Thoughts Of The Day

What's The Point

2012-01-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

By the time I was 14 years old I had studied the guitar seven years and was playing at church dances in and around New York City. I played in a few different bands, and because my repertoire was limited, I would bring music with me till I could memorize the songs that were needed. Sometimes the leader of the group would bring the music. The most important thing was that I was playing my guitar in front of an audience. That need became a very significant part of my life. As a beginner performer, there were many times I played for no pay. I needed the experience. I got my union card when I was 15 years old and for all intensive purposes I was a professional musician. A year later I was backing up 50’s type singing groups at rock and roll shows and getting paid. At eighteen I was a full-time musician but a year before while still in high school, I started playing in nightclubs. I’d work till three or four in the morning then go home and sleep two or three hours and then go to school. I did this two or three times a month, but I did work every weekend. I was like most young people who had a part-time job to earn money, except my part time job was being a musician. Through my earnings I was able to buy the things I needed to sustain myself as a musician: new guitar & amp, strings, picks, a tuxedo, guitar lessons and eventually a car.

When I graduated from high school. I went to college but my heart was into playing. I dropped out of college and started working as a full-time musician, which meant I had to get a cabaret license; during the 50’s and up to 1967 in order to work in New York City nightclubs, a cabaret license was a requirement. You couldn’t get a license until you were finger printed to see if you were convicted or arrested for any crime. Of course I wasn’t, but many great artists, such as Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday had their cabaret licenses suspended because of drug charges, and Lenny Bruce for his reputed obscenity.

I remember sitting on a bench filling out the application and sitting next to me was a face I recognized, but couldn’t place. He was very congenial and we spent our time waiting and talking. I finally said, “ You look so familiar, have we met before?” I introduced myself and he put out his hand and said “I’m Maynard Ferguson”. I practically fainted. I’d seen Maynard play many times at Birdland - my home away from home. A few minutes later he was called up to the window, finished, smiled and said goodbye. To me that was a great experience meeting someone who contributed to jazz. Up until I was fifteen, my heroes were athletes, but that all changed when I started listening to Jazz and hanging out at Birdland.

In the fifties, Birdland had a ‘peanut gallery,’ which meant anyone under eighteen could sit in the back of the club, have soda and watch the greatest Jazz musicians in the world perform. There were always two acts on the bill. My heroes and teachers were Johnny Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, JJ Johnson, Horace Silver, The Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis with John Coltrane, and the list goes on and on. Every time I discovered someone new I would buy their records and they would become part of a long list of influences and heroes. I didn’t know or care about their personal lives. All I knew is they were great players and I wanted to do what they could do and that desire is still with me to this day.

In the late fifties, early sixties, musicians were paid $25-$50 dollars a night in bars and lounges. Of course the famous musicians were paid much more, but I am talking about your everyday working musician. In those days, musicians were put into categories:
1. Studio Musicians- recordings, jingles etc.
2. High End Club Date Players - with big-name band leaders who played parties and social functions for the rich
3. Club Date Musicians - Weddings, Engagement Parties, Barmitzvahs etc.
4. Show Musicians - Playing for Big Name Acts at Night Clubs
5. Broadway Show Musicians
6. Jazz Musicians
7. Latin Musicians
8. Bar and Lounge Players
9. Classical Musicians - Free-lance and Orchestra.

The highest paid musicians were the Studio, Broadway and Classical Musicians. The lowest were the Latin, Lounge and Jazz Musicians. The point is, everyone got paid. It was during that time, that I was a regular working musician. I worked in all the above categories except the Classical and Latin fields. I was so busy, I kept myself working and three other guitar players busy too.

Along came the mid-seventies. Electronic synthesizers had taken the place of many musicians. Studio musicians ended up playing for Broadway shows. When the synthesizers invaded theatre music, those musicians ended up playing weddings. Then came the disc jockeys replacing live music with recorded music at weddings. They put those musicians out of work. The big show bands that backed up famous acts at hotels in New York City had stopped in the early seventies and the Catskills show bands were gone by the late eighties and the musicians union was just about broken. Non-union musicians could play anywhere and the bandleaders did not worry about paying scale to their players. That also meant health and pension benefits went out the window. At the same time, studio and Theatre musicians who most likely started off as Big Band or Jazz musicians, but needed to make a living ended up in the studios or playing in the pit for Broadway shows. They still had a need to play Jazz and in order to satisfy that need, and since they didn’t need the money, they would play in bars and restaurants for no pay. (The beginning of the end)

There was a rise of Jazz Departments in Colleges and Universities throughout the USA. In the past, Jazz Study was unheard of in colleges except for a few. All of a sudden, every school in America had a Jazz Program offering degrees in performance. I personally think that these programs were created so that jazz musicians could work. Every kid who dreamed he could be the next Coltrane or Miles Davis, enrolled in these schools and graduated with a degree.

What this meant is - a lot of kids with degrees could play a lot of scales and understood all the modes and all the theory associated with jazz and if they were lucky enough to have good teachers, they could play some Jazz. They weren’t experienced Jazz players, but the potential was there. The problem was and still is, where do they go to get this experience and did their schools teach them how to survive as musicians? The answer is a decidedly, No! The school advisers and teachers did give them some advice: if you want to get the experience you need, go to New York where there is great music& energy, and eventually if you’re lucky, you will make it.

WRONG!

The worst part of this advice is, these kids think if they come to New York they’ll take the town by storm. They were ‘so successful’ in college - everyone told them how great they were, they assume by coming to the Big Apple, they’ll meet lots of musicians, which they do, but they think there is so much work, they’ll immediately find work. But they find at least another hundred players as good, if not, better - and most of them are out of work and barely surviving. They all have part-time or ‘day jobs’ and are living with roommates. The roommates are usually musicians and all of them have a need to play. In order to fill that need, they play at make- shift jam sessions or after-hours at some club. But playing at sessions with other musicians doesn’t fulfill their need to perform in front of an audience or help them make a living at their chosen craft.

So what do they do? The same thing that the studio players did years earlier, they play in bars and restaurants for no pay or a pass-the-hat situation, which means after the set someone goes from table to table with a hat, (or basket, bucket,) hoping the customers will donate money for the musicians. Sometimes the musicians themselves would go around with the hat. All of this in the hope they can satisfy their need to perform and be heard or even ‘be discovered’ while earning a few dollars to pay for the subway ride home.

Passing the hat does amazing things for your ego and sense of self worth. You fool yourself into believing that you are contributing to the Jazz effort and at least your music is being heard. Some musicians get so depressed they quit with a sense of failure. They get ‘normal jobs’ and live a life filled with frustration and unhappiness.

Then there’s the ‘artist’. This is a person who has ‘hung in there’ for years and has developed a style of playing he/she can call his own. No one sounds like them and they are the future of Jazz. The problem is no one cares - or at least very little – or is willing to pay these great artisans of improvisation. Another problem is because the music is advanced, where can they play? If you are not a proficient grant writer, your chances of winning a grant are null and the gigs you want to create never happen.

If you are a well-known player there are only a few places in New York City where you can perform. But how many in New York are known players? Being a ‘star’ doesn’t necessarily make you a great musician, some are not very good, but a ‘star’ is well- known and can draw an audience. That’s why they make the big bucks and because they ask for big salaries, the clubs are asking for a lot of money from the public to see one set.

You try to get an agent or manager and even though they recognize your artistry and like your music, you have to ‘make it’ before they will handle you. It is a never-ending cycle.

There are only a few super-stars in improvised music. But the highest paid star is probably Cecil Taylor. Most people, except for the so-called ‘in crowd’ know who he is but very few, except for some musicians, understand his music. He is well paid and greatly appreciated overseas more than here in the States.

During the sixties and throughout the country, began the end of jazz as a popular music except for Fusion, a combination of Jazz and Rock. Some jazz musicians hated this music and I personally think it was created to try and bring in young people. Miles Davis was the leader of the pack with his recording of “Bitches Brew”. Miles was forever changing and if the young supported Rock ‘n’ Roll, why not have them support Fusion too? It certainly made Chic Corea, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, Keith Jarrett and more major stars. But Rock ‘n’ Roll had taken over the airwaves, and Fusion didn’t last very long. It is still around, and in the last twenty years, jazz has wears many hats: Swing, Be-bop, Modern, Post Be-bop, West Coast Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Fusion, Latin Jazz, Smooth-Jazz, Third Stream, Free-Jazz, Improvised Music etc. In the late sixties, early seventies, Free Jazz musicians in New York City reverted to playing in lofts. People would come in and pay a few dollars, sit on pillows, couches or on the floor, and listen to free jazz, which was considered angry and far out.

After a while as the decline of jazz continued, and the rise of rock, disco, & pop music kept growing, the loft scene slowly disappeared. Many of the loft players went to Europe to work and live where Jazz was and has always been looked on as the highest form of art and was honored and respected there.

In the mid-eighties with the emergence of Wynton Marsalis, jazz began to slowly re-emerge and become popular again. Because of Wynton and many like him the public began to be more enlightened and appreciative of jazz. There also started what I call a separatism that has become very divisive and has worked against the jazz community.

Coming up as a young jazz player, I watched black and white musicians working together. There was camaraderie among them. If you played jazz and were really good, you were accepted, no matter what color you were. I played along side some of the greatest jazz musicians in the world and it didn’t matter what my color was, but in the last twenty years that has changed. Instead of working together to keep a unity between jazz musicians, there has become a divide that has hurt the jazz community. There’s a segment of musician out there who tells us what jazz is and ‘should be’ and that it shouldn’t be called jazz anymore. The word jazz brings with it tones of racism and bigotry. Many of the jazz giants such as Max Roach, Duke Ellington, Monk and many more hated the word ‘jazz’, but despite their efforts to change it, the name stayed the same. It seem every 20-30 years the same issue comes to the forefront. Now they claim they want the name changed to BAM in hopes the new name would reign in a missing black audience.

I firmly believe you're not going to bring back Black audiences to Jazz by changing its'name to BAM or whatever you want to call it. I think the best way is education. Since Jazz is and has been American Classical Music for over seventy years, it needs to be part of the curriculum in grade schools, even pre-schools. All of us should be working towards this goal. There are many teaching artist working in the public school systems throughout the USA. We need to encourage them to teach and use Jazz as part of their program. We need to get school boards and legislators to encourage teachers to teach about jazz in their music appreciation programs and if there aren't any music appreciation programs, start them. Don't wait for Black Appreciation Month to let kids know who Duke Ellington was. One week and one name out of one month a year doesn't cut it.

I was a teaching artist in the NYC public schools from 1995-2001. I taught Literacy through song writing. I started with the Blues and moved on till I got to Jazz. The kids not only learned to appreciate and enjoy the music, some of them actually learned to scat sing.

