I’ve almost got the blog looking okay, though some older posts are likely to display oddly for some time. Let’s have a few quick links.

* I have to admit to some mixed feelings about the revelation that one of 2008’s most odious mass-media obsessions, the cost of John Edwards’s haircuts, was pushed by the Obama campaign.

* Bob Herbert tackles the fierce urgency of infrastructure spending.

* There aren’t any jobs. Brad DeLong now spitballs the chance of another Great Depression at 5%. Hope the Democrats really do get that jobs bill through fast.

Weightless – A Brush With Dignity (CF 154)
****½
British saxophonist John Butcher and bassist John Edwards are two of the most prominent voices in European free improvisation. They are joined by two Italian improvisers, Alberto Braida on piano and Fabrizio Spera on drums. As with many free improvisation, forget about roles in the band: all musicians contribute in equal parts, adding sounds, interacting and creating high levels of immediate intensity. The band’s name is well chosen, as the music is somewhere suspended in the air, very sparse and devoid of a need to produce sound, free of earthly concerns, although it flows quite organically, naturally, without structure or foundation. The musicians play their limited notes and sounds with reserve, paying full attention to each of them, infusing every one of them with power. Braida can play a few keys, just enough to add to the overall atmosphere, without feeling the need to make chords, or phrases. It’s the sound that counts, and in that he finds a real soulmate in John Butcher, whose careful powerful minimalism is impressive as usual, Edwards’ versatility and creativity, both on arco and plucked is astonishing, and listen how Spera builds depth, contrast and color. Some moments are harsh, others are of an incredible subtlety and nuance. The end result is one of ethereal beauty, not easy to get into, but worth every note. http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/

Peace activist confronts Israeli PM

Gaza explored from The New Yorker

Berlin Wall 20 years later from NY Times multimedia

EFF: Government finally turning over some telecom lobbying docs

6 progressive complaints about House health bill from The Nation

Net neutrality red herrings and how to combat them

Editorial: Who’s afraid of the big, bad Fairness Doctrine?

The Podestas turn change into dollars from HuffPo

Politico’s Ben Smith admits Obama camp fed him Edwards $400 haircut story

Dig trenches for broadband fiber when constructing new roads from The Hill

Weightless - A Brush With Dignity (CF 154)
El cuarteto Weightless es una formación de primer nivel dentro de la libre improvisación europea. En ella participan el saxofonista John Butcher, el contrabajista John Edwards, el pianista Alberto Braida y el batería Fabrizio Spera. A Brush With Dignity está grabado en directo en Berlin en octubre de 2008 y su duración, que apenas supera los 40 minutos, resulta perfecta para una propuesta en la que la improvisación es el factor fundamental. El entendimiento entre los músicos, que van desarrollando diferentes ideas, así como el placer de escuchar el trabajo de John Butcher al saxo explorando distintas maneras de obtener sonidos con sus instrumentos, son unos motivos más que suficientes para sumergirse en la música de A Brush With Dignity.
http://www.tomajazz.com/bun/2009/11/weightless-brush-with-dignity.html

It was November 4, 2008, and I knew the world was changing.

At least I hoped so. It’s so easy in this day and age to be cynical. It’s so easy, in our instant culture of “what’s important today is not important five minutes from now”, to forget when transformative moments happen.

So even though I’ve been a little bit disappointed in the presidency of Barack Obama so far, I think it’s important to take a minute and remember the feeling some of us felt that night.

It had been such a long campaign. I followed it more closely than I had followed anything in my life. Every day felt like another skirmish. What did Hillary say in Indiana? Can you believe the crap the McCain campaign was saying now? It was like a long, tough struggle where you were never really sure if your side was going to win.

I was a John Edwards supporter when the long slog of the ‘08 campaign began. I’d been an Edwards volunteer in ‘04, and was a huge fan of his. I’m still not really able to come to terms with what we found out about him last summer, so that’s all I’ll say about Edwards.

After Edwards dropped out, I knew Obama was my candidate. He had impressed me throughout the early parts of the campaign, but it was his Iowa victory speech, one of the most inspirational speeches I’ve ever seen, that officially won me over.

And so, the campaign that never ended went on and on, until November 4. I saw some things that night that fortunately I’ll never be able to “un-see.”

I saw an older black woman named Rose who I’d come to befriend, watching the election be called at 11 p.m. and crying her eyes out. She marched in Alabama and Mississippi as a kid, and now … this. I saw white people cry, too, and women and children and old people and everyone from across the spectrum, who never thought they’d live to see the day when hope beat fear, and an African-American was elected leader of the free world. I remember staying up even later than usual that night, not wanting to go to bed.

Not wanting the night to ever end.

I get chills still thinking about it, and got some more watching HBO’s new movie about Obama, “By The People.”

I know Obama hasn’t delivered on all his promises yet, but I’m still hopeful he will.

After the night of Nov. 4, I’ll have hope for a long, long time.

(The video above is a cool thing put together after the election by the great people at DailyKos.com. Kind of a permanent keepsake of that night.)

**OK, and now for something completely different.  I love this story. Apparently two 80-something tennis players in Arizona were fighting at the tennis complex of the retirement club they live in, and the cops had to be called. And the cop had to use force to restrain one of them!

And I thought the biggest fights among 80-somethings was whose kids visited less, and which brand of prunes is most enjoyable.

Above and beyond grooming is essential to projecting this said image of success.  Hair in particular is make or break when it comes to potential clients taking your seriously enough to allow you to manage their personal finances.  No one wants a guy who looks like he’s fresh out of college, so naturally you should try and date your hair as much as possible.  This can be best accomplished through the following:

The Swoop:

Golden Boy? Go with the SWOOP

The Swoop gives you credibility for the following reasons.  It’s classic, and is a staple style of FSGs.  No fewer than 50% of any FSGs at a financial services company have this style at any point–75% if you’re in the South.  It’s a very wholesome look that’s youthful, yet nicely juxtaposed by those who were in their prime in 1987 also stylin’ it.    Finally, it’s a manageable way to deal with a mass of hair and come across as professional.  It’s essential that no thought be given to over-geling the hair.  This simply is not possible.   Potential inspirations include, John Edwards (hair only–don’t worry ‘pubs) and Ken (doll).

The Slick:

You've Just Been Slicked

A major issue with the swoop is that it comes across as being too Mr. Nice Guy.  To instantly alleviate this issue, slightly alter the swoop by combing your hair straight back rather than to the side.   It’s essential that one should be able to make out the lines from the comb to be effective.   Also, rather that use gel, you can use pommade or other oil-based hair products.

