The boys have been seriously digging the 1974 A&M release "Come On and Zoom," an audio production of WGBH television highlighting the kids program of the same name. This record is dated 1974, but according to the youtube clip, most of the cast is circa 1976. Besides the blatant 70's factor, what is so awesome about this?
1) The music is fresh to this day, totally global, original/traditional, jazzy, funky, rocking, and the vocal harmonies are surprisingly good for a bunch of sub-16 y.o. kids. This listening adult is emotionally biased, but tearfully singing along and appreciating the funky electric and acoustic arco basslines and clever lyrics. GLEE's got absolutely nothing on this multicutural performing posse.
2) My sister defaced the doublewide foldout LP album cover with "stupid" written in blue bic ballpoint over every boy, and "smart" over every girl. Tellingly, some of the girls had their "stupid" crossed out before "smart was written in. My sister was about 10 at the time. Girls can be so cruel, no? In addition, my sister proclaimed her ownership of the record by emblazoning her name on the cover. In doubly and triply underscored capital letters she writes "only mine" along with the news bulletin: "It is not Jason's. He ruins records, and he is a baby and a show off" with "True Stuff" below and an arrow pointing to the aforementioned text. Much love in our household for sure. Anyway, what I am most proud of is the fact that I, showcasing my reading skills at approximately 5 years of age, had crossed out the "baby and show off" line with a blue bic ballpoint scribble. Not only could I read, but also I was not able to dispute the fact that I had ruined the occasional record.
3) The boys are LEARNING: listening, music, rhyme, reading (the record case is adorned with comic drawings and the full lyrics,) multiculturalism and the positive (but not cloying or saccharine) messages in the lyrics. In fact, we do hear teasing, taunting and even "shut up!" and "you jerk!" reinforcing my ideal that humans should be able to take it as well as dish it out. It's all in good-natured fun. "Music is love and love is music if you know what I mean. People who believe in music are the happiest people I've ever seen."
4) CDs and mp3s can kiss my vinyl ass. This analog record, with its deep scratches, noise, and skips, sounds INFINITELY better than any digital recording ever made. Soft, warm, luscious, the needle in the groove, feeling the vinyl vibrating your earhole is no comparison to the icy harsh digital reality. And the boys now know the lost art of safely operating a record player and putting the record back in its sleeve. They patiently wait for the tone-arm to retract, carefully hold the record by its edges to flip it, press play and again wait for the needle to hit the groove. I can't imagine a life without vinyl and strongly encourage you to retrieve the old LP's from the basement, attic, or grandma's, and find a machine that plays them. You will not be disappointed.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Studioleaks
Studioleaks has unearthed a rare trove of early recordings from Arthur "Harry" Harrison. These Christmas-inspired freestyle rhymes feature Harry accompanying himself simultaneously on tabla. After deliberations with the artist, Studioleaks will be release choice excerpts from these "basement tapes" during the holiday season. Recorded in Dec. of 2010 when he was 5 years of age, the music highlights an artist obviously in the early stages of his career, sometimes with a penchant for spontaneous word creation, and with a clear sense of humor. Completely raw and unedited, and I may add, uncoached by his parents.
Santa Claus Gives us Presents by Mischa Machez
Santa Claus Gives us Presents by Mischa Machez
Thursday, August 12, 2010
If you ever needed proof of life's absurdity
Once again eons since the last post, life does get in the way sometimes. Even the Twitter feed is pretty sparse these past couple months since Daph has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
On an up note.
The Chestnut Hill Local published an article about Daph this week, with a photo of us "above the fold" in all it's color glory. Daph's mom experienced cancer when she was about the same age as Daph, with two small children. It was with the help of the local community that she is a survivor. These days, the word "community" can cover a much wider spectrum thanks to the internet, and I can't thank everyone who has contributed to helping us during this crazy time. Family and friends both local and far flung, neighbors we hardly know, complete strangers, so many people have come to our side for support of all kinds. We truly would not be able to deal with this if it wasn't for you all. We realize that everyone has their problems, and ours are rendered insignificant when one looks to the problems of the larger world, so thank you for giving of yourselves. And forgive the rant below. Read on only if you really want to take a trip down the rabbit hole of health care coverage...
Let's distill.
