Big Al

Oooooooh YEAH!!!! I've been perusing a bunch of Looney Tunes pages; turns out that the aforementioned restored "Blue Ribbons" were restored prior to the DVD release, so maybe that is all, folks. I hope not, though!

When? When? When? WHEN?!?!? Is this a reality or a dream?

Unfortunately no. Hopefully it'll be out on future editions. Here's the list, courtesy of looney.toonzone.net: Disc #1: Bugs Bunny 14 remastered Bugs Bunny cartoons: 1. Baseball Bugs 2. Rabbit Seasoning 3. Long-Haired Hare 4. High Diving Hare 5. Bully for Bugs 6. What's Up Doc? 7. Rabbit's Kin 8. Water, Water Every Hare 9. Big House Bunny 10. Big Top Bunny 11. My Bunny Lies Over the Sea 12. Wabbit Twouble 13. Ballot Box Bunny 14. Rabbit of Seville Special Features: • a special opening greeting from Chuck Jones; • Audio track commentaries on these cartoons: RABBIT SEASONING (Mike Barrier & audio from his rare interviews with animators), LONG HAIRED HARE (Mike Barrier), HIGH DIVING HARE (Greg Ford), BULLY FOR BUGS (Mike Barrier), WHAT'S UP DOC? (Greg Ford), RABBIT'S KIN (Stan Freberg), BIG TOP BUNNY (Mike Barrier), WABBIT TWOUBLE (Mike Barrier); • separate music tracks for RABBIT SEASONING, WHAT'S UP DOC? and RABBIT'S KIN • Featurettes on Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, and Elmer Fudd with exclusive interviews; • THE BOYS FROM TERMITE TERRACE part 1 (rare John Canemaker documentary); • animated sequences from MY DREAM IS YOURS and TWO GUYS FROM TEXAS • THE BUGS BUNNY SHOW bonus materials: Bridging sequences from episode #1648 "A Star Is Bored"; Mel Blanc recording session from episode #1639 "The Astro-Nuts" • Bonus shorts: FIFTY YEARS OF BUGS BUNNY IN 3 1/2 MINUTES (1989 short) BLOOPER BUNNY (1991) with commentary by Greg Ford • A gallery including Lobby Cards, photgraphs, music cue sheets and original dialogue transcripts. •Trailers from 1950s theatrical compilation shows: BUGS BUNNY'S CARTOON FESTIVAL and BUGS BUNNY'S CARTOON JAMBOREE Disc #2: Daffy and Porky 14 remastered Porky and Daffy cartoons: 1. Duck Amuck 2. Dough for the Do-Do 3. Drip-Along Daffy 4. Scaredy Cat 5. The Ducksters 6. The Scarlet Pumpernickel 7. Yankee Doodle Daffy 8. Porky Chops 9. Wearing of the Grin 10. Deduce, You Say 11. Boobs in the Woods 12. Golden Yeggs 13. Rabbit Fire 14. Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century Special Features: • Audio track commentaries on DUCK AMUCK, DRIP-ALONG DAFFY, THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKLE, WEARING OF THE GRIN, and DUCK DODGERS by Mike Barrier using his exclusive interview audio with classic animators. • Separate music tracks for DUCK AMUCK, DRIP-ALONG DAFFY,THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKLE and RABBIT FIRE. • Bonus featurettes on MARVIN MARTIAN, Porky Pig, and DAFFY DUCK • THE BOYS FROM TERMITE TERRACE part 2 • A gallery including Lobby Cards, photgraphs, music cue sheets and original dialogue transcripts. Disc #3: All-Stars Premiere Collection Vol. 1 includes 14 remastered Looney Tunes: 1. Elmer's Candid Camera - Elmer Fudd 2. Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears - Bugs Bunny 3. Fast and Furry-ous - Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote 4. Hair-Raising Hare - Bugs Bunny, Gossamer 5. The Awful Orphan - Porky Pig, Charlie Dog 6. Haredevil Hare - Bugs Bunny, Marvin Martian 7. For Scent-imental Reasons - Pepe le Pew 8. Frigid Hare - Bugs Bunny 9. The Hypo-condricat - Claude Cat, Hubie & Bertie 10. Baton Bunny - Bugs Bunny 11. Feed the Kitty - Marc Anthony & Pussyfoot 12. Don't Give Up the Sheep - Ralph Wolf & Sam Sheepdog 13. Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid - Bugs Bunny, Beaky Buzzard 14. Tortoise Wins by a Hare - Bugs Bunny, Cecil Turtle Special Features: • Audio track commentaries compiled by Michael Barrier for FAST & FURRY-OUS, HAIR RAISING HARE, HAREDEVIL HARE, FOR SCENT-I-MENTAL REASONS and BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID; FEED THE KITTY (commentary by Greg Ford), BUGS BUNNY AND THE THREE BEARS (Commentary by Stan Freberg). • Separate music tracks for BATON BUNNY and FEED THE KITTY • Featurettes on the ROAD RUNNER, MEL BLANC and CARL STALLING • TOONHEADS: THE LOST CARTOONS • Original storyboards for HAIR RAISING HARE and THE HYPO-CHRONDRI-CAT • A gallery including Lobby Cards, photgraphs, music cue sheets and original dialogue transcripts. Disc #4: All-Stars Premiere Collection Vol. 2 includes 14 remastered Looney Tunes including: 1. Canary Row - Sylvester & Tweety 2. Bunker Hill Bunny - Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam 3. Kit for Cat - Sylvester, Elmer Fudd 4. Putty Tat Twouble - Sylvester & Tweety 5. Bugs and Thugs - Bugs Bunny, Rocky & Mugsy 6. Canned Feud - Sylvester 7. Lumber Jerks - Goofy Gophers 8. Speedy Gonzales - Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester 9. Tweety's S.O.S. - Sylvester & Tweety 10. The Foghorn Leghorn - Foghorn Leghorn, Henery Hawk 11. Daffy Duck Hunt - Daffy Duck, Porky Pig 12. Early to Bet - The Gambling Bug 13. Broken Leghorn - Foghorn Leghorn 14. Devil May Hare - Bugs Bunny, Tasmanian Devil Special Features • Audio track commentaries compiled by Michael Barrier for TWEETY'S S.O.S. and THE FOGHORN LEGHORN and commentaries by Jerry Beck on CANARY ROW, DEVIL MAY HARE, CANNED FEUD and SPEEDY GONZALES • Separate music tracks for PUTTY TAT TWOUBLE, BROKEN LEGHORN, and SPEEDY GONZALES. • Featurettes on SPEEDY GONZALES, FRIZ FRELENG AND TWEETY & SYLVESTER, and ROBERT McKIMSON AND FOGHORN LEGHORN. • Bonus all-new 50 minute documentary "Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age Of Looney Tunes" narrated by Stan Freberg. • The complete "BOSKO THE TALK-INK KID" pilot • Virgil Ross pencil tests • A gallery including Lobby Cards, photgraphs, music cue sheets and original dialogue transcripts. A real treat to this is watching the "separate music track" cartoons. Watching and listening to these cartoons without the voices undeniably proves that Carl Stalling was an animation and musical genius.

