Tom Storer

Mike, if you surf the web and don't have a good firewall up, you're going to be vulnerable to evil-genius hackers no matter what you do. However, if you pay attention to your privacy on Facebook, you can set it up to be pretty safe. Your Organissimo account is probably a hacker's paradise, however. ;-) Tim, you could set up a Facebook account so that no one could see it except the select few whom you choose to trust with it. In other words, you could be sure your students and colleagues would get no results through either a Facebook or Internet search, and you could set it so that only your "friends," or better yet, only select groupings of your "friends," could see any content that you post. Whether or not it's worth the bother to do that is up to you, of course, but you can make a Facebook account pretty damn private if you want to.

Difficult to see how someone who wasn't in the room can possibly be "in the know"...

Excellent French sea salt? Are you sure you're not a Democrat?

From Lorraine's point of view, he's a youngster.

That does look interesting! On February 23rd, Sunny Murray will be playing at a club called Le Dynamo in Pantin, just outside Paris, as part of the Banlieues Bleues festival. He'll be in a trio with Charles Gayle and bassist Juini Booth. The concert is dedicated to the memory of Sirone.

As for the early hype, I think in the late 70's he might have been on the rails to be the charismatic young jazz star backed by media and a major label. He sounded "jazzy" and did "the tradition" along with more modern stuff, he was handsome and easily won over audiences in concert with a friendly and playful stage presence, he had the dynastic thing going. But then Wynton came along and the spotlight, and major label attention, went to him.

Alas, eMusic Europe doesn't get Warner or Nonesuch. At least not yet.

Oh no! I just discovered him a couple of months ago! Well, rediscovered, actually. I had known him from Paul Butterfield's two early-70's albums with his Better Days band, but hadn't realized his history as a Nawlins rock'n'roller and subsequently as a soulful blue-eyed swamp singer-songwriter. I love his first album, eponymously titled, and have his later albums (not many) on my to-buy list. A couple of his songs can be listened to at a site called 30 Days Out... R.I.P.

I just picked up "Historicity" the other day to see what all the talk is about. Due to time constraints, I haven't finished listening to it yet. Many of the high-technicity piano trios these days remind me of watching Olympic competitions: the blend of keen concentration, highly trained athleticism, pride in performance, and ambition. You think "Damn, look at that! Aren't they good! Imagine being able to do something like that!" But that stuff, although it can be thrilling in a way, rarely makes me smile. My first impression is that "Historicity" has a good deal of that kind of mindset in it, with perhaps a little more feeling. Iyer is certainly a hell of a pianist, and he has an admirable strength and gravity in his touch. But as Larry's comments at least implied, there seems to be more in the way of tricky-meter arrangements than graceful line. It may be reactionary to say "where's the melody?" but let's face it, sometimes you end up thirsty for it.

Actually, he might have gotten a kiss from Mitterand--Frédéric Mitterand, that is, the Minister of Culture!

Damn. I would certainly get this if I had a turntable! I love the CD set and hate the thought that it is incomplete. <frown face smiley>

I'm reading James Ellroy's new one, "Blood's A Rover," the last of a trilogy that has included "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand." The trilogy is a violent, jumpy look at America in the 50's and 60's, centering on conspiracies leading to the Kennedy and King assassinations and beyond. Cruelty, corruption, hate, deception, intrigue, murder, drugs, sex and perversion in wave after wave. The narrative style is a mercilessly staccato accumulation of repetitive, shorthand sentences interspersed with more discursive "document inserts" representing FBI reports, bugged conversations, etc. It's highly idiosyncratic and I've talked to several people who couldn't take it, but I find it brilliantly done--very tense and edgy but almost symphonic in the way the characters and themes all flow together. Not your average thriller.

The longeole sausage was delicious--rich and flavorsome as a pork sausage ought to be, but not as fatty as all that and deliciously aromatic with the fennel seeds. If you ever go through Geneva you should try it!

A friend from Geneva brought me a longeole sausage and a recipe for Geneva potatoes. The longeole is a curious-looking pork sausage with some of the pork rind ground in and fennel seeds for flavoring. The potato recipe is for diced potatoes sautéed with onions and a sauce including white wine, flour, and bouquet garni. Apparently the genevois swear by it. The sausage is now cooking slowly...

Welcome back, Randy, and Merry Christmas! Stick around!

An "organic breakfast joint." Now there's something you'll never find in France. ;-) Buffalo meat, either. But what is an olive burger? Olives mixed in with the meat? Green or black?

Talk about a tempest in a teapot. My speculation: Wynton probably tossed off a humorously provocative statement. "Some guy in Spain stood up for REAL JAZZ? Good for him! Get his name, I'll send him my whole catalog." An "assistant" who overheard happened to know the Guardian journalist, and gave him a call or sent him an email, or maybe happened to run into him. "Hey, Wynton says he'll send his whole catalog to that guy in Spain if you can track him down! Haw haw!" So the guy runs the article. After all, it saves him having to dream up something serious to write about. In any case, big deal. Wynton would probably be delighted to know that the stalwart anti-fascists on Organissimo are pale with indignation over this fluff.

One year I booked us both for ballroom dancing lessons. Let it be said that I am no dancer, so this was a big surprise. It got probably the most delight of any present ever. We did it for three years running, stopped because of scheduling issues, and are always on the verge of starting up again.

The 7th is too far off my beaten track for me to sample these, but if I'm in the neighborhood some day I'll check it out! Burger-wise, you can get relatively discreet burgers from many Parisian bistros, not just fast-food joints, that aren't necessarily bad. However, you can't pick your toppings, and usually get lettuce, tomato, perhaps raw onion, and some mayo-based house sauce of pink or orange hue. One is better off constructing one's own at home. Personally, I make burgers maybe three or four times a year.

Wynton certainly knows how to rile up the opposite camp! Lighten up, folks, he's pulling your strings.

A burger thread on another forum got enthusiastic participation. How do you like your burgers? How often do you eat them? Homemade or favorite provider? Etc. Inspired by that thread, I made myself a burger last night. I got ground beef from the butcher, some American-style bacon from the local supermarket (sometimes they have it); fried the bacon, fried the burgers in the bacon grease. On top, added comté cheese and strips of bacon. A dollop of ketchup and I was away. It was extremely satisfying. Recount your burger story here.

Sounds great. And where are you with your massive blues anthology?

And here it is: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...stmas&st=80

I just picked up Dylan's "Christmas in the Heart" and Carla Bley's "Carla's Christmas Carols." Top ratings for both. Dylan is gloriously kitschy, Bley's is gorgeous and tasteful (Bley and Swallow plus the excellent Ed Partyka Brass Quintet).