Kevin Bresnahan

Be aware that the first pressings of several of the titles of the Connoisseur CDs from this set of six had a lot of quality problems. I bought two copies of "Basra" before I got one that wouldn't skip. Many people had similar problems with Morgan's "Lee Way". I can't remember all the titles, but my memory is that all of them had problems to some extent. Remember, this batch was also the first one to sell out and it was mostly because of people returning their first pressings. I talked to Michael Cuscuna about it at the time and he was bummed that Blue Note "counted" that first pressing because (I am pretty sure) the beancounters only allow two pressings for Conns (hence the "Limited Edition" tag). You probably have an early-issue "Basra". Those holes were probably always there. Try putting it into your PC and see if Exact Audio Copy can extract the audio files. Burn a CD-R if it can and consider yourself lucky. I had a copy that skipped in two CD players and played in two others. I gave it away when I got the JRVG. The person I gave it to said it played fine. Kevin

Not only was it part of the Collector's Choice release, but it was one of those titles that seemed to "hang around" forever. Heck, Tower Records still had a few copies as late as last year. I see it in used bins pretty frequently too. Why Blue Note (or Michael Cuscuna) chose this title is beyond me. Maybe they need one title to flop in every batch? The next thing you know, they'll be putting out James Newton's "African Flower", another Collector's Choice release that's sitting in bins all over. Kevin

I am curious - why not load iTunes on her PC? ← iTunes takes over the PC's playback and ripping activities. As I understand it, if you use iTunes to rip CDs, the resulting files will only play on the PC they were created or the iPod that they were copied to. No "sharing" allowed, even if it's in your own house. mp3 files have no such limitation. Therefore, I was hoping to use the iPod as a fancy mp3 player and I tried attaching it as such. I even formatted the hard drive for the PC to "see it". I was also able to copy a bunch of mp3 onto it. However, the player wouldn't play the files. It kept saying it was unformatted. I just think the iPod is too smart for its own good. It's a simple mp3 player with an attitude. Kevin

If you're gonna quote me, get your facts straight. I would like to see gas go to $5 a gallon to get commuters to stop buying SUVs. If you've got a better way to get the car companies to stop making more & more SUVs, tell us. If you looked around on the roads, it doesn't take a scientist to see that SUVs are much more prevalent on the roads today. Almost every car company is making or planning to make one. Hell, even Porsche started making one. Volvo has one. "Liitle car company" VW came out with the Tourag. Jaguar must have one in the pipeline. Next up will be Rolls. The car companies make what we will buy, not what we should buy. We will continue to buy bigger & bigger SUVs in the effort to "stay ahead" on the road. It's human nature to want to protect yourself. So, how to get Joe Commuter to stop looking at a Ford Explorer first? Easy, have the goevernment make laws mandating it. Oh wait, that won't happen with the oil barons in office. How about giving incentives for people to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient cars? Well, the government decided to phase out that tax incentive. Maybe they should penalize buyers of large gas-guzzlers with a tax surcharge? Well, that not only ain't that gonna happen, but the morons in Washington "accidently" put a "Hummer tax exemption" law on the books that allowed businesses to write off 100% of the purchase price of any vehicle with a gross weight of over 3,500 lbs (which includes Hummers & B&Ws). Due to an outcry of protest, they've actually modified it, but the damage was done. 1,000s of Hummers were bought and paid for by the American people. So, what'll do it, Paul?? How can we get Americans to start buying "cars" again? You got a better idea? Tell us. Better yet, tell your congressman. My thinking is simple. Money. Money is the way to effect change. That's the "American Way". If gas prices go up, Joe Sixpack will reconsider his next automobile purchase. He may look at that mpg window sticker that says "12 city 15 highway" and think "No way". It's the only way I see to get this terrible trend to start reversing. And Paul, businesses have always bought big trucks and transports. That isn't the problem and you know it. Hell, jazz drummers driving Jeeps ain't the problem either and you know it. Just look around on the highway and you'll see it, plain as day. And please re-read this whole thread. I mention why I think Ford F-350's are dumb... I just had a fellow engineer buy one as a commuter vehicle. He ain't hauling manure. I can always tell when gas prices go up a lot, not by my gas slips, but by the number of people who ask me how I like my Prius as I gas my car up. When prices soar, I get asked at almost every fill-up. HIGH GAS PRICES GET AMERICANS TO STOP AND THINK ABOUT THEIR DRIVING HABITS. Kevin

