I enjoy bassist Dave Holland's performance a lot. I've been to concerts of his groups at Yoshi's a few times. I listened to his big band album even though I'm not a fan of this format at all, not to mention many albums in which he played as a side man. However, I was not familiar with the fusion side of his playing (which I should have 'coz Holland played with Miles Davis) until now: after listening to his 2013 release "Prism" (reviewed here), which features his long-time drummer Eric Harland (great to watch him play live), guitarist Kevin Eubank (even non-jazz fan would know him for his time at Jay Leno's 'Tonight show')
Regarding the term fusion, I first saw it being used in the 80s to describe music by the likes of John McLaughlin but also that of Kenny G and Spyro Gyra. The name "smooth jazz" took over in the 90's. However, the tide has turned: smooth jazz is going out of favor and musicians are distancing themselves from it. One evidence: Jeff Lorber started using the name of his old group, Jeff Lorber Fusion, since 2009. His group did play an important role in the history of smooth jazz: Kenny G got his start playing in this group (you could hear his playing on this album) Enough of the past. I highly recommend their new (2013) album, Hacienda. Smooth or not, this is great instrumental/improvisational music. And it featured two guests: guitarist Larry Koonse and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. That's a lot of star power!
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
東區我的故事
在香港生活差不多廿年，成長期活動範圍以油尖旺沙田為主，過對面海總是隆重其事，例如跟父母到中環購物到北角會友，偶爾也會到淺水灣石澳，總的來說是相當陌生，東區更是絕少踏足，今次我的｢做個遊客｣計劃選了小西灣。
從大埔中心坐74X到大老山隧道(入隧道前落車) 轉682，不到兩小時就到小西灣運動場外，事前讀過這個詳細介紹(網友寫得相當用心，super like!) 知道沿海旁走，有路上山可望大浪灣，風景優美。其實這次共走了三條路，第一條是在公園洗手間附近開始的龍躍徑，大部份雖稍斜但寬闊，行山客不少開著小音響邊聽邊走，有粵曲有英文金曲，很高興聽到有人播｢萬水千山縱橫｣，和我同是關正傑fans(我踩車上山多唱｢天蠶變｣) 半個小時後到達一個大涼亭，東張西望，找到第二條-有很多石級的砵甸乍山郊遊徑，走起來甚為吃力，十多分鐘後見到山頂觀景台指示牌，那是一個短短的detour, 觀景台可見整個九龍東部(包括鯉魚門)，也有一個大涼亭，我醫肚醫得太遲，經已餓過飢，吃了預先買定六個麵包的兩個，再加一個powerbar，肚餓尤未止，已有打退堂鼓之意，休息廿分鐘離開觀景台，抉擇時候：向左走向右走？結果好勝之心得勝！其實最辛苦路段已過，向馬塘坳的路都是下山或平路，這段可見大浪灣，有一對港男港女情侶行孖必打情罵悄，令我頗為驚訝有不怕曬不怕辛苦的港女(路上見好幾個) 過了馬塘坳就見一大路，那是港島徑第八段，跟著大潭峽的指示牌(牌上有巴士標誌)，走下一條樓梯就是石澳道，稍向右行至哥連臣道交界，就是往筲箕灣的9號的巴士站，我未見巴士先見紅色小巴，$7到筲箕灣。
本來打算即坐叮叮到銅鑼灣，但想起筲箕灣也是我極少到之地，於是改變主意隨便走走，見到譚公廟的牌，十分好奇，皆因我只知金庸小說〖天龍八部〗有個譚公，走到譚公廟，當然參拜一番，見有幾隻用來裝飾的木雕船及水上人家，估計是保佑他們的神祇。下一個吸引我的指示牌，是海防博物館，我記得星期三全港博物館免費，實在不容錯過，也是明智抉擇：在鯉魚門堡壘原址建成的博物館極具氣派，乘電梯一上就是八樓展覽廳，永久展出明朝以來香港海防(亦即是軍事) 歷史，倭寇為患的明朝，腐敗懦弱的晚清，抗日失敗的英治香港，其歷史在香港讀書的朋友想必略知一二。無獨有偶，展覽介紹了哥連臣這位有多地以其命名的早期英國軍士，原來就是最早勘察地型畫成香港地圖者；展覽又介紹了添馬艦地名的來歷。最後隨導賞團參觀魚雷發射站，為了此設備，又建有供應蒸氣機的水池，及煤炭用的鐵路、煙囪，如此大陣仗，卻從未建一功即已被拆。最後觀看的是火藥庫，日軍佔領後被改作處決囚犯的刑場！導賞員叮囑大家必需教育下一代不忘歷史，諷刺的是有訪客穿的是日本排球隊T恤(不是我), 用的是日本牌子相機(是我) 我的東區之旅就此結束。
後記：之後沒有坐叮叮，為的是把握時間逛銅鑼灣誠品，當真好心有好報：為姐姐找CD時竟然見到大量雨果唱片公司新舊出品，十分齊全，包括幾隻尋找多時的潮州弦絲樂及潮州客家箏樂。
從大埔中心坐74X到大老山隧道(入隧道前落車) 轉682，不到兩小時就到小西灣運動場外，事前讀過這個詳細介紹(網友寫得相當用心，super like!) 知道沿海旁走，有路上山可望大浪灣，風景優美。其實這次共走了三條路，第一條是在公園洗手間附近開始的龍躍徑，大部份雖稍斜但寬闊，行山客不少開著小音響邊聽邊走，有粵曲有英文金曲，很高興聽到有人播｢萬水千山縱橫｣，和我同是關正傑fans(我踩車上山多唱｢天蠶變｣) 半個小時後到達一個大涼亭，東張西望，找到第二條-有很多石級的砵甸乍山郊遊徑，走起來甚為吃力，十多分鐘後見到山頂觀景台指示牌，那是一個短短的detour, 觀景台可見整個九龍東部(包括鯉魚門)，也有一個大涼亭，我醫肚醫得太遲，經已餓過飢，吃了預先買定六個麵包的兩個，再加一個powerbar，肚餓尤未止，已有打退堂鼓之意，休息廿分鐘離開觀景台，抉擇時候：向左走向右走？結果好勝之心得勝！其實最辛苦路段已過，向馬塘坳的路都是下山或平路，這段可見大浪灣，有一對港男港女情侶行孖必打情罵悄，令我頗為驚訝有不怕曬不怕辛苦的港女(路上見好幾個) 過了馬塘坳就見一大路，那是港島徑第八段，跟著大潭峽的指示牌(牌上有巴士標誌)，走下一條樓梯就是石澳道，稍向右行至哥連臣道交界，就是往筲箕灣的9號的巴士站，我未見巴士先見紅色小巴，$7到筲箕灣。
本來打算即坐叮叮到銅鑼灣，但想起筲箕灣也是我極少到之地，於是改變主意隨便走走，見到譚公廟的牌，十分好奇，皆因我只知金庸小說〖天龍八部〗有個譚公，走到譚公廟，當然參拜一番，見有幾隻用來裝飾的木雕船及水上人家，估計是保佑他們的神祇。下一個吸引我的指示牌，是海防博物館，我記得星期三全港博物館免費，實在不容錯過，也是明智抉擇：在鯉魚門堡壘原址建成的博物館極具氣派，乘電梯一上就是八樓展覽廳，永久展出明朝以來香港海防(亦即是軍事) 歷史，倭寇為患的明朝，腐敗懦弱的晚清，抗日失敗的英治香港，其歷史在香港讀書的朋友想必略知一二。無獨有偶，展覽介紹了哥連臣這位有多地以其命名的早期英國軍士，原來就是最早勘察地型畫成香港地圖者；展覽又介紹了添馬艦地名的來歷。最後隨導賞團參觀魚雷發射站，為了此設備，又建有供應蒸氣機的水池，及煤炭用的鐵路、煙囪，如此大陣仗，卻從未建一功即已被拆。最後觀看的是火藥庫，日軍佔領後被改作處決囚犯的刑場！導賞員叮囑大家必需教育下一代不忘歷史，諷刺的是有訪客穿的是日本排球隊T恤(不是我), 用的是日本牌子相機(是我) 我的東區之旅就此結束。
後記：之後沒有坐叮叮，為的是把握時間逛銅鑼灣誠品，當真好心有好報：為姐姐找CD時竟然見到大量雨果唱片公司新舊出品，十分齊全，包括幾隻尋找多時的潮州弦絲樂及潮州客家箏樂。
Monday, November 18, 2013
2013培正同學日
今年是母校培正香港建校八十周年，同學日格外隆重，正日前一晚先和幾個舊同學在TST Fat Angelo's來個「小圈子」晚飯，當中有位已兩年沒見，可喜的是大家「無穿無爛」，縱有煩惱事，即管一起分享下。
當晚仍jetlag，同學日一早就起床，唯有看看電視消磨時間，亞視歲月流聲台當然是首選，看了第五十幾集的天蠶變，還有新角色加入，飾演的竟然是港姐張瑪莉，原來她當選後加盟過佳視及麗的，那是香港有三個免費電視台百花爭鳴而無一台獨大的年代。之後再轉睇J2，因為播的是我大學畢業後至愛的動畫：美少女戰士(Super S系列) 夠鐘向培正出發！
十一時多在窩打老道校門左近下車，已見校內好不熱鬧，原來是同學會新址開幕！一班同學會高層和校友老師在慶祝，見大家身上戴著新的八十周年紀念校呔或風褸，我趕快也去買一條。接著行上中學部，經過校友對教師的籃球比賽，戰況激烈。為找小食部，行了數段新的自然教育徑，找個同學仔問路，才知小食部已搬至新大樓中間，行當年往體育堂更衣室的通道可達，這時適逢同學仔帶領校友參觀新大樓及和舊時很不同的圖書館，我也加入行列，中學禮堂控制室看起來相當pro. 到了午飯時間，我光顧了小食部為曦社辦的$60自助餐，味道真不錯，又和幾位同樣由海外回來的同學高談闊論，更是高興。
飯後回去小學部，皆因老友女兒在培正小學就讀，有份演出；又遇到其他現為家長的舊同學。之後就是在中學禮堂舉行盛大的加冕儀式，非加冕班級也有份上台接受薪火相傳，小弟有幸代表禮社。第一個高潮是為畢業八十年的老校友鄺伯加冕，從小就見鄺伯代表同學會出席活動，聲若洪鐘多年不變，其實已是一百歲的老人家，他的一句：「行得、食得、瞓得」引來全場笑聲掌聲。然後七十周年至廿五周年（隔每個五年）各級社皆人強馬壯分別上台接受加冕，主角當然是銀禧的曦社。儀式後繼續在門外拍照，和一班當年相熟多年不見的電腦班師兄們吹水，吹到勝利道的茶餐廳打個底（因為晚宴尚有數小時才開席），然後浩浩蕩蕩往YWCA上接載我們的旅遊巴，前往大公宴會場九龍灣展貿中心，路線和以前體育課去游泳池（那時校園內並無）相似，勾起一眾乘客集體回憶。
