Navigation:
aka: I do I get around
this crazy place?!

About me:
Bill Batty, Jr.

29 years old.


Father of
Julia Valentine
,
husband of  Susan

Musician.

One who writes the occasional poem, though not a poet.

Reading:
Now:
?????

Just Finished:
The Maltese Falcon
Dashell Hammett

Listening:
Now:
Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

MOFI Japanese Vinyl

Just Finished:
Altered Beast

Matthew Sweet
150 Gm Vinyl

Watching:
Now:
Enemy at the Gates
DVD (Rented)
Dolby Digital


Just Finished:
Se7en
Platinum Series
Dolby Digital

Places I go...

sometimes!

Random Abstract

The Wop!

eBay, eBill

No punches pulled here...

You'll be scorned!

The Quiet Storm

The Bagman

Textism

Biz Stone, Genius

A Grave is Full of Deadman's Bones,
or TRAA Archive
 

Link to me!
Steal this button!

5/31/2001

Here is a site that has some Jobim lyrics. I was looking at the lyrics for "The Waters of March." Jane Monheit sang it at the concert, and Jim and jazzer "Chuck Jones" both have related how much they like the song. I almost think the lyrics are better without the music--the song goes so fast. In any event, the page also has the second verse to "Corcovado" in English. I've loved that song since I first heard it in college. Stan Getz had it on the Album Getz/Gilberto, and Astrud Gilberto sings the first verse in English. Her husband, Jao, sings the next verse in Portugese. I thought he sang the first verse again, but in Portugese, but it is actually a second verse.
posted by Billy Rhythm Thursday, May 31, 2001

5/30/2001

Guess what I've got playing on the Thornes 320 right now? That's right, Skynyrd! It's actually Second Helping, their second album. I used to play drum along with this album on a record changer! Ouch! There's not much worse for vinyl. Anyway, it brings back some good ole memories. Of course it's got "Sweet Home Alabama," but it also has "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe." Actually, I must get up now to flip the record over.
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 30, 2001

Paintball fever has hit here at work. Everybody is buying paintball guns. Ron over at tu bought two! Even I've been looking at paint ball guns, though I've never even played. I think I'm going to follow the advice I saw somewhere on a begining paintabll site: before you spend money, play 4-5 games to make sure you really like it. I think it's mostly the idea of buying a cool looking gun. I used to be quite a little shooter. I have a target around here where I put 5 .22 rounds in the same hole. (50 feet, prone position.) I was using an old Savage target rifle my grandfather bought me years ago. I have 4 firearms, and 3 came directly from him, and one indirectly. I will tell you about that indirect one someday--the story of the Batty's heirloom Winchester 94. Father (that's what we called him. My grandparrents wanted to be called Grandmother and Grandfather. Instead, they got Ma and Father) has been dead over two years. I haven't been to his grave since we put him in the ground. There are times when I really miss him.
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 30, 2001

5/29/2001

Wow. Blogger is ssssllllllooooowwwww tonight. I weedwacked, killed weeds, put the old grill in the truck to take to the dump. Then checked the help email and voicemail, and blah blah blah. Sometimes I get sick of hearing myself talk. Oh, and this afternoon on my break, I posted. Blogger posted it 5 times! A riot!
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 29, 2001

While I was home at lunch, I listened to side 1 of my Classic Records reissue of Miles' Kind of Blue, the number one selling jazz album of all time. The last song, "Blue in Green," was a real treat. It sounded so good! You could hear the circula motion of Jimmy Cobb's brushes on the snare. I mean, you could hear what he was doing with his hands. It was so great! As I get older, I tend to appreciate Miles more. I think Diz had a more firey style, and better range, but when Miles plays with that Harmon mute, it just slays me.

And then, the antithesis of that great work is this, the all MIDI version of the same tune. Awful. Just bloody awful.
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 29, 2001

Emily Dickenson! Or as we poet writers know her:

Emily -- Dickenson!
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 29, 2001

I guess it's time for me to join a "disturbing search requests" club. Today, someone hit me looking for "dimeter gear catalog." I come up second on Google. I was talking about a poet (What was her name? Spinster from Mass. who wasn't published much until after she dies. Man, I can't think. All I can think of is Millay, but she's my other favorite female poet.) writing in dimeter, a band and all their gear, and the Victoria's Secret catalog. But of course, not all at once. I think the person was actually looking for something else, but what I don't know. Ron over at TU had someone hit him looking for "super glue fetish." I guess if I want hits, I need to talk about leather spank me pants and hip swinging lesbian turbo props.
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 29, 2001

5/28/2001

I bought some parmesan/proscuttio bread from The Pastry Garden on Saturday, but didn't get a chance to eat it. So today, I used it to bake bruschetta. Everybody at the cookout loved it! My aunt said she didn't need to ea anything else! Here's the recipie. Well, here's the kind of recipie--I just made it up, and I rarely use a real recipie.

