JustThinking.us

They may have come out of Boston, but if you're a Detroiter of a certain age, you know for a fact that The J. Geils Band is ours.

I don't even know how many times I saw this band, for a while there it seemed like they were in town nearly every week.

Here is J. Geils on guitar, Seth Justman on organ and piano, Stephen Jo Bladd pounding the drums, Danny Klein on bass, the always magnificent Wooba Gooba With The Green Teeth, Peter Wolf on vocals and the great Magic Dick on his lickin' stick.

One of the surest things in the history of Rock and Roll, this is J. Geils live and at the height of their powers in 1977.

 Whammer Jammer.

"Let me hear ya Dickie."

Yeah, Yeah, I know ..... Whammer Jammer was Magic Dick's moment. But J. Geils always seemed perfectly happy in the background gluing the whole thing together.

At least that's how I remember him.

On February 10, 1996 World Champion chess player Garry Kasparov lost the first of a 6 match series to "Big Blue" a computer built by IBM that was reputed to have the ability to analyze 2,000,000 moves per second.

This victory was the first ever for a computer under international chess rules for match play which requires 40 moves in the first two hours, 20 moves over the course of the next two hours and one last hour to complete the match.

Cheer up humans, Kasparov, who is widely considered the greatest player in the history of the game, ended up winning the series with three wins, two draws and the one loss in the first match.

Abandon all hope humans, Big Blue won the 1997 rematch.

Click on the photo above for an interesting ... at least to me ... Time Magazine story on the move that got inot Kasparov's head.

Click on this little gear right here for a move by move accounting of the entire series.

As an aside, who the hell sets up an even game series?

Just sayin'.

Garry Kasparov would retire from professional chess in 2005 and pursue a career as a professional critic of Vladimir Putin. So much so that the fact that Kasparov is still alive is evidence to Iowa Republican Congressional Representative, Steve King that Vladimir Putin does indeed allow dissent.

Click on either the quote or the image to go to the Satchel paige web site.

But not really.

Groundhog Day is a driect descendent of Candlemas Day.

    The celebration began in America with the descendents of German immagrants in central and southern Pennsylvania during the 18th century. It's origins are ancient and the date, Feb 2 is the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calender.

The official celebration began on February 2, 1866 when Clymer Freas, editor of the Punxutawney Spirit published the following comment, "Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen it's shadow."

The ground hog was subsequently named Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.

In his first recorded appearance, no shadow ..... early Spring.

From England:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

From Scotland:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year.

From Germany:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until May.
For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day,
So far will the sun shine before May.

He looks a little crabby over there.

On this day in history, December 10, 1967, Otis Redding and all but one member of the Bar Kays lost their lives when the plane they were travelling in crashed into Lake Monona just outside of Madison, Wisconsin.

Just three days earlier Redding had finally completed a six month project, writting and recording what would become his greatest hit and an American pop music staple, (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay.

This is Otis Redding backed by Booker T and The MG's, Booker T Jones on the organ, Steve Cropper on his Tele, Duck Dunn holding down the bass position and Al Jackson Jr on the drums. With them are arguably the greatest horn section in the history of Soul if ot all of recorded music, The Memphis Horns which were for the most part, Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love standing at about center stage on the saxaphone. I think that's Joe Arnold on the second sax.

From the "Legendary Stax-Volt Euaropean Tour of 1967".

Try a Little Tenderness

The Bar Kays were Redding's every day, road band and had scored a #3 hit record on Billboard's R&B Singles chart themselves with their 1967 instumental Soul Singer.

This is Jimmy King on the guitar, Ronnie Caldwell sporting a very nice perm, on the organ, Phalon Jones on the saxaphone and Carl Cunningham on the drums, all of whom lost their lives in Lake Monona. Ben Cauley on the trumpet was the only survivor of the crash. Bassist James Alexander enjoyed the glorious fortune of having to take a later flight.

The band was rebuilt by Cauley and Alexander and charted it's share of Disco and Funk hits on the R&B charts well into the 80s.

This is the Bar Kays.

Soul Finger

Formatting Drupal latest is kicking my ass.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice. Meister Eckhart

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  Melody Beattie

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.  Frank A. Clark

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy. Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.  Estonian Poverb  

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced, discharged and used up in order to exist at all.  William Faulkner

Thanksgiving after all, is a word of action.  W.J. Cameron

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  Thornton Wilder

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.  Unknown

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.  Johannes A. Gaertner

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.  Cicero

God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.  Izaak Walton

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.  Seneca

O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.  William Shakespeare

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.  Unknown

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.  Aesop

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"   William A. Ward

Known for writing in unconventional time signatures, the Dave Brubeck Quartet was/is widely regarded as the last and likely best of the "Cool Jazz" groups.

The cool style of play was forced upon Brubeck after a neck and spinal cord injury suffered in a diving, maybe surfing accident made it difficult for him to play the fast one note runs that were popular among jazz pianists of the day, forcing him into a slower style of play that featured more complex rhythms and harmonies along with chunkier revolving chords.

From their classic album Time Out, this is the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Dave Brubeck on Piano, his longtime partner Paul Desmond on the Alto Sax, Eugene Wright on the upright bass and Joe Morello on the drums performing their international hit in 5/4 time.

Take Five.