九龍灣展貿中心乃係全港最大的晚宴場地之一，才能容納得了一百席的大公宴，我們禮社所訂的一圍正是#100！這一席有我們兩位校花，多年不見，美貌更勝當年。重遇的不只他們，還有兩位old family friends，認真意外驚喜。
大公宴表演節目包括時裝表演，方知香港十大名模之一陳祉妤（舊名陳沛嘉）也是同級禮社同學（來自澳門分校）。另一個精彩節目則是由銀樂隊新舊成員組成的jazz band表演多首名曲。
幾個有趣小插曲：和校花傾了幾句，原來當年大家談論背書，自負的我說了一句話，她如今仍記得，又再印證客戶服務的真理：一個正面形像不易建立，一件破壞形像的事情卻令人難忘！還有另一位舊同學，新來培正就被改花名，原來也是我做的好事呢:P
後記：用了current affairs的label，皆因香港建校八十周年晚宴有多位名人校友出席並見報。
當晚仍jetlag，同學日一早就起床，唯有看看電視消磨時間，亞視歲月流聲台當然是首選，看了第五十幾集的天蠶變，還有新角色加入，飾演的竟然是港姐張瑪莉，原來她當選後加盟過佳視及麗的，那是香港有三個免費電視台百花爭鳴而無一台獨大的年代。之後再轉睇J2，因為播的是我大學畢業後至愛的動畫：美少女戰士(Super S系列) 夠鐘向培正出發！
十一時多在窩打老道校門左近下車，已見校內好不熱鬧，原來是同學會新址開幕！一班同學會高層和校友老師在慶祝，見大家身上戴著新的八十周年紀念校呔或風褸，我趕快也去買一條。接著行上中學部，經過校友對教師的籃球比賽，戰況激烈。為找小食部，行了數段新的自然教育徑，找個同學仔問路，才知小食部已搬至新大樓中間，行當年往體育堂更衣室的通道可達，這時適逢同學仔帶領校友參觀新大樓及和舊時很不同的圖書館，我也加入行列，中學禮堂控制室看起來相當pro. 到了午飯時間，我光顧了小食部為曦社辦的$60自助餐，味道真不錯，又和幾位同樣由海外回來的同學高談闊論，更是高興。
飯後回去小學部，皆因老友女兒在培正小學就讀，有份演出；又遇到其他現為家長的舊同學。之後就是在中學禮堂舉行盛大的加冕儀式，非加冕班級也有份上台接受薪火相傳，小弟有幸代表禮社。第一個高潮是為畢業八十年的老校友鄺伯加冕，從小就見鄺伯代表同學會出席活動，聲若洪鐘多年不變，其實已是一百歲的老人家，他的一句：「行得、食得、瞓得」引來全場笑聲掌聲。然後七十周年至廿五周年（隔每個五年）各級社皆人強馬壯分別上台接受加冕，主角當然是銀禧的曦社。儀式後繼續在門外拍照，和一班當年相熟多年不見的電腦班師兄們吹水，吹到勝利道的茶餐廳打個底（因為晚宴尚有數小時才開席），然後浩浩蕩蕩往YWCA上接載我們的旅遊巴，前往大公宴會場九龍灣展貿中心，路線和以前體育課去游泳池（那時校園內並無）相似，勾起一眾乘客集體回憶。
九龍灣展貿中心乃係全港最大的晚宴場地之一，才能容納得了一百席的大公宴，我們禮社所訂的一圍正是#100！這一席有我們兩位校花，多年不見，美貌更勝當年。重遇的不只他們，還有兩位old family friends，認真意外驚喜。
大公宴表演節目包括時裝表演，方知香港十大名模之一陳祉妤（舊名陳沛嘉）也是同級禮社同學（來自澳門分校）。另一個精彩節目則是由銀樂隊新舊成員組成的jazz band表演多首名曲。
幾個有趣小插曲：和校花傾了幾句，原來當年大家談論背書，自負的我說了一句話，她如今仍記得，又再印證客戶服務的真理：一個正面形像不易建立，一件破壞形像的事情卻令人難忘！還有另一位舊同學，新來培正就被改花名，原來也是我做的好事呢:P
後記：用了current affairs的label，皆因香港建校八十周年晚宴有多位名人校友出席並見報。
Thursday, November 07, 2013
New thrash metal from old and new bands
Thrash metal continues to be one of my favorite sub-genre of metal. Many great thrash bands from the 80s are still going strong like Anthrax and Slayer (oh yeah, almost forgot Metallica played thrash metal too) or have come back from hiatus like Testament, who released 2 highly acclaimed albums since then. And I've just listened to 2 pretty good new albums: "The Dream Calls for Blood" by Death Angel and "VI" by Onslaught. Check out the linked reviews! In both cases, there isn't anything really ground breaking. They just stick with the classic sound, i.e, the sound we thrash metal fan enjoy! On the other hand, if you prefer a thrash metal band that's willing to experiment on a new album, I suggest you give Annihilator's "Feast" a listen. Their main man Jeff Water likes to throw the listeners some curve balls. And a vital music scene not only needs new albums from old bands but also new blood. Diamond Plate is one of the latter. They have just released a new one "Pulse." Glad to see the scene is alive and kicking!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
HBO Documentaries: YoungArts Masterclass, Sports
I wasn't in the mood for sitcom or drama last night and I realized Comcast's free HBO offer should be over soon so I purposefully looked for good shows on HBO and came across one with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. At first I thought it might be just a cameo appearance but I couldn't be more wrong! The whole episode was about Wynton mentoring a group of young jazz musicians (some are only 18-19 yr old) as part of the YoungArts Masterclass Season 3.. Obviously all of them have the chops. The advices given by Wynton were way above technical level. He gave each of them one word. For example, the saxophonist needed relaxation because of his intensity. The bassist needed concentration to support everybody else. And the pianist needs to free his playing and takes some risks. It's kinda like watching American Idol (except all the comments was about musical art instead of manufactured crap) I can't believe a major network like HBO shows something this good (and niche)
The 2nd show I watched was Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Last time I watched gotta be long time ago (maybe in college when I had HBO) The hour long show talked about 4 stories in depth:
1) Concussions in NFL: NFL setup a fund of $765 Million to settle the lawsuit by former players. Man, it's a brutal sports. It's really sad to see the guys who played real hard are now having serious health issues like ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease)
2) Around-the-world sailing race: this is the ultimate tough-guy sport - Half of the participants couldn't finish the race! Basically the route takes ~3 months to complete. Each yacht is manned by just one sailor. He was all by himself for that 3 months battling dangerous water.
