Alexander

I actually remember when that aired. Being 8 years old, however, I had no concept of how horrible it really was... I liked the toy commercial at the end. I was like, "Had it, had it, had it..."

My wife, daughter and I are headed out to spend the holidays in Buffalo with relatives in the morning. A very Merry Non-Sectarian-Mid-Winter-Gift-Giving-Festival to you all, and to all a good night! Who's up for Non-Sectarian-Mid-Winter-Gift-Giving-Festival carols? "I'm dreaming of a White Non-Sectarian-Mid-Winter-Gift-Giving-Festival...Just like the ones I used to know..."

I'm wondering the same thing. The LPs do have a warmer sound to my ears, but then I have a pitifully bad nine-year-old tabletop stereo, so it could well be my imagination... In any case, I'm madly in love with my turntable at the moment!

How do you like them? You may want to get Classic Records KOB and Blue Train at some point if the copies you bought do not do the trick. Well, so far everything sounds great. The version of "Blue Train" appears to be some sort of audiophile pressing (at least that's what the label on the cover says) and it does sound great. The version of KOB sounds good too. So far the one that's knocked me out of my socks is "The Golden Flute," which I did not own in any form previously. First of all, it's a kick-ass album. I'm guessing that this copy is actually vintage (its on the ABC-Paramount owned Impulse, not the GRP or Universal owned Impulse). It sounds spectacular, even at low volume (I was listening to it at four in the morning). The Wynton album (which, again, I didn't own previously although I have all of his other early Columbia dates) also sounds very good.

The second volume of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's amazing "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" features an epic encouter with H.G. Wells' Martians. Great fun.

Well, I visited Last Vestige Vinyl on Quail St. in Albany yesterday and blew fifty bucks. I got good quality vinyl copies of the following: Blue Train & My Favorite Things- John Coltrane Kind of Blue - You Know Who The Golden Flute - Yusef Lateef Wynton Marsalis (First Columbia Album) - Wynton McCoy Tyner - 13th House Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King

Thanks for the enthusiastic replies, Patricia!

If you burned the disc through iTunes (the only way I think you *can* burn it), there is an option to remove the 2 second gap between tracks. It took me a while, but I figured it out. I believe it's in under "preferences" or such like. I was able to burn an uninterrupted copy of Brad Mehldau's "Live In Tokyo."

Mezz Mezzrow

I came into several excellent condition rock LPs over the weekend and decided that I needed a turntable. Since my birthday is coming up, my wife decided to make it an early present. I'm really enjoying it so far (dusted off my old 45s this evening. Man, "Centerfold" was a great record!). So where can one get new vinyl? There are a couple of used places that deal in vinyl here in Albany, but I was wondering about new pressings. I know True Blue carries vinyl. Where else can I get it? Also, if all you vinyl junkies are in the mood, what jazz albums would you recommend getting on LP? I mean, what would you say is desert island quality. I have thousands of CDs, so what should I go out of my way to get that I might already own? "A Love Supreme?" "Milestones?" What's really killer on vinyl?

Thanks for the tips, Bev! Thanks also for the lead on the book. I'm always looking for good teacher reasources...

Also, Charlie Brown specials must be sponsored by Dolly Madison.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I start student teaching in January. I have two assignments. The first is at a rural high school (my cooperating teacher teaches grades 9, 11, and 12), the second is in a suburban setting (9 and 10) at a MUCH bigger school. While I've contacted both teachers by phone, I have thus far only met with the second of the two teachers (I'll be going up to the rural school on January 4th). While she couldn't say for certain what she'll be teaching, she basically told me to be ready to teach "Romeo and Juliet" to three 9th grade classes, either "Huck Finn" or "The Great Gatsby" to her 10th grade Regents classes and something from the Harlem Renaissance ("A Raisin in the Sun," most likely) for her 10th grade AP Prep class. Needless to say, I am absolutely THRILLED. I can't wait to get started. I only hope that my first placement is as good. I'm already thinking about ways to incorperate film, music, and art into my lessons (if I'm talking about the Harlem Renaissance, you KNOW I'm going to play some jazz). I'm especially excited about teaching Shakespeare. I LOVE the language, and I'm hoping to make these students' first experience with Shakespeare fun and accessible. I know we have some teachers here among us, so I wonder if you'd be so good as to share some of your student teaching experiences here. What should I look for? Am I getting too far ahead of myself?

Not exactly sure. I thought it was on CBS for quite some time. All of the Charlie Brown specials used to air on CBS for the longest time. The switch was recent, sometime in the last five years, but I don’t remember exactly when or why. How many people remember the spinning "special" logo on CBS? For me, it isn't a real Charlie Brown special without it. You can see it here. (requires RealPlayer).

Wow. I've seen amateurish writing before, but this stuff takes the cake!

Congrats!

Count me in as a Wilson fan as well. I first became aware of him watching the Ken Burns "Jazz" series when it first aired (I was very uninformed about pre-bop jazz at the time), but I actually *had* heard him without knowing it. I had a couple of early Billie Holiday discs and he was on them. I got the Goodman trio-quartet recordings shortly after I saw the "Jazz" episode and the Mosaic set shortly after that. I've been a big fan ever since. Love the "Pres and Teddy" album. What always gets me about Wilson is the perfict articulation of his solos. Never too much nor too little. He doesn't try to impress with the flash of his style, but never fails to impress with his impeccable good taste.

Bill Evans playing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" on the "Trio 64" album.

The same melody as "Greensleeves" is used for "What Child Is This" which is a Christmas song so... 6 of 1, 1/2 Dozen of the other.

Agreed, for the most part. But "jazz objectifies America" still doesn't mean anything. I think he meant to say "embodies." --eric Or, even more likely, EXEMPLIFIES. I'm not trying to slam Wynton for this, but rather Burns who chose to make that obvious misstatement the opening line of his ten part film...

Agreed, for the most part. But "jazz objectifies America" still doesn't mean anything.

No, no, of course not. But I realized that when I looked back on my first post, it kind of looked like I DID see a therapist for this problem. No, I see a therapist for all of my other problems!

"Matching Tie and Handkerchief" had one of the truly great gimmicks of the vinyl era: It was three-sided. One side was a normal LP side, but the other had TWO separate grooves. Depending on where the needle dropped on that side, you would hear one of two different programs. That was very cool. The cassette had a funny little bit if you let the tape run at the end of side one. After a few minutes, Michael Palin came on and said something like: "Well, that's the end of the first side of the tape. Since one side of the tape is somewhat longer than the other, there will be a rather...tiresome gap in the proceedings until the tape clicks at the end." If you let the tape run, it would continue in silence until it reached the end. At this point, Eric Idle came on and said: "Well, we've come to the end of that rather tiresome gap. You can now turn the tape over, and listen to the other side." Never having owned the CD edition, I don't know if it has a similar gimmick to the double groove on the LP or the "tiresome gap" on the tape.

You might be able to cook a dog in the Ted's style, but there's surely more to it than that. Otherwise I'd never leave my grill alone! Part of it is the Ted's sauce. Part of it is the kind of pickles they use (don't know the brand). A BIG part of it is their fries, which are properly eaten soaked in vinegar. Another big part is just the goddamed ambiance. The smell of charcoal and cooking hot dogs. The loganberry... A big part of it, also, is the fact that my folks took me there when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, I could put away TWO Ted's footlongs at a time. Tried that on a recent visit. I can't do it anymore. Sigh.

Well, except for "A Change is Gonna Come." That song IS Sam Cooke.