all's well that ends well

Yay Sabra!  My faith in America has been restored ;-)  I wouldn't have objected to a Danny win but I was so glad to see her get it.

I'm not going to bother with my usual analysis of the dancing, except to point out two things.  One is that when the judges' favorite routines were repeated, it was really nice to see how the dancers have genuinely grown.  Danny for example looked awkward in that waltz in the old footage, but very smooth and confident repeating it last night.  That's one of the reasons I find watching the show so rewarding.  The other thing is that I was happy to see my second favorite girl Sara featured in no less than three of the repeated routines, which I think says a lot about her dancing.

Now my Wednesday and Thursday evenings are my own again!

That's what jazz means to me

I was very sad to see that Max Roach passed away.  His kind of hard bebop was part of the regular background noise of my home growing up, and I think I can really thank him and his drumming technique for my ears' ability to be able to pick up on Arabic and North African rhythms.  His work with Clifford Brown is just some of the most brilliant music ever recorded, and their collaboration with Dinah Washington is sheer perfection.  Not every group will give a singer the chance to be an equal instrument, but that recording is a musician's dream for all involved.  I never met Max Roach or saw him perform, but he made my world a better place.  Rest in peace.