3) The Seattle Sounders-mania: Soccer (or football for the rest of the world) has never been that popular as a spectator sport in the States. I mean, lots of people played but not that many watched pro-teams play compared to baseball/football/basketball. Things have changed in the past few years though: per-game attendance of MLS (major league soccer) has passed NHL and NBA (which was actually "reasonable" because NHL and NBA teams play way more games per season) Still, it's hard to imagine one MLS team could have such loyal/crazy fanbase that rivals the top teams in Europe (think Liverpool, for example) That team is Seattle Sounders. The show kept comparing the sold-out crowd at the Sounders' game vs the many empty seats at the Mariners' game. Gotta give a lot of credits to the 2 owners of the Sounders. Both of them have a background in the Hollywood/show-biz and know how to generate buzz well.
4) The comeback of pitcher Steve Delabar: he was in minor league baseball for a while and his arm was injured really bad. Had a surgery but his baseball career was over. He worked as a substitute teacher at a school and also helped out their baseball team. He was introduced to a strength-training program. He wanted to try it out before the students did. And the program really worked for him. He was able to pitch well (velocity reached mid-90s) again and was noticed by some scouts. Next thing you know, he's back in pro-baseball, progressing thru the minor league and eventually made his major league debut! The next year he was traded to Toronto Blue Jays. Continued to play well as a closer and got chosen for the All-Star team. Couldn't his story be more Cinderella-like?
The 2nd show I watched was Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Last time I watched gotta be long time ago (maybe in college when I had HBO) The hour long show talked about 4 stories in depth:
1) Concussions in NFL: NFL setup a fund of $765 Million to settle the lawsuit by former players. Man, it's a brutal sports. It's really sad to see the guys who played real hard are now having serious health issues like ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease)
2) Around-the-world sailing race: this is the ultimate tough-guy sport - Half of the participants couldn't finish the race! Basically the route takes ~3 months to complete. Each yacht is manned by just one sailor. He was all by himself for that 3 months battling dangerous water.
3) The Seattle Sounders-mania: Soccer (or football for the rest of the world) has never been that popular as a spectator sport in the States. I mean, lots of people played but not that many watched pro-teams play compared to baseball/football/basketball. Things have changed in the past few years though: per-game attendance of MLS (major league soccer) has passed NHL and NBA (which was actually "reasonable" because NHL and NBA teams play way more games per season) Still, it's hard to imagine one MLS team could have such loyal/crazy fanbase that rivals the top teams in Europe (think Liverpool, for example) That team is Seattle Sounders. The show kept comparing the sold-out crowd at the Sounders' game vs the many empty seats at the Mariners' game. Gotta give a lot of credits to the 2 owners of the Sounders. Both of them have a background in the Hollywood/show-biz and know how to generate buzz well.
4) The comeback of pitcher Steve Delabar: he was in minor league baseball for a while and his arm was injured really bad. Had a surgery but his baseball career was over. He worked as a substitute teacher at a school and also helped out their baseball team. He was introduced to a strength-training program. He wanted to try it out before the students did. And the program really worked for him. He was able to pitch well (velocity reached mid-90s) again and was noticed by some scouts. Next thing you know, he's back in pro-baseball, progressing thru the minor league and eventually made his major league debut! The next year he was traded to Toronto Blue Jays. Continued to play well as a closer and got chosen for the All-Star team. Couldn't his story be more Cinderella-like?
Thursday, October 24, 2013
IndyCar championship
As I predicted, Helio Castroneves was unable to overcome the point deficit during the last race of the season at Fontana and Scott Dixon won the championship for the 3rd time in his career. He definitely deserved it. It was a bit unfair that the league penalized him for that pit road incident earlier in the season anyway. And I was glad to see the "King of the road" Will Power had his second victory on an oval track! What an irony. If he did well in any of the final race of the season in the past few years, he would have won a championship or two.
