Bitches Brew is one of those albums that keeps me grooving as well as relaxing. Not sure why many people are having a hard time enjoying it. If you listen to Bitches Brew for the first time, I recommend starting with “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down.” If you don’t like that track, one of my personal favorites, don’t even bother with the double album. Here are two awesome live performances to get started:
October 27, 1969: Teatro Sistina (Rome, Italy)
August 18, 1970: Tanglewood (Lenox, MA)

The ladies put on one of the finest World Cup matches I have seen. They certainly made the men at the 2010 final game (Netherlands vs. Spain) look like bitches. Both USA and Japan gave their all.

The US women fought hard and they were clearly leading the game. I am very proud of my US girls. The Japanese girls, on the other side, worked hard and persistent, but patience is what made them the champion. They came back at the last minutes of the game. They were just phenomenon. The US girls just need be more precise in scoring and practice their penalty shots.

Truth be told, I couldn’t favor one team over the other. On one hand, I had to root for the home team. On another, I had mad love for my Asian sisters. In addition, Japan had gone through one of the worst natural catastrophes of all time. In my view, they were both winners.

The Sienna’s cracked windshield was replaced today by Auto Glass Express, not the Glass Doctor recommended by our insurance. Glass Doctor was suppose to do the job on Friday, but I received the call on the the same day telling me that the vendor didn’t have the windshield even though I made an appointment a week in advanced. The lady from the office told me to either wait until next week or find another shop. I took the second option. Even after reading the negative reviews about Glass Doctor, I didn’t want to back out because the appointment was set and the shop has the stamp of approval from our insurance, but they just it so easy for me to make the decision.

I looked online and found Auto Glass Express with two positive reviews on Yahoo. (Yahoo had been quite a reliable source for services like these in the past). I called at 7:54am and didn’t realized that they open at 8am. Six minutes later a guy called me back even though I didn’t leave a message. He said that they have the windshield in stock and would be able to replace it in the afternoon on Friday.

Unfortunately my windshield required heated glass and they had both regular and heated glass in their van, but the heated one had some scratches. So they told me they would return the next morning to do it. They came back the next morning and installed the glass that is the same as the original from Toyota. I am happy with their speedy, professional service

Yes, it’s the hot, humid weather that shuts down my brain. The worst part of day is taking the Metro home. Squeezing into the smelly crowd (myself included) and bumping on one another as the driver slammed on the brake give me a headache everyday after work.

I have no energy left by the time I get home. I don’t want to do anything including blogging. After having dinner, getting Duke to bed and preparing for the next morning, I just want to sit back and Netflixing. That has been pretty much how my days went.

Change is gonna come later this year when I have other commitment and the arrival of a new baby. Blogging will be spared then. Not that the blog is all that active now since I don’t have anything interesting to write. I am getting bored with music reviews and my life isn’t all that exciting anyway. Although my posts will be infrequent, I will keep the blog running to post quick things when I have a moment or if I have new work to show. It will once again server as a portfolio more than a blog.

Spent quite a bit of time with Ben Webster lately. His tender tone combined with his lyrical phrasing is damn irresistible. Furthermore, he has such a distinctive sound on the tenor that one could tantalizing and idolizing all day long. I enjoy listening to Ben Webster while driving. Here are some of my favorite Ben Webster albums to hit the road with:

Soulville. Backing up by the sensational rhythm section, guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Stan Levey, Ben Webster digs deep down into the blues in the title track and plays the heck out of ballads like “Lover Come Back to Me.” He also displays his “Boogie Woogie” chops on the piano.

Stormy Weather. He plays the title track and “My Romance” as if he wears his heart on his horn.

Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet. The contrast between Art Tatum’s keyboard improvisation behind Ben Webster’s straight melody playing is quite intriguing. Check out the lovely “My One and Only Love.”

Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson. From “The Touch of Your Lips” to “This Can’t Be Love,” this is a fine collection of after-hours ballads played by two jazz giants.

Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. Bean and Brute on the same records? Need I say more?

Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte: I haven’t read this book yet and can’t wait to get my hands on it. I also predict that I’ll re-read this book more than once.

The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia: I read the first edition back in 2005. I have been wanting to re-read it, but keep pushing it off. The second edition just came out so it is a good time for a revisit.

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst: I read this book 2 times already, but still wanting to return to it every one or two years.

Designing Type by Karen Cheng: This book has so much technical details on typography that a second and third read is required.

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan: Read this book on my vacation, but a second read is necessary.

DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model by Jeremy Keith, Jeffrey Sambells: Like The Definitive Guide, this book definitely needs a revisit.

Ordering Disorder by Khoi Vinh: Although this book is a quick read, the thinking behind the grid needs to be read again carefully.

