J Larsen

Makes sense to me (although a quarter bil still seems high - what could the total value of their assets have been?) Obviously we're not going to reach a conclusion, but the fact that they had all that cash is really what leaped out at me about this story, so it is hard not to conjecture.

Pretty odd for a supposed honest private bank, pretty normal for unclear business. And don't forget that in a war, everything is paid by cash, from food to kalashnikov. I agree with your first point, and that's sort of what was going through my mind. I also "get" your second point, to an extent, but it still doesn't make sense to me. How can a bank (assuming it really is just an honest bank) possibly be making money by keeping that much in CASH??? Almost by definition their equity would have to be depreciating. I think the answer goes back to your original point - it sounds like something shadey was going on at this "bank".

I'm not surprised that they are keeping their funds in dollars (though I personally would choose a different currency for that amount), but I am surprised they were holding that much actual cash on hand. I would think the typical bank holds at most a few million on hand, with the rest in liquid investments; I mean, it is a float driven business, right? What use could they possibly have for over a quarter billion under the proverbial mattress? Seems pretty odd to me.

In 1979, at the age of four, I was listening to metal and punk tapes that a ten year old in an upstairs apartment made for me. I wish to god I still had those, just for kicks. BTW, that upstairs neighbor went on to be a death metal musician of some small measure of notoriety. He recently commited suicide.

Custom fit musician's earplugs are one of the best investments I have ever made. Anyone cranking their ipods loud enough to hear them on the subway is asking for trouble.

Yes.

I don't know his music, but that is one stern looking dude.

Damnit, I just found out that I'm going to have to miss the Grimes set, even though it is only a couple blocks from my office.

Charlie Parker Live Savoy Box Disc 4

Not too long ago I bought the Fuller from a board member for $85. I'm not sure how typical that price is, but I can tell you that the thread had been started about an hour or so before I agreed to buy it.

Thanks. Sorry to be a pain, but I actually just recalled that my girlfriend hinted a couple weeks ago that she might pick this up for my birthday - when I see her (in an hour or so) I will mention that I can get this for $175 and take note of her reaction - if it looks like I am getting something else from her I will certainly buy this from you, assuming it is still available.

Is this the Feel Trio box? If so, I am interested.

Sounds like the house band in hell.

The box doesn't appear on the ESP website, which while not conclusive is clearly very highly suspicious.

I undestand. I was just getting nitpicky. Anyway, I never really thought that MG literally meant "always" in his original post - I took that as a colloquial "always" since the literal interpretation is obviously false. If you read his statement as a colloquial always, then I absolutely think the statement is correct.

how the fuck so, Guy & respectfully, how well do you really know the history of the American record biz? we can name a handful of exceptions-- Dylan's evolution on Columbia, the Ramones on Sire (which had been indie)... & what else? distribution deals do NOT count!!! Prince? fine, keep going. (& don't tell me Duke on Victor or any such hogwash... the assimilation of the record biz into greater pop cult machine is the worst godamn thing that ever happened, then & now. edc knows it, you should know it too. MG's original statement (which you deleted) said: This is quite clearly false. As you stated yourself, Dylan on Columbia and Duke on Victor (and Columbia) are major exceptions. Sticking to jazz, two of the most important jazz innovators in the past half century (perhaps THE MOST IMPORTANT) did much of their most important work for major labels -- John Coltrane on Impulse!, Miles Davis on Columbia. I'm sure we can come up with other, less significant innovative recordings by other artists for major labels. (Was Decca a major label when they recorded the Basie band?) If we're going to talk about rock, besides Dylan (already mentioned) we have the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Santana, the Band, the Velvet Underground, and Frank Zappa. I'm sure there are other examples. Guy Impulse wasn't a major label. In the sixties, the criterion for major label status was that the firm had to own its own distribution network. ABC didn't. I'm not an expert on Davis. The story I heard was that Columbia did Prestige's manufacturing and the boss of the pressing plant told his boss about how many Miles Davis records he was manufacturing, so Columbia hired him. Sounds to me like Prestige did the legwork, Columbia took over a ready made star. Prior to WWII it's quite difficult to tell which were the major labels. From 1926 to 1938, for example, Columbia clearly wasn't. It went bust in 1926, after nearly 2 decades of financial problems during which it had continually had to sell off bits to keep going. It was then acquired by its former UK subsidiary, then sold to an engineering firm called Grisby-Gronow or something like that, then sold to ARC, who closed it down in 1934. It wasn't reopened until CBS bought ARC in 1938, shut down Brunswick and Vocalion and restarted Columbia and OkeH. Nor am I an expert on rock. However, Zappa (and Velvet Underground?) started up on Verve. As for ABC, MGM, the owner of Verve, wasn't a major. Not sure how innovative these other bands you refer to were but in any case, we're talking about black music here. MG Even if Miles was already a star when Columbia signed him, and that's most likely true, Prestige had nothing to do with the major artistic innovations that Miles achieved while with Columbia. That seems to me to be patently obvious to jazz fans who are not experts on Davis. I don't know that I would give Columbia credit for that, either... at that point in his career, my impression is that Miles did WTF Miles wanted to do.