I'll be buying a couple of these and just to spite the morons at Sony/BMG, I'll crack the thing and burn the heck out of it. The last disc I was sold as "copy protected", it took a whole 5 minutes to figure out. As mentioned by Use3D, you should be able to hold down the shift key and prevent any autost program from executing. Once you stop the program, the "data" should be viewable in any Explorer Window. As I said, I'll check it out. Hey, worse case will be that I make a CD-R in my audio standalone burner. Once I make that burn, I'll be able to make as many copies as I want. However, I've yet to find a CD that's pushed me that far. The challenge is on! Kevin

Huh?!? Do not equate my stance as pro-Bush. That's a very odd take on it. Please start a thread about Bush and gas prices over in the political forum so I can continue to ignore it. Keep that stuff outta here, please. Look, I'll admit that I helped derail this thread a bit. But just a bit. All I said was that I would love to see $5 a gallon. That can be debated. I'm fine with debating that. Why don't we at least try to keep the personal attacks out of it? The thread is called "The Gasoline Blues". I have them, you have them... we all have them. I am trying to find a silver lining in all of it and the thread bogged down into a politics. Sorry if I initiated this plunge into "the dark side". Back to The Gasoline Blues. I'm outta here. Kevin

Yeah, this packaging does certainly suck. I mean, the plastic's so thin... why? And the artwork all tumbles out when you try to get at the discs... why? Were they trying to create a bad package? I'll be sending off for the old-style package. Kevin

I don't give a rat's ass about gas mileage. I see gas prices as a way to get the number of people buying SUVs to go down. Period. I like to see behemoths like the Ford Expedition rotting on the lots. I'd like for Hummer to go out of business... or at least go back to making troop transports. Jazzypaul, I'm tired of arguing with you over this. You already told me what you think of people like me who drive normal sized cars. So just go ahead and buy your SUV. Just do me a favor... when you plow that high-riding bumper of your SUV into some family out for a drive, think about what you said here. If you get out and see that bumper lodged on top of a baby seat, how will you feel then? At least buy a Mercedes ML. They lowered their bumper down to "car height". And your harping on who's fault it is for accidents... well, for the record, they are called accidents for a reason. People don't mean for them to happen. Ooops and all that. One "oopsie" by Buffy in her Hummer and there's a good chance that I'm road kill. If I have that same "oopsie" and Buffy's driving a Honda Accord, I have a chance, especially with my front & side airbags. Gas went up 15 cents this week. A survey of Mass drivers was done yesterday and it showed that the gas prices are getting them to change their driving habits. I figure when gas hits $3, it might start getting buyers to re-think that Hummer. $4 and maybe they'll stop buying those Explorers. $5 and maybe those F350s will go away. Those truck guys won't drive a car for nothin'. Kevin

Most cars today have stereo with multiple I/O paths so that the head unit can accomodate add-ons. You may have to buy an after-market cable, but in the end, you should be able to get a direct line-in. As for anyone coming up with an interface that can control the iPod from the head unit, I doubt it. The fact that Apple wouldn't even make the iPod plug & play with Windows shows how open they are to doing this kind of thing. I tried everything with my daughter's iPod Mini to get it to work on her PC without iTunes to no avail. What I think will happen is that car manufacturers will have a front panel USB II jack so that you can plug in a memory stick loaded with mp3 files. Simple & easy. I'm looking forward to that. You can fit a lot of music onto a 1GB memory stick! Kevin

Out on what label? I have a Japanese 24 bit remaster that sounds pretty good. Before that, I had it on a US CD on the Portrait label. That one sounded like crap... all tinny and harsh. Sounded like an early stab at CD making. Kevin