1 loaf parmesan proscuttio bread, or any other good quality crusty bread
1/2 can of diced, peeled, seedless tomatoes.
1 small roasted red pepper
1 clove chopped garlic
a suitable quantity (that's a unit of measure left over from my pharmacy days) of fresh basil
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
koser salt
black pepper

Mix it all (except bread) together. Slice bread kinda thick. Brush some more olive oil on bread, and grill on your new grill outside. Place the tomato mixture on top, and grate some parmesan on top. Drizzle some juice from the tomato mixture bowl on top. Get a piece quickly, as your aunt and dad will eat all you have.
posted by Billy Rhythm Monday, May 28, 2001

5/27/2001

Strange. I was checking my stats, and somebody found me on Google looking for "szuniewicz." I don't remember writing that ever. Hmm.
posted by Billy Rhythm Sunday, May 27, 2001

Posting from my folk's house--we always come here after church for lunch. I played the Pearl bronze sensitone classic at my gig this weekend. It sounds great! A little bright, a little warm, snappy, yet with some body. It sounded very good, and fit perfectly with our funk/blues/rock sound.

Susan is practising (I decided to use the British spelling) the piano. She hasn't played in a while, but took lessons all through high school. She has a piano at her folks, and would like to move it to our house. We just don't have the room.
posted by Billy Rhythm Sunday, May 27, 2001

5/25/2001

This was the blog I posted yesterday that interests me a little.
posted by Billy Rhythm Friday, May 25, 2001

Funny, I had another post from yesterday, but it's not showing up today. I had another cool link for a blog that I have been checking out recently. I will post it when I find it again.
posted by Billy Rhythm Friday, May 25, 2001

Ron from TU sent this around the inhouse joke list today. This guy chronicles the help desk tickects he receives from a nincom named "George." It's a riot! We get all over each other here at the office about grammar and such, (When you're blogging, you don't do a lot of proofreading.) but George wins the prize. Check it out.
The Chronicles of George
posted by Billy Rhythm Friday, May 25, 2001

5/23/2001

So last night I went to see Jane Monheit in concert. She is quite a promising jazz singer. I've seen many references to her sounding like Ella (and not just from Dake at The Quiet Strorm, but I didn't think she really sounded like Ella much at all. I thought she sounded a bit like a jazz singer, and a bit like a lounge singer. She was very beautiful, and did lots of sensual hand/hip/hair movements. I would expect to see her climb on top of the piano at any moment. I also read a review of a concert she did in NYC in which the reviewer said that the band couldn't cut it with her. Not from what I heard last night. In fact, this reviewer singled out the drummer as one of the worst players in the band. "Ha" I say to that reviewer, and again I say "ha-ha." The drummer was great--did all kinds of things with the time, shuffling it around, making it interesting. And, he was great with the brushes.

Before the concert, we all went to the Macaroni Grill. (I say "we": Chuck and JP went with us.) I had a braciole. For those of you not of Italian desent, that's a flank steak, ponded flat, stuffed, rolled, and braised. Mine was stuffed with sausage and proscuttio. It was simmered in a chunky tomato, onion, mushroom sauce. I'll tell you, this place has some decent Italian food, especially for Maine.

We also decided that "Chuck Jones" is the perfect jazz musician name. It goes with just about anything: "On bass, Chuck Jones. On the drums tonight, Chuck Jones. We've got Chuck Jones on the piano tonight!" JP did mention it doesn't go well with xylophone. It's a little too rhyme-y.
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 23, 2001

5/21/2001

I got nothin'. I fold. Too rich for my blood. I'm out.
posted by Billy Rhythm Monday, May 21, 2001

5/19/2001

So the grill is 90% built (this is last night). I'm attaching the side burner when I realize that the tank goes on the right side, and the burner is on the left. Problem--the gas feed isn't long enough. So, I figure I'll just move the burner to the other end. It doesn't work that way. As I put this whole stupid thing together, everything has been symmetrical, so it didn't matter if you screwed up, 'cause the other piece was the same as the one you were working with. Except the bottom rail from step one! See, the instructions say that the bottom rail with the sticker is supposed to be the front. Well, not on the grill I bought! It was mislabled! Luckily, I just had to remove the two bottom rails. And the feet. And the wheels. And the tank platform. I'll tell you what, though. I could get another one of them grills together in a heartbeat.

