MartyJazz

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. 22 runs and three grand slams cover a lot of lousy pitching! Yeah, I wrote the above when the score was 7-1 in the 4th inning, never dreaming that the Yanks would come back so spectacularly. Let's face it however, if Hughes shows up in a playoff game like he did yesterday, that game would most certainly be a loss. Yanks most definitely have starting pitching concerns.

Phil Hughes - the STOPPER!!!

Thanks for the link. Upon scrolling down to page 4 of the PDF file, an English translation begins.

Just returned from a brief vacation in Savannah. Wonderful sights and homes in the Historic District. However, because my hotel was nearby I did spot and visit the antique/junk store in Franklin Square by the City Market and while there are 3 or 4 shelves of LPs, there is no order whatsoever to them and I could not see any jazz during my admittedly cursory review. Be forewarned should you still want to visit that store, no A/C!!!! All the fans in the store did little to mitigate the intense heat at this time of the year, i.e., upper 90s every day.

Same here. Have owned it for years. A sensational box, LP box-sized dimensions which makes for a wonderful booklet with great photos.

Let me reply that if CC winds up with 22 or 23 wins but loses to the Rex Sox again making him 0-5 or 0-6 against them for the year, then I think he should not even be considered for the Cy Young. If one team has your number, then you're simply not that great IMO.

In complete agreement. A signature only has value if it comes from someone who created, or at least helped to create (e.g., sideman), the item that is being signed. Common sense, I would think.

As a 40+ year Jet season ticket holder (currently living in Florida), I unfortunately live and die with this team during football season (especially here in antagonistic Dolphin country), heart holding sway over mind. Anyway, love big mouth Rex but am very concerned now about the possibility of losing quite a few free agents, most especially Santonio Holmes who proved last year to all Jet fans what a fabulous playmaker he is. Redskins want him and Dan Snyder has signed many very good players away from us over the years (see Randy Thomas, Laverneus Coles, etc.) so I know that Jets will have to break the bank to keep Holmes. OTOH, common sense also tells me that Holmes should be reluctant to go to a team such as the Skins whose QB situation is very iffy, but money always seems to rule the day. Would also like to hold on to Braylon Edwards and Brad Smith as well, but that's somewhat unrealistic. We'll see.

Yeah Shields, who is a very good pitcher BTW despite a mediocre record, outdueled CC but what really bugged me about this loss was the sight of Farnsworth getting a save by striking out the side in the 9th, all KOs resulting on 3rd strike swings at pitches out of the strike zone. Ugh!

Marc Myers' July 21, 2011 JazzWax column has a good feature. Scroll down a little once you arrive here.

The Yanks still could have gotten out of that inning with no runs scored if Logan snares the comebacker to the mound, instead of muffing it, and starts a 1-4-3 DP. But that dome makes a travesty out of the game.

Having known Kirk pretty well during the last decade of his life, I do not doubt at all that he would have gotten a kick out of setting up a joke with a comedian such as Leno in order to get a laugh from the audience. Kirk was very serious off the stage, but he also enjoyed a good laugh and always wanted to give the audience a good time. Your point is therefore well taken about Leno's ability to truthfully recall Kirk considering the latter died in '78 and Leno, despite the long association with Kevin Eubanks (and for a short time previously, Branford Marsalis), has never really been into jazz, although he obviously respects the musicians who come from that music.

You're right. Once I created the subheading, I couldn't see how I could correct it.

I’m presently reading a book of interviews of various entertainment personalities, who mostly are giving their opinions of what constitutes satire emanating from comedians of the past and present, and I came across this interesting passage in the interview of Jay Leno (who certainly is not a satirist nor claims to be): “When I was starting out, I used to play a primarily black club in Boston, called the Sugar Shack, just to see if I could work in front of that crowd. I toured in front of predominantly black audiences opening for a brilliant black jazz artist named Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He was really outspoken and radical, and also happened to be blind. He’d go onstage in a dashiki before I went up, and say, ‘I want to introduce a young brother who knows the black experience and knows all about the white devils….’ He’d do the whole radical Black Panther, ‘white devil’ thing, and then: ‘Please welcome Jay Leno!’ I’d walk on and whisper, ‘Shhhh…Don’t tell him I’m white.’ Of course there’d be a huge laugh, because all you have to do is be funny. To me, the real test of comic is when you can play any audience – all black, all white, all female – whatever it may be.” - from “!Satiristas!: Comedians, Contrarians, Raconteurs & Vulgarians” by Paul Provenza and Dan Dion, @2010, (p109, hardcover).