What is confusing is, if you hate the word so much, then don’t accept teaching positions in College Jazz programs or perform in Jazz Concerts or Jazz Clubs. If it is expected that clubs like The Blue Note Jazz Club will change to The Blue Note BAM Club or the Sedona Jazz Festival will change its’ name to The Sedona BAM Festival-it will never happen. Clubs and Jazz Festivals throughout the World have spent tons of money promoting and paying artists to perform Jazz, after all these years it won’t change.

As jazz emerged again, along came the old and new improvisers. But there was no place to play except the Knitting Factory, and a few other places, which were door gigs (same as pass the hat except patrons paid at the door). Eventually more performance spaces emerged. Along with the performance spaces came the bar gigs which were also door gigs. The prices at some of these door gigs were dictated by the cubs and sometimes by the musicians. Some places called them donations. If you wanted to perform, these were the conditions you had to deal with. The problem is, you must provide the audience or you will not make any money. That means before you play, you have to promote the gig. Promoting the gig will cost you money. If you intend to treat your musicians with some dignity, you pay them out of your own pocket and you keep whatever is made at the door. Ninety-eight percent of the time you will loose money especially if the venue wants a guarantee. That means they get a cut, whether there is money to be made or not. You also shouldn’t book a gig three nights in a row at different venues or even one per week. You want as many people to come to your gig so it is best to have one gig. You can’t expect your friends, family and fans to show up three times in a week. You’re lucky if they come once a month.

With the advance of technology and recording equipment, many musicians whom a Major Record Company couldn’t sign or Independent Label began to self-produce. Putting out one CD a year, which was and still is, very expensive. But they could recoup their expenses at gigs. Many musicians take door gigs because they can sell their CD’s - but with the dawning of digital downloads, very few people buy CDs. If you do or don’t have an audience, and can’t sell CDs, what’s the point?

Most radio stations and reviewers require CDs. They haven’t kept up with the technology that is now available. I understand that change is hard, but it must be dealt with in order to help artists. If you, as and independent artist, only put out digital downloads, you are still required to send them CD’s with art work, liner notes in other words the whole package in order to get radio play and reviews. So it will cost you some money and the chance of recouping your investment is not good. All and all, these are impossible situations. Some magazines (even though they won’t admit it) will not review your CD, unless you advertise with them. Radio station directors decide whom they will give radio play to. To be fair radio stations and jazz journalists are overwhelmed with music and it is impossible to give everyone a chance, but review and play the same people over and over again doesn’t seem fair. In essence your career may be in their hands. If you are part of the new improvisers scene, your music will only be played on college radio stations. At least the college music directors are opened minded to new music and some of them accept digital downloads, which isn’t the case for the commercial jazz stations.

A few months ago at a performance venue in New York City, an argument over money ensued between the leader of the group and one of the managers. It became violent and the manager punched the musician in the eye. The musician wore glasses. He ended up in the hospital getting stitches and is lucky he is not blind. Word spread throughout the musical community and many musicians have banned that venue. This was beyond unforgivable. This is no way to treat artists and musicians. Needless to say no one I know has worked there again.

What has happened to us, that our need has outmoded our dignity? It’s time to stop playing door gigs and passing the hat. Stop playing for nothing and stop playing. You may say if we stop, someone will come along and play anyway. They won’t play if there are hordes of musicians outside of these gigs carrying signs that say Pay or We Don’t Play. Ask the customers going into the bar/restaurant if they would work for nothing. It may be considered harassment, but something has to be done! If this happens at every venue in New York and Brooklyn and then spread throughout the USA and Europe, it just might make a difference. If we can’t get that grant that will pay us, then go find another way or don’t play. Somehow we have to get back the respect that we as artists have lost. You wouldn’t call and electrician or plumber to fix something for you for no pay and if you did, would they show up? They have a service that requires pay. We as musicians have a service that requires pay too!

“But I play for the love of it” Well play for the love of it at home if need be and let the musicians who need the money get paid.

I know we say to ourselves, what about all the hours of studying and practicing I’ve done, or the two hundred thousand dollar education I got, isn’t it worth something? Yes it is, so why play for nothing? Some musicians want the reputation, but that rep won’t put food on the table. Remember the venue you are playing in is making money, but you’re not and the only reason they are making money is because of you.

In our neediness to play and perform, we have lost sight of who and what we are and most of all we have lost our self-worth. Throughout the world, and especially in the USA, greed has been the dominant force adding to the decline of civilization. In this weakened economy the rents for all these venues are high and getting higher all the time. In order to sustain, the clubs and performance venues must charge more, but charging more does not mean ‘don’t pay the musicians’. As the prices go up, the amount of work goes down.

You can blame Wall Street, Politicians, anyone you like, but the truth is we have to blame ourselves. It is unbelievable to me that clubs and venues throughout the city and Brooklyn, not only don’t pay their musicians, but they are booked seven nights a week with non paying performances and because musicians are clamoring to play (I would say work, but playing for no pay is charity), these venues are booked six months in advance, There is something definitely wrong with this equation.

Until we regain our self-worth, nothing will change and nothing will change till we change!

The Vampire's Revenge

2011-10-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

Halloween will be here in a few weeks and I thought it would be fun to repeat a revised version as my new blog
Tales of CBGB’S:
The True Story Behind The Vampire’s Revenge

Once upon a time in New York City, there lived a beautiful Vampire. She was 5’7’’ with long flowing blond hair and beautiful deep blue eyes. One would say she was absolutely stunning. She looked young, although she was reputed to be over 500 years old. Lorna was able to hide her fangs, except when she smiled. By not smiling she was able to add to the allure of being dangerous. mysterious and sexy at the same time Lorna loved music. Every night you could find her at some club either dancing or listening to music.

Our story begins on a Sunday night in October of 2004. In fact it was the Sunday before Halloween that Lorna made her way downtown to the famous now defunct CBGB’S, where she could hear some of the best up and coming rock and roll bands in the country. It was also the number one place to find young new blood to quench her hunger. When she arrived the band hadn’t begun to set up yet, and it looked like it would be a while before they would play. The crowd was just beginning to make its way into the small club. She decided to go next door to the Galleria. Sometimes there were some interesting groups playing, but on this night, again, the band was just starting to set up. She was about to leave when she heard some strange sounds coming from the downstairs lounge. She asked the young man standing at the top of the stairs, "What is that?" He said it was the Sunday night Downstairs Avant Jazz Series. Lorna decided to take a look.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, another young man sitting behind a table, asked her: “Who are you here to hear?” She said: “Anyone.” He said: “That will be $10 please.” Lorna gazed into his eyes with her hypnotic stare and he said: “Go right in.” Lorna went straight to the bar. She sat down and listened to this strange but intriguing music. She thought to herself: “What have I been missing?” Just then a good-looking young musician (he carried a case over his shoulder…it looked like some kind of horn) said to her: “You must be new here. I’ve never seen you here before.” Lorna smiled and said: “Yes I am.” He looked at her beautiful face with that seductive closed lipped smile and Stephen was immediately smitten and very much taken with Lorna, as Lorna was with Stephen. He asked if she could wait till he finished his set and maybe they could hang out together. Lorna anxious for some new blood said: “Of course.”

Later on that evening, at Stephen’s apartment, Lorna began her Seduction. Slowly she enticed him with short sweet kisses along his face and neck. Stephen felt her rapture and was sexually charged as Lorna lay in his arms. Noticing her fangs, he wanted to ask her Who’s Your Dentist? but he didn’t want to break the mood. Lorna spent a lot of time kissing his neck. Then all of a sudden she dug in with her fangs and started to suck the blood right out of him. Shocked at first, he shouted: “No! No!” But then he began to enjoy it. Stephen moaned as he went into a dream like stupor and when she stopped sucking, he cried "No! No! Don’t stop! Just One More Bite."

Lorna decided she would not kill Stephen, but make him a Vampire. That night Stephen went through a Transformation. When he awoke 24 hours later, Lorna explained what she had done to him. He had been brought over to the Dark Side.

Stephen was very upset. All he wanted was to have a great time with this sexy lady and now he was a Vampire and part of the walking un-dead! Lorna explained how great it is to be a Vampire. Now, he could live forever, "but be careful, you must never walk in the daylight. The sun could kill you!"

The only thing that really bothered Stephen was that he could never play a daytime gig again. On the positive side, most of his gigs were at night and he preferred night to day anyway. With daylight savings time in the winter, it would get dark at 4:30, which isn’t so bad. He would have to plan his practice time and feeding and social life around his vampire hours. One thing was for sure, he would have to give up Sunday afternoon brunches with his Mother and adjust his embouchure (the placement of the mouthpiece). Because of his newly formed fangs he would have to learn play without them being too obtrusive. Oh yes! Because of his paleness he might have make some adjustments with tanning block or makeup and definitely wear sunglasses, which would make him look cool!

The very next night Lorna took Stephen out for a stroll. This was his The First Day (night) as a Vampire. Lorna wanted to teach him how to live and survive in his new reality.

His first kill wasn’t as hard as he thought. In fact, it was fun. With his newly found strength and his keen sense of smell and sight, overpowering his victims was easy. He felt just a little guilty about killing, but he told himself it was the only way for him to survive. He would save on grocery bills and never have to go to the bathroom again and he’ll only try to kill bad people. Stephen thought to himself, who could be luckier than I. I can live forever, and play the music I love forever too.

Then he thought to himself, the audience for free-form-avant jazz is getting smaller and smaller. With this new power of mine, what can I do to help change this? Suddenly a light bulb went off in his head, and Stephen knew exactly what he had to do.

“Yes! This makes absolute sense! If I infect hundreds, no, thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people, and because I am free form- avant jazz musician, these hundreds of thousands of people will love this music and we will finally have the audience we deserve. It could go on through eternity and I’ll never be out of work!” It was at that very moment that the Blood Lust took over.

For the next year, Stephen did not stop. Sometimes he would bite up to thirty people a night. At this rate, in the next ten years, he could infect over 100,000 humans.

For some unknown reason, the audiences at his performances were not getting larger, in fact sometimes only a few people showed up. His plan was not working! What could be going wrong? He thought his idea was just what free-form avant jazz needed, a Blood Sucking Vampire, but it was too late. Because he spent so much time hunting at night, his lust for blood was increasing and he couldn’t stop himself.

The summer of 2005 would go down in infamy. It was reported on Fox News (and we know, they don’t lie); July 9th, that without a doubt there is a Vampire loose in New York City. Someone had seen Stephen devouring a helpless woman in a back alley off of Canal St. This attack was videoed taped. The tape ran on every major news station throughout the world. The woman appeared on CNN, 60 Minutes,Oprah and every TV news outlet in the USA. Each time, with tears in her eyes, she told what she saw and she described the desperation in the victim’s eyes. She called 911, but it was over in less than a minute and by the time the medics arrived, the woman was dead and the vampire had disappeared in a flash.

A frenzy took over New York City. Everyone was searching for the Vampire. Major Bloomberg begged people to stay home and let the police do their job, but The Hunt was on! Days went by and then a month, but without any results. People were scared and frustrated. Stephen had become sloppy. More and more victims were piling up, and yet, no one had seen this Vampire.