The major downside, of course, is that to this days most villains in movies have this same hairstyle.  It should be noted that this only works if your client-base is mostly in sales, real estate, finance or are lawyers.

Bald: The Final Option

In financial services, slightly balding is not an option.   Both The Slick and The Swoop do not work with a less than healthy head of hair, as they come across as a comeover of some sort.  Therefore, completely shaven is one of the best options for those who go bald.  This comes across as cool and athletic.  Major plus if you bring up an sports-related events you’ve participated in or sports in general while stylin’ this.

If I were President, I know all my friends would be asking: “So when’s the party?” You could just imagine a kegger on the Rose Garden right?

The White House released a list of some of the visitors that have come since President Obama has taken office? It didn’t get a lot of attention with Afghanistan, the economy, and healthcare taking up most of the news time, but some of the people who visited kinda worry me.

The first one was Michael Jordan. Now I know the president likes basketball, played for the Chicago Bulls, and is the greatest that ever played. But did you see his speech when he was inducted into the hall of fame? It’s hard to say that I actually ever liked Michael Jordan considering all the times he came into MSG and trounced the Knicks. But I was a fan and to see how much of a douchebag he really is, is really shocking.

Who the hell tells their kids he would hate to be them?

My concern is that his douchbaginess will infect the White House, and all of a sudden Obama will quit being President and try a career as a day time talk show host. I know he’s capable of doing it because he’s a great speaker, and when people ask him questions he always knows exactly what to say. Plus I’m sure his ratings will be high if no one has a job.

Another name that stood out to me was former Presidential candidate John Edwards. It’s safe to say this guy is on everyone’s a-hole list right now. But according to the list, he’s been to the White House four times.

Is this the guy Obama really wants to listen to? Forget all the stuff about the affair. Edwards was saying there were two different America’s when then candidate Obama was telling people there’s one and brought everyone together. There was an article about how the strategy Obama used to get this far in the health care debate has worked. Why, all of a sudden, would he want to be taking advice from someone who had no leadership position and didn’t pass a single piece of legislation when he was in the Senate?

I guess having a blowout with all my friends wouldn’t really be a good idea. But if Stevie Wonder wants to perform at my house he’s more then welcome. And in the end these people are just visitors, and who wouldn’t want to show off the White House?

From 8/11/08

An auspicious day,  the Chinese proclaimed. The sequence 8-8-08 portended harmony and success and it worked – except for the eruption of civil war in Georgia and the antics of former US Senator, vice-presidential candidate, and White House wannabe John Edwards. As if calculated to slink below the

John Edwards

Olympic Games opening headlines, Edwards ‘fessed up to an affair with a video photographer who worked in his presidential campaign in 2006. Claiming his success gave him a swelled head (pun intended), Edwards has stood firm that the love child inconveniently on the scene was not his, claiming the father was married campaign worker Andrew Young.

This is a Gold Medal performance, with Edwards lapping the field in the Ego Sleazeball Triathlon to take home the first medal as the opening ceremonies were underway in Beijing. Since the ancient Olympics were re-established in 1896, the US lagged behind perennial champions Britain and France in les affaires de couer. While our political leaders demonstrated strong ability at corruption and stupidity, we kept losing the sex sweepstakes: the Profumo affair in UK; Mittterand’s illegimate offspring popping up in La France – overshadowed US efforts. It was Bill Clinton’s clear victory in two four-year intervals in the 1990s that catapulted America to the Gold and made us competitive.

But not even proven sexual athlete Slick Willie would go to extra lengths to concoct a plot claiming that someone else was diddling Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office. Edwards has raised the bar by setting up a campaign worker to play the beard and take the rap. It will be a Herculean task to take the medal from Edwards, whose acts of treachery and deception place him in a new class all his own. Preaching hot hell and freezing snow about the plight of the poor, Edwards, a trial lawyer multi-millionaire who just couldn’t give up the niceties to attain credibility, has finally unfurled his true colors: he has been and remains a charlatan of the highest order.

And he was two heartbeats away from the presidency, so it was fitting that Fox News invited reporters from the National Enquirer on air to give them credit for digging up the dirt on Edwards. Rupert Murdoch is the king of tabloid sleaze, which explains why his cable news shows focus on the lurid while seemingly providing “fair and balanced” news coverage. The only legitimate programming on Fox is Brit Hume’s All-Stars; the rest is local crime, how-to instruction for the intellectually challenged, and sex wherever it occurs. But the question begs, why did the “mainstream” media refuse to cover the Edwards scandal: Because they didn’t want to stain one of their own. No wonder the New York Times and its kin are on the skids.

Meanwhile in Beijing, the public spectacle of the Olympic opening ceremonies also attained unprecedented heights, lifting public entertainment to a new level. The synthesis of communist central control – laced with a dose of newly discovered capitalism – produced a spectacle of magnificent human achievement. But in between the intricate segments of pyrotechnic choreography, other interesting details unveiled glimpses of the inscrutable Middle Kingdom.

The most notable symbol on display was the chummy visage of Mao Tse-tung, the most notorious mass murderer in human memory. Why the party nomenclatura deem it necessary to keep the old criminal around is a mystery. With capitalism transforming the world’s most populous nation, creating shortages in the West by sucking oil and supplies out of the world market, I can only guess the Great Helmsman is retained as a threat, to remind citizens the central government can unleash terror against its own people any time they feel like it.

Those Chinese fortunate enough to have survived the Chairman’s foray into agricultural experimentation in the late 1950s – as usual couched in mellifluous terms: The Great Leap Forward – lived through a famine estimated to have killed 30 million people. To cloak this monumental mistake, he released the Red Guards to punish the “intellectuals” as scapegoats. In Jung Chang’s estimable biography Mao The Unknown Story, the author states: “Mao…was responsible for over 70 million deaths in peacetime, more than any other 20th century leader.” I’d venture his record covers all of recorded history, so why can’t the new, snappier Chinese leadership condemn the old devil to the dustbin of history, to borrow a phrase from the bad old days of world communism? Tells me they are not to be trusted.

President George Bush doesn’t. To his credit he criticized the Chinese for suppressing religious and political freedom in situ, the first US president to attend the Olympic Games outside our shores. Then he settled down to pull for the American teams but found time to talk with former Russian president Vladimir Putin, urging restraint in the Georgia civil war where the Russkies have intervened on behalf of the separatists and against their former Soviet puppet. Bush is the Man.

