Dave Garrett

They actually did, before having an as-yet-unexplained last-minute change of heart (rumored to be a rights issue, but you'd think those kinds of things would be cleared up well in advance). Some copies actually made it to retailers' shelves; I was lucky enough to find one at Borders the week it was released. There was a plentiful secondary market on eBay for a while, as many people that also found copies cashed in on their luck, but those sources seem to have largely dried up. Newbury Comics is offering several, however, at not too much of a premium: BOOMERANG on eBay

The sandwich part may be new, but doggie ice cream's been around for a while. Frosty Paws

CD Universe has this on sale now for $45.49 - that's the second-best price I've seen on this so far. The best was Wherehouse.com, but that was using a coupon that expired over a week ago - I got it from them for just over $39 shipped. I was planning to use a 30% off Borders coupon before I ran across that deal, but I'd have probably paid full price for it if nothing better turned up - it's that good.

Crap! I forgot about the Bear Family Cole set when I was running through my mental list of box sets I'd been waiting for a good deal on. Probably just as well, given the number of unexpected expenses I've had to deal with lately. I did wind up getting this new Rhino set for $39 and change shipped:

LA COMMUNE is due out on DVD in the US on October 24.

EAT THE DOCUMENT isn't as compelling as DON'T LOOK BACK, IMO. I think its notoriety largely stems from its continuing unavailability, but it is certainly worth seeking out for the dedicated Dylan (or Pennebaker) fan. DVD-Rs aren't too hard to come by on eBay, and there was also a bootleg pressing of several hundred copies released in Germany several years ago - more details here.

The Sony Japan CD (SRCS 6843):

eBay listing Looks like it was on the Groove Merchant label.

This is what's known as "fullcoat mag" - 35mm film that has had magnetic oxide applied to it across the entire width of the film, as opposed to "mag-striped", where thin stripes of magnetic oxide are applied on the outside edges of film prints for a multichannel soundtrack. Mag-striped 35mm film was what was used for films boasting 4-track stereo in the 1950s; later on, 6-track 70mm film prints became commonplace for big-budget roadshow presentations. A good mag-striped multichannel audio track flat stomps all over any digital film sound system I've ever heard; unfortunately, the number of venues that can still run mag-striped film is fairly small, and new mag-striped prints are rarely struck now, as mag-striping has essentially been banned due to environmental concerns regarding the process used to apply it. Anyway, getting back onto the topic of fullcoat mag for audio recording, this site has the following brief comments:

As a shrink...you should see it in the "flying V" as well. yeah, but i was a guitar player way before i became a shrink. i even played a flying v for a short while. damn, they're heavy! I don't think my back could take a Les Paul or a Flying V. The original Flying Vs were made of korina, a very lightweight wood - you'd almost swear it was balsa wood, it's that light. I got to play one once in the late 70s at a music store I used to hang out at - IIRC, it was for sale for $4500, a lot of money back then. Judging from this site, however, they've appreciated a bit since then.

A couple of years ago was before I'd discovered Zweitausendeins, but I got one from them in March (albeit for $60 rather than $30).

There are many download managers available that will allow you to grab multiple files using http instead of ftp. If you use Firefox, check out FlashGot used in conjunction with one of the download managers linked on the FlashGot page. I've used Free Download Manager with FlashGot, and they work like a charm. After 20 minutes or so after I had posted this,I found solution at shnflac.net's discussion board.I downloaded a plugin called DownThemAll for Mozilla Firefox.Now I just need to click on directory and select the folder where I want to save the files and it works like charm! I've already downloaded 3 1966 shows and two 1967 shows.I definitely need to buy 300-400 empty cdrs... External hard drives have gotten so cheap now that it's become very tempting to just forget about recordable media entirely as an archival solution, and just move your SHN/FLAC/audio format of choice files to one or more hard drives that can be swapped out as quickly as plugging in a new USB device. Western Digital has 250-500GB external drives available for roughly $175-250, and with hard drives you don't have to worry about a scratched or otherwise suddenly unplayable CD-R so long as you do regular backups of all your data. I have to admit I used to be skeptical about hard drives as a primary method of music file storage, but after seeing a friend's simple setup with 3 of these WD external drives, and the absolute ease of use compared to swapping out CD-Rs, I was convinced. Now I just need to get a sufficiently large drive - could've probably bought one with what I spent on the Concord sale...

There are many download managers available that will allow you to grab multiple files using http instead of ftp. If you use Firefox, check out FlashGot used in conjunction with one of the download managers linked on the FlashGot page. I've used Free Download Manager with FlashGot, and they work like a charm.

The US and UK editions have identical content, but the covers are different. The one you have is the US edition, and the one in Claude's link is the UK edition. I was lucky enough to pick up remaindered copies of volume 1, California Cool, and New York Hot some years ago, but I never got volume 2 until recently, when I found a reasonably-priced copy of the US edition online at a bookseller in the Netherlands. The shipping costs were almost as much as the price of the book itself, but even so it was still a lot cheaper than most of the other copies I've run across.