The Mayor called for calm and made another special announcement. He had sent for the great ‘Vampire Hunter’. Derek was world-renowned. He made his reputation as a Vampire Hunter by killing over three hundred vampires.

The day the Hunter arrived at JFK from Transylvania, there were thousands of people lined up along the Van Wyck Expressway. Two million showed up for the ticker-tape parade along Broadway. When the entourage of Limo’s pulled up to City Hall, the crowd cheered as the Derek stepped out onto the Red Carpet that led up the stairs where the Mayor welcomed him. In a brief ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg gave Derek the keys to the city. When the Hunter stepped up to the podium he growled and screamed “Vampire! Vampire! Where You Gonna’ Go? Where You Gonna’ Hide?" With that, the crowd went wild. They stormed the steps of City Hall and carried him over their shoulders while shouting, “Where You Gonna’ Go? Where You Gonna’ Hide?”

Three days later the police found Derek’s body ripped to shreds. It was said that a newly engaged couple, while walking down 5th ave and 33rd St., could hear shriveling and screeching yells. It was as though an animal was ripping a human being to shreds. As they walked by, the couple looked at each other and said: “Wow, that sounds strange,” and as typical New Yorkers they continued on their merry way.

A few nights later on the Letterman show, Dave got a call while on the air. At first he wouldn’t take it. In fact he yelled at his staff for trying to put through this called while he was doing his opening monologue, but the producer ran on stage, an apparently whispered in his ear; “It’s the Vampire!” Shocked! Dave took the call, ‘live on the air.’ Of Course, NBC were angry that the Vampire would call Letterman and not Jay Leno. It made perfect sense that the Vampire called Dave. Jay leno is in LA and Dave is in New York and New York is where all the killings were going on and NBC had no way of knowing that the Vampire was a fan of the Letterman Show long before he was a Vampire. In fact, he was still felt betrayed that The Tonight Show moved to L.A.

As Letterman put the phone to his ear, he could hear the Vampire shouting, “I will have my revenge.”

And thus dear readers the music to the The Vampire’s Revenge was born.

Bill and Me

2011-10-08T15:43:00.000-07:00

In the month of August I got an email from the Ruby Flowers Production Company that asked if I was available to perform on September 14th for a benefit to raise money for the Cecil Taylor Art Museum. There were musicians flying in from around the world for this event. Of course I said “yes” and would be honored to play for Cecil.

A few days later I was sent a list of musicians who were definitely performing and was asked whom I want to play with. One of the bass players was Albey Balgochian, who I regularly play with and is an amazing ‘out player’. My drummer, Jay Rosen was not on the list because he would be coming in from Europe that day and would be too late, but Andrew Cyrille was available, I always wanted to play with him, I was given the OK. As the date got closer, each day I was given more info about the concert. It would be at Brooklyn Borough Hall and the event would start at 6PM. There would be many rooms and each group would perform ten-minute sets. There would also be a Green Room with food and drink for the musicians, This was going to be a classy production and I was happy to be part of it. As the weeks went on, some musicians dropped out and new ones came aboard and somehow the trio I was to play with didn’t exist anymore. I decided to just go with the flow and let things be and not rock the boat.

Then an email came in that announced Bill Cosby would Emcee the event; this was amazing. I knew Bill is a big jazz fan and always had jazz musicians on his show, but never avant-garde musicians. I didn’t care. All I knew was I was playing for Cecil and introduced by Bill Cosby!

A few weeks before it was all to happen, Cecil decided he didn’t want a benefit. Of course I was disappointed, but what could I do?

Two days later an email came in and asked if I could perform on the following day, September 15th at le poisson rouge Lounge for a benefit for the Dizzy Gillespie Foundation that helps musicians pay for medical bills. And Bill Cosby was very much connected to this foundation and would host the event too. How could I say no?

Again emails came in with lists of musicians. Many musicians who were on the original list were gone and new ones had replaced them. Andrew Cyrille was not available, but my regular drummer and long time friend who can play anything, Jay Rosen was. Terrific! I would be in my element.

I was told to show up at 6pm and the first set would start at 7:30. I arrived with my wife Carol at exactly 6:30. Carol found a spot at the bar till other friends arrived and the she sat at a table with Richard and Roberta Berger.

At approximately 7:50 Cheryl Wills from Channel One introduced Bill Cosby. Bill came on stage and was immediately funny. This is a man that I watched from the time he was on Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas and every talk show you can think of, and every time he had me along with and millions of viewers in stitches, laughing at his unique sense of humor. When I Spy became a national television hit, I made sure I watched every episode.

To this day Carol and I watch the re-runs of the Bill Cosby Show, which in my estimation was a role model on how a family can be. It was clean, funny, and informative and stressed family values that are surely missing in the last fifteen years in the so- called sit-coms that I call sick-coms.

Before each act started to play, he would ask whom the musicians were and he would do a little bit and tease them and the band would play. By the time the third band played, I realized none of these musicians were ‘out players’. They all played ‘straight-ahead’. It was modern be-bop, all good, but not what would have been played at Cecil’s event. I was sitting with Albey and we both looked at each other and laughed. I said while laughing, he’s going to F#@**N hate us. And Albey, laughed and shook his head yes.

A short time before we were to play, Rash Moshe asked if he could play with the trio. He said it was too confusing who he was to play with, so he rather work with us. I said, “of course play with us”. Ras is good guy a great player. I used him on The Vampire’s Revenge and of The Bird The Girl and The Donkey. He brings so much talent and creativity to any group he plays with.

My group was standing about ten feet from the stage, waiting for Kim Clarke’s group to finish their set. I told the guys I wanted to play solo for about forty seconds and then join in and when they do, rip it. So that was the plan. Bill Cosby asked, who’s up next and Cheryl Wills announced the Dom Minasi Group. Bill immediately asked which one of us was Dom Minasi. I nodded and he came over to me with mike in hand.

Bill: Okay Dom, What are you going to play?
Me: I don’t know.
Bill: What do you mean, you don’t know?
Me: I don’t know”
Bill: Does the bass player know what to play?
Me: Ask Him

Bill goes over to Albey and asks, “Do you know what to play”? Albey answers’ Yes!
Bill walks back to me
Bill: He knows
Me: Of course he knows. He has to know.
Bill: what are you talking about?

This went on for a few minutes. Meanwhile I’m laughing. Bill is making faces and the audience is laughing and in my head, I’m thinking, here am I on stage doing a ‘bit’ with Bill Cosby. What could be better than this?

We began as planned, I started and the band came in. We played at a very high energy level for about 10 minutes. The crowd went wild and we got a thunderous amount of applause.

When we finished, I unplugged my guitar and was about to leave, when Bill comes over again with mike in hand and says’, "Wait a minute. Tell me about yourself and where are you playing next"? I was kind of stunned. Here is Bill Cosby asking about me…Whew! What can I say?

A few minutes later I took my wife backstage to meet Bill. He was so gracious to both of us and told me how much he loved the set.

This was one of the best nights of my life. I am so grateful to all, especially Annabel of Ruby Flowers Productions that helped make the night a success.

Dom Minasi

A Letter From God

2011-07-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Dom,

I received your letter via Mindwaves.com three weeks ago. I ‘m sorry it has taken me so long to answer you, but sometimes I’m a little busy.

What struck me is why are you writing me now? You haven’t prayed or gone to church in over fifty years. In fact, you stopped believing in me, so why bother me now?

I know you are concerned about many things as I am too, but truthfully there is nothing I can do. You see, I gave mankind free will and in doing so, I allowed you to do whatever you wanted to do with your free will. Of course I gave you some rules to follow, but it was your choice to follow them or not.

What I don’t understand about mankind is the violence, hatred and greed. I don’t understand starvation, homelessness and sickness. I know this is your main concern, because not like others, you are not asking for yourself, but for humanity. Because I am God, you want some kind of miracle to straighten every thing out, but there is nothing I can do.

I am happy that after all these years you have decided to connect with me again. You must feel things on earth are really bad and you must be desperate to call on me. I hope this is not a one time only sort of thing. It is important that you talk and pray to me, for I am your redemption. Prayer is always good. It helps clean the soul.

You’ve heard that old adage that if your prayers aren’t answered, God has said no. That’s not true. I never say no, but I also never say yes. You may ask, why do I exist? I exist to guide and love you, but to not to do things for you. That is up to you. Again, Free Will.

I must say I’ve been very disappointed in you, especially the remarks you have made throughout the years about the Catholic Church and now their priests.

You know, the church in the very beginning was finding its way. And as in all things, mistakes were made. Just because millions of lives have been taken in my name, doesn’t mean the church is bad. Remember their original meaning was good.

Yes, yes, I know many priests have strayed and have committed unthinkable acts, but look at it this way, they have been found out. They may not have been punished, but the new Pope has done what he thinks is best. He moved them to Rome where they are under his watchful eye.

Know this! It is not true, if you are not a Christian, you will never be admitted to heaven!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no Heaven. There isn’t a Hell either. There is a place you go to, but it is hard to describe. All I can say is, you’ll know when you get there and no matter what you believe, you will all go there no matter what faith, creed or color. Will we meet? That’s hard to say. You may feel my presence, but meeting face to face, well not really. You see I don’t have a face. I just am.

I know this is hard to understand, but trust me, someday you will.

Throughout the centuries, I have instilled in some minds new discoveries or ideas through science and math to help advanced your species, but you have taken these advances and misused them. You have developed weapons. The drugs and medicines I help you with, cost so much money, that unless you are rich, you can’t afford them. The whole purpose of discovery is to help mankind, not make them suffer through illness or violence while others reap the profits.

The people of earth have been on the wrong path for thousands of years and yet through it all you haven’t learned to live and love and help one another. My heart, yes I have a heart, cries for you. I even sent a mystic, who you called my son to forgive you and sacrifice his own life to wipe away your sins and start anew, but you started a new religion and it became about money and greed and not love. All I wanted was for all of you to be happy, and live a loving life filled with health, abundance and creativity.

I am very sad. Millions of you are good souls, but through circumstance you have had to do things and become who you are not. All I can say is look into your heart and try to be the best you can be and do it with love. Love is your saving grace.

Dear Dom, I leave you with this one thought.

Look to the inner, not the outer, for in all things there is goodness, but it is up to you to find it.

Sincerely With All My Love and Blessings
God

Short Stories About Kids

2011-06-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

My Kids

I loved to tease or joke with my kids when they were growing up. I am proud to say that my son has carried on the tradition.

Here’s one little antidote about my son.

There were times when we sat around the kitchen table and I would say to my son, “I know what you did so you better confess. He would say, “ I didn’t do anything.” “Come on it’s too late I already know”. This would go on for a minute or two, and then he would say OK, OK but I didn’t mean it ,and he would confess to some stupid thing and I would just laugh and he would get so angry that I fooled him.

