Big Al

Yeah, that Santa hat was pretty cool. Would love to see it again!

Before this gets tossed into the political forum.... The war, it seems, is not a war "on" Christmas as much as it seems to be a war "over" Christmas. Who owns it? The Christians or the pagans? Well.... Oddly enough, I was reflecting on something Christ said while I was out Christmas shopping today (and I am reeeeeeally paraphrasing here): "And why do good and give gifts only to the people you love? Don't even the pagans do that? Do something really challenging: give to your enemies. Give gifts to the pagans, not the other Christians. Love those who curse you." Whooo boy. Guilty as charged here, and you're certainly forgiven for not taking anything else I say seriously. Conrad is right when he asserts that there are wingnuts who are attempting to take Christmas out of the holiday season; those people are called "extremists." However, David is also right when he asserts that there are wingnuts who are attempting to shove their militant version of Christ down everyone's throat at this time of year. Those folks are also called "extremists." To me, their all mixed nuts! Christmas is a part of the holiday season, just as Hannukah and the New Year celebration are all a part of the holiday season. To wish someone a "Happy Holiday" is no more offensive than wishing someone a nice day. And wishing someone a Merry Christmas, when Christmas is right around the corner and that happens to be your belief, is no more offensive than someone of the Jewish faith wishing me a Happy Hannukah, even though I'm not Jewish. What's the big deal? I'd like to think that I can be allowed to celebrate in a Jewish person's joy during this season. Me wishing someone a Merry Christmas is simply my way of inviting that person to celebrate in my joy at this time of year. Nothing more, nothing less. Naive? Probably. Wouldn't be the first time. But I'd rather be hopeful than hopeless. Especially at this time of year. One final note: David is completely on-target when he asserts that O'Reilly and his ilk are doing more harm to Christmas and the meaning of Christmas with their VERY unChristian ranting and raving. Modern-day Pharisees and Saducees, every damn one of 'em.

Wasted no time in declining that one. I know it. It's a feeling of, "Great! There's three seconds of my life I'll never get back again!"

The beautiful thing about this album, as with many of Sweets’ albums, is his ability to lead his group through the simplest of riffs and turn them into some of the swinginest sides you’ll ever hear. Sweets originals on this album abound with riffs that sound easy to play, but I’ll bet that only Sweets knew how to get the real SWING out of those riffs! Then there are the covers, which are no less swinging, but a lot more structured and dare I say adventurous! The guitar intro to “How Deep is the Ocean” is luscious, one of the many highlights of Barney Kessel on this album. He has such a nice rich tone. I like it that the album is credit to an “orchestra” because this sextet sure has as big a sound as an orchestra! This album could easily be compared, heck played side-by-side, with THE SWINGER and MR. SWING; on those LPs, Jimmy Forrest takes over on tenor, who more than holds his own stepping in Big Ben’s shoes. And that’s another thing: Sweets was never less than inspired no matter what situation he played in; pair him with a big thick-toned tenor sax and listen to the man GO! What a record! Thanks for picking this one!

If you zoom in close enough on Rooster's picture, on the other side of those buildings lies the long-lost answers to BFT #25!

There's a Ghost in the forest! No wonder his reception is so good!

Crud! I tried to zoom in on Jim, Joe, & Randy, but all I got was a dark screen! Don't tell me I did it AGAIN!

Holy sh.... My marker's only a few blocks off of where I live! Very cool nonetheless. (I'm gonna eavesdrop on Skid & see what he's listening to. Lucky for me, he doesn't know which house is mine, so he can't tell what I'm listening to. )

Happy Happy Birthday, neighbor!!! Glad I get to see you every now and then. Remind me to buy you a birthday beverage the next time I see you guys!

So is jazz. Maybe that's what explains Stanley's current attitudes: he can't stand to share "his" music with those of such "ilk." stanley crouch gets my vote for "undesirable ilk for 2005"!

So is jazz. Maybe that's what explains Stanley's current attitudes: he can't stand to share "his" music with those of such "ilk."

indeed!!!!

Always knew there was a reason to like you!

DHL is the worst. They make UPS seem competent by comparison.

None of it, of course, since it makes no mention of his producing my big comeback album in 1970......

May his soul know the peace his body never knew. God rest, Mr. Pryor.

WAIT a second: you mean all this time her name WASN'T spelled "Ellerbee?"

Kewl!!! I'm genuinely touched!

The minute "news" shows become more about news and less about entertaining, then we'll be able to address the above valid concern. But I ain't holding my breath.....

Here'a an idea: Rooster, if you have the track data saved on your copy of the CD, why not just upload it to CDDB and then folks can access the answers from there? I inadvertently discovered this method when noj was able to download the tracks from my Christmas BFT which I had saved to CDDB.

Because I am just that anal!!!

Yup, that's what I did! The reason I did that was I was trying to load the songs onto my hard drive at work from the CD. I was using a program called CakeWalk and saved the tracks by artist and title. Then I figured I'd save myself the trouble for future reference, so I saved it to CDDB.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO jealous. I mean, we got the cold air, but no snow.

Happy Birthday, my friend!!! Pity Red isn't here to help celebrate!