At Liberti

Celebrating the birthday of Keith Jarrett,...

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:10:55 -0600

Celebrating the birthday of Keith Jarrett, universally acclaimed as an improviser of unsurpassed genius and a master of jazz piano. This piece is delicate, brillant and moving all at the same time. Enjoy!

Beatrice is my favorite Sam Rivers tune. Sam was a free jazz...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:42:20 -0600

Beatrice is my favorite Sam Rivers tune. Sam was a free jazz pioneer, and he can also write and play some beautifully lyrical songs. This is one. Enjoy.

Find Jazzinars in Colorado at The Art Of Jazz

This Canyon Is No Place For Christo

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 06:20:00 -0700

Supporters of Christo’s Over The River please think again.

A massive rockslide closed highway 50 this week, less than a month after a wreck shut it down. These closures have and will cause painful inconvenience and financial loss to many, and they last a few days. Over The River, designed to be built in the very same area, will cause three years of hardship.

And what kind of nightmare will we travelers of highway 50 endure if rockslides, accidents and Christo happen in the same time? Imagine yourself living here, stuck, trying to get to work, trying to get to a hospital, trying to get your kids to school, trying to live your life. Chisto’s art may be visionary and even breathtaking to some - in the right place. Bighorn Sheep Canyon is the wrong place. Please don’t do this to us.

Source: Denver Post article

A Close Call With A Cell-phoning Driver

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:23:31 -0700

Eddie, my dog, and I were walking and nearly home when a pickup truck charged past a stop sign at a cross street, just stopping 18” from my right leg. The woman at the wheel was talking on a cell phone, oblivious to our presence until the last second.

The evidence clearly shows that it is not just punching buttons or texting that makes phones dangerous while driving - it’s the loss of consciousness and focus.

Conversations require concentration that take focus away from the task at hand.

Conversations engender emotions, and the emotional brain will, when stimulated, shut down the cognitive process. Your awareness, thinking ability and reaction are all either shut down or limited making you, studies prove, as dangerous as someone who is DUI.

If you want to take your life in your car, that’s your choice. Please don’t take mine or anyone else’s. Please get it.

As surely as drinking and driving are a killing combination, so is talking on your cell phone while driving.

Please stop talking and drive or pull over and talk while stopped.

Prayer in memory of Martin Luther King Let me find the...

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:38:42 -0700

Prayer in memory of Martin Luther King

Let me find the courage

To rise above fear

To live in love

And to be peace

Today and every day

Hunting as a sport - a cruel joke

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:34:00 -0700

Picture source: Denver post - Bears in dens to be off limits to Colorado hunters.

Today’s hunting culture is a sick corruption of what was once a necessary survival skill. There is no “sport” in this barbaric practice. The argument that “game” licenses pay for conservation is a cruel joke. The needless killing of our wild neighbors is OK if a guy from Texas pays a little for a license to satisfy his bloodlust?

I try to be understanding but I have come to hate the arrival of the men who invade the countryside near our place, leaving a tail of beer bottles, cans and trash and hunting illegally from their pickups.

I’m having a hard time forgiving the ignorant jerk who ignored the posted signs we have up and illegally shot and killed our resident buck pronghorn within 30 yards of the house.

All the so called “sports”men will blast me for writing this and the “sporting” goods manufacturers lobbyists will get big bucks to influence lawmakers, justifying the craziness with claims of hunting’s importance to the economy.

One day, after we have grown more as a culture, there will be no more hunting and even looking at an old picture of someone gloating over a kill like this will bring tears to the eyes as this picture did for me.

"But grassroots supporters of net neutrality are beginning to wonder if we’ve been had. Instead..."

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:52:34 -0700

“But grassroots supporters of net neutrality are beginning to wonder if we’ve been had. Instead of proposing regulations that would truly protect net neutrality, reports indicate that Chairman Genachowski has been calling the CEOs of major Internet corporations seeking their public endorsement of this draft proposal, which would destroy it. No chairman should be soliciting sign-off from the corporations that his agency is supposed to regulate — and no true advocate of a free and open Internet should be seeking the permission of large media conglomerates before issuing new rules.”

- Al Franken: The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time

Crazy Daylight Saving time

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 08:49:05 -0600

“Daylight Saving time is like cutting one end off your blanket and sewing it on the other to make the blanket longer.” Anonymous

Anybody beside me think DST is just a crazy inconvenience? Who do we have to thank for this wacky practice?

Benjamin Franklin is credited with conceiving the idea of daylight saving in 1784 to conserve candles, but the idea got legs through support from, you guessed it, special interests.

New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson would spend his spare time after work collecting insects, an activity limited by daylight. Inspired to extend his extracurricular activities, he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift.

Retailers, especially those involved with sports and recreation, have historically argued hardest for extending daylight time. Representatives of the golf industry, for instance, told Congress in 1986 that an extra month of daylight saving was worth up to $400 million annually in extra sales and fees.

