Aggie87

Because it's one of those European grey market releases that "steals" the mastering from the legitimate sources? And that are technically illegal in the U.S. I think?

I've moved too many times in the past 12 years to have accumulated that much. 7 different addresses, with a purge of things at every move. The things I've kept are things that I want to keep, and have gone through things often enough that there's not much that surprises me. Going through things at my mother's home is a different story though. Usually find things from my childhood that I'd completely forgotten about - stamp & coin collections, old magazines, Japanese toys from the early/mid 70's, etc.

Yeah, it's the "wildcatter oil man" in Jones. Trying to strike it rich on the cheap. He's willing to gamble on and even tolerate players like Pacman, Tank, Demetrius Underwood, etc., if he thinks they can help on the field. I wouldn't pick up the Pacmans of the NFL either, if I were running things . Or T.O., despite his relative good behavior since he's been in Dallas. Jones is supposedly lusting after McFadden, so I wouldn't put that kind of trade past him, either. But if he wants someone to platoon with Marion Barber, he doesn't need a McFadden. Felix Jones or Stewart or somebody like that would be better suited as a complementary player.

Kinda quiet in the NFL right now. But there are just 24 days until the Draft! Dallas has 2 first round picks this year (#22 & 28), thanks to the trade with Cleveland last year that landed them Brady Quinn. Team needs include WR, RB, and CB/safety (again). Rumors are going around that Dallas will end up trading a low pick(or picks) for Pacman Jones shortly, helping with the secondary. And then trading the #28 for Detroit's Roy Williams, to pair him up with Terrell Owens. This sounds like it means Terry Glenn is basically done. The #22 pick would go to a RB such as Arkansas' Felix Jones or Oregon's Jonathan Stewart. If that all played out that way, I think it would be a solid off-season for the Cowboys - if (and it's a HUGE IF) Pacman Jones can stay clean off the field. But they seem to have done OK with TO, and Tank Johnson last year, so who knows. Would be strange to have two Roy Williamses on the team though! What would the names on the jerseys read??

If you hook up with Conn, make sure YOU choose the beer.

I feel stupid about most of my posts!

Happy Birthday!!

From Elusivedisk.com: Musicians: Sam Yahel, organ Paul Wertico, drums Larry Coryell, guitar Selections: 1. Very Early 2. Stowaway 3. Come Rain Or Come Shine 4. Embraceable You 5. Cariba 6. Impressions 7. Szabodar 8. Full Moon Over Istanbul 9. Centerpiece

Sco & Jaco

Read the review the other day while browsing at B&N, very positive review! Way to go, guys! edit - reposting the review here, found somewhere else on the internets: "This blues-soul-funk quintet from Lansing, Mich., holds one's attention. Delta-born and raised Freddie Cunningham has texture and depth to his singing voice, and the other players (plus guests, like the Motor City Horns) exhibit a smooth, passionate resolve. The cause is further served by six built-to-last songs from keyboardist Jim Alfredson and makeovers of the Temptations' "I Wish It Would Rain" (quietly dignified with cello and violin) and Warren Haynes' "Soul Shine" (uplifted with background vocals fit for Sunday morning worship and a fine Greg Nagy guitar solo)."

bump... Bill Frisell has a new release out in April, titled "History, Mystery": "On his new album, Bill Frisell explores a fuller palette of orchestral colors and timbres than any he has previously written for. "History, Mystery" features an Octet of strings, horns and rhythm section with some of his closest collaborators - Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang, (viola), Hank Roberts (cello), Ron Miles (cornet), Greg Tardy (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Tony Scherr (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums). Employing a symphonic sensibility of recurring thematic elements, "History, Mystery" premieres many new Frisell compositions as well as a few of his arrangements of favorite pieces by other songwriters. Producer Lee Townsend and engineer Shawn Pierce recorded the group in various combinations and contexts, live and in the studio, to construct and shape the album. It is scheduled for April, '08 release on Nonesuch. "

Any idea with this Miles Davis disc is going for so much? It looks like a boot anyway.

Whoa! That has my pulse racing just watching!

