Working Title: Des Moines: it's in the neighborhoods.

August 16 -- Kentfield 9:51 A.M. PST

Hi gang; Really busy these days trying to get The Branson School back online and ready for the 2001-2002 academic year. While searching for other things I did find a nice little review of my former band Chase at AllMusic.com. Read it here.

August 3 -- Kentfield 8:47 P.M. PST

Well, it's Friday night and while everyone else is out partying, I'm home deconstructing the (finally successful) 128kbps to T-1 LAN upgrade we did this week. When you've got lots of users wanting their email and Internet access RIGHT NOW, it makes changing out a boundary router, renumbering an entire Class C subnet and reconfiguring a Firewall and 9 downstream Cisco switches something like tightrope walking Niagara Falls without a net.

Anyway, my no-social life existance is made easier by listening to David Lawrence and his Online Tonight radio show.[ C/Net in San Francisco, WGN in the midwest] I got rid of my TV about 3 months ago and the radio is now my primary link to the outside world. Hi Dave, thanks for the perfect geek gabfest. It's great to hear a talk show with no references to Rush Limbaugh. He also does a great music show too. Hey David I told you I'd direct you to my online rants about Napster etc. Online Tonight: the show for really smart people with no social life.

Jaimeo, my son the drummer is playing this weekend at the Blue Note in NYC. Next week with the Mingus Big Band. ....more later.

August 1 -- Kentfield 10:46 P.M. PST

It's nose to the grindstone time again out here, and I still can't get the vision of so many fans at Beaverdale Park and Simon Estes Riverfront Stage out of my mind back in Des Moines. One of the most fortunate things during my time in DM was the amplifier loaned to me by Paul Wilson at his great guitar store. The thing that occupies my time currently is the adding of a digital audio workstation and the upgrading of the local area network of The Branson School, here in Marin County where I am the Director of Instructional Technology.

I get to switch gears and continue doing something I love doing as much as creating music and playingwith people. The Branson School, a 320-student private high school in Marin County has long been a part of the California Research and Education Network (CalRen) and since 1994 the school has been online as branson.org. Unfortunately we're offline as of Wednesday/Thursday. That is bad, very bad...I won't be happy until we're back online. Branson.org is down and so am I.

Having the opportunity to help teach young people about how technology can make a positive, balanced contribution to their lives is, to me, a blessing for an artist/educator/writer/computerist/father like myself. The challenge is to balance the needs of our students for technology tools which can truly make a difference against all the competing claims of "newer", "better", "faster" that vendor is offering to us. Fun stuff. We're smart shoppers! Taught by experts. East Des Moiners!

In fact...gotta go now. Network went down today and we've got a very early call with Pacific Bell/SBC. Working Title: "How to attain T-3 speeds without really trying." Stay tuned.

Also Digital Audio Fans: Review of the MOTU 828 audio interface for Firewire Macs coming.

To send me a message the email is posted below. Peace.

July 24 -- Kentfield 8:46 P.M. PST

As I get to work in my studio here in Kent Woodlands, I have many fond thoughts of the last several weeks in Des Moines. I want to give yet another Special Thanks to Greg Mellerup at Guitar E.R. at 2331 University. My guitars were in very bad shape when I arrived in Des Moines but Greg got them both back into playin' shape -- in record time! I don't want to play up the time thing too much but the man really does use his time efficiently.

Speaking of time..how much time do you really spend listening to Rush Limbaugh? .......I'm not laughing.

I heard Del "Saxman" Jones' band playing in West Des Moines and they were playing at a very high level. Great vocals, unbelieveable basslines and drumming and a young guitar player who should find a tone which allows us to hear his sinous guitar solos much better. You don't hear great live funk bands anymore but Del's band is the real deal!

Remind me to tell you about Bob Cook's set in the next post. We have an early day tomorrow.

Did you see the review of our July 14 concert??