Friday, October 18, 2013
下一代
The more things change, the more they stay the same. 在這個人人上網的年代，原來後生仔女依然喜歡聽收音機！女兒和姨甥女坐我車，要求轉台，一時101.3，一時97.3，好在這個爸爸不太老餅，除了爵士古典，這些台也在preset。其實很好奇她們在家何時聽收音機？還記得以前深夜或清晨都會聽收音機，中學年代開夜車收音機更是良朋，不過那時坐爸爸的車常常都要被迫聽新聞台，爸爸更加不會讓我寫一張清單然後幫我錄歌！
早幾天參觀女兒下年就讀的初中，原來有家政班（教煮食）、法文班、工業班（教木工）；在香港受教育的我，當真大開眼界，這樣比起我小時候獨沽一味鋤書的模式確實優勝。
早幾天參觀女兒下年就讀的初中，原來有家政班（教煮食）、法文班、工業班（教木工）；在香港受教育的我，當真大開眼界，這樣比起我小時候獨沽一味鋤書的模式確實優勝。
Monday, October 14, 2013
Sports highlights: Red River rivalry, upset Saturday, MLB, NASCAR at Charlotte
The past Saturday of College Football was all about upsets. The most important one to me was the big win by Texas over the heated rival Oklahoma. We haven't won for 3 years! And Wisconsin beat the then-ranked Northwestern later that day. I watched only the OT part of the Michigan-Penn State game. Every time I thought it would have been over after someone kicked a FG and switched channel, I found that it's still not over when I switched back! It's like no one could win the game! Not a fan of either team but I was happy to see the underdog (Penn State) won as well as the other upsets :Utah defeated Stanford (a new PAC-12 team > an "old" PAC-12 team) and Missouri beat Georgia (a former Big 12 team > a SEC team)
We were certainly following the MLB playoff on TV and radio even though no bay area team (no team I root for, in fact) is still in it after the A's went down. The low-scoring St. Louis vs LA game was a nail-bitter but I'm not counting the latter out yet. And Red Sox coming back from 5-0 deficit in ALCS game 2 was a dramatic one. I guess it's deja vu of 2004 (which means the White Sox will win the WS next year. Yay!)
The complete opposite of drama was F1 in Japan. Vettel and his invincible Red Bull machine was passed during the start (surprise!) but he still won on tire strategy. BORING! In comparison, the NASCAR race at Charlotte was much more exciting. I thought it would be a waste of my time to watch when Jimmie "Five Time" Johnson made steady progress and eventually overtaken team mate Kasey Kahne for the lead in the middle of the race. He and his car looked so good. Well, this was not F1 and he didn't do well on one of the re-start and slipped back. On the other hand, Matt Kenseth, JJ's main competitor in the championship chase, didn't do well in the beginning but slowly improved to finish 3rd, one place ahead of JJ and maintained his championship point lead. However, the story of the race gotta be 2012 champ Brad K finally winning his first race of the season, after he failed to get into the championship chase. What made it more amazing was that he recovered from a poor pit stop in which the jack was stuck to (and damaged) his car and he had to serve penalty! Please remind me why I still watch F1 (!? Maybe just because it's on TV)
And the great sports weekend was concluded on Sunday night with Da Boys winning over rival Redskins. Texas rulez.
We were certainly following the MLB playoff on TV and radio even though no bay area team (no team I root for, in fact) is still in it after the A's went down. The low-scoring St. Louis vs LA game was a nail-bitter but I'm not counting the latter out yet. And Red Sox coming back from 5-0 deficit in ALCS game 2 was a dramatic one. I guess it's deja vu of 2004 (which means the White Sox will win the WS next year. Yay!)
The complete opposite of drama was F1 in Japan. Vettel and his invincible Red Bull machine was passed during the start (surprise!) but he still won on tire strategy. BORING! In comparison, the NASCAR race at Charlotte was much more exciting. I thought it would be a waste of my time to watch when Jimmie "Five Time" Johnson made steady progress and eventually overtaken team mate Kasey Kahne for the lead in the middle of the race. He and his car looked so good. Well, this was not F1 and he didn't do well on one of the re-start and slipped back. On the other hand, Matt Kenseth, JJ's main competitor in the championship chase, didn't do well in the beginning but slowly improved to finish 3rd, one place ahead of JJ and maintained his championship point lead. However, the story of the race gotta be 2012 champ Brad K finally winning his first race of the season, after he failed to get into the championship chase. What made it more amazing was that he recovered from a poor pit stop in which the jack was stuck to (and damaged) his car and he had to serve penalty! Please remind me why I still watch F1 (!? Maybe just because it's on TV)
And the great sports weekend was concluded on Sunday night with Da Boys winning over rival Redskins. Texas rulez.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Sports lowlights: Dallas Cowboys, Helio Castroneves
Hate to mention "lowlights" two weeks in a row but it was disappointing to see Da' boys lost by 3 late in the game. They showed signs of brilliance from time to time but just not have the consistency for the whole 60 minutes :( And I was rooting for Team Penske to win the IndyCar championship this year but Castroneves' car had issue on both races in Houston during the weekend and lost his big point lead in the standing. I'm afraid it's another 2nd place finish at the end of the season for a Team Penske driver. That's Will Power for the past few years. Ironically, Power won the 2nd race at Houston. The "King of the road" seem to get back on track after a disastrous season. So that belongs to the "highlight" department. Another one is Manchester United's victory with new kid Adnan Januzaj scoring 2 goals (he was the difference between a W and a L.) We also have a new star this side of the Atlantic: San Jose Sharks Tomas Hertl. I was happy watching him scoring 4 goals against the New York Rangers, even though I also like the latter team and hoping for a less lopsided game. It's awesome watching the opening games of the new NHL season on TV in HD! Anytime of the year in the world of sports some leagues start while others end. One just finished this weekend was Champion League Twenty 20 (Cricket) The semis and the final were all exciting. Lots of fire powers from the final 4! Mumbai Indians deserved to win it all. Last but not least, the late late game on Sunday night, Raiders vs Chargers, was an entertaining one. Glad to see Raiders winning another one. The Ws are hard to come by these days. Maybe Pryor could make it in NFL after all (not expecting MVP/Aaron Rodgers-type of numbers)
Monday, September 30, 2013
Sports lowlights: NFL, EPL, MLB, NASCAR
Dallas Cowboys lost. Manchester United lost. Wisconsin Badgers lost. 5-time Cup champ and 7-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson won at Dover again to move up to second in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings which might not have happened had Junior didn't miss the pit entrance and had to come back to pit and lost a whole lot of spots.
And I wrote about White Sox needed to win 3 out of 10 to avoid losing 100 games this season last time. Well, they won exactly that many games and ended the season 63-99. I guess it's a "highlight." SF Giants won quite a few games for the last week, including 2 against the Dodgers (winning the season series) and also the season finale in walk-off fashion. Plus they signed fan favourite/clubhouse leader OF Hunter Pence to a long-term deal. Let's hope he will continue to lead the team to success (instead of being another big contract failure that the Giants had in the past) Congrat to the Oakland A's for winning back to back AL West! I listened to the radio on the day they clinched (after Texas Rangers lost) and passed by the Coliseum right after they won that game! They are the hope of the Bay Area for the moment. Still, I don't have too high hope. The "Moneyball" team has made many trips to the postseason without winning it all. This could be yet another one of those years which they just miss THAT something to propel them over the hump.