Not all of life has been totally absurd, but the saga of the hospital/insurance company/pharmacy/doctor administration that is now a daily facet of our lives just begged to be addressed. This is not a Hollywood drama of the big, mean insurance company squashing the little guy. It is just one person's account of the madness that is the US health care "system" and I use those quotes only because the Greek root of the word meaning a "whole compounded of several parts or members," does not accurately describe what constitutes health care in America in 2010. It is simply too unstructured and the various parts and players so disconnected that it cannot be considered an integrated whole, and certainly not a working system.
My wife Daphne was diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast in early June. She has undergone surgery to remove the cancer, and a concurrent biopsy determined that there is still cancer present in the margins, so another surgery is called for after chemotherapy. Daphne has undergone 2 treatments of chemo so far (adriamycin and cytoxan), with 2 more of those before 4 of Taxol. After the next surgery she will be treated with radiation for 7 weeks, then her chances of a recurrence are about 50/50.
Backing up.
When I was working for someone else in 2005, I had a decent health plan that I paid a very reasonable sum for, with my employer covering the bulk of it. Our first son was born, the birth was covered and we were out of pocket almost nothing. In early 2007 I quit my job and started working as a freelancer, just before we found out that Daphne was pregnant again. I had purchased a bare-bones health policy for the family when I quit my job, because I knew it would be difficult to obtain insurance again if we let it lapse. Our policy has high deductibles, high co-pays, and 20% coinsurance. In terms of numbers our monthly premiums are "low" but each family member has a 5k deductible, up to $2500 coinsurance, a $500 pharmacy deductible and $2500 pharmacy max, so with a major illness like this, we're out of pocket about $10k.
When our second son Gus was born in November of 2007, we were faced with bills for mom and Gus, each with their own deductibles, as well as a $5000 "birth" fee/co-pay that we had not known about when we bought our disaster coverage insurance policy. Gus was born with respiratory problems and spent some time in the NICU and was later admitted to the hospital twice for nearly week-long stays before he was even three months old. As we spent New Year's eve 2007 in the hospital with Gus wheezing and hooked up to an IV, on the eve of what would be 5 more days in the children's ward, we of course were not thinking about what it was going to cost us. Had it crossed my mind, I would have thought, well, he was just born in November, and his deductible was paid in full with all the recent medical expenses from the birth, so he should be covered. No. Gus, at less than 2 months old, like the rest of the family, has a policy whose deductibles reset every calendar year. So were faced with another $5000 deductible to cover his hospital stays. Our out of pocket expenses for the birth and Gus' treatment exceeded $20k. Daphne spent the entire next year on the phone and in correspondence and was able to negotiate on the bills, some of which we were first receiving in May for services performed in November.
We should have learned our lesson then, right? Maybe we should have just dropped our coverage altogether and gone the "pay as you go" route. From my recent experiences, doctors and hospitals are more than willing to negotiate a bill or set up a payment plan. We spoke with a clerks' supervisor at the hospital one day asking for a discount. She looked at the computer screen for 20 seconds and gave us half off, on the spot. 20% off is fairly routine. And we have health coverage. I imagine if we didn't they would be even more lenient.
So now it's a few years later, I am still self-employed, Daphne just started a business with her partners earlier this year and is now struck with a major illness. A local non-profit, Jazz Bridge, is helping us to cover the deluge of bills, and our friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances have been more than generous in helping us out financially and personally, helping with meals, the children, and with day to day coping emotionally. Thank you to each and every one of you who have helped or offered to help - we are proud of our community and to have such an extended network of amazing people in our lives.
As to the absurdity, today was a typical day, but we need a little background.
In July Daphne started chemotherapy. We were instructed to go to the pharmacy the day before to pick up anti-nausea medications. One of them, Emend, had only been approved by our insurance company to be refilled every 15 days. Trouble was chemo was supposed to be every 14 days. We figured we'd cross that bridge when we came to it, but planned to pick up the medicine at the last possible minute, meaning the morning before that afternoon's chemo, so that maybe we could squeeze a day extra between treatments and get the Emend on day 15 or 16 so it wouldn't get denied. Turns out I had to pay full price for the drug, about $400. Pharmacy says, "the drug wasn't pre-authorized by your doctor, so it isn't covered." I was a little surprised, then also remembered that we had a $500 pharmacy deductible, this was a name brand drug with no generic equivalent, etc., so ho-hummed my way to the hospital.
Told the Drs' secretary and the Nurse Practitioner about the Emend, and they said they would call and pre-authorize the drug, that we should be able to get a refund. OK. More on that later.
Chemo round one.
