cat >/dev/null_

Archive of me

things you say to Pat Metheny

July

22nd

2008

Last Thursday I went to Umbria Jazz in Perugia, to see Gary Burton with Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Antonio Sanchez.

Not surprisingly given the musicians on stage, the concert was very good.

Thanks to my very resourceful friend Rick, we got the chance to meet Mr. Metheny backstage after the show and have our complimentary photograph with him taken.

In case this ever happens to you, this is a list of things you may want to say to Pat Metheny while you’re waiting for your photo to be taken, in the form of fictional dialogues.

(Y: you, P: Pat Metheny)

Y: wonderful night. and it’s a great honor to be here.
P: thank you.
Y: no, thank you!

Y: please tell me you’re working at the new Group album.
P: hm. you should talk to old man Lyle. boy, is he lazy!
Y:

Y: what about tonight’s rendition of Question and Answer. I’ve heard it live many times, but tonight it was so special. your solo was terrific.
P: glad you liked it. I have to admit it was quite good.
Y: you could definitely say that.

Y: first time I see Steve Swallow live… gotta say the old man kick serious bass.
P: didn’t you know yet?
Y: actually I heard about it before, but now I can confirm. and hey, you did quite good, too.
P: oh, thanks, pal!
Y: no prob

 

This is how it went instead:

(A: andrew, P: Pat Metheny)

A: sorry to bother you.
P: no problem. (as in: let’s do this quick, will we?)
A: (hinting at Rick) we’ve been to a lot of your concerts together. (as in: it’s a precious moment for us.)
P: thanks, man! (as in: what, you want your money back?)

What’s left of this moment is the most out of focus, stupid-faced, boy-do-I-look-fat photo of me that was ever taken, and a great lesson to be learned: do not ever impinge on your heroes’ lives.

Ever.

me, music

embarrassing moments, Pat Metheny

3 Comments

a day on Mercury

June

17th

2008

Sorry

The content of this post is restricted to subscribers.

You must log in to see it.

Additional information is available here.

me, restricted

Be the first to comment...

protection

June

16th

2008


It is on days like these that I really wish someone stood in front of me and took the force of the blow.

me, music, quotes

massive attack

Be the first to comment...

i’ll be over you

December

14th

2007

Sorry

The content of this post is restricted to subscribers.

You must log in to see it.

Additional information is available here.

me, music

Be the first to comment...

family name

November

26th

2007

Mirror, mirror,
What u see?
Have I still got those dark clouds over me?
Or, am I really feeling what I feel?
The last days of the Devil’s Deal
Oh, mirror, what u see?

Prince, “Family Name”, “The Rainbow Children” (2001)

me, music, quotes

lyrics, prince, song

2 Comments

why andrew

October

4th

2007

After the umpteenth misunderstanding between my nickname and my first name just happened (interestingly, this time the blame is on me, but that’s not the point), I’ve decided to let go of the truth like never before.

A bit of background may be of help here. My nickname is andrew, as you know or may have guessed, from this site’s domain name for a start. My first name is Luca, but clearly the nickname comes from the assonance with my family name, Andreucci. Too bad Andrew is also the english translation for the Italian first name Andrea, which is very widespread, and also a male name. Needless to say, andrew is a very common choice for a nickname or screen name for someone whose first name is Andrea.

To sum it up, apart from the people who simply get it wrong, many among those who know me or hear me called by my nickname wrongly assume that my first name is Andrea. At the end of the day it’s quite a lot of them, believe me.

While there’s no question that this rather unfortunate choice is entirely my fault, there is a little story behind it, that I will use as a lame excuse, or at least try and entertain you with.

I started fiddling with computers when I was still a kid. Of course, like anyone else I had the habit of giving myself funny “hacker” names, but I never really settled on one1. During my early experiments with multiuser environments I’d been using my first name as a login. But when I started my University courses, the lab managers had this rule of using the first n letters from the family name, eight character tops, as a login name. As you may see, my family name is nine letters long, so I was left with the horrible:

andreucc:~$

I remember discussing this issue with one of the admins who, strange as it may seem, wasn’t really concerned; his resolution was then to strip down a couple more characters, leaving me with:

andreu:~$

Big deal. In no time everyone was having fun at my login name.

I asked the lab admin if he could change the last character as to give me “andrew”, but he said this was against the first n letters rule, so I was stuck with andreu.

No wonder I left the University before graduating.

But want to know what’s even more fun? When I left the University to start my own ISP firm, the lab guy ended up being one of my associates. Too bad I couldn’t get my revenge: his family name is only seven letters long! But I finally got the login name I wanted:

root:~#

 

That’s how andrew was born. No later than a year after that, the andrew.org domain was registered, and the rest is history.

 

I hope you enjoyed this story. Movie rights are still available to the highest bidder.

 

 

1 There’s actually one I was using more often than others, but never in the world I will reveal it, not even under the most excruciating tortures. Lucky for me there’s a very good chance anybody who knew it probably can’t remember, will not read this or does not give a damn anyway.

me

2 Comments

alone

July

27th

2007

being alone is not so bad if you manage not to get too paranoid…

but it’s also nowhere near as interesting!

me, quotes

Be the first to comment...

devious xevious

May

3rd

2007

You know you are a geek when you spent at least five minutes a day during the last five days with your ear to the window because you think you heard that sound… and you can’t be mistaken…

You’re just starting to wonder if you’re having auditive hallucinations… then… AHA! <ppeeewwww>!!!

You know you are a geek when your neighbour plays Xevious on MAME… and you know it because you heard him!!!

image from wikipedia

computing, me

3 Comments

my bloody Valentine

February

14th

2007

 



it ain’t no joy

for an uptown boy

who just isn’t willing to try

 

 

me, music, quotes

3 Comments

final report for 2006 and New Year’s Resolutions for 2007

December

29th

2006

Well,

it’s that time of the year again, when you draw the conclusions and look towards things to come.

All in all, I must say 2006 was an unexpectedly interesting year.

As has always been of late, my most important resolution was to lose some weight. The news is that I succeded to some extent. I’m still far from satisfied, but it was a definite step in the right direction. Also, I lost count of the years I haven’t been smoking, and that’s got to be a good thing too. In other words, 2006 is the year I started to get old.

I bought a house of my own and plan to move into it. It’s very, very small, but it finally gave me the opportunity of being enslaved to the Con of Man, that is, take out a loan. Now I can call myself a man.

I confess that I like the sound of even years, and as such, 2007 gives me some worries. But I understand this is not the right attitude to a new beginning, so I’ll try to be more positive by making a small list of resolutions for the coming New Year.

Ordered by importance, ascending (that is, more or less, chance of succeeding, descending):

• Stop refering to my sites as “blogs”. I’ve come to hate the word.
• Be much more focused on my priorities. All evidence points to the fact that I have limits, in spite of my failing to recognize or accept them.
  Practical examples include:
  • Do not waste time with undeserving people.
  • Never turn the TV on. Time-shifted recordings and movies allowed with moderation. Avoid fiction, so-called entertainment and news like plague.
  • Spend less time on the Internet, but write more on my blogs sites, maybe scheduling some time. Of course, trying to keep the number of articles, copycat blogging and the bullshit/word ratio as low as possible.
• Move away from Italy. Sad as it is, this is not the place to be if you’re supposed to make a decent living by working (as opposed to stealing).
• Fight my Jesus complex. People do not want to be saved, except on Sunday mornings. Sadly, most of the times this includes ones you care about. And blog posts.

My best wish for your New Year is, make your own resolutions and stick to them!

me, this

bullshit-per-word ratio, New Year, resolution

2 Comments