Lance Burri reminded me that I need to keep up with my Lileks

If I don't want to completely lose touch, anyway.

Lance link (and here too).

Lileks said:

When Gnat came home from school we practiced her piece again, ten times; we’d done ten times a day for the last week, and sometimes I think that just makes the unalterable errors set in stone. Some things the fingers just will not do. But she had been terrified of the piece two weeks ago, and now had it down nicely, and with a certain amount of music feeling. I’d rather she made mistakes while playing music than banged it out like a 19th century clockwork automaton.

I forget who said it, but it's not practice per se that makes perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Robert Ringer, quite a while back-I quoted him then, quoted BB King [I think it was] saying, "Never practice a mistake." Go as slow as you have to to get it right.

I doubt that you can accuse BB King of playing without feeling.

Although, I went to see Freddy Cox in Superior, play jazz trumpet while examining the crowd. He played brilliantly and looked bored. Both points may just have been that he was playing the same tunes he'd been playing since the '20s.

Doesn't negate my point, though, really.

Uh-oh. There's no info on Freddy Cox on the web. As of 1985, when I saw him, he held the world record for the longest music gig in one place.

In a waterfront bar. In one of the major ports of the world. Where law enforcement was lax and you didn't want to be caught walking at night.

And if it's not 55° and drizzly, it's 35° and drizzly.

The man had an ambition problem.