July 20 -- Kentfield, Ca. (6:49 CST PM 70 degrees and clear on Mt. Tamalpais)

Whew, made it home and as promised, it's friday and we're back online. As we speak (or I type) I am looking at my new Titanium PowerBook which arrived while I was in Iowa. It is incredibly cool looking and startup was fast and clean. Let's hope that it continues to be a fun experience.....but for now, I want to encourage any fans who were at either our July 5th or July 14th Shows with a camcorder, to please contact us. We saw a few folks out there with 'em and I am really curious about what data you may have captured. Reflections of my time in Iowa are creating an intense succession of feelings unlike anything I've experienced in a long time. There is something to be said for one's connection to one's home town and 'stomping grounds' as it were. We have loved this place for many years; we have loved the people here for many years. It was great to see Bobby Parker before I left Des Moines and also turned him on to a book in which he is mentioned (Thanks Dwight). It was incredible to get together with him and my mom, the Reverend Mary Alice Brown, while they reminisced about the scene we all view with such reverence these days. The great Midwestern territory bands of the 40's and 50's included many Iowans and transplanted musicians who made Iowa home are still fresh in his memory, he and my Mom and Dad were on the scene and still have vivid memories of the life and times. This website is dedicated to telling these stories of Central Iowa Jazz and Arts history (from last millenium to last nite) .

Thanks hackers: I just listened to John Ashcroft as he has now instituted the Computer Hacking/Intellectual Property unit a new federal crimes unit to 'watch over us' and prevent 'computer crime' which has become, undeniably, a multi-billion dollar drain on our digital economy. Well, all you people who thought it was cute to hack into the local (name your own) institution and steal data, will now have the REAL computer crazies down on you. Of course the primary collateral damage to this action will be OUR PRIVACY RIGHTS and any remaining shred of real anonymity you might have had on the Internet. The government, with this announcement, has proclaimed its intention to be the number One hacker in the US. That should make you rest real easy as you order (name your poison) over the internet in the future.

I know that we had a great time at Beaverdale Park on Saturday with lots of friends and fans in attendance. I don't know if you realize that I'm a huge fan of my Des Moines audience. The folks who came out to hear us play were some of the smartest, most inventive, honestly liberal folks who by came out for a good time. It was obvious that we all desperately needed to have a nice unloud, unrap, un-mean lyrics-type of great musical experience. I felt a connection with the folks at both shows that I don't often experience when I play anywhere else. I have to admit, though, having your Mom, your High School band director and drama teacher and your Sunday School teacher, summer camp director and his wife in attendance might make one a little anxious about doing well....

By the way, we acknowledge that there were problems with the sound system. Hopefully, we can all work together to eliminate that as a source of discontent for the musicians and discomfort for the audience.

A note about the sound: We had perhaps one of the best sound engineers in the midwest in attendance at the concert but because of problems totally outside of his control, we still experienced less than optimum sound. The sound systems was clearly inadequate and too many outside people had to do too much running around trying to 'fix' something that falls to MetroArts and the City of Des Moines to solve.

Thanks again to Bill Barach, Bill Jacobs, Ron Sorenson, Robin Leaper, Suzie, Jason Gregory, John Thompson, Sam, Frank, Abe, Dwight, Uncle Guy, and too many others to mention for an incredible experience. Whoops can't leave out Julius, Carolyn, Hayes Johnson (never leave Walker Street), John Rowat, Steven G. Andre, Peter McLain, and Rob and all the citizens of the EAST SIDE of Des Moines. Never give in, Never give up. Tell Des Moines to quit disappearing our neighborhoods. Jazz was played on Center street but it was lived on Walker Street.