As part of the treatment course, Daph's doctor recommended chemo every two weeks, with a white-blood cell booster shot to be administered within 48 hours of the AC chemo treatment. This drug, Neulasta, raises the white blood cell count so that women can receive the AC chemo every two weeks instead of every three (during which time the body presumably regenerates enough white blood cells). We never questioned this, as this doctor is well-respected, middle-aged, and knowledgeable, and when you're faced with cancer you pretty much do what your trusted doctor recommends.
Within a day or two after the chemo she's supposed to get this Neulasta shot, which can be administered at home. The insurance company calls me and says we need to pay for the Neulasta, which will be Fedexed to our home so a visiting nurse can teach us how to administer. Our share of the Neulasta is over $1200. And she's going to need this 3 more times. But get this - Daph's yearly pharmacy max is $2500, so with this one shot of Neulasta she's already over the maximum! We call the hospital and they say come on down, we'll give you the shot and put it in as medical treatment so it won't have to be covered under your pharmacy plan. So we call and cancel the Neulasta home delivery. A visiting nurse shows up anyway to teach us how to do the shot, until she finds out we're not doing it, then proceeds to hang out and talk chemo side-effects for an hour so it seems like she has a reason to be there. Next day we take 2.5 hours to drive to West Philly and go get the Neulasta shot and it's covered as "medical" instead of "pharmacy."
After speaking with the Dr. it turns out that there is NO CLINICAL BENEFIT to doing chemo every 2 weeks, and the only reason they do it is to get women through the treatment faster. OK. As mentioned, the Neulasta stimulates the bone marrow to boost the white blood cell count so it only takes the body 2 weeks to regenerate as opposed to 3. But chemo is equally as effective with or without the Neulasta. Dr. hadn't told us this before. Why do you think that is? Could it be somebody wants people to buy a drug costing thousands of dollars per dosage? Could it be somebody wants to hustle more patients through the "system" in less time? Did I mention that side effects of the Neulasta include flu-like symptoms, headache and bone pain for 2-3 days? This in addition to the already miserable side-effects of the AC which include nausea and major fatigue. Oh yeah, and the standard anti-nausea meds side effects which include debilitating constipation, headache and fatigue. Daph opts for 3 weeks between the remaining 3 treatments of AC chemo, so no Neulasta.
Chemo round two, about 2 weeks later.
I go to pick up the Emend again and guess what, have to pay full price of almost $400. Turns out the insurance company hasn't reversed the charges on the Neulasta, so it appears to the pharmacy that we've exhausted our pharmacy benefits. Dr. now says they spoke with ins. co. and Emend has been denied. Well that explains why we have to pay full price. But when I call ins. co. they say Emend is not denied, it's only because of the mix up with reversing the charges on the Neulasta. They say go back to the pharmacy and redo the 2 original Emend claims and we will be covered and get some money back. Looking forward to another fool's errand to the pharmacy, as now Daph is due for yet another dosage of AC chemo, which means more Emend. Did I mention the Emend is designed to prevent vomiting from the chemo?
Fun with Drs. invoices.
We get a bill from the surgeon about 6 weeks after we figured we had paid for everything, saying we owe over $1600. OK. I call the Drs. office Thursday and leave a message telling them I actually want to pay this bill. Call Friday and leave a msg. Call Monday and leave a msg. Drs' assistant calls back. "Actually, you only owe us about half of that amount, and if you pay it in full this week, we'll give you %20 off." OK. Everyone likes a discount, and I didn't even ask this time. So I get a check and bring it up to the Drs' office the next day. Woman at the desk says, "Hmm, doesn't look like you owe us anything, in fact it looks like the hospital has a refund for you of over $700." So you don't want this check? "No, here, call billing and give them your account number, the one on the invoice, and they'll get his straightened out." OK. I go home and call billing, give them the account number from the invoice. Billing says "that's not our account. Ours all start with fives. According to our records, Daphne is paid up except for a couple of physical therapy visits in August." OK. I go home, start to write this.
For a while I was thinking I was wasting my time getting this down. I can hardly believe it myself, and somehow this makes me feel better knowing it's not a dream. Why that is is maybe a discussion for the therapist. Oh yeah, we have a therapist, she came as part of the treatment, and there is no charge for our visits with her. We find ourselves visiting various parts of SE PA, including West Philly, Chestnut Hill, Wyndmoor and Ft. Washingotn. Form what I har, we are lucky everything is more or less in the same geographic area. You don't want cancer if you live in the sticks. Daph has a primary care doctor, a surgeon, plus her assistant, an oncologist, his NP and secretary, a physical therapist, an acupuncturist (not covered by ins. co.), two visiting nurses (so far), and a partridge in a pear tree.
