Brown Street

Sorry, Garlic fans, we were jammed up today, leaving little time to hunker down, and delve into the abundance of things, big fat juicy items, to riff on.

So, as we typically do in this kind of situation, we turn to Jazz, and hip you to some incredible piece of music.



Tonight, we go with one of our all-time favorites, Weather Report, and a monster tune, from their legendary '8:30' album;

Many of the group's earlier albums had received the highest possible (5-star) record rating in Down Beat's record reviews. However, in 1978 the group recorded the controversial and experimental Mr. Gone, which received only a 1-star review from Down Beat magazine. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four. Some say this particular Down Beat review was the most controversial in the magazine's history.

They would make a comeback and follow up with their last album of the 1970s. 1979's 8:30 is considered to be one of their best, combining both live and studio recordings on a double LP release. The group won the 1979 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance for 8:30. Despite the Mr. Gone controversy, the band's follow-up 8:30 tour was probably their best attended. Zawinul has been quoted as saying there were more stage hands hired for that tour than at any other time in the band's history.

Put on your dancing shoes, as this tune is will get the toes tappin', and the hips a swayin'!

Enjoy!

WEATHER REPORT brown street 1979

A Remark You Made

Boy, what a week it has been.

So much for the lazy, hazy days of summer ...

Things have been jumping, with both campaigns ...

Obama turned into "Obushama", with his FISA Flip-Flop, and, going all Leni Riefenstahl for his nomination acceptance speech.

And McCain ... Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain....

I think, for safety, with all the stumblin' and bumblin' he did this week (take your pick - Killing Iranians, dissing Social Security, distorting his voting record and, of course, labeling all of us "whiners"), McCain's going to have campaign the rest of the way wearing a helmet (and, perhaps, elbow and knee pads).

And with all this laying out there, I am taking the day off.

It's been a week on the homefront as well, and have run out-of-gas today.

So rather then throwing something half-hearted up, I will leave you a most wonderful offering.

Weather Report.

The seminal Jazz Fusion group, who have yet to be surpassed or dethroned.

And we present a most relevantly-titled tune, considering the above-referenced gaffes;

A Remark You Made (circa 1978, from a concert at Offenback, Germany), with Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Peter Erskine and Jaco Pastorius (and check out the licks by Jaco ...Out-of-Sight!).

Killer tune, and one of my all-time favorites.

Weather Report - A Remark You Made