Shaping up to be a busy weekend

The weekend is here and it's setting up to be a busy one:

• Jennie works tonight.
• Saturday morning we have our weekly Weight Watchers meeting.
• After that meeting we're going to call the pediatrician to see if she'll see Keisha about her earache, the same one that's been keeping her from wearing her hearing aids.
• Saturday afternoon I'm going to the New Media Cincinnati meetup.
• Sunday morning I'm singing in the choir at church, an a cappella song called "How Excellent". It's gonna be awesome.
• I'll also be helping run the sound during the service. Come join us if you'd like.
• Sunday afternoon I have a 20-year reunion planning meeting with other classmates.
• Sunday evening I'll be on The Pod 5 Live, and I hope you'll join the party there as well.

Somewhere between we'll be resting and eating and grocery shopping and somehow spending time together as a family. I guess I'll be looking forward to getting back to work on Monday so that I can get some rest, ;-) .

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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
Are we LinkedIn?

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Seeing ghosts of a younger me at the public library

Mood: nostalgic
Listening to: quiet
Reading: Who Let the Blogs Out?: A Hyperconnected Peek at the World of Weblogs
Eating: nothing - feeling hungry

I'm inside the main branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Being here brings back a lot of memories. The library has changed considerably since I was a child, but some of it is still the same.

I used to catch the 17 bus from home to downtown. I would sometimes come down here with my best friend David Mixon, other times accompanied by his younger brother Adam, and still other times by myself. This library was one of the coolest places to hang out. I even had dreams about things happening down here.

• I remember poring over the items in the Films and Recordings department. I recall vividly searching through the card catalog drawers to find some interesting music. Other times, I'd browse the LPs and cassettes - CDs weren't around that much just yet. I remember testing some LPs on the record player they had set up, to see if I really wanted to check out the record.
• Another time I remember spending a lot of time down here was in my junior year of high school, while working on my English term paper on Miles Davis. I would spend entire days up in the Arts and Literature department on the third floor, poring over materials. I would often listen to music I'd put on cassettes in my Walkman.
• Yet another time I was reminded of just this morning was when I'd graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1994 and was looking for a job. I spent a lot of time at the Government and Business department back then. I remember, after learning of an interview I had with Alcoa Building Products in Sidney, Ohio, looking through scores of newspaper articles and other publications to find out anything I could about the company. Looking through microfiche and other materials, I'd print out and make copies of pages for my company research, back before the internet was really mainstream.
• And then again, after receiving a job offer, I remember coming back to the G&B department to research the kind of car I wanted to get, spending lots of time going over reliability reports and insurance information.

I'm really impressed by all the changes to the downtown library, especially as I look at all the computers and the addition to the building that was done several years ago. Films and Recordings is now on the first floor. The Mezzanine, which used to be a paperback book area, is now a snack area and gift shop. The card catalog has been replaced on the first floor by a bank of computers. The checkout is no longer right at the both exits, but instead in a more central area.

Yet as I walk through this building, I still see younger versions of me doing the things I used to do so long ago.

Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm daniel+johnson+jr cincinnati library nostalgia

Local School Reforms Itself

A local Cincinnati high school was recently profiled on CBS for reforming itself:



Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson taft+high+school cbs cincinnati+public+schools

Receiving Press Coverage

I've been in the newspaper a few times in my life, and fortunately all of them have been good occasions. Let me see if I can remember correctly (cue the harp music):

• Winning the elementary school spelling bee, which meant I got to go to the citywide spelling bee
• Going to Buckeye Boys State in high school
  
• Mentioned a few times in the University of Cincinnati's News Record (after the '93 elections, in someone else's column, and in an article I wrote about continuing education)
• Being on the front page of one of the sections of the USA Today. Having been interviewed and picture taken while walking in a dumpster, working on a project to restore an inner city building so that people could live in it again.
• Being on the front page of the Christmas Eve edition of the newspaper, when I volunteered for the Salvation Army
• That time when we lived in Middletown, Ohio, and were with some friends, and both their daughter Rachel and our daughter Keisha wore overalls. I was able to pick both of them up at the back part and swing them around. The photographer snapped our picture and it, too, wound up being on the front page.
• Now, recently, in comments made during an online poll to select the Best of Borgman 2006. Jim Borgman is the editorial cartoonist for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Check out number 18 on the list. I know it's minor but it's still in the newspaper! :P

Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson buckeye+boys+state buckeye+boys+state+alumni mt+healthy+high+school press newspaper salvation+army spelling+bee middletown news+record cincinnati+enquirer jim+borgman borgblog

JIMM 13 - Jazzmania - 050914

Mood: mellow
Listening to: JIMM 13 - Jazzmania!

In Journey Inside My Mind show 13 (41:45, 38.2 MB) I chronicle the evolution of my love for jazz music. Before getting into the detailed show notes, let me remind you that the JIMM Listener Hotline is now open! Call (206) 666-5466 and leave me a voice message with your thoughts about the podcast.

Here's what happened on this journey inside my mind:

The Evolution of my Jazzmania

• The backup music used as I spoke was KCentric - "Woo Who"
• Replayed "Permission" segment from show 4 - Romantic Movements. Special notes about that piece:
  • ambient sound samples from F7 sound and vision
  • tenor sax sample: "contemplatin G Maj 16beat 90.wav" by simondsouza
  • 30-second sample from "On the First Day" by Marriott Jazz Quintet
  
  
• Then we heard the complete version of the Marriott Jazz Quintet - "On the First Day"

After playing this song, I felt a little bad for not playing more! That song is off their album Septology! In other words, you're only hearing a small sample of the great jazz music from the Marriott Jazz Quintet. I think I mistakenly referred to them as a "quartet" a couple of times in the podcast (sorry about that, guys!).

