Uncle Skid

Actually, Macs/Safari will display that same error, although the verbiage may be slightly different. This only occurs when you're trying to connect to a "secure" site (https://), and may or may not indicate a real problem. In my experience, as long as you're sure you typed in the correct address (or accessed the correct bookmark), you'll be fine. There should be a way in Internet Explorer to just ignore this error and access the site anyway -- are you able to get to the site?

Thanks.

Anybody know if Chris Dave is playing drums on this tour?

Yes, I have, too. And Ad Block works wonderfully on most sites, but even that is being circumvented in various ways. As I already said, it just that this place has always been an oasis from all of that nonsense. It really saddens me to have set up AdBlock for this site. This was the one place where I've never had to worry about that.

Young Chinese girls, ONLINE now!!!! Really? I'm not sure if that reflects poorly on me or on this board. Either way, all of this crap has been Ad Blocked. Permanently. I realize the economic realities of keeping this board up and running are real. I've been a financial supporter of the board in the past, and I probably should have donated more. One (of many) reasons why this place is so cool is that it was always an oasis from all the other horseshit sites out there (AAJ, for example) where ads and paid content compete (sometimes rather transparently) against normal conversation. Forgive the rant. I realize the ads are necessary, I just wish we could come up with a different model. Is it possible to not serve up ads to users that have contributed financially? Just asking.

Opeth in Grand Rapids! Maybe I should see if Chuck wants to go with me!

Grado SR225's here. I don't use them a whole lot, but I'm very happy with them. Check out goodcans.com -- lots of great information there. I bought the SR225's from them, highly recommended.

All my CDs are ripped to FLAC, using Exact Audio Copy. I have a 1TB drive on a network attached storage device, so "everything" is there, in the lossless format. I use Winamp -- have always preferred that over iTunes, even for transferring music to the iPod. I used foobar2000 to do a batch conversion of all FLAC files to MP3/compressed for iPods. When I did this initially, it took over 24 hours to convert all the FLAC files to MP3. After that point, foobar is smart enough to convert only newly added FLAC files. Under Winamp, I use smart playlists to easily differentiate between the FLAC and MP3s. FLACs for home listening, MP3s for iPods. Finally, I have a Xitel Hi-Fi Link device (USB to line-out) for sound output from PC to home stereo.

There's a huge difference. Jim's not making money selling your personal information.

Holy crap! I received a check for $18 today. Party time!

Banned, maybe. But appropriate in this instance. RIP Mr. Motian.

On its way to you tomorrow, Shawn.

I ended up with an extra, unopened copy of this CD/magazine. PM me if anybody (in the US) wants it -- I'd be glad to send out at no cost. The only thing I'd ask is that you Paypal the seller ROCK HARD GmbH something reasonable (~$10), as a thank you for his great customer service.

Used to be my wife missed me for hanging out on the board, now she misses me for strumming the guitar every night. Skid, barre chords aren't my only problem, any 7th chord involving the pinkie is a major problem but hopefully I'll strengthen it and be able to play those chords well. In the meantime though as long as its not an E to E7 progression, I'm going with the chords I can play. How's that for a substitution? My wife would probably be happy if I went back to strumming the guitar instead of playing drums every night. Keep at it, the pinkie thing will come. Playing with lighter gauge strings may help -- or a different guitar -- my Strat was always easier to play than my acoustic.