Larry Ellison and his 2-time America's Cup winning Oracle Team USA had become instant-legend by coming back from an 8-1 deficit. Enuff said.
And I wrote about White Sox needed to win 3 out of 10 to avoid losing 100 games this season last time. Well, they won exactly that many games and ended the season 63-99. I guess it's a "highlight." SF Giants won quite a few games for the last week, including 2 against the Dodgers (winning the season series) and also the season finale in walk-off fashion. Plus they signed fan favourite/clubhouse leader OF Hunter Pence to a long-term deal. Let's hope he will continue to lead the team to success (instead of being another big contract failure that the Giants had in the past) Congrat to the Oakland A's for winning back to back AL West! I listened to the radio on the day they clinched (after Texas Rangers lost) and passed by the Coliseum right after they won that game! They are the hope of the Bay Area for the moment. Still, I don't have too high hope. The "Moneyball" team has made many trips to the postseason without winning it all. This could be yet another one of those years which they just miss THAT something to propel them over the hump.
Larry Ellison and his 2-time America's Cup winning Oracle Team USA had become instant-legend by coming back from an 8-1 deficit. Enuff said.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
我很少看美國電視drama（一小時那種），對上一次已是四五年前的事，但今天因為偶像Cobie Smulders客串演出這套Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D而看了，其實這類改變Superhero漫畫的作品本已很吸引，果然沒有令我失望。相信該劇另一位靚女，擁有華人血統的Chloe Bennet（汪可盈）會令我繼續追下去。
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Sports highlights: MLB
With less than 2 weeks left in the season, many games have playoff implications: Indians, Rays, Rangers and even the Yankees are all fighting for the 2 AL wild cards. I'm afraid it's too late for the Yankees even though they are beating up the SF Giants. They lost way too many games in the past 2 weeks. The Indians playing the lowly Astros are certainly helping them but hurting the other wildcard hopefuls. Sometimes the analysts could be so right even before the season started. Some predicted the Astros would lose 100+ games. Then the Astros beat the Rangers on the opening day and I thought those people would be wrong. Not so! Speaking of the Rangers, their chances are not good. Looks like their series against the Royals would just be ruining each other. Another team in danger of losing 100 games is the White Sox. They had a brief winning streak last month so I stopped worrying but then they lost the magic completely. They got stuck with win#58 for a long time! Finally they got to win#60 but I'm not optimistic they could win 3 more before the season ends 'coz all of their opponents are fighting for postseason (except for 1 game vs the Blue Jays): the Tigers wanna get a higher seed for home-field. The Indians and even the Royals are wildcard hopefuls and cannot afford to drop even one game. Finally, we have the Reds vs the Pirates this weekend fighting for the wildcard and maybe NL Central. It's great to be a baseball fan now!
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Sports highlights: Jim Furyk's 59, Man U, La Vuelta, Beat LA, college football, Sprint Cup
I, as a sports junkie, am trying to enjoy as much sports on TV as I can on the week I "returned" to the world of cable TV. Here are some memorable moments:
Jim Furyk became the sixth men on PGA to shoot 59, which happened in the 2nd round of BMW Championship. This article says Furyk's 59 is among the best out of those six.
NBC bought the right to English Premier League and putting some of the games on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus, formerly OLN) Comcast did the right thing and included this channel in the starter package. I'm usually the one who whine about not getting a certain channel but it's my buddy who subscribed to DISH not getting this channel! So, my first EPL game on big TV this season is Man U vs Crystal Palace. I missed the 1st 20 min and thought I might have missed some Man U goals already but I didn't, which was NOT good!. They only scored twice against a team that never stay for more than one season after promoted to the premier league. Still, I'm glad that both strikers RVP and Rooney scored, a PK and a free kick, respectively, which gotta boost their confidence.
Another present surprise included by Comcast is Fox Sports 1 (formerly Speed) I did not get Speed with Comcast's basic package before we terminated the service last time. The Fox-owned Speed used to broadcast F1 (now on NBCSN), Supercross, NASCAR Truck series, etc and I seriously considered getting cable just for Speed but I eventually didn't because of the high cost. I was also surprised that Fox Soccer channel has been folded (now become FXX which is non-sports) So basically Fox "converted" a motorsports specific channel to a general sports channel (like ESPN and NBCSN) which shows its remaining motorsports, soccer programs plus some more after losing F1 and EPL rights. FS1 will be showing Champions League games starting this week!
La Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) is one of the 3 grand tours (the biggest road bicycle races of the year. The other 2 is of course Tour De France and Giro d'Italia) Watching bike racing to me is kinda like watching NASCAR: a lot of times most of the action happened at the end of the race, for example, the peloton catching the breakaway, or the sprinters shoot it out at the finish line. Still, I would turn it on whenever I remember (these European races end around 9am!) This year's Vuelta doesn't have some of the biggest name: Chris Fromme, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck. Cadel Evans but I was glad that I watched. Stage 20 was a brutal climb (I saw a few 24%) Giro's winner Vincenzo Nibali was 3 second behind American Chris Horner at the start of the stage. Both were in the 2nd group after the breakaway near the end of the race and during those steep climbs. The British sports channel commentators mentioned rains might help Nibali and they sounded like they want that to happen. I guess there's a subtle bias against the American! For a moment Nibali attacked and it seemed like Horner had a hard time keeping up. Well, it turned out Horner was saving some in his tank and only used it later to pass Nibali and extended his lead to seal his overall victory. Congrat to the 41 year old becoming the oldest grand tour champ.
The hated Dodgers has been unstoppable for the last few months. No one could deny it's a much better team than our Giants this year and a likely championship contender. The games between these 2 teams probably don't mean much to the big picture but true fans still care. It was a nail-biter on Friday and the Giants hanged on to win. On the other hand, the Saturday night game was a huge blow out by the Giants. Then another close win on Sunday. Sweet!
Watched the Wisconsin vs Arizona State game via Slingbox on the same night. What a mind-boggling finish! The Badgers should have won the game by kicking a field goal but the QB simply put the ball on the ground which didn't stop the clock and we ran out of time! Unbelievable. Not enjoying any college game this weekend :(
I've followed the career of NASCAR Nationwide series driver Justin Allgaier since his Penske years when his team was sponsored by Verizon. He lost that ride because NASCAR's bigger sponsor Sprint forced Verizon out. Now that he's on a smaller team, he still performed consistently as the best-of-the-rest after the top-tier drivers. It's hard to tell if his talent is good enough for the Sprint Cup, the top series in NASCAR but he never got a chance to race there until this week. One of the owners of his Nationwide team has bought a Sprint Cup team and his Nationwide sponsor agree to sponsor that car for a few races so Allgaier will make his Sprint Cup debut this week.