During the march of nations, the US received loud applause; Iraq did too, but not Iran. And each delegation, with the exception of nations in tribal dress, wore a coat and tie in the sweltering heat. The French sported natty fedoras and the US white berets designed by Ralph Lauren. Could it be the fashion to dress properly at the Olympics will set a much-needed trend in the US? We may be the richest people in the world, but have devolved into the worst-dressed.

The National Basketball Association is vilified by most Americans, and rightly so. Overpaid behemoths behaving like barbarians on and off court is hardly savory behavior for kids to emulate. It was with great trepidation I watched an interview with NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, in Beijing as the “Redeem Team” – a play on the nickname “The Dream Team” that was defeated in 2004 after much hoopla.

Memories of Mexico in 1968 when American black athletes shamed us all with their unpatriotic antics – and numerous similar displays of anti-American angst – raced through my head. In what I hope is a red letter day in US race relations, both athletes spoke softly and politely and made it clear they were here as Americans to retain the country’s honor. It was a stunning moment. Hats off to the players and to Duke’s Coach K who is leading the team in Beijing.

Chinese numerology has merit after all: On 8-8-08 the US rid itself of John Edwards. — Bernie Reeves

One of the most important things to remember when campaigning is to appear local!

Door-to-door campaigning can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of campaigning, especially when you aren’t the candidate.

A friend and I went campaigning in an important election in autumn of 2004. It may not be as fashionable as campaigning for Barack Obama, but we flew out to campaign for John Kerry and John Edwards in the 2004 Presidential election in the United States.

We called the Democratic National Committee in Washington to tell them that we would be in town and asked where we could most usefully deploy ourselves.

We were asked to report to Lancaster City, in Pennsylvania, so we duly did.

The local members seemed a little uncertain quite what to do with a pair of Brits but we were promptly sent canvassing around a very nice suburb, which was described as Republican-leaning in the important swing state.

We began knocking on doors and were having moderate success when a man answered his door. I should add I was dressed well, as American politicians do.  He looked at me as I asked who he thought he would support.

His jaw gradually dropped as I clearly came across as being un-American, he retreated slightly and turned to call his wife.

‘Honey, the British are coming!’  Thankfully they were Democrats.

     They truly think that the American people believe what they say simply because it emanates from the mouth of the Obama.

     Politico is reporting on the list of White House visitors that has been released, which includes Mayor Richard Daley, Michael Moore, and George Soros. Also on the list is William “Bill” Ayres and Jeremiah Wright. In true Obama form, the following qualifier was included:

Talk about the nuts running the asylum…  People suffering this severely from serious psychosis need to be institutionalized, not be put in charge.

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http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/narcissistic_rage_in_the_white_1.html

Return to the Article

October 28, 2009

Narcissistic Rage in the White House

By James Lewis

The term “narcissistic rage” gets 26,000 citations in Google Scholar. It is a common feature of extreme or pathological narcissism.

While psychiatrists often say they can’t do long-distance diagnosis, it really isn’t that hard if you have a lot of information about a person and can watch how he operates from day to day. Intelligence agencies around the world have psychiatric staffs for exactly that purpose.

While most people are pretty hard to predict, extreme narcissists are comparatively simple. They constantly hunger for ego gratification (sounds like a certain always-in-the-spotlight president I know), they are immature (constantly lashing out at those who disagree with him), constantly need to demonstrate their own superiority (or perceived superiority), often need endless sexual conquests (like Bill Clinton), are manipulative (right again), constant liars (NAILED IT!), are completely cold about the human beings they harm (like John Edwards), and they deal with frustration by uncontrollable fits of rage.  (the classic clinical description of “pathological narcissism” describes Barack Hussein Obama to a T)

I think that’s what we saw last week with the White House lashing out at Fox News.

According to the New York Times,

“Speaking privately at the White House on Monday with a group of columnists and commentators, including Rachel S. Maddow and Keith Olbermann of MSNBC and Maureen Dowd, Frank Rich and Bob Herbert of The New York Times,

President Obama himself gave vent to sentiments about the (Fox) network, according to people briefed on the conversation… ” (italics added).  (“Waaahhh, waaahhh, waaahhh!  Those mean people disagree with me!  I’m going to beat them up!)

So Obama didn’t even keep this thing on background. He allowed himself to be quoted in his favorite rag, the New York Times. Dowd, Maddow, Herbert, and Rich did their part by going into attack-dog mode against conservatives. They know exactly what Obama needs and wants, and to keep in good stead with this White House, they feed that hungry ego with the most outrageous flattery and imitation.

It is a perfect symbiosis. Obama is easy to manipulate, and liberal commentators are used to demonize the opposition. They’ve all been raised on Rules for Radicals.

Obama’s thin skin is shared by his coterie. US News and World Report wrote:

Team Obama was pushed over the brink by a growing list of what it considered outrageous anti-Obama conduct by Fox that showed no sign of stopping. Obama’s advisers say that they seethed while Fox commentators used their shows to encourage protests against Obama’s healthcare proposals last summer. Team Obama fumed as Fox personalities tried to pressure some controversial Obama advisers to resign.

White House officials say that Fox has continued to stir the pot against Obama in a regular pattern — raising a criticism, having Republican congressional leaders comment on it, and then using those comments to keep the criticism alive.  (In other words, Fox News was doing EXACTLY what journalists are supposed to do.  They are supposed to be skeptical, supposed to question EVERYONE, and supposed to verify EVERYTHING.)

A break point came when Fox tried to create the impression that angry anti-Obama protesters at congressional town hall meetings last summer signaled that Obama’s healthcare proposals were dying, a story line that other news organization picked up. White House officials say this was untrue, that those proposals were not dying at all.

Another break point came when Fox commentator Chris Wallace called White House officials “crybabies.” A senior Obama adviser tells U.S. News that White House staffers developed “a growing realization” that the president would never get a fair shake from Fox.  (To Obama and his zOmbies, it’s only fair if it’s what Obama thinks and wants you to say.)

Notice the need to have total obedience from the whole press. Fox News is a small part of the total media, but they’ve driven the Obees into a fit. Of course, every single president in American history has been targeted by the media, and generally much, much worse than Obama has. Take George W. Bush, for example. (But I forgot…Bush was Evil, and Obama is Good.  Well, that explains it.)

Last week’s coordinated Obama attack on Fox News made no PR sense. Fox increased its viewership by 10%. Obama lost points in the polls; you can give the American people only so many demonstrations of the Chicago Way before they figure out you aren’t the Great Healer after all.

