Alexander

Another vote for "Wish" (although the version of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" is pretty silly), "Moodswing," "YaYa3" and "Elastic." All are very good. I sometimes find Redman uneven. I've seen him in concert, and was almost put to sleep. He doesn't sound like he's trying very hard much of the time, although he's quite good on all of the above named discs. His tracks on Roy Haynes' "Love Letters," however, contain some of his best solos EVER.

I found a very funny review of "H.O.T.S.": Think Animal House meets the Revenge of the Nerds and you have the essence of H.O.T.S.’ plot. A couple of goofy girls are feeling out of place because of the high-brow superiority of girls belonging to the Pi sorority, so they form their own sexy retaliation group. A final showdown between the outsiders and the elite ensues and you have a film attempting to achieve a nirvana of sexual-appeal. Throw in some lame-brained subplots, like bears flying hot air balloons and burglars trying to recover lost booty, and you have a truly wretched piece of celluloid. These not-so-pretty girls yearn for some sort of acceptance but, for unforeseen reasons, this desire soon translates into plain-old exploitation. The filmmakers would like us to believe that these women aren’t particularly attractive in the film’s early scenes, but this certainly isn’t the case. A quick make-up job and the addition of form fitting clothing (apparently borrowed from the staff of Hooters), reveals – surprise, surprise – that they are far more attractive than their Pi counterparts. And that is how we have H.O.T.S., a sorority that takes its name from the first initials of its four founding members. Isn’t that witty? An obese girl is added to the ranks of the sorority in what can only be seen as the filmmaker’s lame attempt to validate the rationale behind the formation of H.O.T.S. I doubt anyone would buy any of this obvious baiting, because the film is the kind of garbage that caters solely to folks who consider Playboy to be the ultimate in literature. There isn’t much of a plot here, just lots of topless women trying to steal the boyfriends of the Pi girls while playing touch football with each other. Oh, lets not forget the classic beach ball scene in the house between one of the top-heavy girls and their mascot, a seemingly aroused seal. The most confounding thing about H.O.T.S. is the fact that it was written by two women, Cherri Caffaro and Joan Buchanan. Now, after watching this film, it will not come as a surprise to anyone that these women never wrote another screenplay. What is surprising, though, is the fact that Caffaro and Buchanan were not excommunicated from planet Earth for what has to be one of the most ridiculously sexist films I have ever had the displeasure of laying my eyes on.

I don't know how obscure this movie is (pretty obscure I would imagine), but there was this one movie called "H.O.T.S." that I remember staying up late to watch on Skinamax one Friday night. Like Rooster Ties, I watched it hoping to see some T&A. It was SO bad, and SO stupid, I don't think I stuck around until the end. I just remember that there was this brunette with VERY big boobs who I was hoping to see topless. Don't think it happened though. It was a "Porkys"/"Animal House" college sex "comedy." It's probably become a cult classic. I can imagine some drinking games that might have come from it. The woman with the letter "O" on her chest is the brunette of which I spoke earlier. I found out, through a little research just now, that her name is Lisa London, and that she has gone on to become a casting director and a second unit director on several bad movies like "McHale's Navy" and "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles." What a remarkable career!

Gary, My sympathies. Identity theft is a very real and very frightening threat. I hope that everything works out, and that the individuals responsible are caught and appropriately punished.

I got it. I like it. Some nice arrangements. Blanchard has really matured as a soloist. Recommended.

I would say that a meth house is worse than a crack house.

If you can use 'em, don't dis em. "Your father may have worked with Hymen Roth, but your father never TRUSTED Hymen Roth!"