Of course this is just a tiny story among all things happened in NASCAR this week. Recall last week's race in which Ryan Newman was about to win the race but Clint Bowyer's car spun and brought out a caution. Eventually Newman didn't win and Truex beat out Newman on a tie-breaker for a spot in the 12-driver field of the chase for Sprint Cup championship. Bowyer was allegedly spun out intentionally to help out Truex. Both were penalized by NASCAR and Truex's spot in the chase was replaced by Newman, which I think was the right thing to do. However, the story didn't end there. It turned out Joey Logano's team was found colluded with David Gilliland's so that the latter let the former passed to gain a spot (and a point) which helped him beat out Jeff Gordon for the final spot in the chase. To compensate for this, NASCAR added a 13th spot to the chase to include Gordon. Again, I think that's the right thing to do. Ironically, Logano won the pole of this week's race, the first of the 10 races for the championship, which was delayed by rain in the Chicago area.
Jim Furyk became the sixth men on PGA to shoot 59, which happened in the 2nd round of BMW Championship. This article says Furyk's 59 is among the best out of those six.
NBC bought the right to English Premier League and putting some of the games on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus, formerly OLN) Comcast did the right thing and included this channel in the starter package. I'm usually the one who whine about not getting a certain channel but it's my buddy who subscribed to DISH not getting this channel! So, my first EPL game on big TV this season is Man U vs Crystal Palace. I missed the 1st 20 min and thought I might have missed some Man U goals already but I didn't, which was NOT good!. They only scored twice against a team that never stay for more than one season after promoted to the premier league. Still, I'm glad that both strikers RVP and Rooney scored, a PK and a free kick, respectively, which gotta boost their confidence.
Another present surprise included by Comcast is Fox Sports 1 (formerly Speed) I did not get Speed with Comcast's basic package before we terminated the service last time. The Fox-owned Speed used to broadcast F1 (now on NBCSN), Supercross, NASCAR Truck series, etc and I seriously considered getting cable just for Speed but I eventually didn't because of the high cost. I was also surprised that Fox Soccer channel has been folded (now become FXX which is non-sports) So basically Fox "converted" a motorsports specific channel to a general sports channel (like ESPN and NBCSN) which shows its remaining motorsports, soccer programs plus some more after losing F1 and EPL rights. FS1 will be showing Champions League games starting this week!
La Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) is one of the 3 grand tours (the biggest road bicycle races of the year. The other 2 is of course Tour De France and Giro d'Italia) Watching bike racing to me is kinda like watching NASCAR: a lot of times most of the action happened at the end of the race, for example, the peloton catching the breakaway, or the sprinters shoot it out at the finish line. Still, I would turn it on whenever I remember (these European races end around 9am!) This year's Vuelta doesn't have some of the biggest name: Chris Fromme, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck. Cadel Evans but I was glad that I watched. Stage 20 was a brutal climb (I saw a few 24%) Giro's winner Vincenzo Nibali was 3 second behind American Chris Horner at the start of the stage. Both were in the 2nd group after the breakaway near the end of the race and during those steep climbs. The British sports channel commentators mentioned rains might help Nibali and they sounded like they want that to happen. I guess there's a subtle bias against the American! For a moment Nibali attacked and it seemed like Horner had a hard time keeping up. Well, it turned out Horner was saving some in his tank and only used it later to pass Nibali and extended his lead to seal his overall victory. Congrat to the 41 year old becoming the oldest grand tour champ.
The hated Dodgers has been unstoppable for the last few months. No one could deny it's a much better team than our Giants this year and a likely championship contender. The games between these 2 teams probably don't mean much to the big picture but true fans still care. It was a nail-biter on Friday and the Giants hanged on to win. On the other hand, the Saturday night game was a huge blow out by the Giants. Then another close win on Sunday. Sweet!
Watched the Wisconsin vs Arizona State game via Slingbox on the same night. What a mind-boggling finish! The Badgers should have won the game by kicking a field goal but the QB simply put the ball on the ground which didn't stop the clock and we ran out of time! Unbelievable. Not enjoying any college game this weekend :(
I've followed the career of NASCAR Nationwide series driver Justin Allgaier since his Penske years when his team was sponsored by Verizon. He lost that ride because NASCAR's bigger sponsor Sprint forced Verizon out. Now that he's on a smaller team, he still performed consistently as the best-of-the-rest after the top-tier drivers. It's hard to tell if his talent is good enough for the Sprint Cup, the top series in NASCAR but he never got a chance to race there until this week. One of the owners of his Nationwide team has bought a Sprint Cup team and his Nationwide sponsor agree to sponsor that car for a few races so Allgaier will make his Sprint Cup debut this week.
