Alexander

I saw this last night and thought that in many ways it was a whole lot better than the first one. Any thoughts?

I seem to recall that in the last season or so of "Kotter", Gabe Kaplan had actually left the show. So there was this show called "Welcome Back Kotter" that had no Kotter... For a while, my wife was addicted to "Beverly Hills 90210" (God, that show sucked) and I would watch it with her and groan every once in a while (kind of like I do now with "American Idol"). For those who never watched 90210, the show was supposedly about the Walsh family, late of Minnesota, who moved to Beverly Hills. Over the years, the show was slowly de-Walsh-ed as each family member left the show. First Brenda, then the parents, and finally Brendan. In the end, they had "Beverly Hills 90210", a fish-out-of-water show about a midwestern family living in sunny Cali...with no midwestern family! Yet, for some strange reason, the other characters continued to live in the Walsh's house!

I don't know that I've ever actually heard the Tubes. My one association with them is a memory of sitting in Bob and John's (a fantastic pizzia and wing place in the old neighborhood back in Buffalo) and looking at this woman with an awful haircut who was sitting a couple of booths away. It was one of those short, spikey dos (not quite a mullet, but similar) that was popular with the "New Wave" crowd back in the early 80s. She was wearing a Tubes t-shirt and she had a very small child with her. My first thought was, "They let people like that have kids?" The pizzia and wings were great, though. And they used to serve Squirt in these little green bottles...

I watched MASH when I was a kid and enjoyed it. Then I saw the Altman film and I've never been able to watch the show the same way since. It seems horribly watered down. I had the same experience with "The Odd Couple". Once you've seen Lemmon and Matthau, Tony Randal and Jack Klugman don't really cut it.

Bob Hope was very funny, once upon a time. I recommend the movie "My Favorite Brunette". Hope was a big influence on Woody Allen's early films (especially "Love and Death". The whole "You must be Don Francisco's sister - No, it's a greater honor for me" bit is straight out of Hope). Like Groucho Marx, Hope had a deadly sarcastic streak. In the right film, it can be fantastic. I also have a soft spot for those Crosby-Hope "Road" movies.

My favorite TV shows are/were: The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show (BRILLIANT writing, very funny material, great performances and Mary Tyler Moore was a BABE), Taxi, and the Simpsons. I have gone through Star Trek and X-Files phases, and while I still have a sentimental attachment to them, I no longer regard them as favorites (their declines were too slow and painful). I loved "The Six Million Dollar Man" as a kid (I also loved the Lou Ferrigno/Bill Bixby "Hulk" series) but, frankly, that show made for better toys than TV watching.

Out of curiosity, why? What didn't you like about Harper? He also did a nice "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The performer who impressed me least was probably Gerald Levert, just because he's very generic. He's kind of like that Rueben guy on "American Idol": A thumbnail sketch of "Male R&B Singer". I was impressed by Joan Osborn (who I don't always like and whose recent soul album was weak) and Me'Shell NdegéOcello (or whatever). Bootsy was great fun, as always. Still like Harper, I don't care what anybody says. He did a great cover of "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the "I Am Sam" soundtrack album.

I think it all depends on whether or not one likes Chaka Khan. If you don't care for her, you're not going to like her version of "What's Goin' On". While I did enjoy it, I didn't think it was the highlight of the show. For me, that honor goes to Ben Harper for his version of "Ain't Too Proud To Beg". He's a tremendous talent (sometimes I think he's too good for this generation, if that makes any sense) and his reading would have made David Ruffin proud (if Ruffin wasn't an egomaniac who thought the whole world was jealous of his talent, but that's another story).

Have you ever released any of those shows you have in your closet, Chris? If not, have you ever considered doing so? That Lee Morgan show sounds most interesting!

I once asked a music theorist friend of mine about George Russell (back when I was first learning about him), and his only reply to me was: "Crackpot music theory."

I recently rented "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", which is a must for anyone who ever enjoyed the classic records of Motown's Detroit era. These were truely gifted musicians who did a really thankless job. Yet we enjoy their work every time we listen to a Temptations or a Marvin Gaye single! Great film!