Obama is far and away the biggest and most naïve narcissist in living memory to occupy the White House. He hasn’t been smoothed and polished by years of deal-making in the Senate like LBJ. The outrage looks like it was just an uncontrollable expression of who Obama and his crew are. If we get more of this, Obama’s carefully buffed sheen will be permanently damaged for the saner 70% of the population. The other 30% will always fall for him anyway.

Pathological narcissism is a reflection of weakness, not strength. Tom Bevan at RealClearPolitics points out how much of it has been happening in less than a year of this administration, including months of a honeymoon period. Obama constantly uses wild and irresponsible accusations against his perceived enemies. Bevan writes:

In the first nine months in office President Obama and/or members of his administration have accused doctors of performing unnecessary medical procedures for profit; demonized bond holders as ‘speculators’; produced a report suggesting military veterans are prone to becoming right wing extremists; attacked insurance companies and threatened them with legislative retribution; ridiculed talk show hosts and political commentators by name from the White House podium; dismissed and demeaned protesters and town hall attendees as either unauthentic or fringe characters; maligned a white police officer for arresting a black man without knowing the facts of the case; launched an orchestrated campaign to marginalize the country’s biggest pro-business group; and publicly declared war on a news organization.

When Obama runs into brick walls, he seems to reflexively go into a state of rage. Bill Clinton was the same way, and so was LBJ. But Clinton and LBJ had a lot of time to learn to moderate their own worst instincts. The best thing that ever happened to Bill Clinton as president was the election of the Gingrich Congress in 1994, which forced him to deal with reality. Jimmy Carter has been on a constant narcissistic revenge campaign since he lost to Ronald Reagan and never got a second term. It explains a lot about Jimmy’s amazing destructiveness against his favorite whipping boy, Israel.

The same thing will happen to Obama if and when he loses the election in 2012. Since narcissists in power keep people around them in a constant state of fear — everybody gets targeted and feels insecure — you can expect a ton of dirty tricks in elections to come. But then Democrats constantly use dirty tricks.

I fear two things with Obama. One is if the GOP fails to elect a House majority in 2010 to keep Obama within the bounds of sanity. A GOP majority is essential for the safety of the country and the world. But even if Obama is defeated in 2012, he will just turn into an angrier version of Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. He will haunt the political future of this country as long as he is alive, because that famished ego never gets enough. Malignant narcissism often gets worse over time. And on the Left and among blacks, Obama will still have love and adoration enough to keep him supplied. He is an easy target for flattery by the Saudis, even the Iranians — in fact, by all the real enemies we have.

So even if the voters throw out this very dangerous cult-like administration, you can expect Obama to be popping up in our politics for years to come. He will haunt the Democrats, which might be a good thing. But he will haunt the United States as well, even if he is defeated in 2012.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/narcissistic_rage_in_the_white_1.html at October 30, 2009 – 03:02:26 PM EDT

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Hi, Daily Dose readers, remember me?  The guy on the poster next to the pot-smoking alien?  Sorry I’ve been away for so long.  I’m still getting used to the extraordinary blessing that is being a real, full-time writer.  For those of you who don’t know, my initial deal with Mediaite only called for a weekly column.  The rest of what I wrote was voluntary gravy.  As of this month, however, I’ve gone from Pinocchio to real boy, with an obligation to crank out lots of content.  Concurrently, Asylum has also been asking for a lot more content from me.

As a result, I’ve been an absentee father to my home here.  Billie has stepped up admirably to fill in the gap, and traffic hasn’t really suffered.  I hope to be back here posting regularly soon, but it still won’t be what it was.

I’ve also been trying, for awhile, to establish a small contributor base.  This is tough, because I have high standards for you, our readers.  With this in mind, I’m proud to introduce you to our newest contributor, Lee Stranahan.

Lee Stranahan really needs little introduction, but I’ll do it anyway.  Lee first crossed my radar early in the 2008 Presidential campaign when I caught some of his very funny, satirical videos.  Our paths have crossed online quite a bit since then, especially on the Twitter.

He also blogs at Huffington Post, where he landed after being banned by Daily Kos for daring to believe what his lying eyes were telling him about John Edwards.  Lee currently spends his time writing and making films in support of aggressive health care reform.

Stylistically, Lee brings a harder ideological edge to the site than you might be used to here.  He’s also a very responsive guy, but I’ll remind you all to remember the rules anyway.  Let’s have fun.

Weightless – A Brush with Dignity (CF 154)
Weightless, A Free Quartet in a New Recording
Of all the instruments to play, the piano is one that poses particular challenges. You sit down to it and all the notes are available to you simultaneously. You only have ten fingers, plus your arms for clusters if you play like Don Pullen (or Henry Cowell), so choice becomes critical. The moment you push down the keys the piano immediately gives out with a sound, one group of sounds really, that has to do with that particular piano and its characteristics. To get “your” sound takes many years, if you ever get there.

A child when first fooling around with the instrument can immediately and un-selfconsciously pull off a bad Cecil Taylor imitation. Tinkle-slam-chop-blur. Again to get any good at going at it in this way takes considerable time and practice. To go beyond that second level, to be a truly individual stylist in this mode is even more difficult.

This brings me to the CD at hand today. It’s by a group called Weightless and the CD is entitled A Brush with Dignity (Clean Feed). Weightless consists of Alberto Braida on piano, John Butcher on tenor and soprano, John Edwards on double bass and Fabrizio Spera on drums.

Weightless engages in carefully executed sorts of free improvisations that owe something to new concert music though there is a strong foundation in the “jazz” orientation, whatever that means anymore.

Braida’s playing reminds us of what it takes to get a personal sound and a kind of free playing that goes leagues beyond the “kid-slamming-at-the-piano” fundamentals. He picks his way painstakingly through the possibilities. . . a cluster here, a phrase there, an overall attempt not to be automatic or banal and an avoidance of any overt key center. He has tangible success in the “what” category; the “how” category (the personal sound) is not fully present, at least on this recording according to my own take on it. That is not a problem to the music in any sense. Because also to consider is that Braida succeeds in interjecting himself into a set of collective ensemble improvisations, and in that context he is not supposed to stand out but to meld together with the others.

The four players as an organic whole succeed in creating group structures that are not uninteresting. Butcher’s tenor steps out alone on occasion, not to blaze with incandescent speakings of the tongues, but with more considered note making. That is true of the group at large as well.