My Daughter

When my daughter was about four years old, when she said, or did something or misbehaved and I told her if she didn’t stop I would spank her. She stood there defiantly and said,” If you hit me I am going to call the police and report child abuse” What? Child abuse? What do you know about child abuse? Apparently she picked it up from TV.

When my kids were young I would take them on music jobs with me. One summer I had a jazz gig playing in between races at Roosevelt Raceway.
On one of those nights, Ray Nance of Duke Ellington fame was the featured guest star. Ray would play violin or a pocket trumpet. Whatever he played, it was great fun to be around him and listen to a master. Ray would also sing. He loved to sing Take The A Train and the audiences loved it.

After the job, Ray asked me if I could give him a ride. I said of course I could. We were all in the car with Ray in the front seat and my two kids in the back. I asked Ray where he was going. He told me to drop him of at the nearest E train. At once my daughter responded, “I thought you took the A train”

Family

There was the time I was baby-sitting my kids and their cousins. One of the cousins, Scott, started talking like Donald Duck. I asked him who taught him how to talk like that and he answered very seriously, “Donald Duck “

Sometimes my son, my daughter and I would sit around the breakfast table and make believe we were a jazz band. I would pick a tune (when they were young they knew the jazz standards). My son sang the drum parts. My daughter sang the bass parts and I would imitate all the different instruments’ taking solos. We would laugh and we had a great time. My ex-wife would come and say,” you are all crazy”. Yeah, but we were happy crazy.

Teaching

A few years back, as a teaching artist, I was teaching a second grade class.
I had a distinct program, which was teaching literacy through songwriting.
No matter what age group, I always started with the Blues. I would play a blues and I would give them a short history and then we would go about and write a down-home blues. We would move on to what I called a Rock & Roll Blues, which was Rhythm & Blues from the fifties. Next came a Jazz Blues. It was important to me that the kids understood the difference and recognized the difference.

When teaching a Jazz Blues, I would incorporate the use scat singing as an example. Of course the kids would laugh, but they really enjoyed themselves.

One day after demonstrating how to scat, I asked for volunteers to try and scat a blues. A young black girl came up and to my surprise she was able to do it and do it well. When I asked her how she learned how to scat, she told me her parents played jazz in the house all the time.

The next student to come up was a young white boy. He immediately got into it and was just as good as the little girl before him. When I asked him where he learned to scat, he calmly answered from Bill Cosby. He watched the Bill Cosby show with his parents and Bill always had jazz and scat singing on his show (The power of TV).

It’s important that we guide our kids and make sure they are watching, listening and learning things that matter to help them grow and reach their potential as human beings

Till Next Time

Dom Minasi

My First Girlfriend

2011-05-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

This story is true, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent

When I was a young teenager in John Adams High School, I never thought about having a girlfriend. I was too busy with studying, practicing guitar and going to school. Don’t get me wrong I liked girls, but having a steady girlfriend never entered my mind until one day I bumped into this really cute girl on the way to class. I distinctly remember that it was the beginning of the new fall term and the new freshmen had arrived. You could always tell who the freshmen were. They looked like babies and they were always getting lost. Of course, I was a ‘mature16 year old junior’.

Her name was Rose. We started to see each other in the hall everyday at the same time. I finally had the nerve to ask her out. On our first date we went to a church dance, She wore a dark blue satin dress, with high heels. Her black hair was long and down. When I first picked her up at her house, my jaw dropped. She was beautiful. Now you may ask how can you date and go to school and practice and play music? That was the year I stopped practicing. Throughout the first two years of high school, my father kept telling me how dumb I was because my marks were not high enough. The truth is I didn’t care about my schoolwork. I was only in high school to have a good time, play football, play in the band and sing in the chorus. But I got fed up with his accusations. To prove to him that I could be as smart, I stopped practicing for one year and studied. That year I got a ninety-four average and proved I wasn’t stupid. So the year I stopped practicing was the year I met Rose and had time for a girlfriend. Before that I really didn’t have time to date even though I had started dating when I was eleven.

Yes! Eleven.

I loved to dance at weddings and I had always had a dancing partner at family affairs. My first partner was Helen. We weren’t romantically involved, we were much too young, but we had a great time dancing together. We were so good that whenever we danced the other dancers would form a circle around us and cheer us on. My cousin Al’s girlfriend and latter wife Lana had a sister Teresa who was a great dancer too. If she were at an affair (different side of the family) we would dance together. I loved going to weddings in those days because some of them were what we called ‘sandwich weddings’. There was no dinner, just different kinds of sandwiches. I loved eating all the different types of sandwiches and drinking the different sodas’. The music was always ‘live’ and they all seemed to play great Lindy’s. Even if it was a family wedding of distant cousins, I always found someone to dance with.

When I was eleven years old, we went to a wedding. Helen and Teresa weren’t there and I was miserable because I didn’t have a dancing partner. My mother would look around and she would point to a girl and say “ how about her?’ If there was something I didn’t like about her like, she was too tall, too fat etc. I wouldn’t ask her to dance. Shows you how stupid young people could be. There was this one girl at this wedding that I took a fancy to. Her name was Chicky. I asked her to dance. Well we had a great time. I thought I would never see her again, but low and behold there she was in my class, the first day I attended St.Anthony’s Catholic School.

The church’s fall dance was coming up and I asked her out on a date. She asked her parents and they said yes. Of course her aunt came along as a chaperon to keep an eye on us. Believe me my intentions were honorable. All I wanted to do was dance. Now if I were twelve, it would have been a different story. My hormones would have been popping and I probably would have been embarrassed the whole time. What a difference a year could make.

Getting back to my girlfriend, Rose. Having a girlfriend was great. I would walk her home from school carrying her books. We talked about everything. Of course my parents had a fit. “A girlfriend! You’re too young to have a girlfriend “. The one thing my parents couldn’t argue about with me was that she wasn’t Italian. If I had to have a girlfriend, at least she was Italian!

By the time I turned seventeen, I had grown a lot and looked much older than my years. I also had become very serious about life and it’s meaning and all the crap the Catholic Church and my parents had fed me. I would sit on our front stoop all the time and look up at the stars and wonder what it was all about as I still do, but without the stoop.

When I entered my Senior Year, I was voted Senior class President. I was working every weekend and had been a professional musician, (union card since I was fifteen) and was starting to play in nightclubs too. I performed at every school function including the Senior Class Talent Show, the Accappella Chorus and I constantly practiced.

At the last show of my senior year, my band was performing and I was also backing up a singer while a ballet dancer danced. If I had to say so myself it was very classy. During rehearsals, everything was fine. During the performance with the singer, my amplifier was on, but not a sound came out. I thought it might be my guitar wire. I kept an extra one in my pocket just in case this would happen. I took the extra wire out, but it was all tangled up. I tried to untangle it, while the audience looked on and laughed. I was so embarrassed I finally gave up. One of the stagehands put a microphone next to the guitar and the performance went on. When checking the amp after the show, I saw that a tube had fallen out of its socket. Talking about my embarrassing moment, Rose said it was not a big deal. That was the wrong thing to say to me. My ego couldn’t handle it. I wanted to be consoled. I was spending less time with Rose because of my practice routine and working and she didn’t like it. I knew it was time to end it. All my life, music had come first. There’s always a price to pay, but that’s another story. The way I broke up with Rose was awful and for many years I wished that some day I could apologize.

Senior Prom was coming up and of course I brought Rose. As it were in those days, the Prom was held in a hotel in the city. A group of my friends and I chipped in and rented a Limo to pick our dates and us up and drive to the Hotel. After the dance we went to the Hawaii Kai for drinks and a show. We were too young to drink alcoholic beverages, but they served us exotic looking drinks that looked real. The plan was to go back to Rose’s house, change clothes and then go to the beach.

The beach was cold and it was raining. We stayed under the boardwalk under a blanket. It took me a couple of hours for me to find the courage to break up with her, but I did. The bad part (it’s hard to write about this) was I left her there.

I got on a train and went home.

Yes, I know. I was a real bastard. My only defense is, I was young, stupid, thoughtless, mean and a coward.

There is a happy ending to this story.

Last year, feeling guilty and wishing I could apologize and through the magic of Facebook and the Internet, I found her.

I did apologize for my behavior. I told her how bad I felt. She remembered the break-up, but not how I did it. She did remember her white formal dress how much she loved it.

Can you imagine, I’ve been carrying this guilt around for over 50 years and she remembers the dress? She still has a baby face and she says she very happy and I am happy for her.

A few weeks after prom I graduated and a whole new chapter of my life began. And that’s another story.

Dom Minasi

It's Only My Opinion

2011-05-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

It’s Only My Opinion

When I was much younger, I didn’t care about politics or anything that was happening around the world. I was too busy scuffling and trying to get enough music jobs to support my family. My two children, riddled with allergies, were in and out of the hospital due to asthma attacks. We had a landlord that refused to give us enough heat in the winter to be comfortable. During the sixties I was oblivious to drugs and rock and roll and the changes that were happening. As I stated earlier, politics and the state of the world were the least of my problems.

I didn’t start to vote till I was 28 years old. I really was naive about the government. I trusted everything they said and did. Even though I had split from the Catholic Church it never entered my mind that priests could turn out to be pedophiles. Now that I am much older I have become acutely aware of what is happening to us in the United States and the world. Sometimes I am so disgusted by what is happening, I wish I could leave, but that’s not up to me. Being abducted by Aliens, well, that may never happened so I have to stay and the only thing I can do is voice my opinion.

I know this will get some people angry, but this is only my opinion and this America and I do have the right to say it.

We, here in America, live a sheltered life. Yes! We have a high murder rate and Yes! There are children being abused and starving. And Yes! There are too many homeless people in the USA and bigotry and racism runs rampant throughout the states and congress. And Yes! There are too many guns on the streets and the corporations run or should I say ruined this country and our senior citizens may loose Medicare, gangs control the streets and woman’s rights are being dismantled piece by piece, but we still live a sheltered life. Look at what is happening around the world. Constant riots and killings in the streets. Millions killed. We have 911, but 911 is nothing to what is happening in other parts of the world. Some countries have a 911 everyday. If that happened here we would be paralyzed.

The families of the 911 victims have a say in everything that goes on at the World Trade Center sites and yet it is ten years later and hardly anything has been rebuilt. The families have to approve of everything that goes on there. Can you imagine if that were true in Israel. That country would be a land of rumble. They get attacked. People die. Buildings crumble and they move on. It’s that simple. We are locked into the past and we don’t move on.

Now that Bin Laden is dead, controversy is abounding. Is he really dead? Can we see the pictures’? Why didn’t we capture him so he could reveal all his secrets? Yeah, right! Will anything change now? Did the USA take the law in its own hands etc, etc.??? Enough! He’s dead. That’s what you wanted and got. Move on. We are like little babies crying because we can’t have it our own way. It’s time this country grows up and faces reality. We can’t always have what we want. Yes there are dangers around us, but we always protected ourselves and moved on and have gotten better for it.

