now usually I have a loud powerrful voice that has no trouble being heard but for some reason I was humbled and talking quite quietly. I was like "um, excuse me sir, yeah over here sir, um can I have a coffee and a scone" No response as the lady was laughing even harder. Even Alana was laughing at me. It was quite funny.

Anyways, the Circle Line tour was really amazing. I was somewhat concerned about having to be on a boat for 3 hours but what a great trip. The tour guide was really awesome and informative. He really gave us a lot of great information and for me it made a huge huge city a lot smaller. The Statue of Liberty was really something to see up close and also to see how big the twin towers were and what a huge loss to the city's skyline they were. The coolest thing about the whole tour was near the end as we were coming back the guide pointed out to our right that that was Inglewood Cliffs, NJ. Just as I thought nice, Rudy Van Gelder's home, the tour guide pointed that out. How hip is that?

After the tour we just killed some time walking around Rockefeller Center, went to Saks Fifth Avenue etc and then got caught in a torrential downpour. It was awful. We had a few hours to kill before meeting trumpeter Jim Rotondi for dinner. We had some great THAI food and visited with one of my favorite guys around. Tunj as he is affectinately known is a great guy! After dinner it was time to go home and sit on the couch and chill out. New York can really eat you up and we needed some rest. The thunder storm hit Harlm at around 800 and boy was it ugly. Fun to watch but ugly! A great night to be on the couch watching re-runs of Friends.

On the sched for tomorrow: Smoke to hear a live recording with David Berkman and Jimmy Greeene, a free concer in the park with a great alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Day 2

Another good day in NYC. Beautiful day, sunny,warm but much cooler than the day before. The day got off to a late start. We got up at noon. We needed the rest! We headed out to Corona, Queens to go visit the house of the famous trumpeter Louis Armstrong which is now a museum. It was very very cool. Queens is a neat place. A lot of and I mean a lot of musicians lived there in the day: Tony Bennett, Cannonball and Nat Adderley,Jimmy Heath, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie etc. and thats just the ones that I can remember. The house was gorgeous. Lucielle, Louis' wife was way way ahead of her time with the way she decorated the place and the way she had all of these things custom built. Its a must if you come to NYC. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and we looked around for another 15 minutes. Well worth the 60 minute train ride out there.

We then ventured back into the city in search of a movie theatre. World Trade Center opened yesterday. An interesting choice for us to go and see this movie in the middle of NYC. It was good. Very very dark for obvious reasons but I think Oliver Stone did an admirable job.

Got back to the house around 8:30 and then Alana, Spliffy and I went for dinner and called it a night. Thats it!

New York City

Well, we arrived safely in the Big Apple. After a pretty good flight and an hour train ride we made it to 125th Street in Harlem. Its freaking hot here. No hotter than Vancouver mind you but a lot muggier! We got to Ian's at 9:00 and although happy to see us you could tell that Spliff had not had the amount of sleep he needs to be his regular happy self. We were tired but also very hungry so we went to this great diner called 'The Kichenette' had some food and came home and promptly went to sleep for 4 hours! We needed the rest. When we woke up we were ready to go into the city. We hoped on the (A) Train and went to 42nd Street which is where Times Square is. As many times as I have been there it never gets old. The sheer monstrosity of the the place and the amount of people is truly amazing. It was really fun to watch Alana look around and take it all in. We cruised around there for a couple of hours visiting a few stores,checking out the broadway show schedule,having a quick bite to eat and doing what Alana and I love to do most, PEOPLE WATCH! In NYC people watching is easy! I couldn't contain my excitement howvever as the time approached 800.. TIME TO HEAD TO SMOKE JAZZ CLUB. I was trying to impress Alana you know, knowing my way around the city....well it seems whenver I try to do that I make an ass out of myself. We got on the wrong train and got off at 103rd Street only to be completely confused as to where the heck we were. I knew we weren't far off but it just kind of took me back a bit because when we came out of the station I had expected to see my usual landmarks. I finally got my bearings and within 15 minutes we were at my favorite place in the whole world sitting having a beer waiting for the band to start. The band....PETER BERNSTEIN on guitar, MIKE LEDONNE on organ and MARK TAYLOR on drums. I had forgotten how burning of an organ player Ledonne is. WOW....and Peter Bernstein...I've said it before and I will say it again. THE FINEST GUITAR PLAYER ON THE PLANET. The band played great, a mix of standards and a few originals. Smoke just introduced a menu at the club and the food was incredible. I had some kind of 'infused' chicken dish and it was really enjoyable. Mike and Peter came over and talked to us at length which was really cool. We headed home on the 'wrong' train again but with Manhattan being so skinny and all, you're never really that far off from where you need to be. It was funny however when we got off the train I had to ask someone what direction St. Nicolas Street was. They said "oh, just about 3 blocks that way" (pointing) but then he said "But Be Careful!" I thought that was funny. Never in the 4 times I have been to NYC have I ever encountered a problem or felt unsafe (knock on wood). Today is getting off to a late start 12:00 pm our time but we're definitely rested. I think I scored us guest list tickets to Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell, Jimmy Cobb etc. Sometimes the perks of owning a jazz club are just to good! Talk soon!

NYC and the iPod (CD Player for you older folks)

Well, I have had a great week of listening and wanted to pass along some recommedations to you:

Jimmy Greene - True Life Stories (Criss Cross Jazz)
feat. Jimmy Greene on tenor saxophone, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Xavier Davis on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Eric Harland on drums. Jimmy is a great young saxophonist who obviously has listened and emulated a lot of the old school cats but who as also incorporated a lot of the more contemporary styles in his playing. He is a really individual player and swings like crazy. I first heard him cutting his teeth in the Tom Harrell band but has since developed into a great leader and his playing continues to inspire me. He is a great composer to.

Dr. Lonnie Smith - Jungle Soul (Palmetto Records)
feat. Dr. Lonnie Smith on organ, Peter Bernstein on guitar, Allison Miller on drums and Matt Balitsaras on rhythm guitar
This is a great record. Exactly what you expect from the good Dr. Nothing more, nothing less. If you have had the opportunity to see the Dr. live you quickly realize that this record doesn't even come close to doing him justice because seeing him live adds so much to his playing. Bernstein sounds killing and particularily impressive is drummer Allison Miller. If you're a fan of the B3 organ, you simply have to own this one!

Jodi Proznick Quartet - Foundation (working title), Cellar Live
feat. Tilden Webb on piano, Jodi Proznick on bass, Steve Kaldestad on tenor sax and Jesse Cahill on drums. Okay, Im cheating cuz this one isn't out yet but boy are there going to a be a lot of happy people when it comes out. This record sounded good in the studio but it really came together when Shawn Pierce put the final touches on the mix. We still have a few things to tweak but boy does this record swing hard. Sounds wonderful. Will be available for sale at the beginning of November.

Im excited because Im heading to NYC with Alana on Monday. Yahooo!! Its gonna be a blast! Here are just a couple of things we have planned to see. Cedar Walton with Vincent Herring at Dizzy's, Peter Bernstein Trio at The Jazz Standard and Jimmy Greene at SMOKE. Gonna be a blast. I may blog a little bit but don't know for sure.

Alana and I have announced our date FINALLY!!! May 26th, 2007. Here we go!

If you are looking to buy

Before getting new MP3 players you might find it helpful to read up on electronics and see if some new version of that MP3 player or other electronics are soon to be available.