I would not go so far as to say that Weightless has achieved total individuality as yet. That may come. What they have done here is created an hour of interesting free music. This is not a high-energy, high density slam-dunk sort of freakout. It’s a bit more thoughtful. Those who like the quieter areas of free music and sensitive group interplay will find it pleasing. http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/

I guess the “new car” smell is fading pretty quickly from the Obama White House.  The smell that’s finally being recognized is one that can’t be covered up with an air freshener or flowery campaign rhetoric.

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http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/10/28/liz-peek-obama-pulling-strings-axelrod-cheney-bush/

by Liz Peek

- FOXNews.com

- October 28, 2009

Who’s Pulling Obama’s Strings?

Is a new narrative starting to build? Is David Axelrod beginning to emerge as Geppetto to President Obama’s Pinocchio?

AP

NORTHFIELD, MN – For just a brief moment before Politico.com co-founder John Harris spoke last Friday at his alma mater, Carleton College, he might have allowed himself to think that finally – finally! – he would safely be able to relax in the warm embrace of a completely friendly and appreciative crowd.

After co-founding the gossipy, sensation-loving, successful Washington news web site Politico.com three years ago, Harris has taken plenty of hard public whacks from media critics for having added yet another rumor-mongering, ethically-dodgy “news” outlet to the global media. 

A former political reporter for the Washington Post, Harris often fights back when criticized this way by insisting that he in fact despises what he calls “the freak show” of modern American politics and the media. In speeches and a book he calls the freak show “a type of politics that rewards attack, rhetorical bombast, the most flamboyant personalities and the most incendiary arguments.” 

Although the dominant mode of public discourse today, “the freak show in an earlier era would have been relegated to the far margins,” Harris said in his Carleton talk.  

Freak Show

In that talk, he described in detail how the freak show – fueled by a media hungry for gaudy invective and gossipy tidbits — is degrading American society: “Its incentives are toward ideological certitude and inflexibility and away from problem-solving and compromise; toward an obsession with personalities and the personal foibles of politicians, and away from the substantive work and ideas; and toward rudeness and incivility and away from respect.”  

“I’m opposed to the freak show,” Harris concluded. “It offends my values.” 

Alas, the skeptical Carleton audience was having none of it.  

Before coming to the talk, they perhaps had seen the progressive Media Matters web site call out Politico for frequently hyping rumors planted by political operatives; or how other critics had disparaged the site’s addiction to blind quotes and attributions; or read the Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald multi-article tutorial on how Politico perversely illustrates the most hallowed and fundamental journalistic principles by vividly violating every one of them.  

“Aren’t you guilty of what you yourself are speaking out against?” one Carleton student asked in the Q&A, noting Politico’s role in spreading and often originating sensational and trivial “news” items around the clock.  

A Confession

In the three years since its founding, some of Politico’s biggest scoops have included breaking the news of John Edwards $400 haircut; of Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe budget; and of John McCain’s not recalling how many homes he owned.  

Another Carleton student  in the Q&A challenged Harris to defend Politico’s obsession with “process stories,” i.e. stories that focus on political gamesmanship and maneuvering as opposed to describing the pros and cons of actual policies.  

“Can you defend process stories to me? I’m just a little skeptical,” the student asked.  

Harris used self-deprecating humor, straightforward answers, and at one point a flat-out confession of Politico’s sins to deflect the audience’s skepticism.  

“I have a friend who worked in the Clinton White House who says ‘I can see why you didn’t call it Substanceco.com,’” he cracked ruefully at one point.  

He defended Politico’s obsession with “horse-race” or “process” stories by arguing that process and personality both have a great impact on how policy is formed and ultimately passes, and thus all are intertwined.  

He distanced Politico stories from the blogosphere by noting that all Politico stories are edited before they are published and that a layer of accountability therefore exists at his web site, unlike on most solo-written blogs.  

12-Step Meeting

And yet, Harris also frankly acknowledged that if process and policy are interwoven, so are the freak show and Politico.com. 

“The same trends that helped facilitate the freak show are also the trends that helped facilitate Politico. Which leads to an awkward question. Might my publication be a part of the freak show?”  

Is it just me, or do the paragraphs above sound a lot like a 12-step meeting? In those quotations and exchanges I hear vivid echoes of classic addict lines: 

Ÿ   Ÿ Ÿ “Everyone else is drinking so I do too. How can I stop?
Ÿ   Ÿ Ÿ “I think I’m addicted but I’m not sure. What do you think?”
Ÿ   Ÿ Ÿ “Am I addicted? Yes, I am. No, I’m not.”
Ÿ   Ÿ Ÿ “I can stop any time.”
Ÿ   Ÿ Ÿ “I hate it but I can’t stop it. I’m a part of the problem I hate.” 

If John Harris is addicted to the freak show, he’s not the only one.  

In fact with words and language being among the most deeply shared of all human traits – while at the same time being so much more ephemeral than tangible materials and physical actions – our addiction to the freak show may be the ultimate case of “we’re all in this together” as we try to puzzle it out.  

Right Speech

If we are addicted to the freak show, what exactly is the heroin that’s hooked us?  

What steps should we take to get free of the addiction and what personal, spiritual and emotional supports will we need to stay off the hard stuff for good? 

There are pretty good answers to these questions, I think.  

They come from an unlikely source —  unlikely, that is, from the perspective of 21^st century Americans working in media newsrooms and in legislative chambers, or gathered around dinner tables or in kitchens or wherever people talk, reading or watching or listening to the news, discussing the substance of their days.  

The source is the spiritual sage and ethicist called the Buddha, especially his teachings on “Right Speech,” a compendium of advice on how to speak to others in such a way that conversation is strengthened and community is sustained.

More on “Right Speech” next week.  

Copyright @ 2009 The McGill Report
Permalink http://www.mcgillreport.org/politico

Dear Fellow Spinster:

It’s hard knowing where to start a story as long as mine: my first memory of lying in a crib in the childcare room at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Huntington, Long Island, wrapped in a blanket and staring up at a mobile that hung like a branch just beyond the reach of my tiny fingers? My need to forgive my dad, who charmed nearly everyone with his mad genius and good looks, and who I lost nearly three years ago? My dream last week of a certain philandering Senator otherwise dubbed “the little Breck girl” back when he tossed his hat into the presidential ring and the name “Rielle Hunter” still meant nothing to the public?

Hmmmm. They are all related, these stories: my upbringing as a church girl, the senator’s infuriating penchant for affairs, my dad’s infuriating talent for charming ladies far and wide and the way he cheated on my mother right up to the day she died of breast cancer and I sat at her bedside at our home on Lake George, holding her hand until her eyes closed forever.

Let’s have fun, shall we? John Edwards for five hundred, please.

