He’s been doing it ever since, and his phrasing today illuminates his country’s rich culture and the times of his upbringing and natural learning.

In the 60s and 70s he worked in the radio and recording studios of Paris and the South of France with most of the stars of the day.

And now, Gerard stirs things up with 21 tracks from his two albums, “Jazz In Marseille” and “American Life”.

On October 15 and 16, 2010, Gerard Alcantara and AlcantaraJazzline appear at Les Dauphins in Marseille, France.

Patti Holladay is that person. When she decides it’s time to write, she writes; time to act – she acts; time to sing…well, she’s always singing, actually. But in late 2008, she decided it was time to RECORD.

So with her friends in the Blue Hills Trio, and arranger/saxophonist Daniel Williams and trumpeter Phil Marnell, she went into the studio at Earthshaking Music and emerged months later with producer chops, her own record label, and her debut CD, “All Or Nothing At All”.

Since then, she’s acted in plays, been featured as a soloist with bands and orchestras, and produced her labels second CD – the debut album of her son, Sam Holladay, which is due out in late August, 2010. And in September, Patti lets her inner Patsy Cline out and shines, along with Karen Reutz, in a two-woman show, “Always, Patsy Cline”, a Stageworks Theatre production at the Grand Theatre in Cartersville, Georgia.

Here’s Patti singing ‘How Long Has This Been Goin On’, from her CD, “All Or Nothing At All”

On the front page, local president John Head outlines an attempt at planning a move to a more modern model.

Inside, Michael Moore paints a colorful, powerful and depressing picture of a once grand organization gone to seed, as he describes the national AFM/AFL-CIO convention in Las Vegas. It’s all the more eloquent because of the way it tracks life for many of us who ‘grew up’ with the AFM/AFL-CIO mindset. Some of us have grown from that experience and moved past it on our own terms; and some have stayed rooted in old, failed ideas.

It’s a new day, though – it has been for quite awhile, actually. Walking the picket line in 1975 seems quaint and anachronistic today, even if it was vivifying and a little dangerous back then.

Change happens more quickly in some channels than in others. It’s telling, though, that the photos on the walls of the union local that I saw when I joined in 1973, are still on the same walls as I resigned last week after 37 off-and-on years. Clearly, this is one of the slower moving channels.

But it still has its nobility, and its history. And who knows: Having witnessed Richard Nixon recast as an elder statesman in his later years it’s been apparent that almost anything can happen.

There’s the trumpeting of ‘new leadership’, whatever that means. It looks like there are no new faces, though. And even these newcomers, whoever they are, must be unique individuals to be a non-incumbent and to even think of taking on such a fading idea and crumbling edifice.

But, another, bigger magic continues, and young musicians continue to do as the likes of St. Francis of Assisi, and Voltaire did and, defying their elders and all the compass of ‘common sense’, follow their yearning and their heart – in this case, into music.

The gyres are always in motion. There’s still nothing like performing live music and it’s still one of the coolest skill-sets out there.

And there is also no question that “live” music is more exciting than anything canned (…well, _good_ live music, anyway).

Musicians and artists have always and everywhere been ‘self-promoting’ to a degree. The idea of the union as an umbrella for protection expired forty years ago. The 19th and 20th century models don’t apply anymore.

Maybe there’s a novel, imaginative way to re-think and restart.

Heeding the guidance of the universe, and following the rich advice of Marsha Sinetar in “Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow” Phil set out to form a company around providing much-needed services like videography, video placement and related services geared toward helping out fellow musicians in their journey.

4 The Boids real-world work samples are posted on YouTube, and other gigs include designing the cover art for a CD by a West coast jazz ensemble, and – most recently – videography with The Taylor Kennedy Group, filming live at The Glenwood, the up-and-coming jazz venue located in the heart of the East Atlanta Village.

When Evan Tyor, Luke McGinnis, Joshua Orbulous, Jessie Lane and Simon Reiter get together, it makes for an amazing creative mix of music and fun.

King Richards Sunday Best just turned out an eponymous CD early in the Summer, the result of eighteen months of work in writing and studio time. Luke McGinnis and engineer-extrordinaire Scott Trinh from Earthshaking were enjoying a popsicle at the East Atlanta Farmers Market on August 5th, 2010, savoring the final mix just finished. The timing was perfect.

Life and school are waiting at the curb for KRSB members. So, catch them at their scheduled CD release party
at Eddies Attic on 8/10/10, or buy the CD at CDBaby.

Here’s a sample from their first CD, “Someone Who Knows” by Luke McGinnis.