Know who these people are? If you’re a fan of fusion jazz - or an amateur bass player- you’re probably getting all sweaty right now.

From L to R, that’s bassist Victor Wooten, legend of bass Stanley Clark and Miles protege, bassist Marcus Miller. It’s a virtual tsunami of bass playing talent and for most people’s money, the most amazing three pair of living hands to touch the instrument. I said “living”, so don’t go nuts on me about Jaco Pastorius.

The three have formed SMV (Stanley, Marcus, Victor - bass player’s ain’t that creative), a bass supergroup, and now have a CD out called “Thunder”.

Former bass player that I am, you’d think I would be excited about this development. But alas, “Yawn”.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Marcus Miller, I’ve never been a fan of any of these guys individually. Victor Wooten is a dynamo and has had some great moments playing with Bela Fleck. But solo? Meh.And Stanley Clarke? Sorry but I enjoy bottom in my bass - Bootsy, Slave, Larry Graham, Christian McBride, Sting even. That whole trebly/guitary bass thing just drives me completely bonkers.

I also can’t stand overplaying. Neither Wooten nor Clarke ever seem to understand the importance of shutting the hell up. As a Miles devotee, Miller at least was forced to understand that point, so he gets high points for that.

But together? As much as it pains me to say, it’s a complete trainwreck. But that’s not really surprising. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any bass supergroup sound like anything but a mess. It’s not an easy thing to make an album that is presumably about bass players and not put the bass front and center in every song. But sometimes you have to sublimate your natural instincts and let the song be about the song, not the instruments. Nope. Can’t recommend this one.

Now go on and start the hate mail, you fusion lovers.

*And 3 points if you know what song the headline is from. Send your answer in the comments.

From the New York Daily News comes this news that Damon Dash, power mover, vodka broker and former Jay-Z business partner, probably should have squashed his beefs and stayed in business with Jay Z.

According to the paper, he’s fallen into “MC-Hammer-style” brokeness. A pretty amazing, though not completely surprising, turn of events.

Read the full article here.

If you expected Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. to take the rumor that Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett is the President-Elect’s personal choice to replace him in the Senate sitting down, then you don’t know Jesse, Jr.

The Congressman is now floating an e-mail quoting the results of a self-funded Zogby poll that was done to directly answer the concerns that Jackson might not be able to sustain the seat in a statewide election two years after an appointment. Though with a Democratic president from Illinois, it is tough to believe that any Democratic incumbent supported by the President would lose to a Republican.

According to the survey, Jackson would beat several competitors (the poll does not include Jarrett) for the position by anywhere from 6% to 8% on several fronts - Democrat v. Democrat or Democrat v. Republican.

In the meantime, Jarrett has said publicly that she is “not interested” in the position.

One thing: If Jackson is really serious about being seen as Senate material, his team might want to pull down the 56 Kung Fu pictures that populate his jessejacksonjr.org web site. Also, probably not the best idea to have his photo galleries powered by a service called “Smug Mug”.  I’m just sayin’…

Looks like the Nigerian e-mail scammers have some real red-blooded American competition now. This is the latest electronic scam getting to people these days. The ploy targets Bank of America customers (and others) by sending alarming messaged such “Your account has been temporarily suspended” or “Suspected Fraud Reported on Your Account.”

The goal is to get you to click through and, frightened by what might happen to your money, log in with your passwords and account numbers without really looking through the e-mail.

But notice one glaring problem: The URL it goes to is not a Bank of America URL.

Looks like a dumb enough mistake by the scammers, but if you were on a vacation and needed immediate access to your money, would you pay that much attention?

Here’s how the latest one reads:

Your Online Banking Account needs to be verified to allow you have access
to online banking:So we have issued this final warning message to you
This email is sent from our secure server to verify your Online Banking
Account as there have been a multipe error logons and Account failure.
Your access to online banking has been suspended temporaly
for security reasons by Bank Of America, N.A

Re-Verify your account now and enjoy the benefits of
Bank Of America Online Banking on our secured server:

http://www.anchorchemicalsinc.com/gallery/data/media/index.jsp/

All informations entered must be accurate and correct
for your online access to be re-activated.

No longer relevant enough to be a spoiler, perpetual failed candidate Ralph Nader chooses to be a hater instead.

Here’s what’s happening on EbonyJet.com on Election Day:

1.  LIVE COVERAGE: We’ll be live-blogging Election Day. That means everything from exclusive photos of Obama voting from our embedded photographer, Valerie Goodloe to the huge Election Night party happening outside our door in Grant Park.

2. VIDEOS GALORE: The famous Johnson Publishing lobby will be open for visitors all day who want to come in and tape their messages to the world on this historic occasion. We’ll be running all those videos on EbonyJet.com.

3. PHOTOS: from around Chicago, the nation and the world. From Election Night in a bar in Stockholm to reports from California, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and more…

4. THE BLUE STATE/RED STATE PREDICTION MAP: Play along with the experts on our Electoral College Prediction Map. In the Politics section.

It didn’t take long at all for the event area to take shape. The tented areas we’re told are for VIPs and Press. The flat roof tent in the foreground is for the writing press who will have access to phone and internet lines.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Grant Park Obama Election Night Party is directly out of my window. For hose who doubted, here’s a shot of where it all will go down. This was taken just a few days ago. As you see, it’s directly across from the lake, which means if it’s a typical Chicago November, the party will be no party at all unless the numbers of people generate a whole lotta personal heat.

Rather obviously, as an Obama victory looks more plausible, people in Chicago are talking about who gets to sit in Barack’s Senate seat should he be elected president. And again, pretty obviously, those same people are suggesting that Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is the likely choice, especially given his position as a national co-chair of the Obama campaign.

Unfortunately, that’s not Obama’s call to make, though as the incoming president from the State of Illinois, he would be expected to have considerable influence over the decision. According to the process, the governor selects a nominee to hold the position until Obama’s terms runs up in 2010. And that’s what makes the deal complicated, because for Democrats the choice for a replacement needs to be someone who can realistically win statewide. Can Jesse Jackson, Jr. do that?

It’s hard to tell. The Congressman has a broad coalition of support among various ethnic groups, and his advocacy for a third airport in Chicago’s South Suburbs has endeared him to union and blue-collar types. But still, statewide? Now, in the glow of Obama, maybe. Eighteen months into an Obama term - who knows?

There’s a second question, and that’s who steps into Rep. Jackson’s congressional seat in he does move on to the Senate. That also is an obvious answer - his wife, Sandi. A popular Alderman, Sandi probably has higher favorable numbers than her husband, and as someone running for a District seat, much fewer barriers to victory in a special election.

We’re still double-checking the history on this, but to our knowledge, if all this pans out, the Jacksons would be the first husband and wife team to hold Congressional seats at once.