Something is wrong with my Panamax Max 100+. Last night, it keep comming on, and shutting off, continuously. (Or is that continually? Yes, I belive it should be continually.) Now, it just reads "overvoltage" regardless of what outlet I plug it into. Even at someone else's house. I pulled my trusty multi-tester out, and my outlets read about 120 volts. Overvoltage on the Panamax is 128 volts. I think it's shot. (Incidentally, it had been reading high [it has a system of lights] for the last couple of weeks. In fact, I had CMP come out twice. The second time, the guy took me out to my meter, threw his tester on it, and it read 120 volts.)
posted by Billy Rhythm Saturday, May 19, 2001

5/17/2001

It was the end of the BBQ season, last year. We grill out a lot. 4-5 times a week, let's say. So I had the grill pre-heating, and went insode for the steaks. When I came back out, the window in the lid of the grill had exploded. My grill go bye-bye. Hey, someone gave it to me when they were moving to New Hampster. Yes, one of the legs is propped up woth a rock. Yes, the diffuser is all rusted out and the grill has a giant hot spot on the left front. It was free! Anyone who knows Billy Rhythm knows he is a sucker for a deal. But the time has come for a new grill. This was the one I had been looking at for like 6 months. Sam's Club had it for about $225. And, with the amount we use the grill, I figured we might as well splurge on a good one. Well, Sam's don't live in that New York City no more. I mean, they don't carry that model anymore. Too bad--it was a heck of a deal.
posted by Billy Rhythm Thursday, May 17, 2001

"What are we having for dinner tonight?" asked the hungry husband of his beloved wife.
"Pizza," she replied.
"Pizza? Pizza? Cleaning woman? CLEANING WOMAN?!?!" He threw his hands around her neck, looking for her hyoid, grasping to snap it.

Do not eat pizza to many times in the same week.
--

This morning I dropped by our local AM station and did an interview for the Kiwanis bike rodeo for kids. Boy, that brought back memories of my old radio station days. Man, am I glad I don't do that for a living. 10 seconds of fury, 2:50 of slack. Fury, slack, fury, slack. Don Sheilds, the DJ, had his printer jam up on him. The result: everything for the rest of the morning was SHOT (as my friend Kevin would say).

I am working on this HP Pavilion piece of junk. You download a modem update, from HP, and it freezes the machine. HPs own patch makes their own machine freeze. Sweet.
posted by Billy Rhythm Thursday, May 17, 2001

5/16/2001

I had a post last night. Guess what? You got it!
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 16, 2001

5/15/2001

Still haven't listened to Tapestry. I don't think I will until I have time to sit and listen to it.
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 15, 2001

Had a lovely post last night. Blogger ate it. Tonight, I won't post much, out of fear. I did get a mail from Yahoo, saying they won't list me because my site seems "under construction." Aren't all sites under construction?
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 15, 2001

5/14/2001

So I haven't posted all weekend. I've been busy. Really, I have. After I got
done working on Saturday (Saturday morning, in case you didn't know, the
Internet had a meltdown here in Midcoast Maine.) I went home and installed my
wife's mother's day presents: new faucets in the kitchen and bath! (I know,
every mom's dream!) Julia and I then did some shopping and playing. Sunday was
church and mother's day, and in the afternoon I folded some laundry. In comming
to work today, I dicovered the Internet also melted down on Sunday, and there
were close to 50 voicemail messages from angry Damariscotta customers. (5
voicemail messages over a weekend would be quite a few, so 10 times that many
caused me to gasp. (Actually, I swore. Twice.)

And I have yet to listen to Tapestry. What kind of audiophile am I?
(Apparently a bad one)

Oh yeah, so when I went to post, I see
Blogger is down, so I am writing this in
notepad. I guess it didn't matter that I didn't post--I couldn't have posted
anyway!
posted by Billy Rhythm Monday, May 14, 2001

5/11/2001

Auctions are over. I did o.k. I really hated selling my Hafler power amp. It is a great amp, built like a tank. I really notice a difference in my system without it.

Also, the Classic Records version of "Tapestry" came today. I was a little dissapointed in the packaging. It's a 4 album set: 1 album fits in the jacket, and the other 4 are just in plain white covers. I would think they would make some kind of box or something...
posted by Billy Rhythm Friday, May 11, 2001

5/9/2001

Practiced some more drums today. I haven't practiced this much in years. I'm working on sight reading, and independence. (I'm not scorning my independence, ha-ha!) The bronze snare just begs to be played.

Last night, my wife was baby sitting, and the kid just doesn't stop crying. Every time she watches her, she cries like a... well, she cries a lot! So I went outside, listened to the Red Sox take a two run lead, and then give it up half an inning later, and scraped paint from my window sills. Now that I have all new windows in, the sills look really bad.
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 09, 2001

5/8/2001

I've added another page to Fun Stuff. Be sure to check out The Apple IIc Project!
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 08, 2001

5/7/2001

Luminous props--no penultimate props--no, ineffible props to Harvey. You cannot believe how good the snare sounds. Compared to my Starclassic snare, it's brighter, has about the same pitch (just a smidgen lower), and some great underlying body. It's great. I think it will be my new primary drum.