My mom has been a proponent of NOT having health insurance for many years, and has dealt with her medical bills by negotiating. If everyone in the US all of a sudden stopped paying their health insurance and began negotiating directly with their doctors and the pharmacies, then we might have something approaching fair system. Sure the insurance companies would be out of business, but do they really need to be in the middle of all this? They are the reason why so many people are unable to get health care, medicine, and why the cost of everything is so high. But are the Joneses really going to all of a sudden drop their health coverage? Sick or well, every rational adult in this society believes that YOU NEED HEALTH INSURANCE. If you don't have it as part of your job, you worry and fret or you buy a policy that you can afford.
Would we be much worse off financially if we didn't have coverage? The billed price of the surgery alone was nearly $50k. I guess we would have had to declare bankruptcy because we would realistically be unable to pay. I am starting to think that might have been less of a hassle than dealing with this rabbit hole of a "system" on a daily basis.
Peace, health and prosperity,
J
On an up note.
The Chestnut Hill Local published an article about Daph this week, with a photo of us "above the fold" in all it's color glory. Daph's mom experienced cancer when she was about the same age as Daph, with two small children. It was with the help of the local community that she is a survivor. These days, the word "community" can cover a much wider spectrum thanks to the internet, and I can't thank everyone who has contributed to helping us during this crazy time. Family and friends both local and far flung, neighbors we hardly know, complete strangers, so many people have come to our side for support of all kinds. We truly would not be able to deal with this if it wasn't for you all. We realize that everyone has their problems, and ours are rendered insignificant when one looks to the problems of the larger world, so thank you for giving of yourselves. And forgive the rant below. Read on only if you really want to take a trip down the rabbit hole of health care coverage...
Let's distill.
Not all of life has been totally absurd, but the saga of the hospital/insurance company/pharmacy/doctor administration that is now a daily facet of our lives just begged to be addressed. This is not a Hollywood drama of the big, mean insurance company squashing the little guy. It is just one person's account of the madness that is the US health care "system" and I use those quotes only because the Greek root of the word meaning a "whole compounded of several parts or members," does not accurately describe what constitutes health care in America in 2010. It is simply too unstructured and the various parts and players so disconnected that it cannot be considered an integrated whole, and certainly not a working system.
My wife Daphne was diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast in early June. She has undergone surgery to remove the cancer, and a concurrent biopsy determined that there is still cancer present in the margins, so another surgery is called for after chemotherapy. Daphne has undergone 2 treatments of chemo so far (adriamycin and cytoxan), with 2 more of those before 4 of Taxol. After the next surgery she will be treated with radiation for 7 weeks, then her chances of a recurrence are about 50/50.
Backing up.
When I was working for someone else in 2005, I had a decent health plan that I paid a very reasonable sum for, with my employer covering the bulk of it. Our first son was born, the birth was covered and we were out of pocket almost nothing. In early 2007 I quit my job and started working as a freelancer, just before we found out that Daphne was pregnant again. I had purchased a bare-bones health policy for the family when I quit my job, because I knew it would be difficult to obtain insurance again if we let it lapse. Our policy has high deductibles, high co-pays, and 20% coinsurance. In terms of numbers our monthly premiums are "low" but each family member has a 5k deductible, up to $2500 coinsurance, a $500 pharmacy deductible and $2500 pharmacy max, so with a major illness like this, we're out of pocket about $10k.
When our second son Gus was born in November of 2007, we were faced with bills for mom and Gus, each with their own deductibles, as well as a $5000 "birth" fee/co-pay that we had not known about when we bought our disaster coverage insurance policy. Gus was born with respiratory problems and spent some time in the NICU and was later admitted to the hospital twice for nearly week-long stays before he was even three months old. As we spent New Year's eve 2007 in the hospital with Gus wheezing and hooked up to an IV, on the eve of what would be 5 more days in the children's ward, we of course were not thinking about what it was going to cost us. Had it crossed my mind, I would have thought, well, he was just born in November, and his deductible was paid in full with all the recent medical expenses from the birth, so he should be covered. No. Gus, at less than 2 months old, like the rest of the family, has a policy whose deductibles reset every calendar year. So were faced with another $5000 deductible to cover his hospital stays. Our out of pocket expenses for the birth and Gus' treatment exceeded $20k. Daphne spent the entire next year on the phone and in correspondence and was able to negotiate on the bills, some of which we were first receiving in May for services performed in November.
