I was very sad to learn that the RH Factor concert I was supposed to go to with some close friends has been cancelled. It was supposed to take place on October 19th at La Cigale in Paris. Now it's time to go ask for a refund for the tickets I bought... *sigh*

Another case of "security" that is getting us nowhere as reported by The Internet Storm Center:

Kaspersky's blog, always a great read, is reporting that there are some "epidemic level" MSN-Worms [...] that "spread using links to .PIF files.". They go on to say;

"But some of you might remember that Microsoft blocked messages containing ".pif"?

Yes they have, but... the MS block is case sensitive!

So the criminals used capital letters, ".PIF" and the network filters let the message flow right through. Other variations like .Pif, .pIf, and so on also work.".

Hopefully, that was easy to fix (taken today from Kaspersky's blog):

Microsoft has fixed the .PIF 'vulnerabilty' in their MSN network filters as described in the previous blogpost.

So that's one less thing to worry about.

One's left to wonder how did such a trivia thing slipped under the Microsoft security radar...

As you may have noticed, I have changed the theme and layout of the website. I got tired of the previous theme that I've been using since the creation of this website.

Mitch, a close friend of mine, brought my attention to other themes from the same vendor of my original one.

After reviewing them as best as I could, I bought the Phantom theme for RapidWeaver (the web creation software I use) from Blueball Design. This new theme is a 3 column one that takes advantage of some of the new features or RapidWeaver 3.5. I've tweaked the fonts in the CSS files to have a consistent font on all pages.

I hope you will enjoy the new looks of my website. Feedback is welcome.

About one week ago, I was taking a short break from work with some colleagues of mine when one of them started watching a YouTube video of Stanley Jordan. This was my first exposure to this artist and his Music.

I liked the video so much and particularly his guitar playing technique that the next thing I did was to look up his page on Wikipedia. I soon discovered that he invented that technique which is, as Wikipedia puts it, an advanced version of tapping:

The guitarist produces a note using only one finger by quickly tapping (or "hammering") his finger down behind the appropriate fret. The force of impact causes the string to vibrate enough to immediately sound the note. The note's volume can be controlled by varying the force of impact: tapping with greater force produces a louder note.

Here is another great video where Stanley plays two guitars at the same time!

[Smooth Jazz] Tell It Like It Is, Wayman Tisdale
From the album Way Up!. Available from eMusic



After Hang Time, his awesome previous album, the ex-NBA basketball player turned Jazz bass guitarist has put the bar higher with Way Up!, an excellent Smooth Jazz album. I really like his style and just by listening to his music, I can feel a great joy from his part in doing his craft, a joy that he communicates very nicely to his listeners. While Hang Time featured some excellent songs such as Ready To Hang (reviewed in Wonderful Songs Nov'05), I consider Way Up! more level in quality and musicality. Tell It Like It Is is my favorite song (with the Get Down On It awesome reprise just behind it). It features an incredibly funky and groovy bass play assisted with a synthetizer than adds a very nice 90's touch to the song. If you like Smooth Jazz with a funky style, do not hesitate and get both albums which are available from eMusic.

Edited to add (20061019): Album review from allaboutjazz.com.

[Afrobeat] Roforofo Fight, Fela Kuti
From the album Music Is The Weapon Of The Future. Available from eMusic



After I posted Essential Albums: Afrobeat, my friend Betabug checked the albums featured in that post and told me about Music Is The Weapon Of The Future, a 3 songs record from Fela Kuti, the emperor of Afrobeat. It's as essential an album as the other ones I wrote about. Roforofo Fight is a brilliant, 15 minutes long song where Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, the co-creator of Afrobeat and Fela's drummer are at their best. What I like most about Afrobeat is the amazing intertwinement between the drums/percussions and the saxophone.

[Funk] Balek, Marc Moulin
From the album Placebo Years 1971-1974.



Balek is an awesome Funk hit by Marc Moulin, a Belgian pianist. His initial Jazz training shows up through the usage of typical Jazz instruments. The beat is excellent and synthetizers are used very intelligently as a plate to serve the main meat without being overwhelming. It reminds me a lot of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters work. Save for Stomp, the other songs of the album are more Jazzish and if you are into Jazz and Funk, get this nice and well-balanced album without thought.

Since I've been blog-slacking for way too much time and not releasing Wonderful Songs, some die-hard fans begun to shout out loud and keep asking me for music reviews. So the slacker-genious in me decided to kill Wonderful Songs and convert it to Song Review. No, no! Hang on! Let me elaborate a bit.

Song Review is simply a way to post song reviews one by one, as time and motivation permits, instead of having to review ten of them per month and post them in one shot. Three benefits to this approach:

1. For the poster (that's me): Reviewing one song at a time and posting about it is far more flexible than working on a full Wonderful Songs release each month.
   
2. For the reader (that's you): The title of the post begins with the Music genre so you can skip reading right away if you don't like Jazz, World etc.
   
3. For the reader (that's you): Reading a few sentences for a song review is easier to do (at least in one shot) than reading about ten songs.

Now that you are truly convinced that there are great benefits to Song Review (dear reader, if you are not convinced please pretend that you are), let's start right away with a Jazz Song Review!

[Jazz] Tricky Dick, Ben Allison
From the album Cowboy Justice. Available from eMusic



The album's cover is not a symbol of good taste but believe me when I say that this is one of the major Jazz records of 2006. Ben Allison shows how wonderful he is as a double bassist in this typical Jazz ensemble. He is also a very good composer. Tricky Dick is considered by the artist to be the flagship song of his band. I agree from a musical standpoint. While Cowboy Justice features very nice songs, Tricky Dick is excellent (with Emergency being the second best). There is also a heavy political background to this song. Tricky Dick was the nickname of American President Nixon and it is has been reused for Dick Cheney, the current vice-president of the U.S.A.