...or something to that effect. serves me right for listening to cab calloway and christmas music in the same weekend. though, truthfully, the christmas music wasn't my fault... well, okay, it was kinda, as i was the one actually playing it... but it was a holiday event, so i was forced to play music. i cannot emphasize enough, though, the number of people who thanked me very heartily for mixing it up and not force feeding them a steady diet of holiday cheer. how many versions can you play of winter wonderland in one night anyways?
two.
then people start to notice.
i have to mention two very nice surprises... er, make that three, but two are in the same category.
first, i'm doing this job where i'm attempting to create an 8 to 12 minute video in under a week, involving many pictures that need to be scanned in, plus music and transitions... the whole shebang. that's not the surprising part.
the surprising part is that i went out and purchased a brand spankin' new canon mp500 multifunction printer/scanner... and the durn thing actually works better than advertised! it's the first time i've had a machine suggest one way of doing something (scanning multiple documents) and i've said, 'no, don't worry, mr. machine, i already know how i want to handle this' (making contact sheets of multiple photos so i can go back and crop out the areas that i need) and then sat back after doing three pages and realized that hey... mr machine knows whereof it speaks... in it's silent machine-like way. and it didn't even gloat when i realized the error of my ways.
on the plus side of this kinda embarassing submission to technology is the fact that i talked the salesperson at compusa out of trying to recommend an hp (i've had them before and while decent machines, their print quality never impresses me for the price you're paying), and even his trusty back up recommendation of epson (excellent quality printing and features, but too many stories abounding about the printheads that are designed to fail after two years). he came back with specs (a nice touch that the sales people at compusa do... they do research for you, even if you've already done it beforehand...) for the model that i wanted and kept remarking about how it surprised him the number of features and quality of print you get for the price. go cnet.com and amazon reviewers united... plus a couple of other sites that i browsed before purchasing.
the other two combined surprises? music. madeleine peyroux and maria muldaur. both keepers of the flame of old timey music. madeleine is more jazzy, maria more bluesy, but they both have excellent bands behind them, and understand the heart of old time music, and more importantly, really seem to love what they're doing.
and maria got her start in a jug band! a jug band, i say! and madeleine has marc ribot playing his ever excellent strings (see tom waits... mule variations among others... the man can play, out and out)! did i mention that madeleine also covers edith piaf... en francais?
hi de hi de ho ho ho
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