BillF

Judging by the clips on YouTube made at Porgy & Bess, Vienna, there's still a thriving jazz scene there. I see dates by Carla Bley, Stanley Jordan, Dick Oatts, Jimmy Cobb, Larry Coryell, etc. Jim Rotondi is now an Austrian resident and I saw him earlier this year in a touring quartet that included Eric Alexander and Austrian drummer Bernd Reiter. Here they are at Porgy & Bess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7BNN8LoG2o

Postal abbreviations for US states often stop me in my tracks, particularly as so many start with M: MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT Try your hand at these, Brits.

Harvey Keitel Harvey Nicks Diedrich Knickerbocker

Connie Kay El Cid M C Hammer

Lockjaw Griff Mel & Griff

Schlock Holmes (as a Jewish friend of mine used to call the famous tec) Sherlock Homes (South Manchester estate agents) Sonny Sharrock

Nessie The Monarch of the Glen The Hound of the Baskervilles

Knobby Totah John Horler Schlepper Berry

Sacha Baron Cohen James Earl Ray Nat King Cole

"How Deep Is the Ocean" from this one. Haunting organ backing by Larry Goldings. Best thing of this sort I've heard since Wes and Mel Rhyne did "Round Midnight".

Hawkeye Kes Billy Casper

Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson Merchant Ivory Members of the House of Keys

Dave Line David Loyn Alfred Lion

Auntie BBC Auntie Rotter Johnny Rotten

Humanoid The Robots of Dawn Dusko Gojkovic

The Constant Gardener Rev Flowers Leopold Bloom

New Order The Stone Roses Inspiral Carpets

Horace Tapscott Lord Elgin of the Marbles Joe Dodge

Ladybird The Squirrel Flossie Lou

Giant Despair Ron Glum Jimmy Gloomy

Jet Harris Stanley Black Earl Grey

In my youth my friends and I always used to chuckle at Ira Gitler's excesses: "Meanwhile Horace mines a vein of silver", etc.

The Skeleton in The Cupboard Ian Bone J J Johnson

Another mention for Brit Peter King. First mention for Brit Alan Barnes and frequent visitor Greg Abate.

Frank Pick Cloudsley Shovell Sam Spade