Kevin Bresnahan

Why? It predates the copy protection scheme in question. It's the responsibility of the scheme to work around iTunes, not the other way around. I blame iTunes because I ran several other applications that use the CD drive and they all recognized that a CD with music was in the drive. iTunes clearly was designed to recognize a copy protected CD by disallowing the user from forcing it to "see" the hidden audio tracks. The technique of "hiding" the audio is not new and predates iTunes by years. iTunes knew of this and put in code to prevent their software from getting around the copy protection. I wonder if iTunes's next revision will prevent importing mp3s not created by iTunes? That would show their thinking for sure. Kevin

I got good news and bad news. The good news is that I was able to get "Manhattan Symphonie" into iTunes. The bad news is I had to use Musicmatch to rip the mp3s and import them into iTunes. iTunes simply refused to "see" the CD. Nothing I could do would make it work. BTW, I don't blame the copy protection on the CD. I blame iTunes. I don't like iTunes. It's just a bloated file manager program with a link to their store. Apple should have just made the iPod Plug & Play. I mean, really, it's an mp3 player, no more, no less.

Has this been out under another title? It looks like "Tenors Head On" but with Art Pepper? Kevin

Chauffeur Bresnahan reporting in. We visited Jack and then walked around Harvard Square a bit. Indian at the Bombay Cafe (the vindaloo was nice) and then off to the club. Killing three hours in there was a bit too much and well, I'm home now so obviously I won't be there. I did help lug their gear into the club, though. Those cymbles are heavy! I'm with Jack. 11:30 is just too late for me. I'll be seeing the inside of my eyelids by then. I think jazzshrink will be there. Good luck guys. Kevin

Holding down the shift key merely prevents the copy protection application from installing and running. What you do with that "CD-Rom" in your PC after is up to you. You can play it, rip it or open iTunes and import it. It's just a CD-ROM. If you don't hold down the shift key for each and every one of these discs when you insert it into your PC and this software ever gets installed once, from then on your machine will recognize the copy protection and lock it out. Stopping this copy protection software the first time and every time, is key. I have used both Exact Audio Copy as well as EZ CD Creator to make copies of these copy protected CDs and the resulting disc does not have any software on it, just audio. In fact, when using EZ CD Creator and selecting File>New CD Project>Music CD you cannot burn anything but music files. Exact Audio Copy sees the data but doesn't list it as "extractable" either. Kevin EDIT: My daughter has iTunes running on her PC. I will attempt to load "Manhattan Symphonie" into it tomorrow.

In the guy's "defense" (how do you defend insanity?), he does say that he knows it's crazy but that's the way he is. At least he recognizes he has a problem. He's made quite a few of these anal-retentive requests lately. He says he's trying to fill some early pressing holes. BTW, he is not alone on the SH forum with this desire for first pressings. First pressings are very much in demand over there. He's preaching to the choir. This guy reminds me of the time I had a rare CD up for sale on eBay. I got an inquiry from someone asking me if the jewel case had "ribs" or bumps holding the booklet in place. He said he wouldn't buy it if it had "bumps" because the bumps always put little indentations in the booklet. I told him that this case had "ribs". I was sooooo glad that guy didn't bid on that CD! Kevin

Me and bock beer do not agree... too much sugar and/or alcohol. I get the kind of hangover where you think you're better off without a head. A local store got in Hofbrau House's Oktoberfest bier. How is it? Their "regular" beer (a Helles?) never impressed me. Seemed like it was brewed for the tourists. Kevin

The two or three times I've seen Cyro Baptista, he was incredible. He seems willing to tailor his choice of instrumentation (and he has a lot of instrumentation) to the music. I'd recommend him just based on the time I saw him with James Carter. Wow, was he something else! Kevin

Harold, sad to say, but Congress recently passed a law benefitting cell phone manufacturers, disguised as an anti-terrorism law, that would likely prohibit you from starting service with this old phone. Effective 7/01/05, all newly activated phones must transmit a GPS locator signal. Most old phones do not. You might get lucky and have an old phone with this but it is unlikely. Just last month, I took my old Motorola V70i, a pretty decent phone when I bought it two years ago, and tried to get it activated for my daughter. Verizon wouldn't do it. The only thing old phones like this are good for now is 911 calls. Charge it up and put it in your glovebox. In an emergency, it will connect you with 911. There is a law that a 911 call from any phone, registered or not, must go through. Other than this use, they're really only landfill. Kevin

But your discs have the most evil stickers on the right side of the jewel cases, just a 2 cm long and 5 mm wide strip... never one succeeds to get those off without any glue being left on the case! And on this photo you can see the other Italian variety that's even more evil than the small ones: ← Those come off with the "un-hinging" trick as well, you just have to un-hinge both the top & bottm to flip the case open. With the case un-hinged into two pieces, you're removing the case from the sticker, not the sticker from the case. The thing about these shiny stickers from Italy is that the sticker does not make a good residue remover (as I mention above) because they tend to leave the silver stuff behind. Kevin