I practiced about an hour tonight. I had to--Barry came over to borrrow my Starclassic snare, and while he was here, he gave the tubs a bit of a beating. Now, I have more reasons to be in the woodshed. What great speed he has. And he combines his limbs for these cool tom/bass licks. Ouch! A bit of a spanking for the Rhythm King.

I started the lawn mower tonight. It won't be long now!
posted by Billy Rhythm Monday, May 07, 2001

THE SNARE IS HERE!
posted by Billy Rhythm Monday, May 07, 2001

5/5/2001

This thing is not updating correctly again...
posted by Billy Rhythm Saturday, May 05, 2001

Updated a little. Added a navigation section so you don't get lost. 'Cause I care about you.
posted by Billy Rhythm Saturday, May 05, 2001

I guess Chas. really pulled a fast one Lindsey. We spoke briefly on the telephone* and she appoligized. Chas. told her how "mad" I was, and how I didn't speak to him all day. He later pointed out that I hadn't spoken to him all day; he was out of the building! I told her there was nothing to apologize for, and then I took the gun out of my mouth. (Kidding, kidding!)

*Have you noticed that no one ever uses the word telephone. It's always just phone. I heard someone use telephone in a sentence, and it sounded so odd to me, that I've decided to start using it.

Help me pay some debts--go and buy some of this stuff.

It's funny that I'm selling stuff to pay off debt, and yesterday I put something on the MBNA Visa. You do remember my post about the Classic Records 45 RPM 4 disc set of Tapestry, right. Well, it's out of print already. I guess they limit the run to 500 pieces. So I was checking out this new vinyl site, Red Trumpet, and the price is now up to $80. So, I took a trip to Acoustic Sounds, and they still had a copy for the $43 list price. I figured if I wanted it, I had better order it. So I did.
posted by Billy Rhythm Saturday, May 05, 2001

5/3/2001

So, I hear Lindsey's already hired a jazz quartet for the reception. Huh? What She hired a band without even asking me?! Looks like Billy Rhythm and his Uptown Rhythm Kings won't be playing that gig! I could've put together the guys (Spike on bass, Lincoln on piano, and a horn or guitar if she wanted it) and I would've donated my share of the proceeds, so she would have to pay one less guy. And we play jazz together a couple of times a year. I could've done something really nice, played some great ballads, and cut her a sweet deal--but she didn't even ask. (And the horrible part is she visits this page at least once a day! Even my fans won't hire me!)
posted by Billy Rhythm Thursday, May 03, 2001

5/2/2001

Just for fun, I did some archive hunting. You see, a while back, Harmonic Distortions gave me 8 Guinness. I don't even remember what for. Anyway, I checked the archive to see if I mentioned when he gave it to me, and why. Not there. So I checked out his page, but he doesn't have an archive. The reason I want to know when I got the beer? I'm just finishing the last one tonight. Well, tonight I bought a 12 pack of Rolling Rock. I will post when I finish it. (And contrary to my belief, you can drink a Guinness when it's hot. It just needs to be cold enough.)

Something strange: I know a guy who still has snow on his lawn. It was in the 80's here in Maine today. 80 degrees with snow?
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 02, 2001

It keeps eating my posts!
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 02, 2001

Blogger is making me mad. Will it post, for once, please!
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 02, 2001

So as I mentioned, I am working on a new non-profit, low power, community radio station. Today, Joe Steinberger (also known as "The Brains behind this whole wacky thing") picked up a turntable. Now, I'm into vinyl. I own 2 tables myself, and I frequent the Audio Asylum Vinyl Message Board. Sombody gace him a table from the 50's, I would guess. It was some brand I have never heard of, but might still be in business (according to Joe). The thing weighed 50 pounds, as was monstorously overbuilt. The audio and electrical connections had been cut. Pieces were missing. There was no plinth, arm board, or arm. Joe wants to rebuild it. "Have at it" I told him. I said for the amount of time and money he's going to put into this thing to maybe make it work, he could buy a Technics 1200 mkIII.
posted by Billy Rhythm Wednesday, May 02, 2001

5/1/2001

For those of you who would like a shot of the new snare Harvey netted for me, click here. Note that this snare is 5 1/2" deep, and the one I ordered is 6 1/2" deep.
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 01, 2001

Super sweaty props to the king of all music instrument dealers, Harvey! The man rox! He does, too. Not only is he a good friend, and the best music retailer in Maine, but he also plays a mean bass guitar, makes a great fettuccini alfredo, and (I hear) is a super kisser. Today, the harv-man ordered me a Pearl Sensitone Classic bronze snare, 6 1/2" deep. It was the last one the Pearl distributor in the US had, and the drum has been discontinued. I got the last one! Did I mention Harv is a good fella?
posted by Billy Rhythm Tuesday, May 01, 2001

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