July 17, 2001 --Des Moines

5:43 P.M.CST Just finishing up the last errands before heading back to San Francisco. Just a short note to all who read these words today..It was awesome playing with and for you, the musicians and audiences here in my hometown. A few special thanx: Jermaine at Hip Hop Heaven for hooking me up with Jason Gregory, a great poet and a greater father. Thanx Jermaine and thanx Jason. Oh, by the way, if you need the threads to complete your set, Hip Hop Heaven at 2302 University is the place to be. Call the brother and order stuff at 515 271-8749. Another master is the guitar tech at Last Chance Music and Guitar ER. My Washburn 6-string was mangled by an over eager cab driver and Guitar E.R. (emergency room, get it?) brought me back to life with hours to spare. A great job, a great luthier and a neat guy so...there ya go.

Also in a class (and a paragraph) by themselves are Paul Wilson (tsk, sorry Paul) and his able assistant Matt out at Ye Olde Guitar Shop at 70th just south of Douglas in DM. Matt totally saved my derriere when my bass amplifier conked out with two hours to go before my show July 5 and he brought out his beautful little bass amp that did the job. My hat's off to the store for loaning my friend Teja Bell, an Ovation classical guitar which he played beautifully behind Marisha Brown at our July 5 concert at Simon Estes Riverfront Stage. Paul has been Des Moines' most effective crusader of the acoustic guitar and it's wonders for many years and it was great to work with him again. The Trace amp I was so graciously loaned by Paul was perhaps, the finest non-acoustic musical instrument I have played. (yes, I'm talking about the amplifier.) A single 15-incher and for outdoor jazz/fusion type playing it was sweet. Pretty fair job of pushing my Washburn J-6 too.

Our friends at Rieman Music also had a hand in making our musical journey to Des Moines more productive. We musicians always seem to need tools like music paper, charts and rentals.The Real Books that only Rieman carries were the exact ones I needed and, again, I felt lucky to have long time associations with these guys so I knew I would be taken care of once I got here.

So, as I leave for SF, I am already planning our return for the late summer and Fall and beyond. It was a blast to see so many of you again and I promise that we will be around for some time to come bringing both the old fashion handmade music you know us for, but also to bring you a glimpse of what's happening where I currently live and work in the SF Bay Area. When I come home to Des Moines, after SF I really am coming Back From The Future....adios amigos & amigas.

We now enter a 48 hour 'dark period' and I will resurface on these pages on Friday sometime.

1:30 AM --I'm sitting in my room (my old high school years room, that is..) and literally buzzing with the vibrations of so many great experiences here in DM the last 16 days. Saturday's concert/happening at Beaverdale Park was perhaps the most fun and meaningful event I've been a part of in a long time. It should have been called "Friends and Dartanyan" because the players, the co-producers, the sound people, the spectators and Beaverdale community all collaborated to create an event I will remember for a long time.

To bring 91-year-old Francis Bates and 21-year-old Tanner Taylor into focus to show the diversity and depth of our scene is perhaps the greatest thrill I could have as a player/producer/historian. You, the spectators got to see something very special and very rare. I hope that we will be able to look back upon that day as the one that sparked a resurgence in the awareness that our local Jazz heros should be feted more than just one month of the year.

Camcorder at Beaverdale Park? We'd love to see your footage. Documentary Possible.

Indeed the stories that Francis Bates, and the (dwindling) number of folks with his experience should be revered, recorded and rejuvenated in the public's eye as treasures to be preserved. Unfortunately, Des Moines, to my horror, seems to be unmindful of the beauty in our traditional, solidly built landmarks whether human or architectural. Strange and unbelieveably sad. There are those who are working for change though...right John? Right Dwight?

But on to brighter subjects.....

Jason Gregory and John (the Destroyer of Worlds) Thompson put the exclamation point on the evening with wonderful spoken word offerings of wit, passion and genuine reality of feeling. It was my absolute pleasure to bring such great talents into our Jazz world for them to play with and learn from.