What I’m hoping is that we as a country get better. What I mean by getting better is that we have more humanity in our thinking, our laws and the treatment of all races and our neighbors here and abroad. Is it too much to ask or expect? Our forefathers didn’t think so. Why can’t we? Have we been filled with so much hate and greed that we can’t change? If that is so, humanity is doomed and we ‘will reap what we sow’. Look around it’s already happening. Is that the world we want? I know I don’t, but that’s only my opinion.

Dom Minasi

Memories of My Mother

2011-05-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Memories of My Mother ( The Clean Version)

When I was young man and being of Italian heritage, I was expected by my parents to only date Italian girls and if and when I got married it was absolutely to be an Italian.

Like most young men in the late fifties-early sixties I hadn’t had sex till I was nineteen years old. Most of the boys, when younger, bragged about having these wild experiences, but they were only bragging and none of it was true.

When I was 19 and a full-time musician, I was playing with a band in a strip club on Long Island. While on a break, a tall older, woman about 28 came in and sat next to me at the bar. She looked at me and said: I want you!

Immediately I got hot and ready. She waited for me to finish the last set. She then scooped me up and drove me and my readiness to a motel. She paid for the room.

We got undressed, and I just lay there. She looked at me and asked if I had ever been with women? I told her no. Being a good catholic boy, I never even ‘copped a feel’. She was flabbergasted and totally amazed. She couldn’t believe she had the good fortune of breaking in a virgin

Hold on this is still about my mother.

I was so nervous, but this woman taught me a lot that night. In fact everything I ever wanted to know about sex that would last me a lifetime. We made love for hours. She was very fulfilled and couldn’t wait to tell her girlfriends and I couldn’t wait to tell mine.

Around 9AM she drove me to the Long Island Railroad and I went home.

Little did I know my parents were frantic. At six in the morning they called the bandleader, (who was my ride home), to find out what happened to me. He settled them down and told them I was with a woman.

The next day the bandleader recanted the phone conversation with my father.

Apparently when he told him I was with a woman, my father told my mother and he could hear her screaming, is she Italian?

Dom Minasi

Ramblings

2011-04-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

I haven’t written a blog in a while. The truth is I’ve been so overwhelmed with what’s happening throughout the world and the USA that I needed to think about it for a while.

I have so many questions:

Is Japan, just the beginning? Will it spread radiation throughout the world through the dumping of radioactive water into the Ocean or will the winds carry enough here (although the authorities say we are safe) to infect out water, crops and wildlife? Will we inspect our own nuclear plants to make sure they are safe? Iran has nuclear energy and so do India, Pakistan, China and North Korea. Do you think we are really safe when countries like these have nuclear plants?

Will the Middle Eastern countries need more than UN protection? Through polices and politics most, of us don’t understand, will we end up in more wars. We are already fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, how many more wars do we need to be in and how many young men and women have to die?

How much money are we spending developing weapons? I bet it is in the billions.

Why do we have to cut education, teachers and social programs to support our oversea actions? The money we spend on military defense and war could feed every starving child and heal and educate children throughout the USA. Can’t we use that money to rebuild our highways and bridges?

Why are so many cities and towns in this once great country controlled by gangs, drug dealers and corrupt politicians?

How did we allow idiots to run this country? When did we loose the vote? Is big business our ally or enemy? I think we all know the answer to that.

Is it really important that we have a space program and spend that kind of money when it could be used to fund the cure for so many diseases?

With a country filled with so much talent and geniuses, why haven’t we developed a car that can get 150 miles per gallon or run on water or a computer chip?

Will mediocrity, which has been the dominant factor in arts and music in this country for over 60 years, continue or will the American people finally wake up?

Has the dumbing down of everything become a permanent fixture in this country?

If the children are the future of this country, why are they mistreated and abused by so many adults?

Starvation, lack of education and jobs are the main cause of violence. We’ve all been told this for many years and for so many years our government has done nothing to change it. Chicago has the highest number of children murdered and Detroit is the winner when it comes to murders. Why do we allow the NRA to control the flow of guns and the gun laws? Isn’t it time we take away all guns. This is not the 1600’s when we had to hunt for our food or protect our homes and property. There is no reason to own a gun. It was in the constitution because of the times our forefathers lived in. If they could have seen the future, they would have worded it differently.

I personally believe there is so much bad stuff happening throughout the world that the Earth is inhaling the negativity and the Earth is fighting back. It has had enough.

When will we say that too?

Dom Minasi

One Day

2011-01-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

It started with a whisper in the wind. You could hardly hear it. As people everywhere walked down the street they would suddenly turn as if someone tapped them on the shoulder. Strangers would ask the person in back of them, “what did you say”? And ultimately the reply was the same,” I didn’t say a thing. I thought it was you”. Each day the whisper got a little louder and the Voice became clearer and everyone throughout the world heard this Voice in his or her own language. And the Voice surrounded everything and said, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Actors couldn’t recite their lines. Radio announcers couldn’t announce. The Voice was relentless. It didn’t stop. All anyone could hear in their I-pods, cell phones, computers, TV’s and radios was this constant voice. If there were human beings in far away and desolate places on earth, without any sort of electronic or battery communication devices, as mysterious as it was, the Voice was still heard

The Voice went on and on. Airports shut down. In fact everything shut down, Work could not continue for no one could concentrate. Nothing could function. After seven days the Voice stopped as quickly as it began.

Needless to say the leaders of each nation became alarmed, thinking there was some kind of invasion coming. But the best intelligence and radar could not detect anything in the sky or atmosphere. Jet planes were sent scouring around the world, but there was nothing to find. Satellites in orbit couldn’t find anything near earth or in outer space. The leaders of the Christians, Muslims, Jews and every other type of religion that existed believed it was the voice of God. Arguments ensued between all of the religious leaders. The Muslims thought it was of voice of Mohamed. The Jews claimed is was Moses and of course the Christians were absolutely sure it was Christ coming for the last judgment. Jehovah Witnesses though the Rapture was about to begin and starting preparing for the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse to appear.

Meetings were held. The US congress ordered an emergency meeting to discuss this turn of events, as did all the other governments around the world. The tribal leaders in the mountains of Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan met to discuss defending their territory. The Pentagon put all the Armed Services on alert and the UN convened into their separate delegations to figure out whom, why and what is doing this. Had some country or individual found a way of taking control of all forms of communication and threaten the very existence of humanity? Was this some elaborate hoax? Some “super-hacker” showing off his or her ‘skills?’

Discussions continued. There were no results. Nothing was being accomplished. The US congress, acting like little spoiled children and lashing out at each other bickered they way they always have. The same happened across the seas in Parliament. Then exactly one week later to the second, the Voice came back and repeated, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

This time the Voice added: “you have one week to respond, and I will speak to one person only. This one representative will speak for all of humanity. He or she should be ready to defend the World. We will meet at 10:00 A.M. EST in Central Park in New York City on the Great Lawn. This message continued for exactly 24 hours, then stopped.

Every nation thought this was some kind of joke. But as soon as the voice stopped, televisions all over the world began to list what was wrong with the world. The same thing happened on all Radio Shows computers, movie screens and I-pods. Any kind of communicative device gave out this message. On the Radio it sounded like public announcements, but the Voice was the same voice that came from the wind. On the television it showed up as a scroll, but instead of going across the TV screen, it went down and covered the whole screen with the same voice bellowing out each statement. If there was a screen or any kind of sounding device or nothing, the Voice could be heard bellowing all over the world.

It began with,

The Environment

The oceans, rivers, lakes, canals and every waterway throughout the Earth are contaminated. The fish, birds and cows are dying. The carbon emissions are destroying the atmosphere and Global Warming has been accelerated and it may be too late to stop it. In the name of greed the world has refused to come up with an alternate form of energy. The oil companies have been gouging up as much oil as they can to and selling it at absorbent prices while polluting the water and atmosphere. Within the last 50 years, these problems could have been solved, but your governments have chosen not to fix the situation or they have come up with a time table that is a joke and it would be too little too late. As a result, the Polar Caps are melting. Your drinking water supply is low. By destroying the forests you are limiting your supply of oxygen. Soon your food will be inedible and your water un-drinkable. Everything you need to survive as a race is being destroyed. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Humanity

From the very beginning earthlings have been a killing breed. You have turned on each other. You kill everything, and throughout the ages you have enslaved and in some cases eaten each other. Throughout the centuries more blood has been shed than there are stars in your galaxy. You have so many reasons to kill and very few reasons not to. In the United States alone there are 283 million guns. Chicago and Detroit have the highest murder rate in the US, yet the Congress refuses to change the laws. Everyone has a right to own a gun and defend him or herself. With that thinking maybe the US should arm its’ children. More children are killed in the US than anywhere else in the world. Your wars are initially started because of greed. How many wars are going on around the world right now? How many must die before you realize that the death of one person through violence is the death of all of you. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

The Voice went on and on. It covered one topic after the other. Cheating, lying,
education, health care, gangs, starvation, morals and through it all, it kept coming back to greed. After each topic was stated, it ended with “Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

It seemed there was nothing that could be done to stop the continuous broadcasting. Some unplugged their TVs and radios but the Voice still went on. 24 hours a day. The world was overcome with panic. Riots and looting began.
Police and armies were brought out to stop the looting and control the mob-like crowds, but not much could be done. Many were killed and billions of dollars of property was damaged.

You would think it would be the opposite. People could have gathered in a peaceful way and prayed or meditated and wishing this wasn’t happening.
Some did, but some were afraid to go out. Many went the other way and the thinking was; ‘if I’m going to die, I might as well have and enjoy what I always wanted’. The number of ‘revenge’ killings went up along with rape. It was Clockwork Orange times two billion percent

Meanwhile the UN met and tried to decide whom should they send to literally to save the world. Many names from around the world were put into hat, such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Dali Lama etc. Some volunteered to talk to the Voice. Russ Limbaugh and Sean Hannity along with Glenn Beck went to Washington DC and then onto as the UN, but they were finally recognized as the idiots they are and were practically laughed out of town. It came down to ex-President Jimmy Carter or Presiden Obama. In the final vote all agreed that the best representative and probably the better speaker was President Obama.

The President agreed to meet with the Voice. All agreed if anyone could do it, Obama could. The president spoke to the leaders of the world and told them that if he could convince the Voice not to destroy Earth, there will be much to give up and change. Some hesitated, but finally agreed.

On the following Saturday, the president arrived at 9:45 and went to the middle of the great lawn. Secret service agents surrounded him. One of them carried a chair for the president. The chair was placed down and the agents were directed to step back about 50 yards. At exactly 10 AM a bright blue light appeared in the sky and the voice that the world was hearing began to speak. It said, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

This question and the Voice were heard throughout the world, which meant that everyone on Earth was listening in. In that instant all the looting, killing and other despicable acts ceased. The Voice had their attention.