Professional ethics precluded that she would tell us what, if anything, was his problem, but his vision did not appear to be problematic to me. However, as we all know from his many years on the bandstand promoting a "vigorous" brand of jazz, it was primarily his hearing that suffered later in life.

I saw this band around the time of this recording at Sweet Basil in NYC and they were great. I recall that we went because one of my wife's friends, a female ophthalmologist, knowing that I'm into jazz asked me a few days before the gig if I "ever heard of Art Blakey". As I educated her as to Blakey's importance, she told me that Blakey had just that week come to her office for an eye checkup and he told her what he did for a living when she inquired that of him. So I then suggested that we double that coming weekend and check him out at Sweet Basil. Between sets, Blakey stopped at our table for some brief pleasantries when he recognized the ophthalmologist he had recently visited. Needless to say, she was thrilled particularly as there was so much "electricity" in the club that evening in terms of the audience responsiveness to the music, and I must confess I was somewhat thrilled as well, jaded as I am. Nice memory.

My timing has been bad this year, the way I've denigrated Gardner and Swisher and then all of a sudden they start producing. But your post in light of Jeter's theatrics in today's 5-4 Yankee win, really takes the prize

If you want to view a real swinging band with Nash on drums, by all means get this Joe Lovano Nonet DVD recorded in Paris back in 2001. It's a real gem!!!:

Quite a few years ago when Phil Rizzuto announced the Yankee games, he told a true funny story about his last year in pinstripes. George Weiss, the Yankee GM, called Rizzuto into his office one day ostensibly to ask his advice about which player should be dropped from the team in order to make room for someone the Yanks wished to call up. As the discussion advanced about the pros and cons of releasing one player or another, Rizzuto was steered craftily by Weiss to the conclusion that indeed it made sense that Rizzuto himself was the one who should be released. Rizzuto concluded the story in a humorous way by saying that as he drove home from the Stadium to New Jersey, he felt like stopping the car in the middle of the George Washington Bridge in order to jump off. I tell this because I think it would be very wise for Yankee manager Girardi to call Jeter into his office, not for the serious purpose described above, but simply to get him to see the logic that he should no longer be the lead-off hitter, rather he should assume a much lower position in the batting order, even the ninth now manned by Nunez. We shall see if the team captain can truly rise by lowering himself.

The sadness for me began some time ago when I read what his diagnosis was. In this case, death is a welcome release. Anyone recall one of his earliest roles, that of "Max", Professor Fate's (Jack Lemmon) assistant in THE GREAT RACE? "Push the button, Max!". Falk was terrific, as well as the ensemble cast, in this comedy as well:

You're off the wall. The Yanks will be fortunate to get a split today. They have a perennial minor leaguer converted pitcher (Gordon) going in the first game and Freddy Garcia going in the nightcap. These two are what's going up against, what I've read is the best hitting team in the NL, in their home ball park. Get a hold of yourself.

An absolutely wonderful date that I've owned for years on LP (and that I've transferred to CD-R) is his meeting with Gary Burton, Steve Swallow and Bill Goodwin (Atlantic, released in '72). Looking at Amazon.com, it appears that the official CD must be out of print as it is priced out of the ballpark. Really excellent, however.

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link. Yes, but I think they got the Sinatra joke a bit wrong. As I recall, and I heard Shecky deliver it, it goes like this: "Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man -- saved my life. One night in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel three guys were beating the crap out of me, and Frank said, 'That's enough.'" There might have been an extra beat or two in there, a la "Frank Sinatra? Wonderful man, prince of a fellow -- saved my life" etc., but I'm pretty sure about the rest. And if I am right about this, I think that the rhythms and wording really matter. Yes, I guess they did get it "a bit wrong", but I hadn't really noticed. I recall it the exact same way you do, because I've repeated the story many times to various people over the years. Additionally, I think Greene mentioned that the incident happened after a set when he went out to the parking lot to take a break, the implication being once the punch line is delivered that he must have said something to irk Sinatra during his set.

Sonny gives a wonderful musical hint to the listener about the rain when he throws in a brief quote of "Stormy Weather" during the opening to "Green Dolphin Street". Works it in beautifully.

Skimming through that lengthy column, I was surprised to see that there was quite a bit of truth behind Greene's very famous line about Sinatra having saved his life. I always found Greene to be hysterically funny, primarily when I saw him guest on Carson's Tonight Show. Wish I would have seen him in person. Many thanks for the link.