Mockingbirds and blue jays can be VERY aggressive toward anything that gets too near their nests, regardless of size. I've seen them dive-bomb neighborhood cats as well as my German Shepherd, and I've had a close encounter with them on a couple of occasions myself.

I'd have bailed out of every CD club long ago if I still had to mail in reply cards. You can handle that via the web now (although in Jazz Heritage's case, if you wait until the new catalog's out before replying, you have to know to select "Previous Catalog" before the correct featured selection is visible). I believe BMG offers an option now where you don't have to deal with any sort of reply cards, and they don't automatically send a selection every month.

I've been a member for several years, but I can't say I've bought very many CDs from them - of the ones I got when I joined, a lot of them did have the crappy-looking B&W inserts. They do have frequent sales with halfway-decent prices ($4.98 single CDs, $9.98 doubles) on selected titles. I just picked up the 2-disc complete Blue Note/Capitol Fats Navarro & Tadd Dameron set from them for $13 including shipping, and the packaging was identical to the retail version except for the "manufactured for..." note and barcode on the back, just like some BMG titles. On the whole, though, there aren't very many titles they offer that you can't get a better deal on elsewhere.

I got my shipping confirmation today too (for those keeping track, my order number was 5604, placed on the evening of 7/12), and it included a tracking link. Re: the earlier comment about a tracking link not working, it's not unusual for tracking info to not be visible in a shipper's system for a day or two after the link's been generated by the vendor - I've actually received Priority Mail packages before any tracking info was available online in the past, although I'd expect FedEx's systems to be slicker in that regard than USPS' systems. Looks like I got everything I ordered, too. Now that I've jumped all over the K2s, I'm pondering a second order of the more obscure stuff. Maybe I oughta figure out where I'm going to put the CDs from the order that just shipped first.

If you use Firefox, there's the VideoDownloader extension.

I just finished watching the Sgt. Bilko set a couple of days ago. It's really great - I can't imagine too many better DVDs being released this year. I agree that season sets would've been better, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for them to be released, either. The same thing happened with GUNSMOKE - a multi-disc best-of compilation instead of full-season sets - but at least with that one they had the excuse of the show having had such a phenomenally long run that it was uncertain there were enough die-hard fans to justify 20 full-season sets. The extras are fairly brief on the Bilko set, but they're well-chosen - I found myself wishing they'd seen fit to include all of Phil Silvers' final TV interview before his death, instead of just a short clip from it, as what's there is fascinating. But the shows by themselves should be all the enticement anyone needs to grab this set.

I knew there had to be a reason I got it so cheap!

Anyone know a source for the plastic trays that hold the jewel cases in Mosaic boxes? I got a used copy of the Four Freshmen set, which contains three double-thick jewel cases, but for some reason the plastic tray was missing. I already called Mosaic, but they said they didn't have any extras - it sounded like whoever they get their boxes and trays from provides them already assembled.

JJJ, disc 6 - have been making my way through it since it appeared on my doorstep in the middle of last week. Soon to follow: the Four Freshmen set, which I scored a used copy of for $50 earlier today. Now, if I could only duplicate that kind of luck with other Mosaic sets...

Yeah, this has been a no-no for quite some time. There are exceptions (I believe UK-based sellers are allowed to impose Paypal surcharges), but in general it's a similar situation to surcharges on purchases made with a credit card, which are illegal in some states and at any rate are prohibited by some major card companies like Visa and MasterCard. Some merchants skirt the letter of this prohibition by offering "cash discounts", but I don't think that will fly on eBay. Basically, as an eBay seller you have two options: accept the Paypal fees as part of the cost of doing business, or refuse to accept Paypal and alienate a whole lot of buyers who have no interest in dealing with checks or money orders.

Interesting. I picked up a couple of hatOLOGY Cecil Taylor CDs that CDHut had listed on ebay a couple of months ago. I was going to get the Ayler Lorrach hatOLOGY disc from him as well, but by the time I got around to doing so, the auction had ended without any takers and he'd relisted it at a price $10 higher than before - guess the price was adjusted upward after it was officially out of print. Anyway, when the Taylor CDs showed up, one was the correct disc, but instead of the other one he'd shipped a Sun Ra title instead. No problems sending it back for the right disc, although it did take a while and I had to email a follow-up inquiry before the replacement package arrived. First time I'd ever bought anything from him, despite being tempted by the big RCA Ellington set several years ago when Jazzloft was offering it at a very attractive discount (I ultimately wound up getting a nice used copy on ebay for just over $200 somewhat later ). As for Caiman, I've never had any problems with them over the course of several DVD and CD orders. I recently got several of the Free America series titles from them via Amazon Marketplace, and they arrived quickly.