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

I've been to Parisi's and walk by it all the time (usually on the way to a restaurant or wine shop), but I didn't even know they made pizza. Below Houston in that area there is still definitely a LOT of mob activity. Not necessarily in the form of public violence, but there is a lot of shadey business activity down there.

One set of next door neighbors are a pair of rich 19 year olds going through their ironic 80s phase = nothing but Michael Jackson's Thriller album. The other set are an older couple who primarily reside in France and, on the rare occassions that they are home, play Otis Redding. Upstairs I have a guy who very occassionally plays techno that I can only hear if I really try. The guy across the hall doesn't seem to listen to any music, but smokes so much weed that my living room occassionally reeks of it. I'm definitely the loudest person on my floor between my stereo and my electric guitar, but the neighbors seem to be very tolerant.

they only put meat on the pizza if you ask for it. True, but most cheese contains meat (rennet, made from the stomachs of calves). I'm pretty sure fresh mozzarella is typically rennet-free (though a quick web search revealed that this is not always the case...), but if you are vegan I guess that is a non-issue - the pizza thing just isn't going to happen. I was a vegan for a while and found that the worst vegan food was the stuff trying to emulate inherently non-vegan food. The one vegan pizza I had was really depressing. I was making pizza a couple of weeks ago and forgot to get a non-dairy cheese substitute for a neighbor who's breast feeding baby's intestinal track doesn't like it when mama eats dairy. I made a pie with red sauce, lots of roasted garlic and some fresh basil, it was very tasty. That's the way to do it. The path to misery and despair is paved with "vegan cheese".

they only put meat on the pizza if you ask for it. True, but most cheese contains meat (rennet, made from the stomachs of calves). I'm pretty sure fresh mozzarella is typically rennet-free (though a quick web search revealed that this is not always the case...), but if you are vegan I guess that is a non-issue - the pizza thing just isn't going to happen. I was a vegan for a while and found that the worst vegan food was the stuff trying to emulate inherently non-vegan food. The one vegan pizza I had was really depressing.

lombardi's is your "neighborhood delivery" place? g_d what a life of oppulence you must live.... I used to live around the corner, now I'm a few blocks up. They haven't been nearly as consistent since the character-killing expansion, but the pies are still often great and never worse than pretty good. This may be a fluke, but in my experience you tend to do much better with delivery than with in-store pies, almost as if they are more careful with orders from regular customers vs. the tourists who constantly mob the restaurant. Overall they still make a nice pizza, but I won't go in anymore unless I'm with a friend of mine that knows the management. Otherwise the high school age hostesses sit you in the back with all the tourist riff-raff. That certainly resonates. You know what I don't get? It was much easier to get a table before they expanded to like six times the size! You always had to wait for a table at dinner, but it wasn't like the line wrapped around the corner or anything. And you used to always be able to walk right in and take any table for lunch during the week. Forget about it now.

lombardi's is your "neighborhood delivery" place? g_d what a life of oppulence you must live.... I used to live around the corner, now I'm a few blocks up. They haven't been nearly as consistent since the character-killing expansion, but the pies are still often great and never worse than pretty good. This may be a fluke, but in my experience you tend to do much better with delivery than with in-store pies, almost as if they are more careful with orders from regular customers vs. the tourists who constantly mob the restaurant.

Robusto is just a size, isn't it? One size smaller than a Churchill? I think they do have several lines, with several sizes within each line.