I moved on already from the A&M/UCLA ending, but it's still getting a bit of ink around the country, surprisingly. I thought it would die fairly quickly, outside of A&M circles. Luke Winn comments on the non-call at SI, and Jay Bilas has blasted the non call a couple of times on espn.com: And this guy in Milwaukee has a novel approach for situations like this: Upon further review ... Seeing as how Bobby Knight manages to uncork a new, absolutely stupid idea about how to change college basketball once a week, I figured I might as well join in the fun. My idea may be brilliant. As they say, it's a fine line between the two. I say let's introduce an instant replay challenge in the tournament. That's right. A "challenge." Each team gets to challenge a call, once per game. That's it. Any call you want, including NON-CALLS. How can that be? Well, take for example the finish in the Texas A&M vs. UCLA game. When A&M's Donald Sloan drove past his man and rose up for a shot to tie the game, a pair of Bruins defenders rose with him to (seemingly) BLOCK the shot and send the ball careening into the backcourt where time would expire. Seemingly. Now, you can see these two photos (and I'm sure there are more) which show CONCLUSIVELY that Sloan was in fact, HAMMERED on the play! Of course, when I saw the play live, I screamed "FOUL!" instinctively from my recliner. (I do this often, usually followed by: "Ho ... ho ... Hold up! Ball!" This is met with confused looks of insanity from my wife and kids. Obviously, THEY have never had to wait 45 minutes to get in a "run" at the local Y.) How did I know it was a foul? Well, a few ways. One, I was once a certified Virginia State High School basketball referee (Hey, how 'bout that ...). I had refereed all four years in college for intramurals, and prided myself on doing some of the most intense frat league games where you get hazed all game long by the pledges who have been sent for JUST that reason -- to make your life miserable. I also did any number of A-League games in college where it was not uncommon at all to see reverse dunks and alley-oops. Having worn "the lanyard of shame" as we refs like to sometimes call it, I developed that unscientific art of determining what is usually a foul and what is not. On a play like Sloan's, it happened so fast that it was not an easy call to make, but not impossible. While the refs may not have seen with clarity both Shipp's arm raked across Sloan's shooting arm, and Collison's hand on his elbow, the first thing you needed to access as a ref is this: "Was a clean block in that circumstance likely?" Answer: No, not really. Especially not when you saw Shipp's body in relation to Sloan's. Furthermore, Sloan almost was knocked flat on his back, another sign that the ball was not poked away cleanly. Alas, being a virtual home game for UCLA, with the crowd in full roar, and the misguided cliché of "let the players determine the game" being so prevalent today, the refs swallowed their whistles. And the Aggies had to sulk home in defeat. Had instant replay been in effect, A&M could have challenged the non-call. If replays were conclusive -- and I think they would have been -- then it's easy to ignore what followed and stop the clock at the moment of the foul and award the free throws. Would this lead to "chaos" and "four-hour games" as some have derided me for suggesting? Not in the least. I said: ONE challenge per game. Period! OK, what if a foul is called, a team challenges it and they are correct, what then? Easy: jump ball. You can't assume possession on a foul that was reversed to be "not a foul," so you do the next best thing. Jump it up. It would discourage using your one challenge on a foul call anyway, since the best outcome is not nearly what using it on a non-call would be -- two free throws. Plus, think of all the other worthy plays that might benefit from having this ONE challenge in your pocket. A ball knocked out of bounds on a late, key possession or guy stepping on the end line or sideline ... How about the hardest call of them all: a block / charge? Even with replay, you will still get controversy about calls NOT overturned when you swear they should be. But again, it's just ONE call per game. What is the harm in that? The NCAA already uses replay for three-point attempts and shot clock violations. Why not expand it just a little? Even on a trial basis, what could it hurt? As it stands, Texas A&M has no standing in the halls of college basketball royalty. Thus, the outrage on this is very mild, if it even exists at all. But can you imagine if North Carolina got a non-call like this in the final against UCLA? Ty Lawson getting hammered like this to deny Roy Williams another championship would create a media firestorm like you've never seen. Frankly, I'm surprised that the NCAA hasn't had a refereeing disaster of this order yet. Call me nuts, but I think a one-challenge per game replay rule would be worthy insurance against it. If nothing else, see what Bobby Knight thinks of my idea.

If that's serious, I don't think he's done enough in the pros to merit the HoF at all.

...somebody say

...I once dated a girl with a unibroue!

This is a pictures of my kids (and my two nephews) about 3 years ago in Austin.

Not that it changes anything, but it does appear that Sloan was fouled on that last drive. Maybe the resulting free throws would have tied the game and forced overtime, but it doesn't matter I guess. The first picture below is from the LA Times, who also acknowledge that it looked like a clear foul. edit - I've read that the NCAA took away that last slam dunk bucket from UCLA today. So the final was 51-49. Good luck to the Bruins the rest of the way. I think this may turn out to have been their toughest test.

Thanks, Edward. Very nice comeback by the Bruins. A&M basically stopped scoring for a while there in the 2nd half. Credit to the Bruin defense. I think that Sloan got fouled on that final drive to the basket, but I'm seeing it through biased eyes right now. The Bruins coach emphatically said it was a clean block, but I don't know. A&M will probably lose Deandre Jordan, the big 7 foot freshman who's mostly lost out there. He's a dunker and that's about it, but he'll be a top 5 draft pick anyway, because he's big. They're also losing seniors Joe Jones, Dominique Kirk, and backup Beau Muhlbach. They've got a good core coming back though (Sloan, Roland, Carter, Davis, Elonu), so I think they'll be ok next year.

I think the reason it's not working is that you have http typed twice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSsJ19sy3JI

Up for SS1... Iron Maiden are touring right now (with an all 80's setlist apparently), and flying their own customized plane from city to city. In fact, lead singer Bruce Dickinson is the pilot! Check out the plane in Toronto last weekend.

Hi Gregg - I'm guessing you probably already know about the Big John Patton album that is dedicated to your father, "This One's for JA": Some mention of this album in the John Patton thread. Also, Woody Shaw gives credit to Jimmy: "I'm about 16 now. I'm growing up. I run into musicians like Buddy Terry and Art Williams. Art Williams, who later passed away, took an interest in me. He was a bassist and used to play in different spots around Newark. There was another gentleman by the name of Jimmy Anderson who taught me about chords. When I was about 16 or 17 he said, "Well, you've got to learn piano." So I started working on piano. In the process I discovered I had perfect pitch. At this point I was thoroughly engulfed in music and really into Lee Morgan even more than Clifford Brown. To me, nobody played better than Lee Morgan. I was also into Donald Byrd. Dizzy, of course, had always been my man. I was also starting to discover people like Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson."

A&M held off BYU last night, so they're advancing to play #1 UCLA tomorrow night. Nice for UCLA to have basically a home game there in Anaheim! Not like they need it, but still - I wish my team had the home court advantage for this game! IMO, A&M has the talent to compete with UCLA, if they put it together and play a good game (and hit their outside shots). The Aggies played a good game against the Bruins last year, losing 65-62 at UCLA. Though Aaron Afflalo and Acie Law are both obviously gone now. I wonder if Billy Gillispie was mad when his Kentucky team lost yesterday on the same court, while the team he abandoned won...

Prose worthy of Sammy Hagar. "Only time will tell if we stand the test of time" It took you three weeks to get that?