Aggie87

I'll admit I haven't been following this story closely -- what are "the totally bogus real-estate conditions"? guy A huge (and inceredibly ugly) condo was erected right next to Tonic (actually condos went up on both sides, but the big blue one on the corner is more relevant to this story). In the course of contruction, the basement to Tonic was structurally damaged. The condo owners then supposedly reported to the city that Tonic's basement was unsafe, and it was condemned. Meanwhile, Tonic's landlord upped the rent from $5K to $10K, which is far more than the upstairs of Tonic alone could support. Now the building that Tonic was in will likely be demolished to make room for more condos. FUCKIN' BULLSHIT!!! What can we do here to help the cause? Write Bloomberg? what? What would your goal be?

I placed a huge order under your account, for a bunch of box sets. Wanted to get them before the $1.00 bump. I hope you don't mind!!

That wouldn't preclude it from being reissued as a Connoisseur or something though.

Santino Corleone

Discs received, thanks Jason!

Beef - that set is a clearance item right now, so it's $9.95 regardless of the code. Plus codes don't work for free shipping on clearance items (I don't think), so the JJ box is going to set you back $20.70 plus whatever your tax is. Still a good deal!

It IS about the music, though. I love music, AND I have always been something of a collector - I'd venture that many of us are collectors. Whether it was as a kid collecting coins and stamps, or discovering vinyl later on, then CDs. Collectors don't collect things they don't love, I wouldn't think. While the packaging may not really matter to you (or more importantly to the teenagers and 20 something that really are the target market for the big labels) it does for me. My paradigm hasn't shifted, though I'll grant that the younger generation(s) have different paradigms than I do.

Some people are collectors, and like a legitimate, physical item, pressed and issued. I love music, but I'm not interested in purchasing MP3's. I know you can make a CDR copy of the MP3s that you download, but that still doesn't (to me) seem a legitimate, company issued item. I don't mind them as an augmentation of existing CD's and vinyl - like the freebie things that Osby, Steve Coleman etc put up on their websites. But given a choice (that's a key point), I will never choose to purchase an MP3 album over a CD.

Here's where a nicer camera than my little digital would be nice:

Navy F-18 Blue Angel #1, taxiing for takeoff:

B-25 Mitchell Bomber (this one is the "Pacific Prowler", and has it's own website): PS - this is the one that's now 64 yrs old...but still older than me

T-38 Talon trainer aircraft (note the Tuskegee Airmen enscription on the tail):

C-17 Globemaster:

Notice the Dept. of Homeland Security logo on the tail:

A-10 Warthog:

Coast Guard version of the C-130 (they had Marine and Air Force versions of this aircraft on display as well, each serving different purposes):

AH-1 Cobra:

UH-1H Iroquois (a.k.a the Huey) - Vietnam era workhorse:

UH-60 Blackhawk - the current workhorse utility helicopter in the Army fleet.

CH53 Tarhe/Sea Stallion - this is one of the Navy's minesweeper helicopters. Currently based in Corpus Christi (and across the bay in Ingleside).

up... Went to our local Air Show today, and had a great time! For the most part they had alot of the same aircraft on static display as last time, but it was a blast crawling around inside of them. The Blue Angels performance was the grand finale, and they got a standing ovation as they landed and taxied back past the crowd. Gonna try and post a few pictures that I'm putting on imageshack (to see if the resolution works any better) rather than uploading the tiny pictures from my computer...

I'm only 90% sure it was him, as no one was announced Did he look like this?

I picked this up from yourmusic recently, and have been enjoying the music itself, very nice playing, nicely recorded, and Keith seems inspired. However, something that really bothers me about this CD is that most of the tracks on the second disc have like 3 minutes of applause at the end. Why the heck couldn't this be edited out? There's no talking or interaction with the audience at all. This is all good and fine in a concert, but not on a concert recording. It's annoying have to fast forward to the start of the next tune after every song!

I picked up The Essential Emerson Lake & Palmer a few days back, and have spun it twice. While the sound is reasonably good, this music has not held up well, IMO. I have a couple of ELP things on vinyl from way back, and remembered liking it alot. Some of the songwriting and performing seems very immature and limited. I guess there wasn't much that sounded like this in the 70's, but geez, it's pompous and not something I want to return to. About the only things that seemed interesting to me were the Tarkus material, Karn Evil 9 Part 2, and maybe Jerusalem. "Nutrocker" and "Hoedown"? I'd be embarrassed as an artist if these were my "essential" recordings!

Unfortunately I'm missing Rotondi. Just got home from my son's game (we tied 17-17, with a valiant rally to come back in the last inning), and the show is already going on. I hate it too, because this is the first national jazz artist I'm aware of that's played in Corpus in I don't know how long (outside of the "Texas Jazz Festival", which mainly offers up local and regional musicians - as much Tejano as jazz). I'd love to support any touring artists that make the effort to get to get off the beaten track and come down here. Rotondi may be more in the traditional vein than my tastes sort of veer towards, but I'd still love to have seen him.