You can find out more about the band at their website, http://www.marriottjazz.com/, where you can also buy their music! Check out Red Raspus: Music in Seattle, Dave Marriott's personal weblog, for more information about the Seattle music scene.


• During sophomore year of high school, fellow band member turned me onto 91.7 WVXU Cincinnati
• WVXU had special programs related to a particular type of jazz music: big band, blues, bebop, swing, dixieland
• I heard about the Blue Wisp Big Band, which performs at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club in Cincinnati and listened to their albums, dreaming about sitting in with the band
• Really into saxophone, jazz music - played in the short-lived jazz band, improv solo
• Band field trip on BB Riverboats to hear the dixieland jazz band
• The Jazzmania
  • Started writing "sax appeal" on my notebooks, and even on my senior t-shirt
  • We had FBLA - Future Business Leaders of America; why not FJMA - Future Jazz Men of America?
  
  
• Evan Tate - "Round One"
• Larry Seyer - "Conscious Restraint"
• Junior English research paper on Miles Davis
• Official Miles Davis website
• Miles Davis - Wikipedia entry, biographical article chronicling the man and his music
• Wikiquote has collection of quotations by or about Miles Davis
• Amazon.com link for "We Want Miles", my all-time favorite album, in case someone wants to get it for me (hint, hint)
• At a time when I had been painfully insecure, his devil-may-care attitude was like a drink of cold water - refreshing
• All things Miles - immersion - his persona, his music, his attitude - I wanted to imitate Miles
• Research topic presentations. Initial one, I bombed - not really prepared. Final one - success!
  • Toy trumpet, back to the audience to get their attention
  • Taught them about the opening riff to "So What" from "Kind of Blue" and what it meant to jazz music at the time
  • Demonstrated it by playing my saxophone in front of the whole class
  • The boldness is what impressed everyone - quite a change - I got an A+


• Promo: No Idle Frets - podsafe jazz guitar podcast. Head over, take a listen, and subscribe!

20 September 2005 Update: I was just browsing through the archives, and I found a post about Miles Davis. Check out Paving the Milestones from January 2003.

As always thanks go out to the folks who help make this possible:

• Audacity
• 
• OurMedia.org and their partnership with the Internet Archive
• The folks over at K7.net for the new JIMM Listener Hotline number
• Anyone else I may have left out

Thanks for listening and for subscribing! Call the JIMM Listener Hotline at (206) 666-JIMM, leave me a comment (guidepost), or send me an e-mail to let me know what you think!

Buckeye Boys State

I just found an old greeting card that the mother of one of my classmates in high school sent me. I received this in December 1987, which was during the first part of my senior year of high school. She wrote:

Danny, here is the newspaper clipping I told you about. You have a bright future ahead of you, and I expect to hear wonderful things about you. Keep in touch!

Mrs. Allen

The newspaper clipping is from a section of the paper in which they talk about what local kids are up to. It reads:

MOUNT HEALTHY HIGH SCHOOL
Senior Daniel Allen Johnson, Jr. held the office of bailiff for the Court of Common Appeals at the American Legion Buckeye Boys State at Bowling Green State University. He is the son of Daniel A. Johnson, Sr. of Dunraven Drive.

Finding this card today, it was like being encouraged all over again. I'll have to blog about my experiences at Buckeye Boys State sometime. The local American Legion chose two incoming seniors to go to Boys State. I was honored to be chosen as one of them.

Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson buckeye+boys+state buckeye+boys+state+alumni mt+healthy+high+school press newspaper

Paving the Milestones

While sorting through some old files and stuff tonight, I came upon a treasure: my junior year College Prep English class research paper, dated May 11, 1987. It was entitled "Paving the Milestones (Miles Dewey Davis III)". The purpose of the research paper was to describe how an important individual has had an impact on society. I chose to do my research paper on Miles Davis because I was a jazzmaniac (I may need to get that word trademarked, by the way), and loved his music:

Little did I know how much my research into his persona, his "mystique", if you will, would affect me as an individual. There I was, an insecure junior in high school, struggling to find myself. And what joy I found by learning about the man, Miles Davis, who lived his life caring so much less about what other people thought than what he thought of himself. I decided to imitate his "devil may care" qualities, and it showed.

Toward the beginning of our research we all were called upon to present some preliminary findings to the class. Our presentation would be videotaped, and our peers would critique us. I was unprepared, anxious and insecure, as usual. But my zeal, enthusiasm, and overal 'jazzmania' (there's that word again), was definitely evident. I felt like the presentation was a disaster, but then again, I was the first presenter in our teacher's little experiment.

When the time came for us to give a final presentation, I again was chosen to go first. This time, armed with my own "mystique", I blew the class and my teacher away with an excellent presentation. First of all, I had purchased a toy trumpet. I began my presentation, with my back to my audience and played the tune most often heard at the beginning of horse races; it was the only one I knew how to play on that thing. Secondly, after explaining how Miles pioneered modalism with his album Kind of Blue, I played the opening riff of "So What" on my alto saxophone. My peers were, as I said, blown away. My teacher was impressed with my boldness. I got an "A".

I remember this event as though it was yesterday, for that moment is one when I saw myself very victorious.

21 Feb 2008 Update: Check out this blog post for a video of So What: Miles Davis knew how to play