I have attended many Jazz in July performances over the years, and yours last night was one of the most innovative I have been to. Very nice use of different media as well as presentation of historical information. I remember your music from back in the late sixties and early seventies so [it] was really nice to be able to once again to sit back and enjoy. Please use your web site to post any other public perfomances while you are in the Des Moines area. Thanks much to you and your friends for a really wonderful evening - just ended too soon,,,,, m andre

There will be more posted but it's almost 1 AM and time to pass into dreamland for several hours. You folks are awesome, Fran and Marlowe, Norm and Sue, Randy, Ryk, Byg, Butch, Theresa, Tom R. Akao, and so many others, Peter included. You made this the high point of my year (excluding my son's college graduation and subsequent success in the job market) and we're working now to make it happen again in the near future. God bless you all.....more postings in a day or so...Please email us with your thoughts and comments.

July 14, 2001 -- Des Moines

During the concert I will be mentioning this website because I really want to hear from you, our Des Moines friends and fans. I am currently working on the first collection of songs for release since becoming a parent 23 years ago so you will want to come back through the summer and fall to see announcements of stuff you can buy.

Since the Des Moines media seems to take Jazz for granted making us invisible with their non-coverage, lets use this opportunity to create a collection of reviews from those who really matter.-- The audience. If you attended any of my concerts for Jazz in July or Nitefall with Marisha Brown, please send me your personal review and I'll post it here for the community to read. Good, Bad or indifferent, if you send me your observations of our shows, you (and everyone else on Earth) will read 'em here. Send your reviews to dartanyan@dartanyan.com . Thanks to all of you for making my time her thoroughly enjoyable.

July 9, 2001-- Des Moines

Since the DM Register seems unable to get it together, we here at SoundRangers and The Brown Family Reunion, will give you an advance look at what should be a wonderful evening concert at Beaverdale Park this Saturday July 14.

Dartanyan, is putting together a whirlwind tour of Jazz history with a three-part show featuring, among others, Des Moines Jazz bassist veteran Francis Bates. Francis, now on the sunny side of 90 will be accompanying Dartanyan on some tasty old standards from the annals of Jazz history. But what about Dartanyan you say? Well, yes, he does play bass too, but he will be playing guitar and vocalizing for this part of the show.

Also joining Dartanyan for a portion of the evening will be Jim Oatts, an old friend and a member of the Oatts family of Jazz musicians from Jefferson Iowa. Dartanyan and Jim were members of the groundbreaking fusion band CHASE in the mid-70's and they have been friends and musical collaborators for many years. More on this portion of the show later.

To leave you in suspense, we are not revealing the final portion of the evenings 90-minute performance but bring your hip-hop influenced teens and get ready for something quite CONTEMPORARY involving music and the spoken word.

Jazz has long been a catalyst from which dancers, poets and even visual artists draw inspiration. Dartanyan is planning to rekindle the embers to bring some fire back into a Des Moines music scene which has been a little too cool of late.

Before we go any further, we want to give heartfelt thanks to Tracy Levine and the Metro Arts staff who is producing the Jazz in July series. It is a big deal to us that great people like Tracy go to such efforts to provide musicians and Jazz fans with a place to get together and share our mutual love for America's greatest (and only) original art form. It is with great pleasure that we also thank the folks at Des Moines Parks and Rec, especially Ron Sorenson and Robin Leaper for producing our July 5th show at the Simon Estes Riverfront Theater show. It was absolutely wonderful from our point of view and apparently the audience had a great time too.

Off course, the DM Register missed the gig, missed the vibe and missed the debut of Des Moines native Marisha Brown who, in the estimation of the headliners was "the best singer anyone has heard in many a moon." Sam Salmone, Frank Tribble, Rob Messer and Julius Brooks were stellar in their performance and the audience responded with a warmth and enthusiasm that literally brought tears to this old musicians eyes.

Des Moines Rocks!!! We just need media who care about our scene enough to write about its indigenous artists who labor in obscurity. C'mon Jazz (and Rock, Blues, Country and Zydeco and Folk) happen 365 days a year, not just in July.