There's an article in my local paper that talks about gas breaking $3 a gallon out on the Massachusetts islands. Gas prices are making headlines again. If we're lukcy, these articles will continue to hold the front page. Every day that "HIGH GAS PRICES" leads the news is another day that someone in the market for a new commuter vehicle will think, "Jeez, maybe I shouldn't buy this Ford Expedition because the gas prices are still going up". I'm still hoping that gas hits $5 a gallon... for a month. After a month, drop back down to $1.00. After a month of crazy-high gas, maybe the SUV sales will shrink back down to a normal level and commuter vehicles might actually start looking like "cars" again. BTW, I would never make that mod to my Prius. First off, it invalidates your warranty. My electrical motor and battery have a 100,000 mile warranty. Secondly, I DO NOT want to have to plug my car in. I'll let the gas engine charge my batteries, thanks very much. I will look into alternative fuels when they come out, but until then, I'm waiting for the Toyota Sienna hybrid. My wife's 1999 Sienna only gets about 20 mpg. Even she's complaining about filling it up and she only fills up about once every two weeks. Kevin

No, mine wasn't a SuperSport (I don't like the 65 SS anyway... all they did was paint the trim black). Mine had the 283, which I liked better than the 327. The 327 was just a bored and stroked 283. Better gas mileage with the 283 and plenty of power.

I'm talkin' lowrider! ← Ah man, they did that to a '65 Impala?? That was my car. I had two... one was a four door that I had in high school and college and the other was a cherry convertible that I bought as an investment. Both had the "you can't kill it" 283 V8. What an engine. What a car. BTW, the "investment" wound up losing $2K. The worst thing was I didn't even like driving it. Memories have a way of making you forget the bad shit about your young obsessions. After I got used to driving modern cars with tight handling and no yaw during turns, these beasts take some getting used to. The bias ply tires were the first to go. It was like driving on solid tires. The funniest thing was the steering. You could go down the highway and move the steering wheel back and forth about 2 inches and the car went straight. Mushy, mushy, mushy. Turn the wheel and the nose dives. Ah, give me a modern car any day. Kevin

The way I see it, it's only a matter of time before the EU laws change to 70 years. All it's going to take is when those Beatles dates start hitting the magic "50". Watch how much pressure gets put on the Parliament then! Elvis's stuff has put a lot of pressure already but face it, he's American. When those Beatles/Stones et al start getting this treatment, the English lords will act. Kevin

The Ty Law signing is intriguing. When the NFLPA releases the cap implications, we'll find out what the contract really is. The scuttle over on www.patsfans.com is that Law's contract has no signing bonus and a fixed, low first year salary of about $3.4 million with performance-based escalators that could get it as high as $6 million. If this is true, the Jets could simply cut Law and save a bundle if he doesn't perform. Kevin

What, me worrying about my safety is crazy? Don't you care if you get killed in a car crash for simple reason that the other car is a monstrosity? I worry about it a lot. I am a very safe driver. It's the guy/gal in the SUV that I worry about. So, join 'em if you can't beat 'em? Is that what you think will change this horrible change in the cars driving on out highways?? That is crazy thinking. Me buying an SUV just puts another SUV on the road! We don't need more, we need less if we ever want to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. The only way some of the people buying these behemouths will stop and reconsider is if gas goes through the roof. The rich will still buy them, but "Joe Blow" and his family won't. There are far too many SUVs on our roads today. Nice. I guess if you get crunched by a Mack truck, we can all say, "Well, that serves him right". Why? People like you won't buy 'em anyway! Why should they build more? Just so you'll have more people you can crush and tell 'em that it serves them right?

