No Sonnymoon for You

I am rather startled that Joey Calderazzo is living in Durham, North Carolina neighbors with Branford Marsalis.  They live on a golf course.  This is not exactly the "jazz life."  Then again scuffling for gigs in Manhatten is not one's life long aspiration.  It was difficult to find out exactly where Mr. Calderazzo is teaching.  Upon listening to one of his You Tube interviews, he interestingly does not mention North Carolina Central University.  I'm not sure why.  Central always has had a jazz program and usually a good one.  I think possibly both artists are reveling in their anonymity.  For me having these two jazz artists living within earshot is confusing.  I don't know whether to be elated or pissed off.  Upon reflection I am pissed off and not at either of them.  Why didn't I know these two iconic jazz artists were living in my state?  If I had known I would have made an effort to hear them play.  It seems after a bit of research in order to hear either Branford or Joey play, I will have to travel.  I believe they are beyond playing in local clubs.  You live in a particular community, yet there is no opportunity or rather you choose not to play locally. Either it does not pay enough, or it is not worth it.  How could it be beneficial to you as a jazz artist?  As I understand it both gentlemen are adjunct faculty members at NCCU.  Branford's Quartet has been there since 2005.  Great.  I once was an aspiring jazz educator.  I taught at the University of South Carolina, Columbia for a few years.  I taught at The Ohio State University in the Art Department.  All the while I was playing in the community.  How else can you teach jazz, if you don't set an example by playing locally?  When I attended USC Chris Potter was playing in the Left Bank Band.  He was in high school, but Dr. John Emche was giving Chris lessons.  His father brought him to rehearsal twice a week, and he played jazz tenor.  Again I will ask how is it possible to teach locally at a university and not play in the community?  I understand musicians of Branford and Joey's caliber are artists of  considerable stature.  Also I would believe they are extremely humble about their abilities.  Listening to Joey talk via You Tube exhibits such.  Jazz is a school of hard knocks.  An adjunct gig it not easy to find.  They did.  It doesn't make it easy to swallow, that rarely will I ever hear them play live.  I have to fly to New York City and pay to hear either of them.  This is an aberration of modern America, and it leads me to the topic of the evening.  (I didn't want to write about local jazz icons, but I couldn't help it)  Branford and Joey are living in Durham.  Everyone hates jazz, so it doesn't matter except to other jazz musicians.  I put jazz on the shelf years ago, but it is not forgotten.  It is frustrating not just to me.  If two of the most notable jazz musicians in the world live in Durham, North Carolina and teach at North Carolina Central University, something in jazz education is amiss.  Is it?  Is this now common?  Jazz artists teach and live in a particular place, and play elsewhere.  I am familiar with this practise.  It is common for universities to pad their budgets with celebrity.  Enter the NCAA.  Enter sports.  When I read resumes it is all celebrity.  I did this, then I did this.  These are the people with which I've worked.  I've traveled here, and I've traveled there.  I have these prizes, these commissions, and these opportunities.  This is America.  When we turn on the news we hear about local crime and big money.  Rarely do we hear about the little guy.  If I hear the word billion one more time on the news, I will vomit.  What relationship can the word 'billion' have with the common man?  The common man, and I mean those not attending Bilderberg conferences, are struggling to put food on the table, gas in their vehicles, and their children through college.  The word billion has no relevance to us.  Uber, Apple, and Uma Thurman are prospects beyond our need.  (While millennials may choose to get in a car with a complete stranger and be assaulted, raped, or murdered, the Smartphone is iconic)  I mean naive.  May I please remind you that before the iPhone or iPad was a Macintosh computer.  Mac's were used by students and professionals, people who could afford it.  There were great software programs, not app's, that allowed you to create artistic music, graphics, and photography.  Programs were directed at professionals.  I know because I studied computer music on a limited level at OSU.  Ever heard of Max Matthews?  I heard him speak and perform live on one of his pioneering instruments.  Max Matthews and his peers have been swept out of the picture, so that Apple can sell 'apps' to adolescents.  Like other sectors of the commercial American market, Apple discovered the kids have the expendable income.  Screw adults.  Screw VH-1.  Screw Adult Contemporary.  "Let's take the kids' money," and they have.  I have not been interested in Apple since the Powermac.  While I did buy a used Macbook Pro, I can't change its battery.  I have to drive to Branford and Joey's town and frequent an Apple Store, not an 'app' store, although I think they sell apps.  Then I have to let a 'genius' take my laptop and perform some kind of intricate surgery on it to change its battery.  It is an exclusive policy, like the rest of modern America.  We have excluded the little guy or the common man.  We sell shit to adolescents, and we rip off adults.  No one pays attention.  We just go along with it.  The kids are more gullible when they are uneducated, so don't fund or support education.  If you do support it, don't make it a priority.  Make it a priority to get computers into schools, so kids can demand their computers in school.  It is the biggest cultural upset in American history.  The Big Dupe.  If I hear the word billionaire one more time, or how tech. entrepreneurs have made billions from their little tech. ventures I will shit.  It doesn't relate to me.  CEO's for tech companies are not stars.  They are not celebrities.  The media paints them this way, because they have most of the money in America.  The rest of us are poor.  There are the rich in America, and there are the poor.  The rich are boring.  If you can't share with me your knowledge or interest in technology, why should I buy your product.  Not that long ago we would teach that information to our youth, so they could get good jobs.  Now it's exclusionary.  It's a policy of no transparency, just like the federal government.  We will take your tax money, and do anything we damn well please.  The desires of the American people do not matter one iota.  Most of this change is because of George W. Bush.  His cronies asked him to deregulate business, pass eminent domain, and hand billions of the tax payers dollars to Wall Street CEO's in the name of saving the U.S. economy.  He will go down as the worst and most unconstitutional of all American presidents.  Meanwhile small businesses, the heart and soul of American culture, are dying.  The rich are living off of the poor, and I for one demand the next president change this.  Who has the balls?