Dmitry

Overpriced and overhyped. You're basically buying a brand, like Benz. Their clock radio is ok, but not worth even 1/4 of the asking price.

Vanya, the answer to your questions is - CATRAXX http://www.fnprg.com/catraxx/catraxx.html It's all that and more. It's tremendous actually, if you don't mind spending the time with it.

I think it might sound better than the RVGs...

Second the Cambridge Audio rec. Affordable and good. DON'T BUY BOSE

Chris, I'm sure you are aware of the 1959 Bessie biography by Paul Oliver. Was that the 1st book dedicated to her? What do you think of it?

Add D

Hew was a pretty good writer. I have read his liner notes on a few records and they're always witty and very-well written. Didn't I read somewhere that Frank Kofsky and he have an altercation in the press sometime in the 60s? Do you know what that was about? The communist and the VOA jazz director. 'nuff said.

Willis Conover He taught more people about jazz than anyone else. Save for Pops maybe.

Just checked my cattrax database. I bought more than 400 cds from both Tower stores in NY since 1999. I guess this news is a blessing in disguise.

Moanin', baby.

Be strong and have your wife by your side! My sincere condolences.

Damn it; I forgot that part! Duuuuh.

In a second I shall stick this frozen fish onto my penis for you, America! Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaw

Check eBay completed auctions. Price Guides, like the formerly venerable Goldmine, are becoming less and less important, imo.

I'm thinking of going tomorrow night for the 1st set. Anyone else interested?

Bummer. I was interested in it as well...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3257684.stm World is a brutal place ...

Alain-Fournier -- THE WANDERER [Le Grand Meaulnes]

Only in America..

You're absolutely right. This book was for sale at the house. Michael Cogswell - Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo. Cogswell is a curator for the Armstrong House. Book It's a lovely lovely volume. I'll purchase it next time I'm at the house. I'm planning to bring my father when the snow melts.

MOSAIC MD3-132 GEORGE LEWIS OOP CD SET! Winning bid: US $356.00 Did you guys already talk about this one? Madness of King George...

Well, lads, we went and it was AWESOME. The house is surprisingly small, there are two floors [used to be 3, I believe the 3rd floor was added after Mr. Armstrong's death by Mrs. Armstrong, but it was later torn down. The whole house is not more than 2000 sq.ft. or so. Photography is prohibited inside the house, but I made a couple of shots outside. The house was purchased by Mrs. A in 1943 while Mr. A was touring and he didn't get to see it till some time later. At that time Corona used to be an Irish-Italian neighborhood, but now is mainly Hispanic and African-American. Mrs. A had called him up to tell him she’d bought a house and gave him the address over the phone. When he got in town he told a cab driver to take him to the address on the scrap of paper and when they got there he didn’t want to go in, thinking it was some mistake, that the house was too nice to be his and that he wrote the address wrong. He was in his mid-forties when they bought the place, his first home, and his last. Anyway, the ticket office and the gift shop are on the left, in what used to be the garage. Behind the brick wall is a Japanese garden that the Armstrongs made out of an empty lot they purchased for $10,000 some years after they moved in. I think the house itself cost $3,500. The building is immaculately preserved both outside and inside. Shortly before her death Mrs. A had hired a lady by the name of Bessie Smith[!] who, even 20 years after Mrs. A's death used to come 2-3 times/week and dusted and mopped the place. It's just a very warm, cozy place, nothing flashy except for the 360* mirrored bathroom on the first floor. Gold fixtures, marble basin; that’s how the man wanted it. And it looks good. There are even some bottles of his cologne on the shelves. It's amazing, but the feeling I got was that he just stepped out for a pack of smokes. His hand-written notes are on the desk in his study, next to his reading glasses. It's well-known that he used to record reel-to-reel tapes of everything that he found to be of interest, even phone conversations with friends. Over 600 of his tapes are stored in Queens College archives. I'm plannning to read a good bio of his, but seeing the house was more than enough to tell me - he was not a tragic persona. I was wrong. The feeling I got was that he was quite happy, actually. Above the first floor window is a terrace from which he used to trumpet-call the neighborhood children, letting them know he was back in town. Don't tell anybody, but they let me ring the door bell.

This is one way to find out for myself- http://www.satchmo.net/thehouse/ We'll be leaving in a few minutes.

Tonight PBS was showing a less than memorable early 60s film about jazz musicians with Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman, titled Paris Blues. Cameo by Louis Armstrong, in his best sweat and grins. Score by Duke Ellington[i wonder if it's available]. My wife, with all her admittedly pedestrian knowledge and forced exposure to the music, in response to my saying that Pops had to be a tragic figure in real life, said something to this effect - "He's the most well-known jazz musician in the world. Even those who cannot name any other jazz musician will name Louis Armstrong, well, they know him because of the grinning and the clowning." She probably is right. The amiable, love-you-all Louie, with thousands grinning photographs and a million smiling Made in China Satchmo figurines as portable tokens of his existance.. When I was growing up, my father had one of those pictures at our home, full color, with drips of sweat, eyes rolled out like the Citroen headlights. And a big grin. Now that I have grown this Art Kane photo is hands down my favorite depiction of the man. No grins, no sweat, white handkerchief in shirt pocket. What's the word?

Thanks, Muskrat. I just read [almost] the whole thing. It's quite illuminating.