We should have learned our lesson then, right? Maybe we should have just dropped our coverage altogether and gone the "pay as you go" route. From my recent experiences, doctors and hospitals are more than willing to negotiate a bill or set up a payment plan. We spoke with a clerks' supervisor at the hospital one day asking for a discount. She looked at the computer screen for 20 seconds and gave us half off, on the spot. 20% off is fairly routine. And we have health coverage. I imagine if we didn't they would be even more lenient.
So now it's a few years later, I am still self-employed, Daphne just started a business with her partners earlier this year and is now struck with a major illness. A local non-profit, Jazz Bridge, is helping us to cover the deluge of bills, and our friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances have been more than generous in helping us out financially and personally, helping with meals, the children, and with day to day coping emotionally. Thank you to each and every one of you who have helped or offered to help - we are proud of our community and to have such an extended network of amazing people in our lives.
As to the absurdity, today was a typical day, but we need a little background.
In July Daphne started chemotherapy. We were instructed to go to the pharmacy the day before to pick up anti-nausea medications. One of them, Emend, had only been approved by our insurance company to be refilled every 15 days. Trouble was chemo was supposed to be every 14 days. We figured we'd cross that bridge when we came to it, but planned to pick up the medicine at the last possible minute, meaning the morning before that afternoon's chemo, so that maybe we could squeeze a day extra between treatments and get the Emend on day 15 or 16 so it wouldn't get denied. Turns out I had to pay full price for the drug, about $400. Pharmacy says, "the drug wasn't pre-authorized by your doctor, so it isn't covered." I was a little surprised, then also remembered that we had a $500 pharmacy deductible, this was a name brand drug with no generic equivalent, etc., so ho-hummed my way to the hospital.
Told the Drs' secretary and the Nurse Practitioner about the Emend, and they said they would call and pre-authorize the drug, that we should be able to get a refund. OK. More on that later.
Chemo round one.
As part of the treatment course, Daph's doctor recommended chemo every two weeks, with a white-blood cell booster shot to be administered within 48 hours of the AC chemo treatment. This drug, Neulasta, raises the white blood cell count so that women can receive the AC chemo every two weeks instead of every three (during which time the body presumably regenerates enough white blood cells). We never questioned this, as this doctor is well-respected, middle-aged, and knowledgeable, and when you're faced with cancer you pretty much do what your trusted doctor recommends.
Within a day or two after the chemo she's supposed to get this Neulasta shot, which can be administered at home. The insurance company calls me and says we need to pay for the Neulasta, which will be Fedexed to our home so a visiting nurse can teach us how to administer. Our share of the Neulasta is over $1200. And she's going to need this 3 more times. But get this - Daph's yearly pharmacy max is $2500, so with this one shot of Neulasta she's already over the maximum! We call the hospital and they say come on down, we'll give you the shot and put it in as medical treatment so it won't have to be covered under your pharmacy plan. So we call and cancel the Neulasta home delivery. A visiting nurse shows up anyway to teach us how to do the shot, until she finds out we're not doing it, then proceeds to hang out and talk chemo side-effects for an hour so it seems like she has a reason to be there. Next day we take 2.5 hours to drive to West Philly and go get the Neulasta shot and it's covered as "medical" instead of "pharmacy."
After speaking with the Dr. it turns out that there is NO CLINICAL BENEFIT to doing chemo every 2 weeks, and the only reason they do it is to get women through the treatment faster. OK. As mentioned, the Neulasta stimulates the bone marrow to boost the white blood cell count so it only takes the body 2 weeks to regenerate as opposed to 3. But chemo is equally as effective with or without the Neulasta. Dr. hadn't told us this before. Why do you think that is? Could it be somebody wants people to buy a drug costing thousands of dollars per dosage? Could it be somebody wants to hustle more patients through the "system" in less time? Did I mention that side effects of the Neulasta include flu-like symptoms, headache and bone pain for 2-3 days? This in addition to the already miserable side-effects of the AC which include nausea and major fatigue. Oh yeah, and the standard anti-nausea meds side effects which include debilitating constipation, headache and fatigue. Daph opts for 3 weeks between the remaining 3 treatments of AC chemo, so no Neulasta.