I grew up in a largely Italian-American neighborhood (it had been a largely Jewish neighborhood when my grandparents moved in, and by this point we were the only Jewish family left). One of my neighbors (and a good friend from Nursery School) was a little boy named Richie. Richie and I used to play together all the time. My parents would sometimes wonder aloud about Richie's family, who lived in the same neighborhood, but always seemed to have new cars, etc. One day, when Richie and I were playing in front of his house, a big black Rolls pulled up. A old man in a very sharp suit got out. Richie at once jumped to his feet, and yelled "Grampa!" After hugging his grandson for a moment, Richie's grandfather asked my name. When I told him, he said: "Hey, Richie. What are you doing hanging out with a jew-boy?" I saw Richie's grandfather a few more times after that, and he was always in the big Rolls in sharp clothes. He flashed around rolls of bills and was always very generous to his family. Why they couldn't afford to live in a better neighborhood, I couldn't figure out. It's probably unfair for me to assume that Richie's grandfather was in the mob, but that's what everyone said about him. There was also this TV shop nearby called "Martinos." They had some video games in the front window, and my friends and I would spend many hours there playing "Star Wars." The whole time we hung out there, we never saw any customers. We had no idea how they stayed in business. A lot of trucks came to the back, however, so we had the idea that the shop might be a front. One day, it burned down. They must have been skimming from the top! That was the end of our video games.

Ok, I'll bite...what's wrong with the review? I guess I'm completely ignorant about the album (only having it in my collection for the last ten years or so), because I didn't see anything wrong with the review. Very positive. Five stars. What don't you like?

Wayne poses with the Green Lantern referred to above in the most recent "Downbeat." I recognized it at once. It wasn't just ANY green lantern! The Hal Jordan GL is my all time favorite super-hero. I don't know why, but that costume...that ring...the colors...it just doesn't get much cooler than that! I always had Wayne Shorter pegged as a Green Lantern kinda guy... In brightest day, In blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

Speaking as someone who writes record reviews, let me remind you that it's all subjective. I've given CDs some pretty bad reviews in my time, and I don't expect anybody to make a final judgement based on my subjective opinion. In the end, only your ears can determine what recordings are best for you. A review is an indicator, but it should never be taken as the last word on the subject. I also try, as a reviewer (and I'm sure a lot of people here find themselves in the same situation), to find some redeeming quality in every album I write about. I have a line that I haven't used yet about "wanting to chew my own foot off in order to escape from this album," but I'm saving that for a recording I really dislike. I find the AMG to be a useful tool. I don't think I have a problem with any of their reviews.

A lot of people say things like the above about Soderberg's work. I think that his work is intentionally "hollow" emotionally. He never lets you forget that you are watching a movie. He deliberately alienates his audience. I love it, personally, and I've enjoyed every film he's made. "Solaris" and "Oceans Eleven" were both remakes that managed to stand on their own, and Clooney is a big part of both film's artistic success.

Ooooooooooooooohhhhhh, yeaahhhhhhhhh!!!!

This was one of the first Stan Getz albums I ever bought (along with Jazz Samba and Stan Getz and Bill Evans). I have to say that I didn't dig it at first. I liked Jazz Samba, but this seemed a little too...real, I guess. Too Brazilian, perhaps? Anyway, of course I have come to love it. It's easily the best Bossa Nova recording of the period, perhaps of all time. The Bossa Nova movement was an attempt to fuse the Samba with Cool Jazz, and the collaboration of Getz with Gilberto and Jobim (the architects of this music) is perfection. Astrud's numbers are lovely, her flat vocal style fitting perfectly in with the music. It is, along with certain Fellini films and the Astin Martin, the epitome of early 60s cool. And, let's face it, things just haven't been as cool since the early 60s!

I like this idea, too. I'm in!

I stand corrected.

I think the 70s, the early 70s in particular, were a good period for jazz. I would agree with the statement that the real "lost" decade was the 80s. For some reason, even recordings by good musicians (like Bobby Hutcherson on Landmark) sound a bit sterile to my ears. Must be the way they were miked. Things definately got back on track in the 90s. I think that the last few years have marked a real good period for jazz. I think people will look back on the early 21st century as a time of great diversity and creativity.