Took piano and trumpet lessons as a kid. Became far too cool (or so I thought) to continue with it during high school, but still sat down at the piano occasionally. Probably a very common story, but rediscovered my interest in music after having kids. Wanted them to take piano lessons, so I started playing again as well. Started playing guitar around then, too, mainly rock and blues, but got very interested in jazz after a few years. Learned to read fairly well, and also managed to get some great jazz chord voicings under my fingers. Never really took it much further than that. And Dan, you don't need "full barre" chords in jazz -- no need to play the root, and there are endless harmonic possibilities in just playing the 3's and 7's -- Freddie Green! Anyway, after messing with jazz guitar for about five years, I got kind of burned out on that, and decided that I always wanted to play drums. So, why not? Signed up for lessons with the one and only Randissimo, and he helped me get started on a wonderful journey. I've been playing drums for a little over six years now, and I often think I'm completely insane for even attempting it. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know anything. But, it's been huge fun. Met a whole bunch of interesting people, and have never ceased to be amazed by the kindness and encouragement from other musicians, both "amateur" and professional. While it has been very hard at times, I do believe it's never to late to start something new. Was lucky enough to find a group of like-minded musicians to practice and play with... fairly poor video and audio quality, but here's an attempt at Sam Rivers' Beatrice.

I had the model below that one (SX-680, if I remember correctly) for many years. Bought it new, in 1979, with paper route money. Left channel eventually went out, and it sat in my basement for years before I finally got rid of it. Power meters!

My copy is silver, no problems playing on the computer.

I was thinking about why this is the only Nessa title I don't have, and it comes down to the fact that I have no context at all for Hal Russell. Unlike the AEC, Roscoe, Warne Marsh, Air, Von Freeman, Fred Anderson, et. al., I know very little about him. And I know that's my own fault. But, Larry and Chuck, I do appreciate the information you guys have provided here in helping me with that. But, I still have a hard time understanding where he fits in the long tradition of Chicago-area jazz, and also in the wider context. He gets a brief mention in John Litweiler's book, but he's still an enigma to me. And that's probably why I don't have this recording. Looking forward to what presumably is an upcoming Nessa release.

I love threads like this. I voted Blue Note, but I'm going back to listen again. Jackie!

Michigan has some really great breweries. Brewery Vivant - Farmhouse Ale

I had the pleasure of meeting Ralph this weekend. Besides being a wonderful, warm person, he's a fantastic guitar player as well. I miss Joe, too, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Perhaps more than just surprised -- Randy and Jim have found a worthy successor. Jim -- regarding this CD debate -- if you go the download route, please do it in loss-less (preferably FLAC) format. You, the band, and so many others, spend so much time and money getting this recording sounding just the way you want, I'd hate to see it potentially comprised by MP3 compression. If I could download what is effectively the same thing as the CD, that would be far preferable over MP3s. A PDF booklet would be a nice touch, too. And, yes, I'm fully aware that MP3 compression above a certain (arbitrary?) bit-rate is sonically indistinguishable over the actual CD... but, I don't care. Server bandwidth is relatively inexpensive. It's taken me many years to comes to terms with it, but Chuck is right. FLAC files, PDF booklet, please.

That might be the only one I don't have, too. Not quite sure why.

Shawn was right. This record is sinking in after a few more spins, starting to like it more now. I also ordered the "deluxe" version (w/DVD), and finally was able to download the two bonus tracks today. It took a lot of messing around with computer crap (updating java, running some stupid plug-in, etc), but it was worth it. "Face in the The Snow" is particularly good, and oddly enough, the recording itself sounds fantastic to me -- unlike the actual CD. FWIW, MP3s are encoded at 320k.

The new record is OK. Not great, but OK. I was listening to disc 1 of their live CD at Royal Albert Hall, and I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed when listening to Heritage after that. Disregarding the music for the moment, the recording itself sounds very odd to me, very compressed, very unlike their earlier records. Almost to the point of wondering WTF the producers were thinking -- the sound of this new record is just weird to me. Heritage is slowly growing on me, but, at this point, it just doesn't come close to any of the earlier Opeth recordings. But, more power to them... this isn't a complaint about the lack of growling vocals or any other death metal "requirements"-- I just see this as a necessary step to wherever they are going next. And, wherever Mikael Akerfeldt is going next, I will be there to listen. His track record (and all of the amazing musicians in that band) is too friggin' amazing to ignore.

Thanks, Erik!