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Dr. Rat

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  1. Should add that there is rap & hip-hop stuff I like. I like this guy, for instance. --eric
  2. Which doesn't mean that it's impossible for black music to be vulgar or violent or condemnable. Rap and Hip Hop should be able top stand on their merits, without claiming the rejection of the white establishment as justification in itself. The culture of hip-hop seems to be quite a bit different than the culture of jazz. For intsance, the overwhelming predominance of material success as a core value. Making historical parallels is interesting and can give you some new ways of looking at things, but it is no replacement for having a hard look at the particularity of historical phenomena, which almost always leads to an appreciation of the fact that history doesn't repeat itself. If it did we wouldn't have to keep studying it. --eric
  3. I don't see what the costumer's expectations as to temperature have to do with this case. She wasn't intentionally bathing in the coffee, she accidentally spilled it on herself through her own negligence. It just so happened that it did more damage than it would have otherwise because it was as hot as advertized rather than being tepid. I'd be far more ready to blame McD's for serving hot product in a flimsy cup to people in moving vehicles. That seems like it could be negligence. Refusing to play down to customers expectation of mediocrity shouldn't be negligence. Who'd have thought McD's would be holding the line against enforced mediocrity? --eric
  4. Well, it means that there's a somewhat lower chance of getting third-degree burns. According to members of the jury, the punitive damages were awarded not because of the circumstances of the spill, but rather because of McDonald's actions afterward. The jury felt that McDonald's had treated her like crap and blown her off when she asked for recourse. A $20,000 medical bill is pennies to a company that sells $1.3 million in coffee every day, and they wouldn't even offer her that. ← They don't have to pay simply becuase they have the money. They have to pay if they are at fault. Coffee is brewed at or near 200 degrees, that's how you're supposed to make coffee. At what temperature was McD's holding this coffee? --eric
  5. I hear he fell and hit his head pretty badly and had to have brain surgery of some sort. No further word:
  6. Well I thought the point of the original post was "people are stupid becuase they believe Flor could exist" not "people are stupid because they eat off the floor in this restaurant." --eric
  7. OK, now that you see there are real restaurants every bit as bizarre as Flor, who's stupid? --eric
  8. We should post what we think the letter says. --eric
  9. It really flips me off that people constantly mispronounce mise en scene. Man that makes me mad! --eric
  10. No just right stuff, Goldilocks? --eric
  11. Too chewy. Maybe if you could get someone to do the chewing for you. --eric
  12. Don't want to get the kjazz thing going here full scale--truthfully, it's gotten way past it due date over on the other board, but fill in the details a bit about the older station, what they've gotten rid of, what they seem to be trying to do, etc. --eric
  13. Eight more spins for Organissimo this week here at WNMC. You'll be near the top o' the charts again. --eric
  14. Life's too short to pontificate. ← More a rant, no? Perhaps I flatter myself! --eric
  15. Well, hey, yeah, um, er. yeah. I know people like that too. But only casually, if you get my drift. Life's too short! ← Life's too short: now there's a phrase I think ought to be sent to the old dust bin of history. Life's too short to think, life's too short to drive anything smaller than a UPS truck, life's too short not to spend $30 on a bottle of wine. It's like the blanket excuse to live life like a sucker. Every time I hear this phrase now I mentally append "to actually live it." I'm more of a Whitman man myself. Life may be too short, bit there's not a damn thing anybody can do about it except live it, and there's no point in trying to repress the multitudes, cause they're in you. --eric
  16. How do we get Organissimo on Fresh Air? Or any NPR show for that matter?? ← Hmmmmm. . . . Get Larry Bell to sing "Nothing But Flowers" with you (and 101 strings). --eric
  17. Return of the Collective Nervous Breakdown Thread!
  18. CONTACT: Marty Sonnenfeld, Community Communications: W-718-956-9482, or Cell 347-351-4231; or Tami Stephens: 718-638-7903 Jazz Trombonist Charles Stephens Missing Since Saturday The whereabouts of Jazz trombonist Charles Stephens are unknown, and his family is urgently seeking the public's help in finding him. Stephens, 59, was last seen leaving his Clinton Hill, Brooklyn home on Saturday afternoon (August 6th), carrying his trombone in its case. Stephens¹ wife, Tami, however, said that there was no notation on his calendar of a performing or recording engagement on that date. He did not return home that night. Further, the staunchly reliable veteran musician did not show up for an engagement on Monday evening, nor another one on Wednesday evening. A missing persons report has been filed with the NYPD. Stephens is considered a master musician. He performs frequently with such leading big bands as the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the George Gee Big Band. His forty-year resume includes touring the world and recording with such major artists as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie¹s United Nations Orchestra, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, modern Jazz innovators Sam Rivers, McCoy Tyner, and Archie Shepp, vocalists Nancy Wilson and Eartha Kitt, and top R&B and pop stars including Teddy Pendergrass and Li¹l Anthony and the Imperials, among many others. "Charles is well-loved, and 100% dependable. It is extremely unusual for him to be out of contact with his family and friends for this long,² said Bandleader George Gee. ³The Stephens family is desperately seeking any information ­ including where he may have been slated to perform last Saturday, or if anyone may have seen or heard from him since then." Anyone with any knowledge of Charles Stephens¹ whereabouts is urged to contact Tami Stephens at 718-638-7903. # # # # # NOTE: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO BROADCAST OR PUBLISH ABOVE PHOTOGRAPHS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE. * * * Community Communications Agents of Multi-Culturalism www.commcom.com <http://www.commcom.com> 718-956-9482
  19. He's certainly not someone who has all his poop in a group just yet. Didn't see the TV thing, but my guess would be that Vernon Reid would not be a natural pairing for him. --eric
  20. Dr. Rat

    Natacha Atlas?

