mgraham333

More confirmation on the Miles biopic. "...Cheadle, by the way, told me he has finalized the plans to direct himself as jazz great Miles Davis in a biopic. Cheadle didn’t say which period of Davis’ life will be concentrated on. “You can’t do his whole life in one movie,” he said. But the Oscar nominee knows his facts and figures — Davis’ definitive recording, “Kind of Blue,” still sells 50,000 copies a year. It was originally released on March 2, 1959." Source

I'm so weak..... Ordered it last night. Where's that empty wallet smiley....

Amen!

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Music lovers remember a familiar advertising image from the past: a man reclined in a chair, head back, blown away by music from his high-fidelity sound system. Like the Marlboro Man before him, Maxell's pitchman is now a relic. With their ability to store vast libraries of music in your pocket, sleek digital music players have replaced bulky home stereo systems as the music gear of choice. But the sound quality of digital audio files is noticeably inferior to that of compact discs and even vinyl. Are these the final days of hi-fi sound? Judging by the 2 billion songs downloaded from Apple Inc.'s iTunes service, the ubiquity of white iPod "ear buds," and the hundreds of thousands of folks file-sharing for free, the answer is yes. "In many ways, good enough (sound quality) is fine," said Paul Connolly, an art installation specialist and longtime audiophile from Sugar Land, Texas, who's now in the process of digitizing his 2,400 CD collection in Apple's lossless digital audio format. "The warmth and the nice distortion that the album had was beautiful," he said. "But do I long for the days of albums? No. Do I long for the days of CDs now that we've gone digital? No. It's a medium." Justin Schoenmoser, of San Francisco, also traded in his rack system for an iPod. Currently working abroad and toting along his iPod, the convenience of carrying thousands of songs in a gadget smaller than a pack of cigarettes outweighs the sacrifice of quality. "The last time I had a full-blown home stereo system was in the mid-90s, and it was a gift from my parents," Schoenmoser said. "As I converted most of my stuff to digital over the last 5 years, I finally got rid of all my old equipment." A song ripped from a CD at 128 kilobits per second -- the default setting for most software -- retains only a fraction of the audio data contained on the originally mastered disc. Whether you downloaded the track from iTunes or copped it off LimeWire, the song remains the same. The small digital music file is a highly compressed shadow of the originally mastered recording. And regardless of how advanced your home audio setup is, if you're pumping a low-rate MP3 or iTunes file into it, you're getting a low-rate rendition of the original song out of it. It's listenable, but still lacking the luster of a CD played on the same system. 'It doesn't compare' Some experts say the sound quality lost in the process is undetectable to most untrained ears. But Michael Silver can hear the difference. Audio High, his high-end stereo shop in Mountain View, sells things like a $5,000 needle for your turntable and stereo cable at $2,700 a meter. "It doesn't compare," Silver said of the sound quality offered by today's portable digital music players and their compressed audio files. If his high-end gear is like a Ferrari for sound, and run-of-the-mill stereo equipment is a Honda, an iPod is "a moped," Silver said. That difference in sound quality, perceptible or not, hasn't saved some of the bigger traditional stereo and music sellers. Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc., a Canton, Massachusetts-based retailer of mid-to-high end audio equipment, is closing 49 of its 153 stores nationwide. Slumping sales at Sacramento, California-based Tower Records led that former industry juggernaut to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August. And Circuit City, the nation's No. 2 electronics retailer, is laying off 3,400 of its most experienced clerks. Year-to-date data from a recent Nielsen SoundScan report shows sales of prerecorded CDs in the United States down 20 percent from last year. "Everybody has a certain amount of money to spend. It's not that they're choosing not to spend it on the old-style audio. It's that something new came along," said James McQuivey, principle analyst for media technology at Forrester Research Inc. "The MP3 player integrated the collection of the music with the playback of the music," he said. "Now all of it's seamlessly hidden away on a hard drive somewhere." With the networked household ready to fill the void left by the demise of rack stereo systems, McQuivey sees a steady stream of new devices on the horizon that will erase any lingering drawbacks to going all-MP3. Santa Barbara-based Sonos, Inc., for example, sells a system that allows you to use a handheld device to navigate streamed music from your PC to an existing amp and speaker or home theater setup, sort of a hybrid between the old guard and the new. "A CD is not relevant to me anymore," said John MacFarlane, founder and chief executive of Sonos. "The iPod and that type of portable music player has even accelerated that trend." Even when consumers do buy CDs these days, "the first thing you do is rip your CDs and put them on your iPods," MacFarlane said. MacFarlane isn't even convinced that casual listeners can hear the difference between CD-quality sounds and the dumbed-down MP3 files, which he calls "good quality, not perfect." "When Philips and Sony first made the CD, they didn't cut any corners because they were careful to preserve everything that was there, even if you couldn't hear it," MacFarlane said. "That 128 is pretty darn good. A lot of Ph.D.s went in to making that 128 kbps work well and sound well. Schoenmoser, the globetrotting Californian, agrees. "I honestly can't really tell the difference between CD, tape and digital," he said. "I'd even accept a lower quality as long as it's digital and portable." Source: CNN