Before heading out to Wildwood last week, we stopped by Super H Mart to pick up some greens. Dao and I went sampling the foods while Dana did the shopping. At the check out, I was like, “Damn, we spent $120 on vegetables and fruits?” Dana gave me that stop-being-a-cheap-ass impression. So I just let Dao swiped my credit card, something he loves to do when we go shopping, and brought the bags to the car.

Later on that night, Dana checked the receipt and found out that we paid for 22 cantaloups instead of 2. No wonder the total was so high and I was the one to blame again. I suspected the amount, but didn’t bother to check the receipt. Whenever I went shopping with my mom, she would make me check every item to make sure they charged the right amount. Sometimes a couple of bucks were overcharged, but I don’t mind. It’s just not worth waiting in line to explain about a couple of dollars, but the different between 2 and 22 were tremendous.

Yesterday we went back to the store for more groceries. I told Dana to give me the receipt and see if we could get the refund. I didn’t really expect to get our money back because I had no proof. Lucky for me, the customer service rep was a young man who spoke fluent English. I showed him the receipt and explained the error. He got it immediately and apologized for the mistake. I told him, “There was no way I could carry 22 cantaloups into my car.” We laughed and he issued a refund.

Lesson learned: check everything before leaving the store.

The week-long vacation is already over. Time went by fast even though all that I did was relaxing and hanging out by the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey. We were back yesterday and I am still recuperating before diving back into the regular schedule tomorrow.

Woke up early this morning and I already missed jogging on the beach biking on the boardwalk and listening to music. My favorite morning listenings were Art Pepper & Hollywood All-Stars’ Art Standards and Kenny Garrett’s Pursuance: Music of John Coltrane. I returned to these two again and again in one week.

For the first three days, we were completely shut off from Cyberspace, which was really nice. When the whole family, which consisted of eight adults and one kid, took a long nap or watched some TV, I did my reading. I finished a 1000-page book in less than week without Internet. By Wednesday, my sister-in-law’s husband could not stand it so he went out and get the MiFi from Sprint. Even though we were connected, I tried my best to stay offline and I did pretty well.

Dao was the only kid; therefore, he was spoiled by his aunts and uncles. They took him to the arcades on the boardwalk and got him all kinds of toys. He was having a great time, but refused to go on any of rides on the amusement park. The water was a bit cold so he didn’t like that either. In fact, none of the adults went into the water except for me. It was a little cold at first, but it felt nice especially in the afternoon when the temperature hit above 90 degrees.

We went to Atlantic City twice, but I hung out with Dao most of the time rather than playing cards. Pai Gow poker minimum was $25, which was too high for me. I don’t really like slot machines, but Dao loved them. He loved the lights, the spinning wheels and the sounds. I did let him play the slot machines at the arcade.

We didn’t eat out much, except for the first day Dana and I treated the family to a Mexican cuisine to celebrate our anniversary. We cooked most of the food at the house we rented. Dana FedExed 30 pounds of live crawfish from Louisiana. It turned out that 30 pounds weren’t enough for the nine of us. The crawfish were delicious because my sister-law-law used up most of my beers to cook them. In one pot she used 5 bottles of Yuengling and we cooked three pots.

It was really nice to spend some time with the family. I am glad that they have turned this into an annual event.

With two country-leaning contestants, American Idol Finale should have named Country Idol. So Scotty and Lauren battled it out tonight for 2011 Country Idol. As I had expected, the two went the opposite direction. After watching the show, I find it really hard to cast my vote. From the beginning, I have always rooted for the country boy for his hypnotic cello-like baritone, but tonight, Lauren convinced me on both Carrie Underwood’s and Jimmy Lovine’s pick. Her final performance won my heart. So sorry Scotty, my last vote for the season has to go to Lauren, but then again one vote for American Idol doesn’t really make a different. Now if Haley was up against Lauren, it would have been a very exciting competition.

With Haley voted off last night, the American Idol Finale won’t be as exciting. Haley has a much wider range than Scotty and Lauren, but most importantly, she is an interpreter of songs. She made the tunes her own with such a sexy, raspy voice. She has sung jazz, pop, neo-soul, country and even rock on the show. Her rendition of “I Who Have Nothing” was phenomenal thanks to Lady Gaga’s psychotic advice. Her version of “House of the Rising Sun” were just hauntingly beautiful, especially the accapella beginning (a great tip from Sheryl Crow). She did a fine job of covering Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” She also rocked out Led Zeppelin’s “What Is And What Should Never Be.” My personal favorite is her take on LeAnn Rimes’s “Blue.”

With the result last night, I won’t be looking forward much to the finale. Both Scotty and Lauren are from two different spectrum. Scotty dominates the low notes while Lauren commands the high register, but they both come down to country music. So the winner depends on which side you prefer. My pick between the two would still be Scotty, but my prediction is still going to be Lauren.