I believe it is the right thing to do, and let me tell you why. I am a citizen of the United States, and I enjoy all of the rights and privileges that entails. I therefore have certain responsibilites as a citizen, and that means that I vote, pay my taxes, and serve as a juror when called. I couldn't call myself a socialist if I didn't believe in doing one's civic duty. Remember that your responsibility as a citizen isn't to the government, it is to other citizens. You have the right to a speedy and fair trial before a jury of your peers. That means that everyone who is entitled to a trial by jury has a duty to help his fellow citizens by acting as a juror for THEIR trials. "No man is an island, complete unto himself. Every man is a piece of the continent; a part of the maine." Everybody in a court of law has a job to do. It is the juror's job to hear the evidence and decide innocence or guilt. It is the defense attorney's job to defend his client, and try to spare him the needle if it comes to that. And it is the judge's job to interpret and enforce the law. Remember also that if the defendant did, indeed, commit a capital offense, then he has only himself to blame. You are not the one sending him to his doom. He did that himself. And if you are not convinced of his guilt, then you have a duty to say so.

As a juror, you do have the power to prevent a defendant from getting the death penalty. There are a number of things you can do. You can refuse to find the defendant guilty, for one thing. You'd get a hung jury, the judge would declare a mistrial, and the defense would get another crack at a different jury. I'm also against capital punishment, but that wouldn't prevent me from sitting on a jury, even in a murder trial with the death penalty on the table. There are lots of ways for defendants to legally avoid being sentenced to death. His lawyer can advise him to cop a plea, or plead guilty to a lesser charge (Murder one too tough? Try for murder two or manslaughter). Unless your name happens to be Jeffery Dahmer, you'd probably get life imprisonment if you pled guilty rather than waiting for a jury to find you guilty.

Freaky deaky!

It lists my address, but it is public information as I am listed in the phone book. Tried a friend of mine who moved to PA in the last year. It lists a Mormon Church! That would explain all those weird phone calls he's getting for Brigham Young.

I always liked Homer Simpson's advice on how to beat jury duty: "The trick is to say that you're prejudiced against all races." I've only been called once in my life. I reported to the courthouse in Boston, MA. like a good citizen. I brought my walkman and a good book (Marcel Proust, "A La Recherche du Temps Perdu"). I sat around reading, listening to "Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet" and other tapes. At about 1pm I was told that they had selected all of the jurors for the day, and that I could go home. I was prepared to sit there until 5! At the time, Mass had this wonderful rule called "one day/one trial". It meant that if you were not selected the first day, you were off the hook for the next five years. That's what I call civic duty!

My recollection is that Evans didn't like Van Gelder as an engineer. He really disliked the way he mic'd the piano. Evans seemed to think it sounded flat and dead.

I thought that the Miles 1&2 RVGs were superb, although not quite as eye-poppingly good as "The Birth of the Cool".

I own all of the discs in question as well, but I cast my vote for the Herbie. BTW, even though I haven't been contributing to the AOW threads, I have been following them and listening to the discs in question when I have the time. Now that I'm out of work for a while, I'll be able to participate more.

Hey, maybe Bush needs to enact a little regime change on Barney...

Both "fish" and "fishes" are considered acceptable plural forms of the singular "fish". My daughter (age three) watches Barney at my in-law's house, but never at home. So I only have to hear her singing "I Love You, You Love Me" to the tune of "This Old Man" (which is kinda cute when she does it). I refuse to let her watch "The Wiggles". They seem...wrong to me. No grown man should have that much fun, especially not an Australian. My daughter is heavy into Disney. We have a large (and growing) Disney video and DVD collection. For a while she wanted to watch "Snow White" all the time. Then "Beauty and the Beast". Then "Lilo and Stitch". Nowadays, she's not too into watching videos, although that will change at Easter (she's getting "Mulan" and "Hercules").

Fun artwork! Reminds me of the last several Tom Waits album covers.

For some reason, even though I was born in 1970, I developed this MAD crush on Dusty Springfield when was about 13. I still own the albums "The Look of Love", "Dusty in Memphis", and "Brand New Me"! Anyway, I remember liking "What Have I Done To Deserve This" because Dusty was involved. I think I was the only teenager in the 80s who even knew who Dusty Springfield was!

You beat me to it. I used to watch "Bizarre" when I was a kid. Usually while I was waiting for "Dave Allen at Large" to come on. Anyone ever watch that one? Starred an Irish comedian. Somewhat vain attempt at Pythonesque humor crossed with David Frost.

Yeah! "Centerfold" was an awesome video! There was something about girls with Martha Quinn hairstyles...ouch! I had a customer in the store last night who was looking for a CD by some country singer (she had heard the song on an awards show the night before). She said that she was pretty sure that it was a song, and not just a video. From the way she spoke, you'd think that music videos were a recent invention!