Saw an item on a Barnes & Noble listening station today that caught my eye. Not my cup of tea but it was interesting. Turtle Island String Quartet - A Love Supreme: The Legacy Of John Coltrane CD Sorry if this has been mentioned before...I searched the board for "turtle island quartet" and saw a ton of seemingly non-related threads. I thought that "island" and "quartet" might be throwing off the search so I just searched for "turtle" still had a ton of results.... either the search is broken or we have more than a few Terrapene lovers here.....

Donald Byrd - The Cat Walk Dexter Gordon - Clubhouse Andrew Hill - Compulsion Thad Jones - Detroit-New York Junction Jackie McLean - New And Old Gospel Art Taylor - A.T.'s Delight BEWARE THE PRICE INCREASE AT CDU. From $8.39 to $9.58

The Spoiler, Lush Life, and You Gotta Take a Little Love were all new to me. It's interesting to hear Lou in a post-bop, pre-grease mode. It's very laid-back, but still enjoyable.

The Hutch is my favorite of this batch. I like them both much more than I thought I would. This is not my favorite period for either artist but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. I've been keeping up with the Select series. I use it for the exposure to artists (or artists' material) that I wouldn't ordinarily consider. Sort of a way to stretch beyond basic BN & OJC. This was a good batch. I would recommend both.

It's a good thing threads last longer than milk..... The most recent of any of those is 2 years old. Welcome JohnBlutarski and thanks for the fresh thread.

It changed.... It's now only 20% with a $10 minimum. But this one is good for 30% through 01/07/2007.

Lou Donaldson - Lush Life (7 tracks) Kenny Drew - Undercurrent (6 tracks) Johnny Griffin - Introducing (bonus tracks) (8 tracks) Duke Pearson - The Right Touch (bonus track) (7 tracks) Horace Silver - You Gotta Take A Little Love (7 tracks) Stanley Turrentine - The Spoiler (bonus track) (7tracks) Use the links above to support Organissimo! Remember not to visit the CDU site before clicking on the links.

The description at Amazon says 171 discs. Which is what you get when you remove the duplicate of Wayne Shorter's Speak No Evil, include both discs of Stanley Turrentine's Blue Hour, count each disc in the 2 disc sets and include the Perfect takes (but don't count the DVD).

I just came across this entry at Amazon. The Rudy Van Gelder Editions-The Complete Collection Various Artists (Artist) List Price: $2,070.72 Price: $1,739.00 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details You Save: $331.72 (16%)

Buy any CD get the 2nd 50% off Members only valid THROUGH 10/15/06

I was surprised to see that as well. The story goes on to mention that 41,000 was technically within limits so there was no prohibition to issuing the clearance. However, the Pinnacel story does apply here. First, it was mostly to address the comment that, "I don't think any professional pilot is foolish enough..." Second, most incidents, whether they are mid-air collisions or dual engine flameouts, do not occur unless there is some break-down somewhere. So far it does not appear to be a technological breakdown in the case of the mid-air collision. In the article I posted it said, "Preliminary investigations indicate that the pilots may have turned off the transponder." My original comment was "let's just hope that no one was "showing off." I'm not ready to convict these guys yet. They are either heroes, hotshots, or something in between. I'll wait and let the investigators decide.