This is the story.

I spied him two weeks ago on University Place in front of the dry cleaners, where he sat, alone, on a park bench.

“John Edwards. What are you doing here!” I exclaimed upon spotting, first the top of his head, then, beneath it, his famous face, which was tilted downward, as if he was trying to hide behind all that famous hair, which had grown longish, by the way. A bit Bohemian, the way I like it.

Let me say that I had liked him as a candidate long ago, less for his good looks than his appealing virtue of being a handsome man who appeared to be a one-woman man, a devoted family guy and public servant to boot. Now there’s something you don’t see everyday. And then the National Enquirer burst my bubble.

The sight of him sitting there in the morning sunshine right outside the dry cleaner unleashed in my thought a meteor shower of tabloid images. Elizabeth. Rielle. The baby. I immediately recalled the  story of how she met him, improbably in midtown, and got him at hello. Well, it wasn’t hello. I think she said, “Hello,” and then said, “You’re hot.” And the next thing you know, she’s moving to South Carolina with the baby and Elizabeth is all over the Huffington Post saying she’s going to toss the bum out.

I looked at John there, on that bright October day, and had a Rielle moment of sorts. I say “of sorts” because he looked vulnerable and, I felt, needed  a friend. Otherwise, why would he be sitting like that? I mean, he wasn’t even trying to hide behind a newspaper. He just looked, well, dejected.

I am no Rielle. My thought was merely to be a good Samaritan. Being a bit of a prude and disapproving of how he’d treated Elizabeth (and also being a firm believer in the seventh commandment and the Golden Rule), I wasn’t hitting on him. I was wearing sweats, having just walked the dog, besides. I was just being a helpful neighbor. Offering a helping hand, because that’s just the kind of person I am.

“Aren’t you afraid of being spotted?” I asked as he looked up at me. It was an inviting look, the look of a man with nothing to hide. Still I wondered what he was doing there, where people who disliked him for being a bum could look down at the top of his head as I did and take in his famous face as I did and perhaps make disparaging comments, as I do every time I see a picture of him in the Enquirer at D’Agostino’s, or see Rielle with that baby on Entertainment Tonight, and think about him promising her a rooftop wedding and a serenade by Dave Matthews after Elizabeth passes on. I mean really!

He smiled and I sat down. “You could sit in Washington Square Park,” I said, describing the lovely park renovation, the fountain that spurts water that I cavorted in with that nice guy from Church on the last hot days of August, and how the whole thing now lines up with the arch and Fifth Avenue. “You would have some privacy, there,” I said. But he wasn’t interested.

I was perplexed by his blankness. I mean, it conveyed a complete lack of awareness and propriety. “You’re persona non grata around here, John,” I wanted to tell him. “People don’t like you any more. At least have the common sense to remove yourself from being seen and judged.”

But I didn’t.

“Union Square is also a bit more private and it’s closer,” I offered, thinking that he could disappear more readily there, too. Perhaps he could sit in the dog run? I mean, it’s a bit smellier than the one in Washington Square. Not many people go there. Daffodil doesn’t even like it. He would, at the very least, not be seen—or judged by the likes of people like me.

He didn’t say no. He just didn’t say yes. It didn’t interest him and I was somewhat concerned. Here was John Edwards, looking a bit out of sorts. Had he lost it, mentally? Where was the big smile? The crisp suit? Gone. He was, to all appearances, an ordinary handsome guy — and a bit of a depressed one, if you ask me.

He looked so harmless I offered to get him a glass of water and a place to cool off. He didn’t say yes, he didn’t say no. I thought, this is a bit weird, but I’m offering him a cup of water in Christ’s name. Where’s the harm in that? I was mindful that he was married and also that the last time I’d allowed someone that attractive upstairs to use the loo that there had been some amount of making out and grappling. But this guy? I wasn’t worried. He didn’t look up to it.

As happens in dreams, my apartment was no longer a studio when I opened the door to let Mr. Edwards inside, but had undergone a Cinderella transformation. Gone was the tiny kitchen and short hallway in which that last guy—a handsome Columbian art director from work who also happened to have a girlfriend—had entrapped me in his arms. In its place was a vast sunlit space with expansive marble floors and expensive modern furniture, the kind of space in which you don’t consider anything untoward happening because, well, I wasn’t going to let it and also because it looked so much like the lounge of the W Hotel.

I led John into my large dream kitchen with the granite counter tops and marveled at my new Sub-Zero fridge and how I could fill a glass with ice cubes and purified water right from the door, unlike the 18 year old GE model I owned when awake that froze everything in it even when turned off. John was quiet. He leaned against the counter and when I handed him the glass, drank thirstily, poor dear.

We walked into the living room, which was now overlooking Central Park. I turned on some music and we sat down. And then—I can’t say how this happened—he had taken off his shirt and we were dancing, me in my sweatpants, him bare-chested. Let me say that things didn’t go farther than that, physically. I enjoyed the feeling of being held like that by someone who shouldn’t have been doing it the way we do in our dreams and some people do when awake: without recrimination.

The next thing I knew, I’d taken him to an outdoor wedding where the banquet tables looked out on what is perhaps a uniquely Southern form of wedding entertainment: a tractor pull. Perhaps we were in his home state? I guess it must have been. The landscape was not that of upstate New York. There were barns, sure, but I’m pretty sure the crop I was looking out on in the distance was tabacky. Not that I know.

I woke up in the morning, after my night of dancing with a bare-chested John Edwards and watching the tractor pull feeling as I always do after one of these no-strings attached nocturnal dalliances: a lucky woman. The feeling of satisfaction lasted all day—and the next. I may be a Christian spinster, but I am a uniquely modern one: I had him at hello. And now he is gone — back to being just a face in the tabloids and perhaps soon dancing on a rooftop with Rielle to some Dave Matthews song. Frankly, I hope Elizabeth keeps her word. You just can’t trust guys with hair that perfect. And Dave Mattews? He should have the good sense to be busy that day. Heck, let Rielle and John settle for a tractor pull. Between you and me, though, even that’s too good for them.

News around the world is riffe with political scandals.  I can safely say every culture enjoys hearing dirt about the nation’s leaders.  And politicians’ gaffes keep the media in business.  The most popular stories each year are the ones in which a politician goes against cultural mores and has to come clean about his (or her — but let’s be honest —  it’s usually his) mistakes.  Especially when the incident is in direct opposition to the issue the politician most strongly fights against, media fireworks ensue.  Think Larry Craig.  Elliot Spitzer.  John Edwards.