    It depends on where you fall on the whole world-electronica thing. Personally I'd rather jettison the electronia stuff--it gets tiresome pretty quickly for me. But practically all the electronic dance music I hear gets tiresome really quick. She can sing though, and create a sense of drama equal or nearly equal to the portentiousness of some the music. --eric
  21. He has Solomon Burke in for a couple of guest spots on one album. Veeeery nice. --eric
  22. MARK STRYKER'S JAZZ HIGHLIGHTS: Trio Organissimo set to lay down greasy grooves at Baker's BY MARK STRYKER FREE PRESS COLUMNIST August 12, 2005 The Lansing-based organ trio Organissimo has been spreading its wings of late, performing more and more frequently in metro Detroit, and that's good news for anyone who loves the life-of-the-party vibe emanating from a kick-butt Hammond organist surrounded by simpatico mates. The trio returns to Baker's Keyboard Lounge this weekend for the second time since May, and this time, the band has a new CD to plug. "This is the Place" (Big O Records) is a gas. Organist Jim Alfredson, guitarist Joe Gloss and drummer Randy Marsh have a gift for classic soul-jazz language and a special fondness for greasy boogaloo grooves. The trio knows how to stomp the blues, bring a Latin twist to a standard ballad, turn up the heat for a rip-snorting romp in 6/8 or get down-and-dirty inside a funky-swamp beat. Alfredson handles the organ duties with panache, guitarist Gloss' solos and accompaniment mesh wonderfully and drummer Marsh lays down a red carpet of boogie with veteran authority. There's nothing too complicated about Organissimo's approach: It's music that reminds of saxophonist Johnny Griffin's aphorism that jazz is music for people who have decided to feel good in spite of conditions. It's a shame that the organizers of the annual Detroit International Jazz Festival have yet to get hip to Organissimo, but perhaps this showcase gig will fuel the grassroots buzz. 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Baker's Keyboard Lounge, 20510 Livernois. 313-345-6300. No cover. Organissimo represents the backend of an especially engaging weekend at Baker's. The bandstand tonight is given over to Urban Transport, a hard-bop quintet band that takes wing on the swinging foundation of drummer Sean Dobbins and features heady flights of fancy by alto saxophonist Dean Moore and trombonist Vincent Chandler. The band has a thick book of originals, and they play like they mean it. 9:30 p.m. Friday. A longtime treasure of the Cincinnati jazz scene, pianist Phil DeGreg is a versatile modernist who plays with the sort of supple authority that raises the eyebrows of his fellow musicians. He turned heads in Ann Arbor the last time he played here, and look for the same thing to happen again. He leads a trio including our own stalwart bassist Paul Keller. 9 p.m. Friday. Firefly Club, 207 S. Ashley, Ann Arbor. $10. 734-665-9090. The River Raisin Jazz Festival in downtown Monroe brings to town some of the biggest names in the instrumental pop world. Saturday headliners include guitarist Earl Klugh at 5 p.m. and flutist Alexander Zonjic at 7 p.m. Sunday culminates with guitarist Larry Carlton & the Sapphire Blue Band at 7 p.m. Music begins at 1 p.m. both days. Admission is free. St. Mary's Park, downtown Monroe. 800-252-301. Contact MARK STRYKER at 313-222-6459 or stryker@freepress.com.
  23. "Uncomfortable tension"? Uncomfortable for who? And why? Hmmmmm... "Significant defects"? Brown is Brown, Bellson is Bellson, & Nelson is Nelson. Nobody budges, and nobody sounds uncomfortable (hell, Brown sounds every bit as rambling and semi-conscious doing the obviously pre-scripted rap on "I Need Your Key" as he does on the equally obviously spur-of-the-moment "Escape-ism"). That might be a"defect" for some, but I think it's a gas, one of those off-the-wall collaborations that works just because nobody's trying to do anything other than what they do, and because everybody's digging on everybody else's vibe. No, not every song "works". "What Kind Of Fool Am I" in particular is kind of a farce. But that song's gonna be a farce no matter who does it, and I'd just as soon hear a farce by James Brown, Louis Bellson, & Oliver Nelson as I would by anybody. More than most, actually. Geez, you kids today, everything's gotta be so damn "contextual" and shit. No wonder jazz is dead! ← Well I can only speak directly for my own uncomfortable tension. I can say, too, that it isn't my reaction alone--some of the other folk around here--some more casual listeners, but some fairly serious about music--reacted to the record in a similar fashion to me. I'll say this--it's a similar sort of uncomfortable that I feel listening to Mark Murphy sometimes. Though Murphy's deal doesn't always work out, either, I get a feeling he's an experienced surfer on these big band seas of troubles and conflicts. On the context thing: I love deep context, but not so much so as to obliterate direct experience. Just that the experience I have with parts of this record needs explaining! --eric
  24. I really don't think this distinction is worth keeping up. The two words have defintiions that are too similar and share a common root (princeps). We should just pick one and chuck the other. Etymology: principle c.1380, "fundamental truth or proposition," from Anglo-Norm. principle, from O.Fr. principe, from L. principium (pl. principia) "a beginning, first part," from princeps (see prince). Meaning "origin, source" is attested from 1413. Sense of "general rule of conduct" is from c.1532. Used absolutely for (good or moral) principle from 1653. principal (adj.) c.1290, from O.Fr. principal (11c.), from L. principalis "first in importance," from princeps (see prince). The noun is c.1300 in the sense of "ruler;" c.1340 in the sense of "money on which interest is paid;" 1827 as "person in charge of a public school," though meaning "head of a college or hall" was in England from 1438, and the basic sense of "chief, commander, ruler" is recorded from 1388. Principally "in the first place, mainly" is from 1340.
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