Some clever marketers use DST to promote. For example, Arm And Hammer reminds you to change the box of baking soda in your fridge.

Others use the event to remind you to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

But not everyone agrees it is a good idea. After Indiana instituted daylight saving statewide for the first time in 2007, University of California, Santa Barbara economist and his colleagues observed a 1 percent rise in residential electricity use, costing the state an extra $9 million.

If time shifting turns out to be an energy waster, should the sun set on daylight saving? Certainly that would please farmers, who have long opposed it for how it disrupts their schedules.

This is one time I’d like to join the folks in Arizona and Hawaii who do not switch to DST. But since I’m in Colorado, I’ll be turning my clock back Sunday morning and my pets, who are kept in to protect them from predators until daylight, will drive me crazy for an extra hour.

What do you think of Daylight Saving Time?

Automate and increase your enjoyment, socialize with music lovers, and manage your need for fun!

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:40:24 -0600

Automate and increase your enjoyment, socialize with music lovers, and manage your need for fun:

Be part of the FluteDaddy Jazz experience November 7.

An analysis of 3,000 titles concluded that the words increase, socialize, automate and manage appear most in posts that prove popular. and increase the likelihood of a post being retweeted.

Is this self-promotion too blatant?

Joseph

"In those nine years, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on combat operations and..."

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:16:32 -0600

“In those nine years, the United States has spent more than $1 trillion on combat operations and other parts of the war effort, including foreign aid, reconstruction projects, embassy costs and veterans’ health care. And the end is not in sight. So why aren’t the wars and their human and economic consequences front and center in this campaign, right up there with jobs and taxes?”

- While we insanely spend for war Americans living in poverty hit a 15 years high: One in 7 or 44 million people.

Stop this!

Op-Ed Contributor - The Wars That America Forgot About - NYTimes.com

Poverty, War and Priorities

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 06:27:20 -0600

More people live in poverty while we the people pay obscene amounts to finance war. What’s wrong with this picture?

1 in 7 U.S. people living in poverty

“The percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and interviews with poverty experts and aid groups said the increase appeared to be continuing this year.” Source: Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High - NYTimes.com

More money spent on war 

According to the Center for Defense Information, the estimated cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will reach $1.08 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2010.

Crazy priorities

According to the National Priorities Project taxpayers in Mississippi, a state with 1 in 5 people earning below the poverty level, will pay $663.4 million for proposed total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending in FY2011. For the same amount of money, 83,746 people in Mississippi could receive low income healthcare for one year.

Use the interactive calculator at NPP to see the Federal Budget tradeoffs for your city or state.

How do we stop the craziness and reorder our priorities? Your idea?

Froma Harrop: 'Art' fights nature in Colorado | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Viewpoints

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:01:46 -0600

Froma Harrop: 'Art' fights nature in Colorado | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Viewpoints:

Art’ fights nature in Colorado

– Excerpted from a column by the Providence Journal’s Froma Harrop. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com.

Colorado’s Arkansas River is a masterpiece. Crafted by the Creator, it is a natural work of art that needs no improvement. That a ludicrous proposal to cover 42 miles of it with 120-foot-wide fabric has gotten as far as it has speaks to the marketing genius of showman-artist Christo.

Today is your last chance to comment on OTR

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 08:11:17 -0600

Colorado Citizens: Don’t miss the chance to give your input on Over The River. Comments may be submitted by e-mail to co_otr_comments@blm.gov or by fax to 269-8599, enter the words OTR Comments on the cover sheet subject line.

The volume of feedback will be important in the decision. Here’s a copy of my email feel free to use any part of it:

Please, please don’t compromise the safety and well being of many to satisfy one man’s ego. There are too many reasons to say no!

The project compromises our safety and well being!

Highway 50 can be a sometimes dangerous and difficult drive. I drive it regularly and have been stopped in traffic a number of times - once as much as four hours. I now carry emergency supplies including food for me and my dog, in my vehicle. If I had a medical emergency I could have easily died before I could get help. I know others have reported close calls, without the obstacles that OTR will cause. The report does not measure the cost of human hours - how much my time worth and the time of all of us subjected to Christo’s whim. what is the cost of wasted fuel?

The project damages the health of our wildlife.

I love Colorado and our natural resources. It was a primary reason for my move hear many years ago. I care about the wildlife and am deeply concerned with the risk to the bighorn sheep and all the others critters who will be adversely affected. Study show that the health and habit of one of our precious resources, wildlife, will be damaged. And they have a right to life but no voice. For what? So one man can say “I did it” and profit enormously from the sale of his drawings and the publicity?

The project will damage our environment.