What constitutes a “political scandal,” however, seems to be different around the world.  In the United States, we impeached a president for having an affair.  Most apologies from politicians somehow involve sex.  As a country, we are concerned about family values and do not think a politician is fit to continue serving if he (or she) fails to uphold Christian mores.

South Africa’s current president, Jacob Zuma, was tried and acquitted for rape.  Before he was elected.  The fact that he had an affair (with someone other than one of his five wives) or that the girl may not have consented was not the scandal.  The only reason the incident keeps coming up is because in his testimony, President Zuma said he knew the girl was HIV-positive so he took a shower afterwards.  As you can imagine, his efforts to control the spread of HIV/AIDS in South Africa (and his knowledge of how the virus is transmitted) are not heroic, and his statement generally comes up within that context.

After such a trial in the United States, Jacob Zuma would never have been elected to public office.  No matter that he was acquitted.  Even the accusation would bar him from ever running.  South Africans are not concerned, however, about sexual liaisons (much like the French).  They are concerned about corruption in government and mismanaging government funds.

Minister of National Planning Trevor Manuel / Photo from polity.org.za

This week the Minister of National Planning Trevor Manuel apologized in Parliament for his political gaffe.  He purchased a car worth 1.2 million Rands (about $160,000) using government funds.  Ministers are allocated money to purchase a vehicle for official use, and his purchase was not technically out of bounds.  However, in a year when government programs are being dropped for lack of funding and the Finance Minister is rooting out private companies that are taking advantage of the government, the purchase was not met with public approval.  It seems that government officials are taking advantage of the taxpayers. 

While the United States is obsessed with the sexual exploits of its politicians — and for that matter — all public figures and celebrities, South Africans are obsessed with money.  It’s not that misspending government funds does not exist in the United States or that people are not shocked by sexual scandals in South Africa.  It’s only that unless it’s Sarah Palin buying a wardrobe of designer clothing with campaign funds and flying her children around the country on the state of Alaska’s dime, these issues are not met with public outcry.

 Elizabeth Edwards has recently acknowledged that cancer will probably win, but she refuses to spend her days waiting to die. She also still speaks of her marriage as a love story. Mrs. Edwards said that her husband says, ‘perhaps not the great love story that we hoped, but maybe a great love story nonetheless. “Some are calling her delusional and some are saying she is setting a bad example for her daughters, but I disagree. Edwards had a difficult decision to make. She could spend her days being bitter or she could spend her days giving and receiving love. Her decision does not excuse her husband’s behavior, but she has chosen not to spend her precious energy focusing on his misdeeds. She should receive praise for her decision not ridicule.

John and Elizabeth Edwards during the 2008 presidential campaign.

(CNN) – Despite John Edwards’ extramarital affair that rocked his marriage, his wife described their union as a “love story,” albeit an unconventional one.

Elizabeth Edwards told WJLA-TV in Washington late last week that she wants her marriage to work, and that her husband has been supportive as she continues to battle breast cancer.

“John said, ‘Perhaps not the great love story that we hoped, but maybe a great love story nonetheless,” she said.

Edwards added: “‘Til death do you part, because that’s what I want.”

Though Elizabeth promised to soldier on, she acknowledged the grim reality of trying to overcome terminal cancer.

“Cancer will probably win,” she said. “Why would I give it any more days than it may already take? That’s the choice I make.”

Clean Feed Records eat the plate 
Clean Feed records, founded in 2001, has been the most prolific and adventurous label for jazz this new century. Based in Lisbon, Portugal their offerings have included many of jazz’s old guard including reed players Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall, Charles Gayle, Vinny Golia and Anthony Braxton and trumpeters Dennis Gonzalez and Herb Robertson, along with current innovators bassist Joe Morris and reed players Ken Vandermark, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Tony Malaby, to name just a few.

Clean Feed’s reach seemingly has no bounds, featuring the greatest players alongside new names in jazz. As with the Blue Note or Impulse! jazz labels of the 1960s, listeners can be assured a consistent presentation of high quality music no matter if the name on the album cover is familiar or not.

Marty Ehrlich Rites Quartet – Things Have Got To Change (CF 150)
Saxophonist Marty Ehrlich has been a mainstay of the New York jazz scene for decades. He founded the Dark Woods Ensemble and has recorded with everyone from pianist Andrew Hill to saxophonists John Zorn and Ehrlich’s hero, saxophonist Julius Hemphill. Of late, he has been producing long thematic works. This quartet session is a bit of a change, a variety of shorter pieces that delight the ears with crisp solos and swinging interplay.

The cast includes familiar and distinctive players negotiating five tracks by Ehrlich and three from Hemphill. Hemphill’s compositions are joyfully produced, with the semi-classic “Dogon A.D.” acting as the anchor here. The band, solidified behind drummer Pheeroan AkLaff who negotiates the bluesy piece as a bouncy vehicle for each solo. Ehlrich’s coughing alto aligns with Eric Friedlander’s cello in syncopation to the beats. Elsewhere, the cello offers that slightly different (from a bass) feel on the track “On The One,” that makes this music feel as if it has a mind to be a chamber ensemble, but with the recklessness of a nightclub band. Maybe it is the untamed trumpet work of James Zollar that keeps the music real. This is one of those special recordings that begs for more.

Samuel Blaser – Pieces Of The Old Sky (CF 151)
Swiss-born, New York-trained Berlin resident trombonist Samuel Blaser begins his Clean Feed debut with a 17-minute meditation by his quartet of Todd Neufeld (guitar), Thomas Morgan (bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums). The dreamlike and ponderous pace acts as a slow motion series of features for brooding trombone and guitar. Likewise, “Madala” stirs emotions by way of its deliberateness and pace-building for tension. Sorey is the suitable choice for the drum seat. He has developed a knack for playing that is beyond jazz, using his kit as a frontline player. Both “Red Hook” and “Speed Game” up the ante, elevating the pace and forcing a bit more tension into the music. Blaser responds with shorter thoughts and tighter solos, but those flowing notes remain.

Harris Eisenstadt – Canada Day (CF 157)
Canadian-born drummer Harris Eisenstadt is quickly becoming known as a modern jazz composer/arranger to watch. His work is thoroughly modern, with elements of West African drumming. His music is reminiscent of the innovations saxophonist Wayne Shorter was introducing in the 1960s on Blue Note. His Quintet Canada Day concentrates on group improvisation, forwarding the individual sounds of saxophonist Matt Bauder, vibraphonist Chris Dingman, trumpeter Nate Wooley and bassist Eivind Opsvik to bear on these eight compositions.

