Alexander

For those who haven't picked up the two-disc set, the single disc version of the second SF Jazz Collective season is available. I got it on Tuesday, and it is wonderful stuff...

Has anyone else heard this? I picked it up when it came out on Tuesday. A wonderful duet album full of beautiful playing and lots of harmonic surprises. The interaction between these two is amazing. Recommended!

Allen, I'm thoroughly enjoying this set (I'm on disc eight)! I have a question: The set gives the impression that after the ODJB recorded in 1917, the floodgates opened and jazz recordings were everywhere. Is this the case? I'm simply amazed at how fast things seemed to happen for the time period. Did the success of the ODJB recordings suddenly make jazz commerically viable? Or was it rather a case where a bunch of jazz musicians were all close to recording at the same time, but the ODJB just happened to be the first? The contrast between the pre-1917 recordings and those that came after is startling. I guess that I had this idea that pop culture moved at a slower pace in the pre-television age... Also, what was the audience for recorded music in 1895? Were the recordings during that period made primarily for commerical release or for archival use? I notice that on most of the pre-1900 recordings there was a practice of announcing the title and artist. Did this practice fall out of use because of the advent of 78 RPM records (and their attendant lables), or was there another reason? Who was listening to these recordings before, say, 1910?

I am an Art Pepper fan...unfortunately, I'm also an English teacher. "You are" is properly contracted as "you're" not "your." Minor point...carry on.

Really???? Somehow, I just don't see Eminem having anywheres near the sensitivity to play him. He's too old now, but I could see Johnny Depp being able to pull it off.... I think it would be perfect. There's a close resemblance (see pics), not to mention that Bix WAS the Eminem of his day (white guy playing black music...serious attitude...)

Well, Jack's a lucky guy. That's a quite a father-in-law he has...

All of Stefon's CDs are worth getting. "BlackActionFigure" is a bit better, but this one has some fine playing...

That would be FANTASTIC! On a related note, I (seriously) think that Eminem would be a natural to play Bix.

I'll find a way to get this, come hell or high water... Meanwhile...any clue as to when this will actually be released?

It's scary as hell too! I always pull it out around Halloween. Some of the tracks are way creepy (but wonderful).

Cool! We get to hear a remastered version of "Help" featuring the cool James Bond-ish intro! I always thought the British album was missing a lot without that intro!

I'm really diggin' "Booty." That's a great song!

I'm a big fan (see my avatar and sig quote). My favorite Waits line is his comment on the Eagles: "The only good use for an Eagles album is keeping dust off of your turntable." Love all of his stuff, but the Swordfishtrombones/Rain Dogs/Frank's Wild Years troika is my fav...

Very, very sad.

I've met a fair number of transsexuals and other transgendered individuals over the years, I have to say that I find the kind of mocking that goes on behind their backs to be quite juvenile. These are human beings who have made a very difficult decision, and by so doing they have opened themselves up to ridicule (and, believe me, they know that people laugh at them). We owe them a little more respect than they commonly get...

When you say "real band," what exactly do you mean? Could you make out the instrumentation?

I have the Springfield and CSNY material (one of my favorite Young performances is the version of "On The Way Home" on "Four Way Street") as well as a few of his better known solo discs ("Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," "After the Gold Rush," and "Harvest"). I really should pick up some more of his stuff. I love what I have...

Unearthed statues depict 'Ramses the Great' CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Archaeologists discovered a pharaonic sun temple with large statues believed to be of King Ramses II under an outdoor marketplace in Cairo, Egypt's antiquities chief said Sunday. The partially uncovered site is the largest sun temple ever found in the capital's Aim Shams and Matariya districts, where the ancient city of Heliopolis -- the center of pharaonic sun worship -- was located, Zahi Hawass told The Associated Press. Among the artifacts was a pink granite statue weighing 4 to 5 tons whose features "resemble those of Ramses II," said Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Also found was a 5-foot-high statue of a seated figure with hieroglyphics that include three tablets with the name of Ramses II -- and a 3-ton head of a royal statue, the council said in a statement. The green pavement stones of the temple's floor were also uncovered. An Egyptian team working in cooperation with the German Archaeological Mission in Egypt discovered the site under the Souq al-Khamis, a popular market in eastern Cairo, Hawass said. "The market has to be removed" as archeologists excavate the entire site, Hawas said. King Ramses II, also known as "Ramses the Great," ruled Egypt for 66 years from 1270 to 1213 B.C. He erected monuments up and down the Nile with records of his achievements, as well as building temples -- including Abu Simbel, erected near what is now Egypt's southern border. Numerous temples to Egypt's sun gods -- particularly the chief god Ra -- were built in ancient Heliopolis. But little remains of what was one the ancient Egyptians' most sacred cities, since much of the stone used in the temples was later plundered. The area is now covered with residential neighborhoods, close to a modern district called Heliopolis, in Egypt's packed capital. ******************************************************************************** In case you didn't know, Ozymandias was Ramses II Greek name. He was the subject of the classic Shelley poem: I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed, And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

That was the first, as best, of the Moore films. It goes way downhill from there...

For me, there's really only one Bond: Sean Connery. Roger Moore doesn't even rate, in my opinion. That said, however, I LOVED the Brosnan films and would rank him right after Connery. I also thought that Dalton had great potential, but that the two films he made were really substandard Bond. I'd like to see Brosnan carry on in the role. Either that or bring back Connery. Sean can still do it!

Wow. I can juggle, but I sure as hell can't do that!

That was my first thought... Besides, would we REALLY be any poorer (culturally speaking) if LA were to sink into the ground?

Done. The one in the center and the one on the left look like they're one paycheck away from doing porn. The one on the right looks like she just wandered in and somebody said, "Hey! Try on this outfit!" Not that there's anything wrong with that...

"Lift Every Voice" was the first one I got. I agree, it's great stuff. Lloyd is clearly a Coltrane disciple, but hardly an imitator...

I've only heard his most recent albums (as in from the last three years or so), but everything I've heard I like!! from me.