What an astonishing piece of cinema. Absolutely incredible. Possibly Soderburg's best film to date. Very little dialogue. All of the acting was superb. I remember hearing mixed things about this. Don't understand it. I was rivited from the first frame, as was my wife. When it was over, we both just stared... Great music too. The whole thing had a very 70s sci-fi vibe. Must now see the Tartovski film and read the Lem novel, just for comparison's sake!

By "send-up," of course, I didn't mean that the Coens were mocking Chandler. I had not seen any interview with the Coens regarding this film, so I came up with the whole Chandler/Marlowe thing on my own. Pretty cool, since I was right on the money. Greg, the Gulf War I stuff was as much a part of the film as the Marlowe stuff, no question. Otherwise they wouldn't have set the film in 1991. I just think the Marlowe parody is more to the point than the "line-in-the-sand" stuff, important as it is. Now I have to defend the Dude always being a step behind. He is always a step behind. He's constantly stoned and distracted! Yes, he came up with the right answer immediately, but he had John Goodman shouting in one ear, the Big Lebowski shouting in the other, the Nihlists making their demands, Lebowski's daughter coming on to him...etc. All of these distractions keep the Dude from putting the pieces together they way Marlowe would. The Dude is, after all, just a stoner who likes to bowl. He's not a Hard Boiled Detective! The pay-off, if you will, is that in spite of all the distractions, the Dude still figures it all out. And it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to him! "The Dude abides," after all. Donnie's death means more to the Dude in the end.

I see the film as a send up of Raymond Chandler novels (hear me out on this one). Like most of Chandler's Philip Marlowe stories, "The Big Lebowski" is set in L.A. It involves a wheelchair bound millionaire (reminicent of "The Big Sleep") and a blackmail/kidnapping attempt. Most of Chandler's books are set in L.A.'s seamy underbelly, often involving pimps and pornographers. "The Big Lebowski" basically takes a clueless everyman (the Dude) and lands him in the middle of a Philip Marlowe novel. But while Marlowe is always a step ahead, the Dude is always a step behind (notice that he's always repeating the last thing a person said, usually after they've moved on to another topic). But, like Marlowe, the Dude manages to pull everything together and solve the mystery. It's very funny, if you are at all familliar with the conventions of Hard Boiled Detective fiction and Film Noir.

While Shorter was mentioned with Joni Mitchell, you forgot to mention that Jaco Pastorius played bass on "Hejira," "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter," and "Mingus." Jaco really makes those albums, by the way. Chet Baker was mentioned on Costello's "Shipbuilding." Ray Brown played bass on parts of the Costello "King of America" album. Costello's recollection of meeting Brown is pretty funny. In the liner notes to the Rykodisk reissue of "KoA," Costello talks about how he and producer T-Bone Burnett met Brown after a long flight to LA. Burnett mentioned that the airplane had been playing some of the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Verve recording during boarding, and mused aloud that no one made records that good anymore. Brown mentioned that he had played on those recordings. "Oh, yeah," Costello said, "And now we're going to make my stupid little record." Costello figured that most of these musicians who guested with him regarded him as some "limey millionaire who just liked playing with his musicial heroes."

My collection is organized thusly: Jazz Pop/Rock/Country/Blues/Funk/Soul Folk Classical My CDs are alphabetized by artist, and then filed chronologically by recording date (if known). In my collection, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Rosemary Clooney are all filed under "jazz," as are Benny Goodman and other Big Band/Swing artists. As to what, exactly, jazz is: As Fats Waller once said: If you don't know, for heaven's sake don't mess with it!

Ditto all of the above. This is a great set with some really wonderful music...and when you program out the alternates, its also the shortest and easiest Mosaic set to digest!

They can find a piece of metal the size of a penny in a manatee, but miss 19 highjackers with boxcutters. What a world we live in!

Do you fly frequently? If you do, your unconcious mind might be working out some anxiety you don't even know you have. My view is the dreams are usually the mind's way of working out problems that we're not aware we have.