Dave Garrett

We were out walking around our neighborhood last night and I saw a Penske truck parked in front of a house with its flashers on and rollup door open. I wondered if someone at that address was moving in or out, but my wife said no, look, he's delivering a package. I was like, wtf, is Penske in the package delivery business now, but now the mystery's solved.

There is an abandoned M-K-T rail line near where I live that cuts right through the heart of the neighborhood that grew up around it. At some point within the last 15-20 years it was converted into a hike and bike trail. We walk our dog along it frequently, and whenever we do so I always think back to its origins and imagine trains running on it back in the day.

Glad you like it! There are a lot of surf music compilations out there but it's hard to go wrong with this one.

Not so sure about that. On one of the neighborhood message boards, there are always a lot of complaints about mail service. Someone who went to the local post office and talked to the guy in charge there said he was told that the USPS is struggling nationwide even more than usual because they have thousands of postal workers who've been quarantined for exposure to Covid, so they're shorthanded in many locales and having to send workers from other locales to fill in for those who are out. Anecdotally, it wasn't unusual to see temp carriers on our street whenever the regular carrier was on vacation, but it does seem like we've had a lot more temps since the start of the pandemic.

They're actually using silverware? Around here many/most of the restaurants that have reopened have switched to sealed, disposable plasticware. Many have also removed plastic drink cups and ceramic coffee mugs and are instead providing single-use paper cups.

On Fire: This blazing Van Halen club show is their earliest known live recording

I think the versions streaming on Amazon Prime are old, PD versions, not the new restoration. At least, that's what appears to be the case from an admittedly cursory search I just did there. IIRC the restoration was based on a 35mm release print, none of which had been previously thought to survive. The PD versions are sourced from dupey 16mm prints.

Unless Comcast is charging different add-on rates for different parts of the country, the add-on package in question is $10 per month. That said, I have yet to bring myself to pony up for it, despite the fact that I watched TCM on a near-daily basis. Our cable + internet bill is already obscenely high, and it doesn't sit well that a channel I'd had for over twenty years as part of the regular channel tier was suddenly moved to a premium tier, especially when the reasons cited by Comcast for doing so were somewhere between contradictory and outright bullshit. However, I am concerned for TCM's long-term viability, given that I read somewhere that a pretty big chunk of their viewer base gets the channel through Comcast. I've read lots of online comments since the change from people who have likewise refused to pay the extra $10 despite being longtime viewers. I can easily see a situation developing where TCM gets caught between a big subscriber drop-off from Comcast customers on one side, and pressures from the new corporate overlords at WarnerMedia that were installed in the wake of AT&T's purchase of Time Warner on the other. TCM's always been more of a prestige channel than a highly profitable one, and AT&T didn't make any bones about the fact that even the profits from Warner theatrical blockbusters were small change compared to what AT&T was accustomed to dealing with. I'd hate to see TCM disappear permanently as a result of all these factors. But Comcast doesn't have much incentive to play nice about it, given that as the owner of NBC Universal, they're already direct competitors with Warner, even before you get to the much bigger competition with AT&T at the telco/internet level.

Yes, I have several of their other sets, and they're a treasure trove of stuff that's off the beaten track: https://www.discogs.com/Various-So-Cal-Speed-Shops-Hot-Rod-Classics/release/12194993 https://www.discogs.com/Various-Los-Nuggetz-1960s-Punk-Pop-And-Psychedelic-Music-From-Latin-America/release/4755470 https://www.discogs.com/The-5-Royales-Soul-Swagger-The-Complete-5-Royales-1951-1967/release/11767705 https://www.discogs.com/Various-Pulp-Pop-Culture-Box-Vol-1/release/5078013 https://www.discogs.com/Various-Groove-Grind-Rare-Soul-63-73/release/7903529 All of the above sets are also nicely packaged in 7"-8" square book-style packaging that contain the liner notes booklets as well as the CDs (with the exception of the Pulp & Pop Culture one, which is a regular CD-sized clamshell box).

This one's a great compilation. The original version pictured above packaged the 4 CDs in a book - it's out of print now, but has been reissued in a regular jewel case minus the book.

I haven't ordered much of anything in the past couple of months, but I did preorder a book a while back from a publisher in the UK. It showed up about a week ago, less than two weeks after I received a shipping notice. And that was via standard Royal Mail. Not too bad at all - I've had orders from Amazon UK take over a month to reach the US, and that's during non-pandemic times.

Tribute from last night's show.