---

Hello to everybody (including you, Brad) who is finding out about this page. If you are reading this page before June 26 you gotta be a buddy (or a lucky hacker) I'm creating an online diary for my trip from Northern California to Central Iowa. Please learn a bit about Marisha who will be singing with me on JULY 5.

July 3, 2001--Des Moines

It's actually July 2nd when I started this missive but it's now 1:30 AM July 3rd and I'm breathing a little easier. Not only did I meet Robin Leaper of Des Moines Parks and Rec to get our JULY 5 date squared away, but Marisha arrived tonight from NYC. What this means is:

1. We actually have a concert to play

2. I actually have someone to play with.

These are two very essential elements if you are a musician so you can imagine my relief at having both in place roughly 48 hours before our performance. Marisha has crashed for the night (fortunately it was AFTER she got out of the flight from NYC) but before she passed out she expressed her amazement at the Des Moines she's coming home to as compared to the Des Moines she left sometime ago.

The Reverend Mary Alice Brown (or Mom as she's known around the house) is happy to have her grandchild here for the concert and those of you who attend the concert will see here (she'll be the one in the front row glowing like a radioactive isotope.)

Please pass the word to our friends from the past 25 years to come on down and share in the creation of what we pray will be some fun, healing vibrations for all of us in attendance.....and we're just the opening act, this day.

See You There.

You voted for who......?

Yep, it's me Dartanyan Brown and I'm not happy about a lot of things these days. I live in California where we apparently believe in giving away our power generation facilities purposely putting us at the mercy of greedy energy companies. To add insult to injury, I'm heading back to my home state of Iowa for a series of concerts and I find out that my fellow Iowans are being taxed on the tax cut delivered by George "your check's in the mail" Bush. THAT makes me mad and I'm not even getting a tax rebate.

Press Contacts Old Friends Musicans Educators While I'm on the road, you can contact me or make a comment about what I'm posting. Simply Email me at dartanyan@dartanyan.com or if you use America Online simply write to: Soundranger

"On the road again, ....."

June 23, 2001

So far, this political year has been downright weird, so I'm thankful to have the love of my children and the wonderful world of Jazz music and technology to keep my attention gainfully engaged. In the two years since I was last in DM my calendar has been full to the gills with activity. As Director of Instructional Technology at The Branson School (NOT Branson, Mo.) I have the distinct pleasure of remaining on the bleeding edge of issues involving the successful blending of technology with the college prepatory curriculum. Now almost seven years into the job, I can tell my friends in the Iowa educational community, hang in there. One day (sooner, I think) the people of the state will realize that teachers are not indentured servants. California is now paying teachers better so, Iowa will get there in about 24-36 months.(without the ridiculous "performance tests" which everyone serious about education knows are beside the point and expensive to boot)

As a parent, (an activity which still takes up about 1/3 of my waking energy for some reason), I currently have much to be happy about. Many of you will come to the Estes Park on July 5 to hear my daughter Marisha Brown do her increasingly awesome thing. As a 19-year-old Barnard College junior, she is still practicing the good study habits she learned at Greenwood Elementary School in the mid-80's. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to hear a young singer who can handle both Jazz, Folk, and Classical stylings with equal ease. We're going to be in a Latin and Funky mood that day so you never know. Good friends and Des Moines Jazz stalwarts Frank Tribble and Sam Salomone will join us playing guitar and keyboards respectively. Rob Messer, our buddy, will be doing his thing on percussion.

My drummer-son Jaimeo can't join me on this trip back home, he hasn't played in the capital city since we did Jazz in July in 1996 at Gray's Lake. Anyway, sadly, he is deserting me to stay in New York City to play with the Mingus Big Band, featuring Ronnie Cuber, Randy Brecker, Alex Foster and nine other monster players. I guess that's the gratitude(!) I get for payin' for all those drum lessons... =-) Click here to hear.

