Jim McNamara profile picture

Jim McNamara

jimmcnamara

About Me

So despite being a major league geek, I've avoided the entire blog scene. I've owned my own domain name for years, and have plenty of access to servers, but I've never had an interest in doing an "about me" kind of thing.

So I'm a 30 year old guy. Music, computers, and books are how I occupy my free time. I grew up in West Seneca (a suburb of Buffalo), graduating from West Seneca West in 1995. I went to the University of Rochester/Eastman School of Music from there, earning a degree in Jazz Studies with a minor in Mathematics in 1999. I went on to the California Institute of the Arts, earning a Masters in Jazz Bass in 2001. I moved to Brooklyn in December of 2001, and have been there ever since.

Once in New York, I realized I either needed to play in wedding bands or teach lessons to make a living just as a musician, and neither of those options was very appealing to me. I was looking for an office job, and ran into a guy I met in music school who had a small IT company in midtown. He had me come in and learn on the job, and in a few months I was doing IT work for his company. In the 4 years since then, I've learned a fair amount about computers and networking, and use it to pay my bills. I became a partner in the company that was formed out of that initial IT company, and now help make the novel 1984 a reality.

I still play as often as I can, but having the day gig gives me the flexibility to play what I want to play rather than having to take gigs based on money. Jazz is still near and dear to my heart, but I'm also part of the MTV age, and rock/pop has just as much if not more importance to me.

My Interests

Music, computers, books

Music:

It's easier to say what I'm not into rather than what I am. I don't like over-produced country, particularly the stuff coming out of Nashville that sounds like the 60's redone. I'm fine with bluegrass and traditional country, but the rock-country stuff that is often found on the radio I can't get with. Rock, jazz, pop, soul, R & B, dance, and damn near everything else I'm fine with. I'm not much of a fan of orchestral/choral (from any period), and also not a fan of show tunes.

Movies:

Lately at my place we've been big fans of Borat, Fargo, The Usual Suspects, Glengarry GlenRoss, and of course the entire lineage of Freddy and Jason movies, leading up to their epic confrontation in Freddy vs. Jason.

Television:

We don't have cable by choice, so I don't watch TV. I did see a show called Supernatural which I liked, and I download it on the net rather than watch it with commercials.

Books:

Atlas Shrugged - Any Rand, East of Eden - John Steinbeck, all of the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel, The Arthurian Legends as done by Bernard Cornwell, anything by the Sci-Fi masters - Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My Blog

Gigs

The next 10 days are fairly busy for me. With the exception of the Columbian bands, almost everybody that I play with has a gig or two. On Thursday the 11th, I'm playing 2 sets at Mo Pitkins. The Firs...
Posted by Jim McNamara on Sun, 07 Oct 2007 11:38:00 PST

Simple Pleasures

So since I broke my heel in January, I haven't been able to run or jog. Between the gym and job, I've been adding strength and been able to do more and more things, but running was not one of them. Ov...
Posted by Jim McNamara on Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:45:00 PST

I am a massive bastard

Somehow or another, I'm getting really heavy. I figured during the time I was immobilized with the broken heel I would gain weight. That was to be expected. We don't have a scale at our place, but whe...
Posted by Jim McNamara on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 09:42:00 PST

Flushing the Zodiac-ers

I take great personal affront that the jackasses that run this show allow you to edit 99% of what you can list, but they don't allow you to remove your zodiac symbol. I'd personally like to leave tha...
Posted by Jim McNamara on Fri, 25 May 2007 10:36:00 PST