The president said, “Before we begin can you tell me if you are God”?

The Voice answered, it wouldn’t matter if I were God, “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

Well if you’re not God, who are you?

“You seemed determined to get some answers before we actually begin”

Obama said, “Yes. Please”.

“Alright. I will give you this much.
I am not God. There is no God. Your religions and faiths were invented by men to control and to steal from you”

“If you are not God, then who are you”?

“I am the Guardian of your Galaxy. It is my job to watch over the inhabitants and to make sure they do not disturb the equilibrium that has existed for millions of years”.

“If that is so, why would you want to destroy everything on Earth”?

“You are destroying the planet with selfishness and greed. The equilibrium is already starting to loose it’s balance and in a few short years the Earth will move off its axis and the destruction that will follow will annihilate everything.” “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

“Would you will be willing to kill innocent children? Isn’t the smile from one child’s face worth everything”?

The Voice answered, “You must think this is a television or movie script where an answer like that saves the world, but here in the reality of it all I say, if that were true, then why are there millions of children dying from disease, starvation or murder? Why aren’t your children protected from pedophiles or sex slavery? If humanity cared so much about its children it would be taking better care of them.

“What about all the medical discoveries that help the sick”?

If you cared so much about the sick, your new drugs would not cost so much, that most people cannot afford them”. Healthcare would be free.

The President said, “Tell me what should we do”?

“I am here so you will tell me what you and humanity will do”.

Obama said, “ I think we should stop all wars immediately and all weapons that are used for war and killing should be destroyed. Every handgun or rifle should be handed in and be destroyed. Every knife or any weapon that is used for killing should be destroyed.

The Voice said, “You are on the right track, but how to you intend to do this and how long will it take”?

The President said, it might take a year or two.

“What will you do about-your so-called terrorist”?” I don’t think they will be willing to give up their weapons or stop killing. In fact I think that destroying every living thing on earth would be welcomed by them and seen as the ultimate martyrdom”.

“Um! You’re probably right. We will have to track them down and take their weapons away from them”.

“ You haven’t been able to do it so far. What makes you think you can do it now”?

“We’ll just have to take that chance and try harder.”

“Ok. Let’s say I give you a year to accomplish this task, what will you do about the rest of problems that were created by your world and have caused so much damage”?

The President said it would probably take even longer to solve each of those problems.

“ And how much longer? “

“Five years”

“It took you hundreds of years to create these problems. What makes you think you can solved all of this in five years when there is so much going on that is wrong”?

“I think we as humans can do this, just give us a chance, but in order to make it happen I think you will have to prove you can do what you said you would do.”

“Are you asking for a demonstration? Isn’t it enough that I can control all of your communications”?

“I think some leaders will need proof, especially terrorists”.

“Ok. You will have your proof”.

“What do you intend to do”?

In five days the melted ice in your Polar Caps will be restored. Two days later they will be destroyed.

The President said, “Yes I think that will do it. Will we meet again”?

“We will meet on the eight day”.

The light disappeared and with it so did the Voice.

Almost immediately the Polar Caps stopped melting and started to rebuild themselves. Each day the restoration continued. On the 5th day they were completely restored. The weather seemed to level out and the water temperature throughout the world was restored to where it was 100 years ago. It was what we would call a miracle. The news was broadcast around the world. Some Government leaders were hoping the Caps wouldn’t be destroyed, but two days later they were gone and it was as if it never happened.

On the eighth day the President and the Voice met in Central Park.

“You have one year from today to stop all wars and destroy all weaponry throughout the world. If one shot is fired or one person dies due to murder, your world as you know will be over” the Voice said and disappeared.

The first thing the President did was to go to the UN. He gave a long speech and all nations agreed to start destroying their weapons and the mob mentality in the streets has to stop. The question was asked who would go first? Since the Middle East was a hotbed of violence, the Arab Nations refused to go first. They felt they would be leaving themselves exposed to Israel’s wrath. Israel felt the same way. This went on for weeks. The President had a meeting with both Israel and the leader of the Arab Nation. He stressed how important it was for this to get started. They were already running behind schedule and an Armistice had yet to be called between other warring nations. He finally said to both parties, “ I am going to take care of the United States and help countries that need it. I will destroy all weapons and collect all guns throughout my Nation and I am sure that the other Nations will follow. I will make sure no one goes hungry again and everyone will get free medical care. I will create jobs to help the environment. All the money we have been spending on wars and weapons will go into medical research, creating jobs, rebuilding our roads and bridges and feeding the hungry”.

“I am sure the rest of the world will follow. In a year’s time, when the Voice returns, maybe I can strike a bargain with him. Since 99% of the world will have met its obligations except for you two and some terrorists. Maybe instead of destroying everything on Earth, he would only destroy your two nations and the terrorists.”

This argument seemed to work. Both nations simultaneously began destroying their weapons. The biggest problem was to find the terrorists and to somehow cut down on crime.

Criminals being released from prisons all over the world had to re-educated.
Many were mentally ill or just plain violent. The task seemed insurmountable.

The one- year mark was arriving in a few days. Not all was complete. The tribes in the Afghan mountains were still fighting and Osama Bin Laden and his military hadn’t been found as of yet. The heads of Governments were panicking. They knew they hadn’t finished. They also knew what the Voice demanded was impossible. All they could do was hope and pray that the Voice would give humanity some more time to stop the violence.

When the next Saturday arrived, the President again arrived at 9:45 and went to the middle of the great lawn. Secret service agents surrounded him. One of them carried a chair for the president. The chair was placed down and the agents were directed to step back about 50 yards. At exactly 10 AM a bright blue light appeared in the sky and the Voice that the world had heard a year ago began to speak. “ Tell me why I shouldn’t destroy everything on Earth”?

The President stood and said” There are very few starving children now. Murders have gone down 98% around the world. All wars have stopped except for a few in some mountain ranges in the Middle East. We are hoping to settle them in a few more weeks. We are rehabilitating criminals. We are helping drug addicts. The sale and flow of drugs has stopped and most weapons have been destroyed. The money used for the military has been shifted to research and cures for all diseases and new and great medicines are on the horizon while we work on restoring the atmosphere, and the oceans to what they once were. In five years we will accomplish what you asked of us.”

The Voice said, “yes you have done well, but there is the question of terrorists.
This problem has not been solved. The deal was no weaponry in one year.
I see you are trying. This is what the universe wants. I will give you another year, but only one year to end terrorism in the world”.

The President smiled and said “thank you, thank you!”

You could hear the cheers around the world. Horns starting blowing, people danced in the street it was as if it was New Years Eve on Broadway.

Just as the Voice said “I bid you farewell” explosions ripped through the park and the surrounding buildings. Simultaneously in other parts of the World,
the same thing happened. London looked like the Blitz after World War Two and the same for Germany. Japan and China had explosions that killed thousands of people and Moscow was devastated by destruction. The American Embassies throughout the world were destroyed. Explosions continued throughout the day. All the work and healing that went into rebuilding humanity was being destroyed.

It seems the year that the World was working on changing everything security had become lapsed.

Osama Bin Laden’s cohorts were able to travel around the world and place bombs in strategic places where they would do the most damage. Washington DC was destroyed along with the UN and Statue of Liberty. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was destroyed along with The Church of Notre Dame. The Taj Maj Hall did not exist anymore. Dirty bombs left the atmosphere filled with radioactive particles and mushroom clouds were seen from one end of the globe to another.

Three days later the Voice could be heard all over the world.

“You had your chance and you destroyed it. And in destroying it you have destroyed yourselves. You have cast a cloud of darkness that will take hundreds of years to go away. Within a year you will all be dead. I do not have to destroy everything on Earth. Through your selfishness and stupidity you have done it yourselves. Goodbye”!

The Voice was never heard from again. A year later the only thing left on Earth were its’ buildings. Every tree, every flower and every living thing was gone.

50 years later an Alien Spaceship flew over New York. The buildings were still there but it looked and felt like a ghost town. The Alien ship did not land for the radiation level was still high. It flew to South America and then on to Russia and Europe and Asia. Nowhere in sight was there one living thing. As fast as it came in to take a look was how fast the ship left the Earths’ Atmosphere, calling ahead to its Mother Ship.

“ This place called Earth is uninhabitable!”

Dom Minasi

Christmases Remembered

2010-12-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

When I was a young child one of my best memories was spending Christmas with my family. When I say family I don’t just mean my mother, father and brother, I mean my grandmother and all my aunts, uncles and cousins on my mother’s side.

Every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the family would spend together. Most of the time it was at our house. This was the second house we had lived in. We moved there when I was four years old. My brother Tony was born in that house a year later.

This house was a big two-story brick house. It had a large finished basement with a fireplace. The basement had a kitchen, boiler room, finished bathroom, three large closets and the main room was gigantic. The upstairs main floor had a huge kitchen with a breakfast alcove, dining room, and a large living room with a fireplace and adjacent library with huge windows. The upstairs second floor had three bedrooms with a kitchen and another full bathroom. This is where my grandmother lived, (my father’s mother). There also was an unfinished attic. The outside property next to the house was 100’ by 100’. It was huge. People in the neighborhood thought we were rich. We weren’t, but my father made a good living and owned a men’s clothing factory. His factory was big and everyone from both sides of the family at one time or another worked in the factory. My father had contracts with the US Army to make uniforms. We were comfortable.

Soon after we moved to the new house my father’s mother died and a few years later my father almost died from a major heart attack. He lost his business, but we survived.
My mother went back to work and I was given a lot of responsibility in helping out.

Even though we were poor, we didn’t act or behave that way. My mother cooked every night. She made our clothes for us and we lived a life absence of feeling sorry for our selves. My father eventually got better and returned to work and we were OK. Not as good as before, but OK.

My parents converted this large house into a two family house so we would have an extra income. It was after the house was converted that family Christmases were spent at our house.

Two weeks before Christmas, we would put up the tree and hang lights outside around the house and the back. All the lights were blue. It was very pretty to look at and was a perfect setting for Christmas.

In the Italian tradition, Christmas Eve was fish night and Christmas Day was the meat day. All my Aunts would come over and along with my mother and grandmother and would do the cooking. It took all day to prepare the lavish meal for all of us. The fish was bought early in the morning at the fish market as well vegetables at the local farmer’s market and all the deserts and bread at the Italian bakery.

We used the finished basement area to have dinner.

My father would rent long tables and set them up in a semi-circle like a horseshoe. The cousins would set the table and we would sit down to have dinner around 8pm. When I say all of us, I mean about
40 -50 people which included all the new babies too.

The fish dinners always consisted of the 1st course being spaghetti with a red fish sauce made with shrimp or calamari. If you preferred a white sauce there was spaghetti and claims and the claims were fresh and had to me washed and opened.