Of course this is just a tiny story among all things happened in NASCAR this week. Recall last week's race in which Ryan Newman was about to win the race but Clint Bowyer's car spun and brought out a caution. Eventually Newman didn't win and Truex beat out Newman on a tie-breaker for a spot in the 12-driver field of the chase for Sprint Cup championship. Bowyer was allegedly spun out intentionally to help out Truex. Both were penalized by NASCAR and Truex's spot in the chase was replaced by Newman, which I think was the right thing to do. However, the story didn't end there. It turned out Joey Logano's team was found colluded with David Gilliland's so that the latter let the former passed to gain a spot (and a point) which helped him beat out Jeff Gordon for the final spot in the chase. To compensate for this, NASCAR added a 13th spot to the chase to include Gordon. Again, I think that's the right thing to do. Ironically, Logano won the pole of this week's race, the first of the 10 races for the championship, which was delayed by rain in the Chicago area.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
電視精回歸
取消Comcast有線電視後過了大半年，其實也沒有太不慣；上上YoutTube已很多東西看，不過小朋友漸長大，再加上間中有的訪客同時想上網，家中所謂寬頻(DSL)就不勝負荷了。早一陣子AT&T寄過廣告宣傳我們屋苑已有新一代U-Verse服務，打去問才知目前速度仍和DSL一樣，而Comcast最新的優惠是TV+Internet兩年合約，兩年內由超筍價加到正價平均每月$70+雜費，覺得可以接受，於是重投Comcast。落搭後兩個工作天就收到Comcast的cable box，之前也買了cable modem，準備self-install，想來不會太難，又免卻等待technician上門。
結果花了三小時，登入Comcast activation網站四次，有兩次網頁無反應，另外兩次activation不果；打去Comcast activation專線四次，三次是automated response，成功activate cable modem及cable box，打第四次是因為優惠包括六個月HBO沒有兌現。當中也花了一點時間configure router，原來對上一次用有線寬頻已是十幾年前的事，那時Wifi尚未流行，modem直駁電腦；之後用router都是用PPPoE駁DSL modem，Google了一會才知router WAN setting只需定為DHCP，但router還是無法接入Comcast，想起十年前朋友吹水提過要clone MAC address，即router「假裝」自己是用來activate那部電腦，終於搞掂。
兩晚看了三小時電視（因為去了Uproar Festival），也看了不少精彩節目，包括：
America's Cup: 只看了美國隊開賽以來的唯一勝利的重播，除此之外整體上慘不忍睹。
Giants vs Rockies: 久違了的巨人隊比賽，皆因MLB.tv網上轉播不包括本地隊伍；雖然今年表現強差人意，但也要捧捧場。
Motorcross: 冠軍人馬已出爐，聽見這些熟悉的名字總有點親切感。
World Poker Tour: 看別人賭不是自己的錢，我一直都很有興趣。再加上節目安排了不少美女，包括主持。
結果花了三小時，登入Comcast activation網站四次，有兩次網頁無反應，另外兩次activation不果；打去Comcast activation專線四次，三次是automated response，成功activate cable modem及cable box，打第四次是因為優惠包括六個月HBO沒有兌現。當中也花了一點時間configure router，原來對上一次用有線寬頻已是十幾年前的事，那時Wifi尚未流行，modem直駁電腦；之後用router都是用PPPoE駁DSL modem，Google了一會才知router WAN setting只需定為DHCP，但router還是無法接入Comcast，想起十年前朋友吹水提過要clone MAC address，即router「假裝」自己是用來activate那部電腦，終於搞掂。
兩晚看了三小時電視（因為去了Uproar Festival），也看了不少精彩節目，包括：
America's Cup: 只看了美國隊開賽以來的唯一勝利的重播，除此之外整體上慘不忍睹。
Giants vs Rockies: 久違了的巨人隊比賽，皆因MLB.tv網上轉播不包括本地隊伍；雖然今年表現強差人意，但也要捧捧場。
Motorcross: 冠軍人馬已出爐，聽見這些熟悉的名字總有點親切感。
World Poker Tour: 看別人賭不是自己的錢，我一直都很有興趣。再加上節目安排了不少美女，包括主持。
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Queensryche vs Queensryche
Queensryche is certainly not a household name like Aerosmith. The band did have a big hit, "Silent Lucidity," in early 90s, which is actually not typical Queensryche, which started out as a progressive metal band. Prog bands were favorites of certain magazine writers those days and I was persuaded to listen to some, like Crimson Glory and Queensryche. I enjoyed Queensryche's "epic" concept album: Operation Mindcrime, a whole lot. Their techniques were superb, melodies were catchy and storyline was interesting. Fast forward 25 years to 2013, the band fired the lead vocalist Geoff Tate. At that time his wife was managing the band and his step-daughter was managing the fan club. It's not hard to imagine $$$ might have caused some problems. After the split, both parties claimed ownership of the band's name. Both of them released an album in 2013. And both of them are touring to promote the albums. Well, two bands with the same name certainly caused quite a bit of confusion. I received newsletters from concert promoters and have to read carefully to tell which one is performing when. I hope they could ultimately resolve the conflict peacefully. (I could live with two bands having the same name) This controversy was actually the reason I listened to both new albums! The verdict: Queensryche with Todd La Torre (the new singer) holds a slight edge over Queensryche with Geoff Tate. The new album of the former sounds just like a continuation of the ones from the earlier days. Even the vocal sounds very similar! The latter is not bad either. Just sounded a bit too mainstream.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Post #601
Last week I have published my 600th posts of this blog which was started in 2008/12/26! The average was about 120 per year. To be honest, there's a clear downward trend. It's unlikely to reach 120 for 2013 :( Maybe there are less notable events/interesting topics to write about on a daily basis. Another reason is that I got "distracted" by Facebook (what else!) where it's appropriate to post about marginally-notable events and semi-interesting topics! And I have also "diverted" some of my music-making and biking related writings to my other blogs. Finally, I gotta admit I wrote less about my views on politics and current affairs. You don't need Snowden to remind us that the Big Brother is watching as he always do. Still, my blog is a better place for such posts than FB (I guess it's less likely to offend my friends here) For example, some of my FB friends posted this one about the Japanese radiation-leaking danger zone (formerly known as a nuclear plant) causing health issues in North America now (e.g. California) I am very skeptical and seems like some people with first-hand knowledge feel the same as I do judging by the comment section.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Pitchers that used false identity
The story of foreign pitchers using false identity to enter and play in U.S. caught my attention last year. Roberto Hernandez (the pitcher formerly known as Fausto Carmona) played 2 good seasons with the Cleveland Indians. His future was still uncertain when that article was written in April 2012 because he needed to reapply for visa to enter US and may face suspension by MLB. Found an interesting article dated last July about Indians players threw him a party with 3 birthday cakes when he came back to the States. He joined the Tampa Bay Rays and started quite a few games for the team in this 2013 season and even pitched a complete game last month but his record doesn't look good. We might not hear much about him.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