Chemo round two, about 2 weeks later.
I go to pick up the Emend again and guess what, have to pay full price of almost $400. Turns out the insurance company hasn't reversed the charges on the Neulasta, so it appears to the pharmacy that we've exhausted our pharmacy benefits. Dr. now says they spoke with ins. co. and Emend has been denied. Well that explains why we have to pay full price. But when I call ins. co. they say Emend is not denied, it's only because of the mix up with reversing the charges on the Neulasta. They say go back to the pharmacy and redo the 2 original Emend claims and we will be covered and get some money back. Looking forward to another fool's errand to the pharmacy, as now Daph is due for yet another dosage of AC chemo, which means more Emend. Did I mention the Emend is designed to prevent vomiting from the chemo?
Fun with Drs. invoices.
We get a bill from the surgeon about 6 weeks after we figured we had paid for everything, saying we owe over $1600. OK. I call the Drs. office Thursday and leave a message telling them I actually want to pay this bill. Call Friday and leave a msg. Call Monday and leave a msg. Drs' assistant calls back. "Actually, you only owe us about half of that amount, and if you pay it in full this week, we'll give you %20 off." OK. Everyone likes a discount, and I didn't even ask this time. So I get a check and bring it up to the Drs' office the next day. Woman at the desk says, "Hmm, doesn't look like you owe us anything, in fact it looks like the hospital has a refund for you of over $700." So you don't want this check? "No, here, call billing and give them your account number, the one on the invoice, and they'll get his straightened out." OK. I go home and call billing, give them the account number from the invoice. Billing says "that's not our account. Ours all start with fives. According to our records, Daphne is paid up except for a couple of physical therapy visits in August." OK. I go home, start to write this.
For a while I was thinking I was wasting my time getting this down. I can hardly believe it myself, and somehow this makes me feel better knowing it's not a dream. Why that is is maybe a discussion for the therapist. Oh yeah, we have a therapist, she came as part of the treatment, and there is no charge for our visits with her. We find ourselves visiting various parts of SE PA, including West Philly, Chestnut Hill, Wyndmoor and Ft. Washingotn. Form what I har, we are lucky everything is more or less in the same geographic area. You don't want cancer if you live in the sticks. Daph has a primary care doctor, a surgeon, plus her assistant, an oncologist, his NP and secretary, a physical therapist, an acupuncturist (not covered by ins. co.), two visiting nurses (so far), and a partridge in a pear tree.
My mom has been a proponent of NOT having health insurance for many years, and has dealt with her medical bills by negotiating. If everyone in the US all of a sudden stopped paying their health insurance and began negotiating directly with their doctors and the pharmacies, then we might have something approaching fair system. Sure the insurance companies would be out of business, but do they really need to be in the middle of all this? They are the reason why so many people are unable to get health care, medicine, and why the cost of everything is so high. But are the Joneses really going to all of a sudden drop their health coverage? Sick or well, every rational adult in this society believes that YOU NEED HEALTH INSURANCE. If you don't have it as part of your job, you worry and fret or you buy a policy that you can afford.
Would we be much worse off financially if we didn't have coverage? The billed price of the surgery alone was nearly $50k. I guess we would have had to declare bankruptcy because we would realistically be unable to pay. I am starting to think that might have been less of a hassle than dealing with this rabbit hole of a "system" on a daily basis.
Peace, health and prosperity,
J
Monday, May 24, 2010
Busy as bees
So much going on these days, just had to take a bloggy break as it won't all fit into a tweet! Busy as bees trying to get stuff done before school ends and the kids take over. Daph has officially launched a business Greener U doing energy auditing, green lifestyle education and consulting with her 3 partners. This video highlighting energy auditing is currently in regular rotation on Mind TV, channel 35.1 in Philadelphia or can be found online at www.mindtv.org.
Lots of great new jazz videos are up at the Philly Jazz site and our subscriber base is growing daily. Had the blessed opportunity to film Pat Martino again for Jazz Bridge, check the clip here. Also produced this great 30 second PSA for Jazz Bridge, and we find out soon if it will be aired on cable channel Ovation. Currently working on the latest Jazz Bridge event, the Student Showcase, which featured an amazing array of seriously talented local kids, one of whom, jazz violinist Ben Sutin, has invited Fife to play bass in the backing band for his college audition CD.