Speaking of the music, I am still putting together ideas for the July 14th Gig at Beaverdale Park. Please don't come looking for just one kind of music. I don't want to give it all away yet but suffice to say that attendees to the show may come away with a better understanding of the history of Jazz and African American music heritage in Central Iowa.

That's it for today. I'm going to add to this post periodically until I come back to California as a kind of living diary for everyone in the community to catch up with. I'm going to be commenting on things musical, technical, natural (I hope to document my Bus trip across the Western States on my way home) wonders and if I get really upset again, political.

I suppose I should be happy, We've got Tom Harkin back into a position of [relative] power in the U.S. Senate and the Sun does appear to be rising every morning so I will be thankful for small miracles and sign off for now....working.....

Dartanyan Brown-062301

4:34 PM

First and foremost we want to thank Des Moines Parks and Rec, Robin Leeper and Ron Sorenson for getting everything for the July 5th Concert. You folks are, like, totally awesome.

Rain came to Northern California today, cooling things off and generally returning us to a fairly typical day in (high priced) paradise. As luck would have it, we've contacted some of Des Moines nascent hip hop community and after last Saturday's R.A.P. session in Greenwood Park, we may have some words/music collaboration for you on the July 14 Jazz in July gig.

July 5th Estes Park Des Moines, Iowa	Frank Tribble, Guitar
Sam Salamone, Organ Keyboards	Rob Messer, Drums

Shout outs to Steve Bobenhouse and the runners community in Des Moines. I got their newsletter today and if you want to stay in shape, he's the Man. Myself, I'm a biker and my Cannondale M400 (yeah, it's old) is my trusty sidekick on many paths and trails in and around Phoenix Lake and Kent Woodlands where I live and ride in Marin County.

Musically speaking, I am really getting excited about the July concerts in Des Moines that we're doing. It's an opportunity to revisit my hometown and see what's been happening since I've been away. I've always been very interested in the inter-generational aspect of our music and the implications for the future of Jazz. It's always been a matter of passing down the secrets of the music from older musicians to younger up and comers and I hope to illustrate a bit of the process during the shows that I'm a part of in July.

My daughter as most of you know, will be here for the 5th of July. It's gonna be a wonderful example of a newly minted talent (she's only 19) playing and learning from us "old guys" [Sam, Frank and I are, shall we say, on the far side of 39...] and we're going to be listening to her for new ideas too. We'll be carrying on the time-honored tradition of passing on the information of Jazz, in the moment, in realtime...and you get to be there to see and hear it.

The Jazz-In-July concert on July 14 at Beaverdale Park will be much different but still very much related to the idea of inter-generational communication and artistic expression. Still, not ready to release all the names yet, but suffice to say that you'll be exposed to the artistry from players from the last 4 decades...it will be musical, fun, educational, surprising, and very un-typical.

Just talked to Marisha on the phone from NYC and she's getting prepared for her trip back to DM. She mentioned something about "Summertime" so I bet you may hear that on the 5th of July. Just a hunch......more later....

Jazz History

Charlie Parker (L) and Thelonius Monk, Tad Dameron and Roy Eldridge at Minton's

Long day today and it's gonna end soon. Leaving from Oakland tomorrow and trying to get to Iowa City by the weekend to see my bandmates Jim Oatts, Sam Salamone and others playing with the great Carla Bley and Steve Swallow in Iowa City this weekend.

If you don't know about the Iowa City Jazz fest by now, consider yourself informed. Get on Interstate 80 and check out Joey Defrancesco, Pat Martino, the aforementioned Bley and Swallow and scores of other local and nationally known musical talent. From what I hear, this should be like manna from heaven for those of you who complain about being culture starved in Iowa. Then come back and see Sam, Frank, myself and Marisha onstage at Estes. Such fun.

Loading up my Powerbook, guitars, and bags of dried fruit for what should be an interesting trip through the heartland. Goodbye ocean, hello prairie Watch for new postings, if I can find a modem line while I'm on the road. Shades of The Matrix.

.....working.......