尋寶
甚為喜歡亞視版的尋寶，那是一個介紹藝術收藏品的節目，我先看的是國內的版本，每一集都有幾位家庭觀眾帶自己的得意收藏品上來給電視台邀請的專家鑑定真偽及價值；亞視版並非國內版配上廣東話，而是邀請香港的專家（看過的都是在香港工作的內地人，我也視之為香港的專家）為香港的觀眾鑑定。
對於收藏藝術品，我是心有餘而財不足；不過尋寶經驗我也有不少，是來自買二手唱片及書籍。十多年前玩過一陣子黑膠，去過本地多間大大小小有名無名唱片店二手黑膠部搜羅心頭好，記得有一次去到SF Conservatory of Music在19th Avenue的舊址，當時正為搬遷大賣藏品！記得那次買了相當精彩的貝多芬Triple Concerto錄音。後來到自己搬遷，迫於無奈轉贈唱盤予友人，但保留了多數黑膠碟。匆匆十數年，終於重回多姿多彩的黑膠世界！裝好唱盤後，除了重温十多年前的藏品外，下一步當然是擴充！除了Berkeley Telegraph街，SF downtown幾間舊相識，最近又到過幾間二手書店入貨，頗有收穫！介紹下幾張「得意」「新貨」：
Al Di Meola: Scenario
此碟特別之處是有份參與的是一些Art rock界響噹噹的名字，例如Yes鼓手Bill Bruford（原來早於83年玩fusion，我要到九十年代末看他樂隊出show玩jazz才知他也擅長這一瓣），Genesis鼓手Phil Collins（差點忘記他玩Art rock打鼓的歲月，早幾天還在收音機聽他唱In Too Deep，原來早年他也曾為fusion樂隊Brand X打鼓。），King Crimson低音結他手Tony Levin。
Blues for tomorrow
這張碟名毫不起眼，但仔細看看陣容，認真不得了：Sonny Rollins,John Coltrane,Coleman Hawkins,Art Blakey是其中最響噹噹的名字，其餘的也是頂級高手。這是一張jazz blues專輯，收錄的是Riverside沒有在其他碟發表的錄音，可謂滄海遺珠。唱片封套的notes詳盡地介紹了blues在爵士樂的地位：雖然blues在爵士樂之前誕生，前者是後者吸收多種風格的其中一種，有人視後者為前者之進化；其實爵士樂演進數世代(Dixieland->Swing->Bop)，12-bar blues依然是爵士樂其中一個常用的形式，只不過Bop大師如Charlie Parker等等把12-bar blues的progression多加變化，所以jazz blues聽起來一點不老土。主題曲Blues for Tomorrow的陣容對我來說相當特別，因為有Coltrane和Hawk兩個不同年代的Saxophone宗匠接連solo。此碟在1957年錄音，當時的Coltrane出道已超過12年，不過他是在這一年才推出首張由他領導樂團的同名唱片Coltrane，也是在這一年他過檔Bluenote推出其突破性作品Blue Train。
對於收藏藝術品，我是心有餘而財不足；不過尋寶經驗我也有不少，是來自買二手唱片及書籍。十多年前玩過一陣子黑膠，去過本地多間大大小小有名無名唱片店二手黑膠部搜羅心頭好，記得有一次去到SF Conservatory of Music在19th Avenue的舊址，當時正為搬遷大賣藏品！記得那次買了相當精彩的貝多芬Triple Concerto錄音。後來到自己搬遷，迫於無奈轉贈唱盤予友人，但保留了多數黑膠碟。匆匆十數年，終於重回多姿多彩的黑膠世界！裝好唱盤後，除了重温十多年前的藏品外，下一步當然是擴充！除了Berkeley Telegraph街，SF downtown幾間舊相識，最近又到過幾間二手書店入貨，頗有收穫！介紹下幾張「得意」「新貨」：
Al Di Meola: Scenario
此碟特別之處是有份參與的是一些Art rock界響噹噹的名字，例如Yes鼓手Bill Bruford（原來早於83年玩fusion，我要到九十年代末看他樂隊出show玩jazz才知他也擅長這一瓣），Genesis鼓手Phil Collins（差點忘記他玩Art rock打鼓的歲月，早幾天還在收音機聽他唱In Too Deep，原來早年他也曾為fusion樂隊Brand X打鼓。），King Crimson低音結他手Tony Levin。
Blues for tomorrow
這張碟名毫不起眼，但仔細看看陣容，認真不得了：Sonny Rollins,John Coltrane,Coleman Hawkins,Art Blakey是其中最響噹噹的名字，其餘的也是頂級高手。這是一張jazz blues專輯，收錄的是Riverside沒有在其他碟發表的錄音，可謂滄海遺珠。唱片封套的notes詳盡地介紹了blues在爵士樂的地位：雖然blues在爵士樂之前誕生，前者是後者吸收多種風格的其中一種，有人視後者為前者之進化；其實爵士樂演進數世代(Dixieland->Swing->Bop)，12-bar blues依然是爵士樂其中一個常用的形式，只不過Bop大師如Charlie Parker等等把12-bar blues的progression多加變化，所以jazz blues聽起來一點不老土。主題曲Blues for Tomorrow的陣容對我來說相當特別，因為有Coltrane和Hawk兩個不同年代的Saxophone宗匠接連solo。此碟在1957年錄音，當時的Coltrane出道已超過12年，不過他是在這一年才推出首張由他領導樂團的同名唱片Coltrane，也是在這一年他過檔Bluenote推出其突破性作品Blue Train。
Julian & John (a.k.a Together, from the CD version)
驟眼看碟名你可能以為是指Julian和John Lennon兩父子，其實是Julian Bream及John Williams兩位古典結他大師才對。繼Andres Segovia之後，這兩位算是最響噹噹的巨星。此碟是他們兩人首度合作的唱片，曲目包括Carulli及Albeniz的作品，彈開古典結他的朋友對他們肯定不會陌生，而兩支結他的編曲亦豐富且有新鮮感。
Mulgrew Miller: Work!
這是一張27年前推出的爵士鋼琴三重奏唱片，三位樂手都是出道不久，才是鋼琴手Mulgrew Miller第二張作品。低音提琴手Charnett Moffett和女鼓手Terri Lyne Carrington至今仍然活躍，今年分別推出新作；可惜Miller已於今年五月底去世。他和另一位今年去世的爵士鋼琴手Cedar Walton都是我早年在Yoshi's欣賞過的大師。他們都給我實而不華的感覺，這張唱片越聽越有味道。
Larry Coryell, John Scofield, Joe Beck: Tributaries
由三位爵士結他高手合作的作品，想必不會差。尤其是Coryell和Scofield都是十分多元化的樂手，第三位其實我看錯以為是Joe Pass，不過Joe Beck和我師父Jimmy Bruno合作的Polarity一碟我也是十分欣賞。言歸正傳，原來有樂評對此唱片評價普通，覺得只有結他友才會喜歡；可能這個說法也沒錯，我一定有點bias。總之這不是一張易找的作品，CD版也要從日本入口！我們有三個彈結他的band友，我常常希望有朝一日搞個爵士三重奏，這張唱片也是一個很好的參考。
Monday, August 19, 2013
Sports highlights: sportsmanship and victories
49er is on my top-hated team lists but gotta give their players some credits and respect when it's due: 49er played against Kansas City Chiefs last week in a pre-season game. Coincidentally, it's the first time they met after former 49er QB Alex Smith was traded to KC. 49er players (including Smith's replacement) took turn to wish Smith well. And they were not even on TV so I'm pretty sure that's genuine feeling, not what the word "sportsmanship" could describe.
From the team that I don't care to the ones I care: Giants, A's, White Sox, Yankees all won their weekend series (against the lowly Marlins, the competitive Indians, the still-not-rock-bottom Twins and the "mightly" Red Sox, respectively!) I couldn't remember when this happened last time this season! Oh well, true fans are supposed to stick with their teams during good times and bad times.
BTW, we drove by the Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, exactly 1 week before the Sonoma Grand Prix (Indycar race) The traffic was not great even on a day without big race. I went a few years ago and wish it's an oval track (wider tracks usually resulted in more passing opportunities. And you could see the whole track better) Oh well, not everyone lives near an Indycar and NASCAR race track though. I shouldn't complain too much about the traffic and the fact that it's a road course instead of an oval.
From the team that I don't care to the ones I care: Giants, A's, White Sox, Yankees all won their weekend series (against the lowly Marlins, the competitive Indians, the still-not-rock-bottom Twins and the "mightly" Red Sox, respectively!) I couldn't remember when this happened last time this season! Oh well, true fans are supposed to stick with their teams during good times and bad times.
BTW, we drove by the Sonoma Raceway on Sunday, exactly 1 week before the Sonoma Grand Prix (Indycar race) The traffic was not great even on a day without big race. I went a few years ago and wish it's an oval track (wider tracks usually resulted in more passing opportunities. And you could see the whole track better) Oh well, not everyone lives near an Indycar and NASCAR race track though. I shouldn't complain too much about the traffic and the fact that it's a road course instead of an oval.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
NASCAR真人騷
我對真人騷相當抗拒，原因？太戲劇化！「真」的成份不高。不過最近卻看了一個，是汽車添加劑製造商Peak贊助Michael Waltrip車隊招一名新成員受訓。參加這個節目的車手經過多重考驗，當然少不了賽車，也有鬥快速避開障礙（例如賽事進行中遇到的壞車），鬥短時間進出維修站，還有非賽車：演出為Peak宣傳的廣告片，鬥演得好。睇開美國賽車的朋友都知Peak現任代言人是新聞多多的Danica Patrick, Danica有在節目出現指導參加者做廣告所需演技，她算駕輕就熟了。有人睇有車睇，這個節目總算冷場不多。我支持這個節目的另一個原因是Michael Waltrip車隊的車手: Michael Waltrip作為車手戰績不俗（兩次贏得Daytona 500大賽），車隊論budget算不上頂班，旗下卻猛將如雲：包括老而彌堅的Mark Martin，爭標前列分子Clint Bowyer等等。
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