I wish I could tell you. I've had the thing now for over a week, and I'm too scared to open it. I wanna wait until I can listen to it in the proper setting and just drink it all in. I wanna savor the moment! I don't wanna just throw it on and hope something jumps out. I want to be drawn in and mesmerized. I want this to be something I'll come back to over and over and over. Even if I have the same response as that of Jim's, I want to be able to just let it wash over me like a morning tide. Y'know?

How 'bout Count Basie at the organ? It just DRIPS on Paul Quinichette's THE VICE-PRES. Might be what you'd call "old-school greeeaze!" Actually, there's all sorts-a old-school greeeaze on this, courtesy of Bill Doggett, compin' behind everyone including Kenny Drew. Vintage greeeaze, properly preserved!

Joe Henderson, bar none. Such interplay on Black Fire. I like to think that Hill brought out the best in everyone he played with. Especially Hank Mobley. I know Mobe never played on a Hill session, but listen to No Room for Squares and the accompanying tracks from Straight No Filter. Hank sounds unusually inspired on those sessions, making the sessions sound like the germination of the inspiration behind Grass Roots. It's almost a shame they didn't record together more often. Hard to pick a favorite drummer. Probably Joe Chambers, as he seems to fit in nicely with the whole Hill motif. Although Elvin Jones sure did fit in nicely on Judgement. Another thing: can Hill play the b-3? Always wondered what it would sound like if Andrew Hill was keepin' it greeeazy!

Anyone else get this? A four-DVD set of prime Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes. Disc one is Bugs Bunny; disc two is Daffy & Porky; discs three & four are basically a grab-bag. I should mention that it's hardly comprehensive, and some classics have been left off (Robin Hood Daffy, Knighty Knight Bugs, Tweetie Pie, and What's Opera Doc? to name a few); but there's nary a clinker in the bunch, and I'm personally tickled just to have Early to Bet (a great McKimson cartoon; man, he was always my favorite) in my house. I would like to think that this is the first of MANY editions. (For anyone who cares about these things, did anyone else ever hate it that a lot of those pre-'48 cartoons were slapped with a generic "Blue Ribbon," thereby depriving the cartoon fanatic the pleasure of seeing the title art, along with the credits? Well, if this volume is any indication, that has FINALLY been done away with! Unfortunately, not so with the post-'48 toons, but then those didn't lose the title art, etc, with the "Blue Ribbon" identification. (For the TRULY anal (i.e. ME), I always liked seeing the original beginning, with the colored rings and WB shield, and the "Blue Ribbon" was always something of a pet peeve. Yeah, yeah, I know: it's a wonder I ever watched the cartoon! ) In this case, the cartoons Scaredy Cat and The Foghorn Leghorn have been restored to their true openings. Rayhoo!!!!) Is anyone else excited about this?

I'm glad this got cleared up. I was looking for "Passing Air" on Fresh Ships!

I like this session a lot, although I don't think I've ever listened to it all in one sitting: it's too intense for me to do that. Simply put: this album scares the hell outta me. The playing is unreal!