The quintet negotiates the drummer’s penchant to change time and rhythmic patterns within a song while maintaining the groove. “Everyday Is Canada Day” begins with dreamy vibes before the band enters, building the song from a simple platform. Wooley’s trumpet solo bumps against the vibes with its temerity and coarseness. Eisenstadt is blending sounds here to great effect, as he does on “After An Outdoor Bath.” He never seems to forget the pleasures of listening when he is making music.

Nobuyasu Furuya – Bendowa (CF 159)
Lisbon-based saxophonist Nobuyasu Furuya takes a walk around with the saxophone masters of energy jazz: Peter Brotzmann, Frank Lowe and Roscoe Mitchell. Bendowa might have been mistaken for an early AACM recording. The Japanese-born reedsman and flutist plays here in a Portuguese trio with Gabriel Ferrandini (drums) and Hernani Faustino (bass). While the music pushes the outer edge, it never breaks down into a noise-fest. The steady groove of Ferrandini and Faustino allow for Furuya to apply his craft. His tenor on “Track 1″ splats big strokes of paint all over the canvas, while “Track 2″ finds him playing more traditional sounds (Japanese?) on his flute. The aggressive bass clarinet notes heard on “Track 5″ float and dive into the rolling maelstrom of bass and drum animation. This is free jazz, coming from a classically trained reedsman. Maybe this new “new thing” music is the best thing to come from globalization.

Ze Eduardo Unit – Jazz Ar: Live At Capuchos (CF 155)
A mover and shaker in the Portuguese jazz scene for decades, the bassist Ze Eduardo would be comfortable playing with Han Bennink and the ICP Orchestra, Roy Nathanson’s Jazz Passengers or Steven Bernstein’s Millennium Orchestra. His brand of jazz doesn’t skip humor as an element of the music, and the audience responds affirmatively on this October 2008 live date. His trio, or unit, is composed of tenor saxophonist Jesus Santandreu and drummer Bruno Perdroso, both heard on the previous release A Jazzar no Zeca: A Musica de Jose Afonso (Clean Feed, 2004).

Don’t get the wrong impression, this is serious music making. The band just loves what they do. Their take on “The Simpsons” theme is in no way camp. The band lays down a solid groove, phrasing the familiar cartoon theme here as they do with other cartoons characters here. Their “serious” music includes the coughing interludes on “Abelha Maia” that never miss a beat between bits and pieces of “Santa Lucia.” This agreeable recording is music making at the highest level, it just happens to be very jocular.

Pinton / Kullhammar / Zetterberg / Nordstrom – Chant (CF 156)
From Sweden comes a quartet of improvisors that were assembled for a series of concerts and this recording. All four have played together in various ensembles, but this combination, a “power” ensemble, displays a tenacity that yields special results. The musicians are saxophonists Alberto Pinton and Jonas Kullhammar, bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg and drummer Kjell Nordeson. The piano-less quartet effects a harmonious sound from the baritone and tenor combination on the majority of tracks. Pinton and Kullhammar make this a friendly competition for space and solos, exercising sonic demons on “Chantpagne,” as the timekeepers Zetterberg and Nordeson keep the pulse and intensity level quite high. The possibilities for this music are boundless. The pliant dueling baritones march to “Den Stora Vantan” while all the music making is done by the drummer.

The obvious homage here, “Cross/For Bluiett,” has saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett’s outward jazz vision in mind as it sails a chamber blues into the audience’s ears. The band ends with “Mount Everest,” a direct reference to the Swedish free jazz band of the same name whose passion for saxophonists Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman are shared by our heroes. The wow-factor is increased with every track heard on this excellent disc.

Julio Resende – Assim Falava Jazzatustra (CF 158)
The unforgettable pianist Julio Resende performs this live set in Lisbon with his band and a few special guests. Assim Falava Jazzatustra follows his 2007 release Da Alma (Clean Feed). Here he summons a quartet with the notable Spanish saxophonist Perico Sambeat and the most excellent Swedish bassist Ole Morten Vagan. The music is a blend of rhythmic and percussive jazz that is instantly agreeable. Resende’s piano can at times give off the Cuban vibe, as on “Perico Sambeat,” or a classical sound, as on “Ir F Voltar.” On the latter track the band is joined by vocalist Manuela Azevedo from the pop band Cla. The band’s rocked-out take on “Boom!” finds Resende’s piano ringing bell-like throughout. He plies the keyboard with such a predatory feel here. In contrast, his cover of the Pink Floyd song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is elegant and sanguine as he negotiates the nostalgic piece. Worth the price of admission to that concert, his rendering of that classic song is priceless.

Charles Rumback – Two Kinds Of Art Thieves (CF 152)
Chicago drummer Charles Rumback leads a quartet of like minded musicians on a very introspective album. Rumback is a member of bands varying from post-rock to electronica, including Colorlist, The Horse’s Ha and Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Lightbox Orchestra. Here he employs bassist Jason Ajemian (Dragons 1976, Rob Mazurek, Bill Dixon), tenor saxophonist Greg Ward (Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly, People Places & Things) and alto saxophonist Joshua Sclar (Westport Art Ensemble). The music is characterised by paced, even-keeled, small gestures of sound. Often Rumback is playing quiet fingers on his drums while the saxophonists whisper notes in exchanges that are more late-night conversation than trading fours. The music, thoroughly composed, prefers to make its case with quiet gesticulation and soft melody. The slightest sound makes a large impact here. An impressive debut.

Weightless – A Brush With Dignity (CF 154)
These live dates from October 2008 in Germany mark the coming together of UK artistsJohn Butcher (saxophones) and John Edwards (bass) and Italians Alberto Braida (piano) and Fabrizio Spera (drums). All four had played together in varying combinations before, but the Weightless tour of Italy and Germany was their first as a complete unit. The natural combination of saxophone, piano, bass and drums gives listeners an accustomed lineup, but the music making (as you might not be surprised) is far from traditional.

The disc opens with “Apre,” a stellar piece of energy jazz that builds momentum as the players trade off duos and solos. What is remarkable here is the distribution of sound. A mark of seasoned players, the music is never crowded: all parts are distinctive and can be set apart in listener’s ears. Quite the feat for instantly composed music. The remaining tracks settle into an agreeable sense of interplay. Butcher is more inclined towards his extended techniques and the others follow suit. As with all free music, different parts are compelling for different listeners. The live (in concert) experience is quite unlike that of the recorded listen. That said this is a fine recorded listening experience.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34444