Stereo Jack's is a great place. Highly recommended. One place would have to be there. Cheapo's Records has a decent amount of vinyl and the Looney Tunes in Cambridge too. I never had much luck for vinyl at the Boston Looney store. You may also want to consider stopping at Intergrity 'N Music in Wethersfield, CT (it's just off I-91... really close) on your way up from the city. Well worth the visit for inexpensive Jazz vinyl. BTW, if that picture of that diseased lung doesn't get you to quit, what the heck are these people in Boston going to do? Kevin

Have a good one, Lon. 50... I used to think that was old but as I approach it, I think 25 is too young. Later, Kevin

The thing is Claude, all of these sales would be pure bonus. Because it would be a hybrid, all of us Jazzers, even those without an SACD player, would buy and play them. The "all-SACD" buyers would buy it and give the sales a bump. Who knows, maybe they'll even dig the music so much that Jazz gets another convert. Kevin

Shit, I missed this thread! I just got off the phone with Mosaic where I was calling to let them know that they might want to re-think their decision to do that upcoming Monk LP on 200 gram vinyl when I got to talking with a new voice. It turns out it was Jerry Roche. He pointed me out to his website and I was floored. I was told this was happening but I had a "gag order" until it was finalized. I guess it got finalized. Jerry is a really nice guy. We got talking and he talked about some other titles he's working on, including both Herb Geller dates from Jubilee on 1 Disc as well as Roy Ayers' "West Coast Vibe". It sounds like he's gonna go for most of the PJ material. The remastering is being done by Mantis Evar, a really nice guy who I met years ago at Blue Note. I thought he was mostly doing A&R at BN but I guess he's branching out. I knew he had his own recording studio but I was unaware that he was involved in remastering too. He's a fairly young guy so I don't know if we've heard his work elsewhere. I think he'll do OK. He has a great ear for the music. I went out club hopping with him in NYC one night and we got to talking. His taste is mighty fine. Erik Truffaz even named one of his recent CDs after Mantis. I also tried like hell to get Jerry to tap into the SACD buyer's market. I told him that if he made these SACD hybrids, he'd get sales from "weird" places... people who would buy the disc simply because it was an SACD. He's going to look into it. Maybe Sony will pony up some free time again? Later, Kevin

I don't know if this is his best since I haven't heard it, but it would be hard to top his playing with Crash on their Cellar Live CD "The Doctor Is In". This is a smokin' date. Kevin

To everyone, I got an E-mail from our friends at Mosaic Records looking for some help designing some web pages for a charitable auction to benefit the Jazz Foundation. Unfortunately, there isn't a budget for this work so it would have to be done pro bono. I suppose that if this kind of work was your line of business, you could probably write it off for a charitable expense. The auction will be November 16, 2005 at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street in NYC. The E-mail I got said that they were thinking about coordinating the live auction with a simultaneous eBay auction i.e. schedule the eBay auction so that it ended during the live auction at B.B. King's place. Sounds pretty tricky to me. I am willing to help, but when I saw the auction items, I blanched. I would not be able to design and lay out a web page that could do these items justice. They need to grab the attention. They need to extract the highest bids possible. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do this within the confines of eBay, or if eBay is even the way to go. When you see this list, you might understand my hesitancy. If anyone is willing to help out, contact me and I'll get you in touch with Wendy Oxenhorn of the Jazz Foundation. As I said, I will help however I can but I do have a pretty busy day job. Some of the items up for auction: * The famous Blue Note Club’s Bösendorfer Grand Piano, played by all the legends * Miles Davis’s boa constrictor snakeskin jacket * Frank Foster’s Gold-Plated Selmer Tenor Saxophone * Remo Palmier’s early 1950’s custom-designed one of a kind prototype Vega Guitar * Private Piano lesson from Dr. Billy Taylor * Clark Terry’s Eterna Bflat Silver-Plated Cornet used on The Tonight Show in the 1970’s and many famous recordings * A stay at the “Palais Schaumburg in Salzburg” The 33-room palace built in the 14th century will be opened to an outsider for the first time by Prince Max of Schaumburg-Lippe. Jackie O and Aristotle Onassis, His Highness the Aga Khan and Jean Paul Getty are among the few outsiders to have stayed with the royal family. * Freddie Hubbard’s Saxophone, yes, that’s what we said… * Lunch for 4 in Time Inc.’s Private Executive Dining Room with Editor-in-Chief Norm Pearlstine who is responsible for 138 magazines including Time Magazine, PEOPLE, Fortune and Money to name a few. * Private Guitar lesson from Bucky Pizzarelli * Jazz All-Nighter from Harlem to New Orleans - This adventure will be hosted by Jazz Foundation's Director, Wendy Oxenhorn, and one of Harlem's legendary musicians. First make the rounds to the greatest unknown clubs of Harlem then fly to New Orleans on a private jet to finish a perfect night of jazz. You can watch the sun rise on the way back to New York. For 6 people. * Guitar lessons from Danny Kalb, Founder of the Blues Project, (The band that influenced Led Zep and so many others.) * Dinner with Dave Bruebeck at the fabulous Ellington’s Jazz Club on Sanibel Island. Package includes weekend stay on Sanibel Island, luxurious hotel, exquisite dining and dinner with Dave! * Handwritten lyrics by Jimmy Norman, co-author of the famous rock n' roll tune recorded by the Rolling Stones "Time is on my Side." Jimmy Norman will write a song for a special occasion * Stage costume donated by Cyndi Lauper from one of her tours * Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet. (He’s getting a new one and giving us his!) * Drum sticks used by Buddy Rich, Roy Haynes, Louis Belson * Original Cape and Clothes worn by Sun Ra * Coffee mug designed and autographed by Yoko Ono * Lunch with McCoy Tyner (must check dates)

SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! Man, I just finished the 6th book. Rowling is simply fantastic. She does not come close to creating "me too" mamby-pamby children's stories. She reels the reader in by writing a very believable story. She will kill off a main character because the possibility of that happening is always at the forefront of the story: everyone is in the line of fire. So she really caught me off guard when she had Harry's god father Sirius Black get killed off in book 5. Now, she exploded the whole Potter world in book 6! Dumbledore dead? But he's the "only one" who Voldemort is afraid of! Close Hogwarts? Well, according to Harry at the end of the book, even if they reopen it, he won't be coming back. What will the next book say? It's not like they can label it "Year 7"... not if Harry keeps his word and doesn't come back. What's going to happen with this series? Will it end with Voldemort killing Harry? Rowling really has everyone guessing. Her story is totally unpredictable. I am so looking forward to the next book! BTW, some thoughts I had while reading this latest one. I think Dumbledore knew he was dying already by the time Snape arrived to finish him off. By the way Dumbledore talked to Snape there, I got the feeling that Dumbledore was giving Snape the order to finish him off. I expect that somehow Harry & Snape will meet where Snape will tell him as much, even it is on Snape's dying breath. I don't think for a minute the Hogwarts will close. I also don't think that Harry will stay away. I am guessing that something happens over the summer that convinces Harry that the best way for him to find the remaining horcruxes is to finish school. This will also give him, Ron & Hermoine the chance to find out who R.A.B. is. I thought for sure that Fawlkes the phoenix was going to fly into the infirmary and drip a few tears into Bill's werewolf wounds. I think it would have made that scene better than it was with that sappy stuff with Fleur & Mrs. Weasley. The way this one went, I'm seeing Fleur and Bill in divorce court in a couple of years, tops. Next book, I'm betting that Ron and/or Hermione gets whacked. Rowling seems to delight in whacking main characters and with each of the last 4 books, she's moved up the food chain from non-characters (no name "muggles") to minor characters (Cedric Diggory), to lesser main characters (Sirius Black) and now to full-blown main characters (Dumbledore). I'm betting that the next one is Ron. Of course, my bets don't mean anything... Rowling really has me guessing. Anyway, I just love these books. I was so happy when I was at the store last week and I saw all those kids lined up by the hundreds to buy a book. A book! Anything that gets kids to read is good in my mind. Bye Dumbledore... you were a great character. Kevin

Is this cover really showing up in stores with this error?? If it is and they are fixing it for US distribution, I have to get a copy. It's gonna be quite the humourous rarity. I want one in my collection. Does anyone know the best place to order one? Kevin

The person I talked to said he called Joe Lovano, who was apparently touring Europe on the bill with McCoy. Joe said McCoy has been looking pretty sick but as far as he knows, he checked into the hospital because he's exhausted, nothing more. However, even being so exhausted that you need hospitalization is serious. I hope he's OK and back on his feet again. Kevin