The next course would be a salad. Some would prefer to wait and have their salad with the main meal. The main meal would consist of all kinds of fish dishes. Lobster with butter sauce, lobster tails baked with red sauce and mozzarella cheese. There was fried flounder and two kinds of shrimp and a fish salad with calamari, shrimp, lettuce and other types of fish. Along with the main course came all the side dishes of two or three kinds of vegetables and of course fresh Italian bread and butter.

After the main course the table was cleared and fruit and nuts were served. In some families that would be considered desert, but in Italian families, desert is cake or pastry. The deserts consisted of all kinds of Italian pastries and assorted cakes and cookies and served with either regular coffee, which was called brown coffee or espresso with lemon slices (black coffee).

Later that night we would open presents.

When I was 12-14 years old, I would do my impression of Elvis Presley singing Hound Dog The family loved it and so did I. ( I can hear all my musician friends laughing). Needless to say, by the time I was 15 years old I refused to do it anymore, because I had gotten seriously into jazz and no self respecting jazz musician would impersonate Elvis.

When midnight came, we were all exhausted and would sleep all over the house. The bedrooms, and the couches the floor, everywhere. The next morning we would all wake up, to the smell of fresh coffee. We would have breakfast in shifts.

The men would sit and sip on their extra cups of coffee, smoke and hang around the house and talk or watch TV while the kids either played together or played with some of the toys that Santa brought them. The women would begin preparations for the late afternoon dinner. You must remember this was 1949- 1959. That’s the way it was then. Women did everything and the women were all my mother’s sisters. Whenever they were together they were always laughing as if they had some private joke that no one but them were privy to.

The dinner again would consist of a huge meal, with many courses. The first course was some kind of Italian soup. The second course anti-pasta, meaning before the pasta. Next was macaroni (pasta) in a meat sauce or huge meat lasagna. Then came the meat from the sauce that you would eat with Italian bread. Next came some kind a roast along with chicken, which was either roasted, or cacciatore with plenty of side dishes like broccoli in a white garlic sauce, peas and carrots, artichokes cooked in garlic and oil and corn. Again the fruits and nuts and the coffee and desert were served. All in all, we had a seven course meal. After dinner the kids would play, the women washed the dishes and then the adults would either sit around and talk or play cards.

The thing to remember is that these dinners took hours to prepare and hours to consume, but it was a joyous time for everyone. I think back at those times when I was younger and how I enjoyed it all so much. The following week we would do it all over again at one of my aunt’s house for New Years Eve and New Years.

It’s sad, but true the world was an easier and simpler place to live in back then. It took very little to make us happy.

As the years went by, all the cousins had there own kids and the sisters and brothers had there own Christmas Eve dinners together and after my grandmother passed away, it seemed the family didn’t get together as much. We only saw each other at Weddings and funerals and by the time I was 19, I was traveling and working all the time including Christmas and New Years. If the dinners had continued, I would have missed most of them as I missed many of my cousin’s weddings.

I am so grateful for those memories and my family. To this day I am close with my family. Most of my aunts and uncles along with my mother are gone and I miss them all the time, but I still have two aunts left that I am always in touch with. My wife Carol, loves Christmas and decorates our apartment while listening to Christmas music and between my brother’s family and our friends another tradition has begun. With the miracle of the Internet and now Facebook I am in close contact with my cousins. My cousin Angel renewed the traditional family picnic which had stopped 40 years ago, but that’s another story.

I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday and may your memories and future memories be filled with joy

Dom Minasi

dom@domminasi.com

A Friend Remembered

2010-12-16T19:15:00.000-08:00

Three Days ago, (December 15th) was the anniversary of the death of dear friend and great jazz pianist, Dennis Moorman. It was eight years ago that Dennis’s wife Lynette called to tell us that Dennis died.

Why am I re-posting this again?

It is near Christmas and I always think of Dennis around now.

I met Dennis after my Blue Note days. In order to make a living, besides teaching, I played club dates, which are better known to the rest of the country as 'casuals'. For those who don't know what casuals are, they are weddings, dances, etc. A lot of jazz musicians get their training on these gigs and still do them, but won't admit it.

I was playing in one of these bands when someone asked if I knew Dennis. I did not. Eventually at one of these dates I met him. Dennis and I hit it off right away. We both had sour tastes in our mouths brought on by the so-called "business of jazz."

A few years later I stopped playing these gigs. I had been through a divorce and had moved to the city. Around 1984 I called Dennis and said "listen, I know you like to play ‘out’ and so do I, so why don't we play out together?" We set a date and got together. At first we played standards and eventually we started playing original music.

Dennis and I rehearsed almost every week for a year. In a year's time
we had grown very close, not only as musicians, but also as friends. I also got to know his wife Lynette and their son Russell.

Dennis was getting his Doctorate in Jazz Education from NYU. They had to create a curriculum because no one had ever pursued a Doctorate in Jazz Education before! I was honored that in his Dissertation, Dennis quoted material from one of my books. When he gave me a copy of it, again I felt honored that he truly respected my opinion. This respect, needless to say, was mutual.

We did work some jazz gigs together as co-leaders of a quartet, which
was broadcast ‘live’ on WKCR radio with Phil Schapp announcing and interviewing us.

During that time we recorded an album (String Duets), which we both shopped around with no luck. I did get a hand written letter from Michael Cuscuna telling me how much he enjoyed the music, but Blue Note wanted more commercial music (so what else is new).

Eventually Dennis and I went our separate ways, but we always stayed in
touch and in 2000 we started playing together again. Dennis was sitting in the front row when I recorded Takin’ The Duke Out at The Knitting Factory in New York City.

We started making plans and wanted to add another ten or twelve minutes to the album and release it as a CD under my own CDM label.

Christmas 2001, Dennis and Lynette were in our home laughing and sharing Christmas with our friends.

One year later Dennis was offered a kidney. He was on dialysis for years. Dennis’s kidneys failed a long time ago and he almost died when his body rejected a transplant. But in 2002 he decided it was time to try again.

Lynette called us and told us about it and we went to see Dennis in the hospital. He was in good spirits and happy. Two days later he died.

My wife Carol and I went to his wake and his burial.

To this day I am sad and I miss him all the time and I know if he were alive today, we would be making great music together.

2002 was a hard year for me emotionally. After my heart surgery, bassist Peter Kowald died two days after I worked with him and then Dennis.

It’s Christmas time and the biggest gifts you can give anyone are love, kindness and forgiveness. I can't stress it enough. Make each day count and let your loved ones know how much you love them, 'cause it could be over in a flash!

I Could Have Been.....

2010-08-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Twit, Twitter, Twiddle Lee Dee

In today’s paper they listed the top ten Twitter All-Stars. Lady Gaga is number one with over 6 million fans following her every tweet. I have 59. Not millions, seriously 59 followers. Admittedly so, I only tweet when I have something important to say and I only say it once in a while. Thus 59. Now if I tweeted everyday and let’s say I let people know when I wake up, take a shower, go to the bathroom and then make some phone calls, who knows maybe my fan base will go up to about 61.

Ok! I’m not a rock star. I can’t sing, well she can’t sing either. Maybe if I change my name to Lord Blah-Blah, I’ll get a few more fans. I can perform in my underwear or nude, that should raise my numbers or lower them depending how you look at it. If people want to see an overweight, balding, aging guitar player perform that way, I’m in! I too can become a super star.

But wait! I may have to stop playing very far out jazz and “God forgive me”, play music the public understands like Pop or Rock or even worse, I would have to play a solid body guitar, loose weight and wear a multi-color wig, tattoos and make-up. Maybe then I can raise my numbers to 101 fans. Hey it’s going up.

Lady Gaga writes her own songs. I compose and write songs with lyrics. When Lady Gaga sings her songs, no one understands the lyrics. When vocalists sing my songs everyone understands the lyrics. Wait! Maybe that’s it! I have to write songs that no one can understand and have singers garble the words, which will make them totally foreign. That’s the key and the answer. I now know the formula to becoming world famous!

Write garbage, play garbage, look like garbage and the worse you are the more the public will love you. Gees, why couldn’t I think of that 30 years ago. You see, that’s what a manager is for. What a wasted career. I could have impacted millions but instead, 59 fans. Hey what can I say? 59 is better than none.

Dom Minasi

A Message To My Repulican Counterparts

2010-03-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

A Message to my Republican Counterparts

I thought that now that Obama has settled into the presidency all the crap would stop. But it hasn’t!

This is the second time in my life that I have been embarrassed to be an American. The first time was the way the Bush Administration treated or shall I say ignored the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Now, it’s what some Republicans are saying and doing. Their connected groups such as Fox News, the Tea parties and of course let us not forget Russ Limbaugh are the embodiment of bad behavior.

I know we live in America and you can say anything you want, but your words have resulted in violence, racial slurs and homophobic behavior. The other day, while watching the Democrats enter the Capital Building under siege by behavior that was not only disgusting but also embarrassed the Republican Party, and every American, no matter what race, color, religion or sexual preference.

You may say not all Republicans are that way and you would be probably right, but why hasn’t every Republican come out against this? The threats, window breaking and letters with white powder in them will eventually be the downfall of the American Democratic System and your Party.

By doing nothing, the Republican Party has basically endorsed this behavior and is spitting in the face of every decent person in the United States. Whether you want the new Health Care reform or not, I urge you to write, call or go to the demonstrations and stop this outrageous behavior.

Remember, the one thing all members of Congress are afraid of is the vote. Take away your vote and you are out!

Dom Minasi

Let's Make Christmas Simple

2009-12-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

Let's Make Christmas Simple

I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic School and attended Mass every Sunday until I was 18 years old. My father and mother were devout Catholics; in fact, I wanted to be a priest till those teenage hormones kicked in. Growing up as a Catholic and Italian, guilt was no stranger, nor was the fear of dying and going to hell. I was indoctrinated into believing that I was born with sin on my soul and must be baptized to erase that sin, otherwise if I should suddenly die, I would end up in limbo and never go to heaven and see the ‘face of God’. Missing Mass on Sundays was a mortal sin and I would go to hell. There were lots of reasons to end up in hell and suffer an eternity of fire. Heavy? You better believe it!

I came to realize that the Church taught that almost anywhere I turned there was the Devil tempting me to commit all kinds of sins because he wanted my soul. How does one deal with all of this? The only way is to become a priest (the kind that does not prefer children), or live a true Catholic life: attend Sunday Mass, attend confession, receive communion, contribute money I couldn’t afford and censor everything I read or watched, as well as my sex life.

When I finally came to my senses, I realized I had been duped.
I read a lot. I also read the Bible. I wanted to see if any of it made sense. By the time I was 27 years old, I had let go of the church and its’ restricted teachings and finally felt free. My family was horrified when I announced that I didn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God or God himself and the Holy Trinity was conceived by men and there was no such thing as the Immaculate Conception. We’ve been scammed all our lives so that the Catholic Church could get rich off our fear.