There’s no question that damage will be done that can not be repaired. We make public decision like this all the time basing our decision on whether or not such damage is “justifiable.” That is does it benefit more that the cost of damage. If we were talking about a project that saved lives or improved our well being it might be justified. The supposed economic benefit of extra money flowing to certain residents of our area is not sufficient justification.We should not be in the position of selling our natural resources to temporarily enrich some people.

This project is NOT about supporting art.

Rejecting this project does not mean we are rejecting art. We are simply rejecting the artist imposing cost and inconvenience to force us to experience his art. Love his art? Fine support him to create where the damage is not so great.

Christo has an unfair advantage and You are our only voice.

Christo has the ability to acquire influence. He has the financing to purchase all kinds of worldwide publicity. He has the backing of the arts community because he is an artist. He gets invited to speak at colleges and promote his art. He has the backing of politicians and business organizations who only see the lure of economic benefits. He has used his influence to mobilize worldwide support. We the people do not have that kind of influence. We don’t get invited to speak. We can not buy public relations. We can’t compete with the millions Christo spends, just to get our voices heard.

You are our only hope. Please, please protect us. Preserve our safety, our wildlife, our natural resources and our quality of life.

Thank you!

Pst. Wanna see a cute bare behind? This big guy surprised me at...

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 09:26:46 -0600

Pst. Wanna see a cute bare behind?

This big guy surprised me at the back door about 6 PM last night, when I went to bring in my cats. By the time I recovered and grabbed my camera the only shot I had was of him leaving. The cats hid until he left and are safe. We always have to watch them closely and they never stay out at night.

Look at the fun this man is having. You’ve got to love a...

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:28:13 -0600

Look at the fun this man is having. You’ve got to love a man who quits his job at 74 to give more time to his music career. How much time are you enjoying doing what you love most?

Stillness Within and Without

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:32:21 -0600

A faint breeze was barely stirring the aspens. Eddie and I on our morning hike; more a walking meditation. The profound silence penetrated occasionally by the call of a crow or the first songs of a meadowlark. The silence is without and within. I am blessed with peace and happiness. This dawn will pass. The stillness and the peace reside in me.

It's Not About Art It's About Money

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:02:30 -0600

As a coach I recommend people write to the editor of their newspaper, on things they feel strongly about, as a way to access and express their authenticity. Have you? I highly recommend the process to you. Let me know how you feel afterward.

Here’s a letter I wrote regarding artist Christo’s proposed Over The River Project - a plan to install 5.9 miles of fabric over the Arkasas River:

“Sorry citizens of Howard, canyon neighbors and US 50 commuters, our goose is cooked, or should I say our lamb is skewered. Complain, stick pins in a Christo voodoo doll, but nothing will stop Over The River. It’s a done deal.

Christo has a right to be artistically selfish. We have the right to like or dislike his art. He should not have the right to impose his art and the colossal disturbance it creates, on any of us! And no, the gift is not free. At the least, the project will cause inevitable death of sheep and the loss of many hours of life waiting in traffic jams.

Comment on the EIS? Write your representative? I think you must but I don’t think it will matter. What’s three years of miserable inconvenience, risk of life in emergencies and the death of a few critters when money’s at stake?

Incidentally, the EIS, financed by Christo, reads like a prospectus, justifying each risk with a statement about how locals will profit. EG “…increased traffic from OTR visitors would cause some delays and congestion on US 50…” Followed by “…Additional visitor spending during the exhibition period would temporarily add to residents’ personal income. (DEIS 4-133) What’ wrong here?.

As a society we justify inconvenience, risk to life or damage to nature in the name of progress or necessity. This project is neither. It is a profitable ego trip for the artist and a potential cash bonus for some others. Stop it? How?’

Thanks for reading and a special thanks to fellow Coloradans. All comments are welcome.

I'm Insane

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:40:34 -0600

Racing my dog Eddie down a steep, rocky mountain wash at 6 AM this morning, and laughing crazily I thought: “Im insane.”

A fall or even a stumble could be a disaster, especially to my no longer young body. But I don’t care. I’m insanely happy. Perhaps happier than at any time in my life. Why? I’m doing what I love, taking risks and letting go of more fear. Performing in a jazz concert last week, doing my thing, looking out from the stage at the first stars twinkling over the mountains. I though “If I died right now I would be fulfilled.”

Why didn’t I do this before? Who cares. It’s never too late to let go and live. Whatcha think?

Forget The Underwear and Just Believe

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:54:49 -0600

A new study published online in the journal Psychological Science makes a compelling case that each of us should find lucky underwear of our own.

“Activating a good-luck superstition,” the authors wrote, “leads to improved performance by boosting people’s belief in their ability to master a task.”

link: Phys Ed: Does Lucky Underwear Improve Athletic Performance? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

It’s not about your underwear, it is about what you believe. W. Clement Stone had it right years ago:

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” W. Clement Stone

Believe in you!

Whistle While You Work

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:09:00 -0600

Whistle While You Work