The coming days and weeks are packed - Slife Productions is producing the first of hopefully many radio documentaries for WRTI, partnering with DJ Bob Perkins to record local luminaries Tony Williams, Don Wilson, Craig McIver and Mike Boone at their weekly La Rose jam session for a half-hour radio broadcast on Bob Perkins early evening radio show. Stay close as they say, for airdates!
Some more recent work also airing on Mind TV includes an excerpt from the upcoming jazz documentary film "Harmonizing Art and Life: A Philadelphia Education in Jazz." Matt Davis and Odean Pope are featured in this 5min clip "A Mentorship in Jazz" with a broadcast premier Weds May 26th at 8pm during Mind TV's special hour of member submitted programs. Earlier that same night the piece will air on the big screen at the Piazza at Schmidt's in Northern Liberties at 6pm, check it out if you're in the neighborhood.
Slife just filmed the rock bands Dive and Automatic Fire at the annual MMRBQ at the Susquehenna Bank Center and we are awaiting permissions to hit the grand opening of the New Meadowlands this Weds. to produce a mini-documentary for Dive, who will be the historic first to play the new venue, opening for Bon Jovi.
In our own music news, Fife is currently working in several bands, including the newgrass/alt. folk group Urban Drawl and our limited edition 5 song EP sold out at the Chestnut Hill Garden Festival. And pianist David Dzubinski is featured in a new jazz group inspired by bands like Medeski Martin and Wood, Galactic and the Bad Plus. Our debut performance is Tuesday, June 1st at the Tavern on the Hill in Chestnut Hill. Look for recordings from that group, Mischa Machez, real soon...
This weekend we are taping the return of the Miss Black America Pageant, being held in Philly after nearly a 30 year hiatus. Something tells me the highlight reel from that event will garner some views...
And looking ahead, we are once again psyched to be working with OARC and Lifeline Music to produce video for the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival this year, featuring an all jazz line up with Al Jarreau, Diane Reeves, Joey DeFrancesco and more. Check out the 30 second Festival TV Spot Slife produced below. Warren and Graziella, musical directors of the Festival, will be featured on an upcoming newscast we are co-producing with our partners Hill on the Avenue.
Thanks for reading, stop in soon, and say hey online or on the Avenue.
Lots of great new jazz videos are up at the Philly Jazz site and our subscriber base is growing daily. Had the blessed opportunity to film Pat Martino again for Jazz Bridge, check the clip here. Also produced this great 30 second PSA for Jazz Bridge, and we find out soon if it will be aired on cable channel Ovation. Currently working on the latest Jazz Bridge event, the Student Showcase, which featured an amazing array of seriously talented local kids, one of whom, jazz violinist Ben Sutin, has invited Fife to play bass in the backing band for his college audition CD.
The coming days and weeks are packed - Slife Productions is producing the first of hopefully many radio documentaries for WRTI, partnering with DJ Bob Perkins to record local luminaries Tony Williams, Don Wilson, Craig McIver and Mike Boone at their weekly La Rose jam session for a half-hour radio broadcast on Bob Perkins early evening radio show. Stay close as they say, for airdates!
Some more recent work also airing on Mind TV includes an excerpt from the upcoming jazz documentary film "Harmonizing Art and Life: A Philadelphia Education in Jazz." Matt Davis and Odean Pope are featured in this 5min clip "A Mentorship in Jazz" with a broadcast premier Weds May 26th at 8pm during Mind TV's special hour of member submitted programs. Earlier that same night the piece will air on the big screen at the Piazza at Schmidt's in Northern Liberties at 6pm, check it out if you're in the neighborhood.
Slife just filmed the rock bands Dive and Automatic Fire at the annual MMRBQ at the Susquehenna Bank Center and we are awaiting permissions to hit the grand opening of the New Meadowlands this Weds. to produce a mini-documentary for Dive, who will be the historic first to play the new venue, opening for Bon Jovi.
In our own music news, Fife is currently working in several bands, including the newgrass/alt. folk group Urban Drawl and our limited edition 5 song EP sold out at the Chestnut Hill Garden Festival. And pianist David Dzubinski is featured in a new jazz group inspired by bands like Medeski Martin and Wood, Galactic and the Bad Plus. Our debut performance is Tuesday, June 1st at the Tavern on the Hill in Chestnut Hill. Look for recordings from that group, Mischa Machez, real soon...
