Josh Freese is a big-time drummer with lots of studio credits and whatnot. I’m not overly familiar with his work, but after seeing his rumored list of things you get when you buy different editions of his upcoming solo record, I am suddenly, instantly a fan. I hope the record’s good.
Louie Bellson was one of the all-time great drummers, and he passed away on Valentine’s Day. I never got to see him play; the closest I came was playing a gig with bass player who had played with him. We’ll miss you, Louie.
Here’s a fascinating article on technology in the Amish community by Kevin Kelly, via Waxy. The Amish are, apparently, not averse to modern technology, quite the opposite. They just adopt it much more slowly than the rest of us, and are ready at any time, it seems, to give it up if it’s not working (i.e. hurting the community).
I’ve played cribbage for most of my life, and like to teach people how to play. Today, Lisa and I tried a variation that I’m calling Cribbage Golf. It’s just like regular cribbage, but instead of trying to score as many points as you can, you try to score the fewest. Whoever goes out first (i.e. gets to 121 points) loses.
This turned out to be pretty fun, and went right down to the wire. Lisa won by four points — meaning she was four points behind when I went out.
Cribbage Golf: it’s fun and imposes different strategies on you. I think it’s especially good for experienced cribbage players just for the sake of messing with the usual approach. Give it a try!
ETA: After I posted this, I found an entire website dedicated to playing cribbage this way. The author calls it Lowball Cribbage, and the website features strategies for how to minimize points. I still like the sound of Cribbage Golf better, but Lowball is descriptive and apparently well-established.