Pam Howell loves jazz more than she loves shoes and wine, combined - which is to say, a LOT. An administrative professional and aspiring author, she is not a musician (listeners can breathe a sigh of relief); rather, she discovered her passion for jazz by sneaking into her father's LP collection as a child. Pam is committed to jazz outreach and when she is not editing news content for LAjazz.com, she can typically be found in one of many local jazz clubs tapping her foot and furiously scribbling notes. Read her posts at: www.lajazz.com/blog14.cfm
As a jazz lover in Los Angeles, it is important to me to be able to be able to find out about good shows quickly and easily. I love LAJazz.com because it's a "one-stop shop" for events (and because it publishes such wonderful, modest blog writers). I also troll local jazz club websites for their calendars, and pick up copies of the local jazz papers and the LA Weekly whenever I can. And now I've found a new source for jazz information: Facebook.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Facebook is a social networking website that enables users to interact with one another by publicly posting remarks and photos. Put more accurately, Facebook has replaced solitaire as the single most addictive activity one can perform on a computer. Users can stay in touch with existing friends, locate people they haven't seen in years, and even stay current on the lives of people they'd thought (or hoped) they'd never see again. No one is immune: narcissistic extroverts (present company included) enjoy the limitless opportunity to pontificate, and self-effacing introverts can express themselves in a non-threatening environment, then go back and delete their remarks if they have a change of heart.
Now, this is not an advertisement for Facebook. In fact, I am *this* close to signing up for a rapid Facebook detox just to see how long I can go without compulsively going to the website to see who has changed their status from "Jane is getting ready to have another cup of coffee" to "Jane has had too much coffee and is now wound tighter than a watch spring". But I have discovered a fascinating subculture on the site: the jazz world. There are hosts of jazz musicians and fans who publish photos of their jazz adventures, share stories about great shows, and invite one another to upcoming events.
In that spirit, I recently posted an update on my Facebook page announcing my intention to go hear Graham Dechter, guitarist extraordinaire, at Spazio for John Pisano's guitar night. LAJazz.com's own Chris Mello recently blogged about this LA institution and if you're even remotely interested in jazz guitar, it's a must-do. Anyway, on my Facebook page I simply said I was going to the show, pretty much the same way I'd announce I'd had too much coffee or confess that I always throw away orange Skittles. Well, I was positively delighted when a co-worker / new friend said she'd like to join me at the show. I was even more excited when she told me that she'd never been to a jazz show before. Ever.
Luckily for both of us, Graham Dechter knocked the cover off the ball. He's young and hugely talented but not new on the scene; adding the tasteful bassist Ryan McGillicuddy and stellar drummer Kevin Kanner to the mix just shows how savvy he is. The show was fantastic and my friend was so entertained by the group's interpretation of the music that she's definitely interested in hearing more jazz. Score one for Facebook!
Will Facebook take over the world? I hope not. And I still argue that LAJazz.com is the best place in town to find out where to go for music. But now I'll stop and take a breath whenever I get ready to deactivate my Facebook account if I can't come up with anything more clever to announce than "Pam is going to a jazz show - who's coming with me?" - because guess what? Sometimes that's good enough!
Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.
– Paul Whiteman
Appologgiatura: an ornament you regret after playing it.