This weekend we are taping the return of the Miss Black America Pageant, being held in Philly after nearly a 30 year hiatus. Something tells me the highlight reel from that event will garner some views...
And looking ahead, we are once again psyched to be working with OARC and Lifeline Music to produce video for the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival this year, featuring an all jazz line up with Al Jarreau, Diane Reeves, Joey DeFrancesco and more. Check out the 30 second Festival TV Spot Slife produced below. Warren and Graziella, musical directors of the Festival, will be featured on an upcoming newscast we are co-producing with our partners Hill on the Avenue.
Thanks for reading, stop in soon, and say hey online or on the Avenue.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Back to School
Kids are back in it, Harry 3 days and Gus 2, and are sick with colds after the first week. Mom and Dad got it, too, but seem to be getting over it faster. Stress? Daph is at her BPI energy auditor certification class all week so am home trying to keep it together. Meals, dishes, laundry, work, kids. Bonus is I recording more music than I have in a while, with several projects underway: jazz quartet, Rev Chris' live Beatles covers, which sound great if I do say so myself, newgrass with the Friends band, Fonksquish, and my own little seed for a new album. Cutting some tracks today with Denise King, and will be working with Phil and the Rev. tonight to cover the spectrum from sad ballad to funked up jazz to heavy metal. Philly peeps be sure to come out to Campbell's Sept. 30th for the jazz/hip-hop/poetry open jam to benefit Jazz Bridge.
Slife Productions has been hard at work producing lots of new Philly Jazz, working with Donald Williams, Joanna Pascale, Orrin Evans, Denise King, and Victor Bailey. Here's the latest clip:
Will also be taping this upcoming tribute to Lady Day show for the Philadelphia Jazz Heritage Project:
Slife Productions has been hard at work producing lots of new Philly Jazz, working with Donald Williams, Joanna Pascale, Orrin Evans, Denise King, and Victor Bailey. Here's the latest clip:
Will also be taping this upcoming tribute to Lady Day show for the Philadelphia Jazz Heritage Project:
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The dawn of a new studio space
The big Slife news today is that within the next week the architects and students at Philadelphia University's Engineering and Design Institute are completing design of our new, green, (hopefully LEED certified) audio/video recording studio at 7926 Roanoke St. in Philadelphia. We will be incorporating the studio into the existing 1000 sq ft structure known as "the garage." The space will feature a modest reception/lounge space, a voiceover/isolation booth, and a 300 sq ft sound stage/control room, equipped with 12x16' green screen and convertible fabric backdrops. Heat will be solar hot water supplied, and the site will have a waterless, composting toilet. The design is being completed with a $10,000 grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the best part is that Phila U EDI Master's candidates and professors will be supplying the labor and expertise to build the space in the summer of 2010. One minor problem to be addressed is the small issue of finding the funds to purchase materials. Not to mention navigating L&I down at City Hall...Of course, we'll be video documenting the entire process for the blog as well as producing an educational DVD!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Summertime
Living ain't easy but it sure is fun. So much work I don't know what to do with it. Backlogged on editing Friends of the Wissahickon 85th anniversary event video, where I interviewd Mayor Michael Nutter. Can you spot the photoshop? So many episodes of Philly Jazz sitting uncut on the shelf. Coming off the total craziness of the 6th annual, 2009 West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival, where I spent the last 96 hours, walking, talking, listening, shooting, editing, and earning a buck to promote the festival and OARC, a local non-profit CDC that is doing great work in the community. Can't believe that a mere 4 years ago I first wet my feet shooting jazz at the festival for fun. Full circle? So grateful that "following my bliss" is my career.
Wrapping shooting for the School District of Philadelphia this week with some principal interviews, miles of footage to plow through for a couple character education clips, and met an interesting woman at the festival this weekend who is also working for the School District to write a book on Philly Jazz history - could be a companion DVD/website?
What else? Raising these two boys is a blast and a constant challenge. Gus is stringing words together into mini sentences. Hard to hear "bye bye dada." Harry is trying to prove himself the macho man but seems to follow every assertion with a query as to the statement's veracity. Kids will both be in daycare this fall but only 2-3 days a week, so we are trying to remember to enjoy these precious moments of early childhood while we can. Before the system gets 'em and twists 'em around.
Vacation in a couple weeks to Bridge, and am very much looking forward to it. For now, much editing, a board meeting, and a couple days shooting this week for University of Pennsylvania. Now some rest...
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