John - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I'm just enjoying this decade of my life. Plenty of challenges in this existence - I mostly like the ones I put on myself. I've had a great time this summer doing hikes and taking pictures, and I plan to do more. I did the toughest hike I've attempted in July at Yosemite, and I'm thinking that next season I might climb Shasta and/or Whitney.

I'm getting into my new job, and looking forward to a great future with my current employer. And, oh yeah, I'm still playing my saxophone with the guys in the JazzSchool Big Band. I'm hoping to get some small group gigs this year, too, and maybe even record a demo.

My Interests

I'm into straight-ahead Jazz, mostly - listening to it and playing it. Cannonball Adderley was great - I wish I would have been born a little earlier and had a chance to see him play live. There are so many great musicians out there - so much good music. As for myself, I've been playing in the "Adult" Big Band at the Berkeley Jazz School for a couple of years now. Those guys are great, and a lot of fun to play with. I try to play a little every day. I've also been playing occasionally with a small group that does straight-ahead Jazz and Brazilian music.

I like to get out on weekends when the weather is nice and do road trips. During the Summer I keep most of my camping gear in the car so I'm ready to go any time. This year I bought a season pass for Yosemite, and did the hike to the top of Half Dome. I've also been up several times to take some other hikes. I also took the trail to the top of Lassen, which I had done before. I'm in better shape now, and thankfully it was easier this time!

You may find this strange (but, whatever...) but I've got an interest in Bigfoot (or Sasquatch, or The Wildman of the Woods, or Oh Mah, or whatever other names you come up with). My interest actually has to do with the way people look at the phenomenon, and how information about it is disseminated. I have no idea if the things exist (if they do we're certainly dealing with a species of animal, not a single individual) - I've never seen one. What I do know is that there is not enough information to know for sure one way or the other (the people that think they've debunked it have actually failed to do so). For more information about my views on the whole Bigfoot matter, check out my Website .

I'd like to meet:

Creative people - musicians, especially. People who like the outdoors. I'm into hiking mostly, and trying to do some outdoor photography.

Music:

My tastes are really eclectic. I'd say I'm mostly into Jazz, but I really listen to lots of types of music. To give you an idea I've combed through the music library on my computer - here's what I came up with:

Art Tatum Bjork Cannonball Adderley Cassandra Wilson Charles Mingus Charlie Haden Charlie Parker Clifford Brown Dizzy Gilespie Donny McCaslin Ernie Watts Hermeto Pascoal Iggy Pop James Carter Jaco Pastorius John Scofield Joshua Redman Kenny Garrett Lee Morgan Manu Dibango Maria Schneider Michael Brecker Miles Davis Moby Pat Metheney Prince Roy Hargrove That 1 Guy The Eagles Tom Waits Tower of Power Wallace Roney Wynton Marsalis

Television:

Globe Trekker, Mythbusters, Survivor Man. Anything on Science, Nat Geo, Discovery, or PBS about Volcanoes, Tsunamis, or Earthquakes. Anything about Bigfoot. Soundstage, Austin City Limits. Stuff about people climing Everest (better them than me...). Boston Legal. Las Vegas. Lost. Warriors games.

Books:

Mostly non-fiction. Stuff about Bigfoot. Stuff about music. Weird stuff too - I got "Weird California" as a gift - all kinds of cool stuff in there! I occasionally break out of all that and read some fiction. Last fiction I read was "Da Vinci Code" ...thanks P!

My Blog

LMC Alumni Concert a couple of weeks ago

Taking my mind off the recent negativity on the career front (see "not this again..."), and the cold which has jumped up and attacked my head, I was just thinking back to the LMC Alumni Jazz Ense...
Posted by John on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 07:12:00 PST

Epilogue to the Half Dome saga - thoughts and recommendations

The weekend after I hiked to the top of Half Dome I returned toYosemite. It surprised me a little that I would want to go back there. I was in pain for several days after my Half Dome adventure. The h...
Posted by John on Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:24:00 PST

The End of the Trail (5th and final installment of the Half Dome saga)

All right, so it takes me two months to finish writing my story...so I procrastinate a little. I'm kind of amazed I even remember what happened, but this hike was a significant event for me. I think I...
Posted by John on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:21:00 PST

R.I.P. my friend

I learned the other day that my friend and colleage from Authenex passed away quite unexpectedly. Ron Charters was just shy of 61 years old when he passed. He was in great shape, being involved in all...
Posted by John on Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:37:00 PST

We interrupt our regularly scheduled story of outdoor peril for this message:

Thank goodness, it's finally over. I've accepted an offer of employment. Jeez it's weird how this whole job hunt thing goes. After months of interviews that mostly went well, but with companies that d...
Posted by John on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 01:54:00 PST

The Long Walk Down (4th installment)

Time to trudge. And trudging it was. You would think that going downhill would be much easier than going up; that moving minus the labor of lifting yourself higher with each step would be a welcome re...
Posted by John on Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:54:00 PST

The View From the Top (3rd installment)

Any padding that eased the force of my footfalls through the forest up to this point was now gone. It was steep, hard granite, with lots of stair steps laid in place. The stairs might be okay if they ...
Posted by John on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:19:00 PST

Hit the trail (2nd installment)

In the morning it started getting light just after I got up in time to shut off my 5:00 alarm before I (and my neighbors) had to listen to it. I still had plenty of stuff to do I had to make sure my...
Posted by John on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:10:00 PST

The Trek to the Top of Half Dome (1st installment)

(Status update: I'm actually still writing! It's gettin' long, and I apologize for the verbosity. Since I've already made another trip up to Yosemite since doing the Half Dome hike I thought I should ...
Posted by John on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:48:00 PST

The view from the top of Half Dome (intro)

Jeez, it takes me forever to do stuff sometimes! Last week I accomplished one of my goals for the Summer: to hike up out of Yosemite Valley to the top of the iconic Half Dome. It was a tough trek with...
Posted by John on Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:01:00 PST