But through it all I always believed in Christmas, not as a fact, but as an idea – an idea that through the years has been manipulated by greed and merchandizing. I am disgusted by the fact that Christmas has become so commercialized that most of the world has forgotten what it truly means.

If taken literally, when the three wise men came to visit the baby Jesus they brought gifts, small gifts, one from each of them, which through the years has translated into ‘Let the Shopping Begin!’

Let me ask you, is it better to give a child a gift of love that will instill a sense of well being, security, self confidence and happiness which will endure a lifetime, or a video game that will wear out and is often filled with blood and violence and could possibly twist their reasoning? What greater gift then to share the wonder of reading books? Instead of spending money we don’t have to buy stuff that will eventually break or be discarded and teaches nothing, spend time with them, time that will give them memories that will last a lifetime.

Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Mormon or any other religion that exists, Christmas can only mean one thing - love. If you want to believe it is Christ’s birthday that’s OK. If you don’t, that’s Ok too.

Let’s change the meaning of Christmas from, ‘let’s shop till we drop’ to ‘whom can I help today’? Wouldn’t it be great if we could continue this selflessness throughout the year?

Let’s let go of the selfishness and the ‘me’ attitude and think of us as one; one color, one religion, one race – the Human Race…. One! It’s so simple.

I wish us all a Happy Holiday and a New Year filled with
Love, Health, Friendship, Generosity, Forgiveness, Abundance, Gratitude and Creativity.

Dom Minasi

Thank You Jerry Springer

2009-09-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

I want to thank the right wing media for showing us how and what Middle America thinks. Of course they are not responsible for the way they act. We can thank Jerry Springer for that.

Years ago when I found myself in a bind, I moved in, for a short time, back to my mother’s house. To say the least, this was very traumatic and the slight beginnings of an ulcer. It also was the beginning of a healing between my mother and me that was long overdue.

The house was a two family structure with an apartment upstairs that was rented. I got the spare bedroom in my mother’s first floor level apartment plus the whole finished basement. As a musician/composer and a teaching artist, some of my days started at 8:30 AM and some started about 1PM. Regardless it did not matter. I would awaken about 6:30 AM, have coffee and go to the basement to practice, compose and work on lesson plans for my classes. On the days that I started work late, I would usually go back upstairs and have breakfast with my mother. My mother would get up around 9:30 AM.

This is where the healing happened. We would talk and argue about everything. No topic was left untouched. My mother was not well educated or sophisticated, but she was smart and no one could ‘pull the wool over her eyes’. She loved acting dumb, just so she could see how far someone would go to try and con her. Her greatest line was, I’m just an old lady and I don’t understand things. Bless her soul she understood everything.

My mother was also a racist as well as a was a devout Jesus loving Catholic (sound familiar). She also hated Gay people. I would say to her, Ma! When you come back again, you are coming back as a black gay women. Her attitude was based on fear and not being educated. She did not know any black or Gay people. She had no idea of black families or gay families. If you weren’t Italian, you couldn’t be trusted. The mafia was good and they protected their own.

Before she died, she needed home care. The Universe acts in strange ways. Many of the nurses were black. She became very close with some of them and her attitude changed.

Why am I writing about my mother when I should be writing about Jerry Springer?

It was during those morning get togethers’ and sometime afternoon gatherings that my mother would put on the Jerry Springer Show. I would sit there, keep my mother company while she watched the most despicable people scream, kick, bite, curse, attack, cry and act out like I’ve never seen before. I, who have worked in mafia owned striptease joints and have seen everything, had never watched spectacles such as these. To say the least, I was in shock. My mother would laugh and enjoy this while I would get angry and say, how can you watch this garbage? She learned a lot about all kinds of people from that show. It enforced what her own prejudices.

She would dismiss me, but in my mind these TV programs were not funny. How can people go on TV and act this way? Why did we as an audience allow it and why, to this very day, is this kind if mental midget ness still on the air? We see it in the so-called reality shows and now we see it in the town meetings, Congress and in streets of Washington DC.

When ex president, Jimmy Carters, says he sees it as underlying racism, there is polyphony of voices from the right-wing community. Where was the outrage when New Orleans was devastated by Katrina and it’s citizens left to rot? I personally saw it as racism. What about the lies that got us into a war that cost billions of dollars and American lives? I saw that as the worst kind of dishonesty. How about the profits the insurance and drug companies make or the banks or Black Water or the dishonesty of the right wing Republicans?

Before you can claim dishonesty or lies, you have to be honest and truthful first. To quote a wiser man, “ let he who is without sin throw the first stone’

Let’s see the Republican Party and the right wing conservatives and media own-up before they stir-up!

Everyone in this country has a right to speak up, disagree, march, even shout, but do it with some dignity and self-control. Show respect where it is due. The office of the Presidency demands respect. This president more than any deserves, at the very least, some kind of co-operation and in a dignified manner. You can disagree with every word he says, but disagree properly not like some thug.

Again, we have to thank Jerry Springer. He opened the door for thuggish behavior. He showed the American people how it's done and ‘boy’ did they learn'.

Imagine this, anyone working for Fox News, in order to get hired has to take mandatory classes in:

1.How To Be A Thug and Get Away With It
2.How To Be Rude,
3.How To Lie On The Air and Look Like or Sound Like You’re Telling The Truth,
4.Go Out and Commit A Crime, We’ll Hire You!
5. And the Piece de Résistance you must watch 60 Jerry Springer Shows In One Week

Complete this and you will become a full-fledged Fox News person or better yet, you can work for Russ Limbaugh or get elected to congress!

Again I say, thanks Jerry. You did a great job!

DM

What America Is This

2009-08-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, January to be exact, I said I would not write another word about politics’. I was elated that Barack Obama was starting his first term as the first black president and that Democrats had the majority in Congress. This was historical. Finally we will see some light.
Boy was I wrong!

The Democratic Congress turned out to be the do nothing congress and they have let the Republicans walk all over them. For some reason, in my naiveté, I thought we had heard the last of the BS, but we haven’t. Almost every night, there’s Dick Cheney or Karl Rove on TV spouting their rhetoric. Now that Cheney doesn’t have to worry about an upcoming election, he seems to have embraced to his daughter Mary’s lesbianism, and his daughter Liz is on TV almost every night.
Why is Liz on TV, well besides the Torture Thing (we really do not want to get in to that) there's the Birth Certificate thing.

Oh, you mean that’s still going on?

Of course it is. Certain broadcasters and politicians better known as Birthers (I rather they be called Idiots, but that’s just me) are all over the media demanding proof that our President was born in the USA. They contend that he wasn’t and until they see proof of his birth, they will be relentless in their search for the truth. Well proof was provided and yet it was not accepted.
What do you think?

Could it be racism that is really behind this is barrage?

No not in our country! Right! (Sarcasm)

A bunch of white, right wing Christian Republicans can’t stand the fact that we now have a black president in office. Not only is he black, but, he is educated, speaks with intelligence and he has brought honesty and dignity back to the White House. Something the Bush administration was supposed to do. Instead they brought us lies, deception, scandals and shame while they led our Arm Forces into harm’s way. Thousands died while they made their profits and Raked the American People Over the Coals.

This past week out President has been called an angry black racist. Why? Because of a stupid incident that could have been avoided if both parties and Obama would have thought before they spoke Unfortunately it gave the A-holes a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation and throw more fuel into the flames.

Why would they do that?

It stands to reason that if they say it more and more, it will take angst off of them and we can re-focus on the President. And you know that the American people are so gullible that if you say something enough times, you make it true. Not only is our President illegally in office, but also he is a angry racist.

How far does this have to go before someone says Stop!

Obama is a very cool guy, he doesn’t address this stupidity, but we as a whole should. How do we address it? Start emailing, calling, write to every congressman, senator, news station and media outlet. Tell them that if they don’t put a stop to this nonsense. We will!

How?

The vote and money speak!

1. Vote the politicians out
2. Turn off the news stations
3. Stop buying the products they advertise.
4. Flood the Internet with youtube visual statements denouncing these politicians and media groups.
5. Create our own media, by ignoring the media that is already out there and refuses to stop talking about this.
6.Blog, Blog, Blog!

There are better things to be concerned about in this country than the garbage they spew and concoct. like the five Christian politicians who belong to a secret society of five. A bible group that is wracked in scandal. One must wonder what they study in this group or do they compare notes to see whom they slept with that week besides their wives.

What America is this?

What happened to the good old days?

Did they ever really exist or has it always been this way and we didn’t know it? Now that we do know and the rest of the world knows too, are we better off for it?

Do we have to know every little thing?

When John Kennedy was having his little affairs at the White House, did we know? No! Were we, and the rest of the world better off for it? Yes !

Do you think that he would have been taken seriously by the Russians if they thought of him an as sex maniac. Would we, as a nation trusted him less?

Bill Clinton who was in my estimation a great president, but because of his stupid indiscretions and media frenzy, is still laughed at and hated by many. Yet that same many who hate him, neglect to see the same stupid ness and indiscretions in their own party. No wonder we are laughed at by the rest of the world. We have become a Jerry Springer Society where gossip, scandal and celebrity are a steady diet fed to us by idiots.

What America is this, that I, a virtually non- existent entity in this enormous spectrum of political madness, am compelled to write this and speak out? And why aren’t we as a nation horrified at what the Russ Limbaugh’s are spewing on the pubic?

What America is this that has taken one of our own precious rights, free speech, and turned it against us?

What America is this?

What America is this?

Dom Minasi: a concerned citizen

The Dom Minasi String Quartet

2009-05-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Re:Konstrukt Records and Dom Minasi
Are Proud To Announce
The Dom Minasi String Quartet ‘s
New Recording
Dissonance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
Featuring
Dom Minasi –nylon string guitar, Jason Kao Hwang-violin,
Tomas Ulrich-cello and Ken Filiano-Contrabass

Is Now Available As A Digital Download at Amazon.com

Thank You Downbeat

2008-12-04T05:22:00.000-08:00

For the last six months or so, I've been consumed with politics. You will be happy to know that is over for now. Back to writing about the thing I love most, besides my wife, kids, gran-kids, family and friends- Music!

I've been fortunate in my life to work with some of the best musicians on the planet.
Starting way back in the late 60's up till now. The great thing about music is you're always meeting new musicians. This summer I had the pleasure of playing in the Avant- Gardens Festival. I met and played with Charles Gayle and Saco Yasuma and fronting Cecil Taylor's last rhythm section, Jackson Krall and Albey Balgochian. What a great day that was. My new string quartet with Jason Kao Hwang, Tomas Urlich and Ken Filliano is a wonder to work with. These guys are amazing. Last, but not least, my working trio with Jackson Krall and Ken Filiano, I couldn't ask for a better group
And today I got the news that Downbeat chose The Jon Hemmersam/
Dom Minasi Quartet one the best of 2008.

It couldn't get better!

2008-11-09T15:32:00.001-08:00