Happy birthday, man!!! Someone should make this day "National Catesta Day" and force "light" beer drinkers the world over to consume a big bottle o' Shiner Bock (or preferred real bier of choice)!

BTW, does anyone know what happened to the kids on the cover?

A Charlie Brown Christmas The Dave Brubeck Christmas CD on Telarc John Fahey's New Possibility The Ventures Christmas Album Percy Faith's CHRISTMAS IS (laugh if you want, I absolutely LOVE this album) I GOTTA get that Burrell CD, I'm so tickled it's out!!! And this year I'm gonna quit bein' such a cheapskate and get that Joe Pass Christmas CD. Can't believe I put it off every year. I also dig Scott Hamilton's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy." And even though it's not a Christmas album in any way, shape, or form, Jobim's TERRA BRASILIS makes me think of Christmas time.

I can tell y'all from having seen these guys live: one's gotta have a LOTTA stamina to keep up with these guys. Playing like Ron on Grass Roots will get you flattened at a Quartet Out gig!!! Having said that, the more I listen to GR, the more I really enjoy Ron Carter's playing. HOWEVER, I can totally sympathize with the antagonists on this one, and I think I understand WHY there's this discomfort: it seems like Hill went out of his way to NOT make an Andrew Hill record. By that, I mean that he wasn't doing his usual boundary-stretching like he'd done on previous Blue Note albums. (As an aside, when I listen to this, I often wonder what my reaction would've been had I been around at the time this came out. Perspective always seems to change when one's actually lived through it) Without sounding derogatory, GR sounds like an adventurous Herbie Hancock record, which in itself isn't necessarily a BAD thing; but I guess when you expect the kinds of things Hill is capable of, I can see how some people would be frustrated at what appears to be a kind of playing-to-the-lowest-common-denominator. Sort of like when Hancock made that video for MTV. So my enthusiasm and enjoyment for this album is tempered by a slight "there but for the grace of God go I;" I have to think that it's only because of my place in the whole scheme of things that I'm able to enjoy this album as much as I do. OR, I could just be full of shit and after ten-plus years of listening to jazz, I still wouldn't know good jazz from a hole in my head (among many); I just knows what I like!

I'll echo the comments made about what a relaxing session this is. It's relaxing without being boring; soothing without being anesthetizing! Talkin' About is probably my favorite that these guys did together, but this one is indeed special. And I think the presence of Bobby Hutcherson is what makes it special. He adds some nice color along with his solos. A great choice indeed! Can't believe we waited so long to nominate conn500! B)

I see that BMG has this one now. I've never heard it, but I assume it was part of the Basie Roulette Mosaic. Any thoughts on this one?

A bit late, but here goes: “Mr. Marsalis, if jazz is the great melting-pot of all races and cultures, how do you explain Stanley Crouch? You must know that Mr. Crouch’s writings are divisive and elitist, enough to get him fired from Jazz Times. Mr. Crouch forwards the notion that jazz music should be played and listened only by African-Americans; the implication being that there is no room for anyone of non-African (i.e. European, Latin, etc.) descent and, to a lesser degree, light skin pigment. It would seem to me that, given your stature as the face of jazz, connecting yourself—or at the very least, not publicly disagreeing—with Mr. Crouch’s public stance implies that you agree with him on some level. Is that so? Because to do so would ignore the contributions of Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, Lee Konitz, and Warne Marsh (not to mention the groundbreaking work of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vince Guaraldi, Cal Tjader, and others who popularized Brazilian jazz) from the 50s and 60s; as well as the groundbreaking works of such players as Joe Zawinul, Miroslav Vitous, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, and Dave Douglas (whom you must know Mr. Crouch blasted in his final Jazz Times piece, simply for having the audacity to attempt to play jazz while being white! How dare he!) from the 70’s up to today. Don’t you think that, as someone whose educational stature is without question, attitudes like this are detrimental to future generations of jazzers, players and listeners, of all races and cultures?” *********************** Given that he gets most of his jazz information from the likes of Crouch, you could come back to him like this: “So then, does this make you the George W. Bush of jazz, and Stanley Crouch your Dick Cheney?”

Always thought him & James Garner made a great team.

Could this be an indication that Blue Note is now entering a phase like that of the 70's? [[[[shudder]]]] I hope not!

Do the names Dizzy Gillespie and Lee Morgan mean anything to you?

Man, I LOVED those records!!! The first thing that came to my mind is actually a non-Blue-Note side: Philly Joe's "Blues for Dracula" on a box of Count Chocula! I'll think of others later!

YEAH!!! I wonder why Blue Note didn’t release Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers as an RVG along with the Trio album? I would’ve thought there’d be more demand for that one.

Maybe he's a NTU alum?

It's good music to be sure; but to these ears, it starts to get repetitive after a while!

Man, that is one beautiful baby in your avatar. And I love the signature at the bottom of his posts. So much can be learned just by looking at that picture and reading the inscription. So, sorry if this announcement comes belated; but it is heartfelt. Congratulations!