Found it!! here Had to use the right lingo... they're are called "repositioning flights" when the airline is moving a plane from one airport to another without passengers. It happened on October 14, 2004 near the Jefferson City Regional Airport (NTSB report) it was a couple of Pinnacle Airlines pilots that were trying to "join the 410 Club" as in fly at 41,000 feet. The stunt resulted in a dual engine flameout and the plane crashed into a residential area. No passengers on board. No injuries on the ground. The two crew members were fatally injured.

I've tried to Google it, but cannot find it (maybe someone can). I seem to recall a news story a while back about a couple of commercial piolts who were transporting a commerical aircraft (no passengers on board) and they decided to see how high they could take it. There was a problem - can't remember if there was a crash - the airline suspended (and maybe ultimately terminated) the two. If I am remembering a true story... the point I was trying to make is that if it can enter the mind of a commercial pilot it can enter the mind of a private pilot.

U.S. Pilots in Amazon Crash Might Face Manslaughter Charges in Brazil Wednesday, October 04, 2006 RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The American pilots of an executive jet could be charged with manslaughter if they are considered responsible for a high-altitude crash with a Boeing-737-800 that killed 155 people, federal police said Wednesday. Police earlier seized the passports of pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino to prevent them from leaving the country. Lepore and were piloting the Brazilian-made Legacy 600 when it struck a Boeing 737-800 over Mato Grosso state in the Amazon rain forest. The Boeing crashed, killing all 155 aboard. The Legacy landed safely at an air force base. "We have received an order from the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Mato Grosso to begin investigating the possible commission of a crime inside the aircraft. The investigation begins today," said Geraldo Pereira, acting director of the Federal Police in Mato Grosso, speaking by phone. "We will start investigating if the two pilots caused the accident and if they are proven guilty they could be charged with involuntary manslaughter," Pereira said. Investigators are puzzled why the pilots weren't alerted by equipment designed to avoid collisions. The air force said both jets were equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, which monitors other planes and sets off an alarm if they get too close. "Preliminary investigations indicate that the pilots may have turned off the transponder" that communicates the plane's location, he said. "They knew the risks they were running and nevertheless they took certain attitudes that endangered the lives of people." Source A new plane, the owner and high-level exces of the manufacturer on board....let's just hope that no one was "showing off." It shouldn't be too difficult to determine if there was a flight data recorder on the Embraer jet.

There is a program used in the states called VIRTUS that is helping dioceses deal with the problem.

You have failed me for the last time, Google image search.

I found this story a little RE-DICK-ulous.

I think it went pretty well. There was a pretty good crowd. Jim, Randy and Joe played well - it was nice 'n greazy. I'm glad I got the chance to see them. I was in town for a conference my company was putting one. We wrapped up just in time for the wife and I to catch a cab and make it over to the fest. Jim was gracious enough to talk with my wife and I backstage. Thanks Jim! I'm pretty sure I forgot to thank him for hosting such a great online community. I guess I was just too focused on the music. All I can say is based on what I saw in Chicago, a LIVE album is something to really consider!! These guys are great and I wish them continued success. I'll try to post a few of the pics that turned out. Just a few snapshots wtih my digital elph. I'll leave the real photos to Mark Sheldon. There was also a pretty good writeup in the festival program. If no one else has already posted it I'll try to get that on here as well.

10% off total purchase Plus, they'll donate 10% of your net purchase to First Book First Book is a national nonprofit organization working with local groups to provide new books for children in need.

Darth Vader is such a jerk