Hip-O also released a third set that went up to 1974, Have Mercy: His Complete Chess Recordings 1969 - 1974. Given the asking prices for the Hip-O sets now, if I didn't already have them and was looking to get a comprehensive set of Berry's recordings I'd probably opt for the big Bear Family box instead. I haven't heard it, but I've read generally positive things about it (although the mastering on some BF sets can be a contentious subject). Chuck Berry: Rock And Roll Music - Any Old Way You Choose It - The Complete Studio Recordings ... Plus! (16-CD & 2 Bücher)

Obit from the Freep: Al Kaline, Detroit Tigers legend, dies at age 85

WebEx is a tested and proven product. I've used it nearly every workday for the past several years, although we typically only use the audio and screen-share functions, not the video. Looks like they've significantly upgraded the free version to remove some of the limitations it previously had compared to the paid subscription tiers. I'd be wary of Zoom as well - they've got all the buzz right now but it's apparent that they're having to scramble to manage a huge and rapid uptick in the user base.

https://twitter.com/Wayne_Shorter/status/1245500483978047489

I'm not sure what the process is if you have a linked bank account and then unlink it. They typically require a linked bank account for security/verification purposes, but if you've already been verified and then unlink the account, I don't know if you will subsequently be required to re-verify or not. Some sellers/vendors require a linked bank account in order for you to pay using Paypal. Also, bear in mind that getting money in and out of your Paypal account becomes more difficult and takes longer if you don't have a linked bank account to effect such transfers. True enough, and it's why I'm very reluctant to sell items that are associated with a high incidence of fraudulent transactions (like electronics or cell phones), but also why I will frequently not hesitate to buy something I've been searching for even if the seller's behavior or the way the listing is worded raises a red flag. If the item doesn't show up, or was misrepresented, I know getting a refund will be as simple as filing an eBay or Paypal claim, so the risk is minimal. Also true as to music sellers that overgrade, although I haven't had too many problems in that regard as I haven't actively collected vinyl for many years, just CDs.

I've used PayPal almost since their inception, and continue to do so, but with certain caveats. Unless things have changed, they are not a bank, so they are not subject to the same regulations that banks are (many of which are for the protection of depositors/customers). Also, I do not have my main bank account linked to my PayPal account, but rather keep a separate account that is only used with PayPal, with only a small amount of money in that account to keep it active from the bank's perspective. I use PayPal primarily for eBay transactions, and although I rarely sell on eBay these days, both eBay and PayPal policies strongly favor buyers (a primary example: buyers now have 180 days - six months! - to file a claim, so as a seller, you are essentially providing a six-month warranty at no cost during which time a buyer can change his/her mind about the purchase). If a seller winds up on the losing side of a dispute, and doesn't have a sufficient balance in their PayPal account to cover refunding the buyer, PayPal can claw back the balance from their linked bank account. Hence the recommended use of a PayPal-specific bank account to which money is regularly swept from the PayPal account, then withdrawn/transferred to another bank account that PayPal does not have access to. Unscrupulous buyers can work eBay/PayPal's buyer-oriented systems to their advantage, and there are plenty of stories from sellers who've had it happen to them. Of course, I would not expect such things to be much of a concern in smaller, more collegial environments like this one.

The West Coast house was in Oakland, and doesn't appear to have been an actual Case Study House. Bev Thorne: Brubeck Home Designer

I tracked this 1979 TV special down on Youtube a couple of months ago after running across a period review of it. It caught my interest not so much for the music, but for the fact that quite a bit of it was filmed in Crockett, Texas, where Kenny's mother lived. If you ever wanted to see a time capsule of Crockett in the late 70s, this is your show. Crockett's a place I have more than a passing familiarity with, as my mother's family is from that area, and her late brother has a brief appearance in this special - he's the deputy who reminisces with Kenny about how he used to have coffee with Kenny's father every day. RIP.

Last time this topic came up I recommended the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 (two-channel plus a subwoofer). I have never heard better sound from any computer speaker in its price range (and they outperform some that are considerably more expensive). I've had them for many years, but in the currently-available version they appear to have made some changes to the design, which most Amazon reviewers seem to think hasn't affected the sound quality. Coincidentally, the technology columnist for our local paper just praised these to the skies in his weekly email column - he just bought a new set after the subwoofer died in the set he'd had for almost twenty years. They are more expensive than the Bose set - Amazon is currently selling them for $229, but you can get them directly from Klipsch for $150: https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certified-Computer-Speaker/dp/B000062VUO https://www.klipsch.com/products/klipsch-promedia-2-1-thx-certified-computer-speaker With some patience you may be able to get an even better deal. I think I paid around $120 for the ones I have when Best Buy had them on sale.

The film is definitely one of the weird historical curios of the 60s. WFMU's blog had an interesting article about it back in 2007: https://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/you_are_what_yo.html And if that piques anyone's interest further, it's on Youtube:

Several links of interest that contain the most useful information I've run across, and that are being updated on an ongoing basis: Don’t Panic: The comprehensive Ars Technica guide to the coronavirus Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now PSA: A Note of Caution Regarding Covid-19 Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Interactive Map

The backstory on those emails, from the guy who wrote the copy for them: The most successful email I ever wrote