First off, my buddy Rob is the person who taught me the trick on how to get these stickers off easily. I may have perfected it in my own way, but he is the one who showed me how to do it. I'm sure he's glad ro read that so many of us have benefitted from his trick. Sticker residue is a problem that I solved all on my own. I discovered that the gummy sticker doesn't like to leave it's gummy residue behind. Most stickers themselves make great gummy residue removers. I simply push the sticker onto the residue (make sure it a part of the sticker with sticky stuff still on it) and rapidly yank it off. Do this up & down on the same sticky area and it should start coming up. If you can't use the sticker, scotch tape can work but not often. Later, Kevin

I thought we talked about this before: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...wtopic=9763&hl= I just re-read that other thread and I still laugh at that John Valby autograph! What a riot that guy is. Crude, rude & obnoxious... but funny as hell. Kevin

I only started asking for autographs in the mid-90's, sometime after I got this incredible Francis Wolff calendar. I looked at those B&W photos and said to myself, "You know, this picture would look really nice if I got it signed". So it began. I've gotten a lot of signatures by now and one of the things I've realized is that a vast majority of the artists are flattered that I think enough of them to get their signature. I have gotten many happy smiles, particularly when I pull an old photo or LP. They enjoy signing my CDs and LPs and I am happy to talk with them for a bit, usually thanking them for the show. I bet there have only been two artists who wanted nothing to do with signing stuff and I wonder if they just had a bad night.

After reading about this flick here many months ago, I finally got to see this movie last night. Visually, it was incredible. It was a moving comic book to my eyes. The over-the-top violence was softened by the exclusion of color... seeing white spray from severed body parts didn't look like "gore". Weird, I know, but I don't know any other way to describe it. I thought the characters getting shot up, falling from insane heights, getting beat to a pulp, getting pulled out of the La Brea tar pits, etc. was so "Rambo" and so "comic book" that I was actually laughing. That's probably what Miller intended. The babes were beautiful. I still don't know why Hartigan (Willis) did what he did in the end. I would have thought the overlapping stories would have collided right then and he would have seen Marv (O'Rourke) blow the farmhouse to bits. BTW, why did Kevin ( Elijah Wood) let Hartigan walk right by him to kill Junior? Why didn't he kill him? With his supernatural abilities, he would have been able to kill him without blinking. FWIW, the colliding story lines in the end was the redeeming feature for me. Up to that point, I thought it was a series of unconnected vignettes about Sin City and I really would have thought less of it had it ended that way... although I wasn't keen on the ending anyway. All in all, I'm glad I got it from the library (for free). I don't if I would have thought it was worth renting.

Sit on my face and tell me that you love me. I'll sit on your face and tell you I love you, too. I love to hear you oralise When I'm between your thighs. You blow me away!

I have yet to find an American-brewed beer that tastes "German". A couple have come close, but none have gotten it. Weingard's Hefe Weiss comes very close but the bitter finish misses badly. In fact, many American beers favor the bitter side. As for Helles, I've never found a good one here. Certainly not as good as Weihenstephaner. BTW, anyone got any other Helles recs? Paulaner is like German Budweiser. I think I got spoiled from my travels over in Germany. There was this local brewery in Pfaffenhofen that made Helles from heaven. I wish I could find out the name and see if it's exported. I suppose if you're a Pilsener fan, there are many US beers that taste similar to their German counterpart but since I am not a Pilsener fan... Kevin

Ravens and Jets might be one of those 0-0 ties going into overtime. Neither team seems able to muster any offense and both have very good defenses. As for the Colts, they seem to have finally realized that you win games by controlling the clock with your running game. They're finally slowing down their game. Smart move on their part, if you ask me.

Great to see that, Chris! Maybe he'll stop by over here too. I hope whatever caused his absence is behind him.

I actually just picked up some Erdinger Octoberfest Weiss. I never even heard of it. Erdinger certainly didn't have a tent when I went back in 1999. They must just be jumping on the bandwagon. BTW, it isn't that good. I much prefer the hefe weiss. Oh yeah, speaking of German beer, is anyone else getting sticker shock? The Euro is killing us. It used to be I could get a 500 ml bottle for around $1.75-2.00. Now, most are >$3.00! The only one around here that hasn't gone crazy is Franziskaner. I have no idea why it's still around $2. Kevin

I agree, that's why I gave him that "thumbs down". Most of the juiciest rumors are over at http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/. Taylor seems like the leader of the pack. According to what I've read over on the patsfans website, his role has been mostly special teams thus far in his career. The reason he's in now is because the Pats almost signed him in the offseason. He smart and taken a hit on his rep due to injury, which seems to be the type of player the Pats have been signing lately. Kevin

I am going to try to be there.... 11:30 start time about an hour from my house... gonna be tough. Way past my bedtime, you know. Just so you know, you're competing with Scofield (at the Regattabar) and Ellis Marsalis (at Scullers). Scofield might steal a few. He usually sells out. I hope the turnout is there. Kevin

The Indianapolis Colts grabbed Reid back when the Patriots cut him. He's on their 53 man roster too, not the practice squad. The Patriots can't sign him. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hank Poteat back on the Patriots... which scares the crap out of me. He wasn't that good. BTW, Earthwind Moreland is available. I bet Troy Brown is practicing with the defense again. Kevin

Damn, they're copy-protecting vinyl now! FWIW, I was able to pre-order Mosaic's short-lived two-fer: CD & LP for $40.

Ditto Chuck. I wish we all heard from the guy. That eBay feedback is waaaaay out of character from the shrugs I dealt with.

Check his eBay feedback.