Earthquake weather.

Yeah, I've been pretty happy overall lately.

Man... Keyboard for me is a little bit counterintuitive. I guess it's that I've gotten so used to playing with my left and right hands exactly in sync on bass and guitar, and now they have to be independent and do completely separate things from one another. Good for me to learn though. I'll start going through the Real Book and bangin' out some of the less crazy heads so I can get better at simultaneously comping and playing melodically.

Gave Herbie Hancock's Headhunters another listen last night. I listen to the first two tracks ("Chameleon," the funkiest 16 minutes ever committed to record, and the classic "Watermelon Man") pretty constantly, but last night I rediscovered how hard the other two groove. "Sly" is Herbie's tribute to Sly Stone and is appropriately simplistic, with a smooth, cool melody that gives way to absolute caveman funk for the solos. "Vein Melter" is this slow, slow, grooving mess of soul that has some of the most sophisticated synthesized sounds to exist back in 1973. It's really easy to see how this album earned such a high place in the jazz pantheon. It broke ground like few other records ever have.

Man, I have met some people here at NYU that I can just kind of tell will be with me for a long, long time. Many of my friends from high school are sort of drifting away, if they haven't already (notable exceptions being the Ladykillers) which is sad. But there are a few here who it seems like I'll end up hangin' out with for a long, long time. Awesome.

I really gotta go write The Essay.

Oh, PS--The new Black Keys album, Attack and Release, is far and wide the best album I've heard come out this year. Having Danger Mouse produce it was a damned good idea. Pick up a copy if you haven't yet. It's a worthwhile investment. You'll listen to it a lot.