Aggie87

My hat's off to the Sox for being up 3-0 against the Astros. They're clearly playing better ball overall, and deserve to win this series. The Astros strong starting pitching has disappeared completely from this series, save for a moment or two from Oswalt and Pettite. But what has doomed them has been their lack of hitting. Last night was embarrassing. I guess I can take solace in the fact the Astros haven't been blown out of any one game. But to lose three close games because they're not executing up to their potential is sure frustrating.

Game 2 is just about to start. Like to see the Astros win their games at home, and have a 7 game series! Here's hoping, anyway! I don't understand why MLB is forcing the Astros to open their roof tonight. It seems like keeping it closed (for noise) is part of what the home field advantage is all about. Shouldn't the Astros get to choose whether they want to open or close their own roof?

Rest in Peace, Ms. Parks. You are an American hero.

Couple more new ones showed up today: Garage A Trois - Outre Mer Sarah Vaughn - After Hours at the London House Dinah Washington - I Wanna Be Loved Jimmy Witherspoon/Brother Jack McDuff - The Blues is Now Dr. John - Best of Parlophone Years Allman Bros - Live from American University 12/13/70

My kids (ahem!) have both. I prefer the Ms. Pac-Man because it has Galaga...which is the all time best video game from way back when...

Just noticed another new ECM: Dino Saluzzi/Jon Christensen - Senderos Anybody have this? I'm not familiar with Saluzzi, but the AMG write-up is very complimentary.

Check these out - they're cheap and they plug into your tv, so no worry about format etc. This one has Pac Man and 4 other games from the same timeframe. There is no "box" to speak of - the games are contained within the controller unit itself.

Lidge must be mentally messed up after giving up two game winning home runs in his last two appearances. The umpire at least partially affected the outcome of the game tonight, with that terrible call on Dye. He shouldn't have been awarded 1st base. It's possible that Grand Slam never would have happened, if Dye had completed his at-bat. And maybe the Astros go on to hold onto that 4-2 lead and win the game....

Middle row, 2nd from right. He was partnered with a guy named Renko, sort of a southern redneck type, and their dynamic was one of the interesting threads throughout the series.

I guess I'm old-school. When I think of a Bobby Hill from TV, it's Hill St. Blues:

That 100 mph fastball that Jenks throws is scary! I don't know what happened to Clemens, but losing him affected the game I think. The guy that replaced him (Wandy? something) didn't get the job done, walked too many batters. And I wonder if hitting Bagwell twice was possibly intentional. Otherwise I think the Astros played decently enough. Just couldn't get the clutch hits. Ensberg needs to pick up his hitting in this series though. O-fer from your cleanup hitter don't cut it. Looks like it could be a decent series!

Maybe if you expand the pool of applicants beyond Joe, Jim & Randy you'll get more nibbles!

Happy Late Birthday!!!

Great photograph, Mark! That one might look good on my wall next to your other work. I thought the Sco show was great too, and wrote some comments it in the general Scofield thread. I have the setlist from Austin, and will post it later - assume it's pretty much the same as what you saw, and what they'll play tonight.

Anyone know what masterings these are? For instance I know there's a newer generation of the Cannonball & Coltrane disc than the one pictured at dustygroove...

I think that one's too new yet, Chalupa. Typically takes a couple of months before things see the light of day at yourmusic.com. The trick is knowing which titles to wait for and which they won't carry. It seems like a crapshoot to me there. I'm hoping they'll get the Metheny/Coleman Song X reissue, myself.

I preordered from CD Universe at the $38.49 price back in August, and still get weekly emails telling me that my order is still valid. There is no release date associated with the box on their site, but it's still showing the pre-order at the original price. I'm going to assume that whenever this thing eventually does come out, that they'll honor their price. Otherwise, wouldn't they have cancelled all of the preorders that they received already?

Happy Happy!

Whoa!! Need an assistant? I can carry camera bags with the best of 'em!

Busy running your other business?

...a year and a half of domestic beer has caused me to glaze over in general

Nice Erdinger Hefe-Weizne Dunkel tonight....this is better than I remembered it!

I've been getting the similar one for PayPal at about the same rate. The links provided in the e-mail begin with https:/ Like, the internet protocol went out and got all plural on me when I wasn't looking. ←

up... I got to see Lyle Lovett (another fellow Aggie like Robert Earl Keen) and his Large Band tonight here in town tonight. They were playing at the grand opening of a grocery store, of all things (H.E.B. - a pretty large texas chain, and they just opened their biggest store ever a couple of blocks from where I live). I'm not sure if that's impressive that the chain was able to get Lovett to play, or if it's a sign of Lovett's slide into obscurity that he's doing that type of gig today. Anyway, the show was alot of fun, and the performance was great as well. The Large Band is a 10 piece - drums, percussion, bass, piano, violin, guitar, steel guitar, violin, cello, backup singer, and Lyle. I couldn't give you a set list if I wanted to, because I didn't recognize most of the tunes. But the music was a cross between country/folk/americana, and done very well. The highlight of the night for me was meeting and chatting with Viktor Krauss after the show. He signed my copy of "Far From Enough", which I highly recommend to anyone who likes Bill Frisell. Didn't get to meet Lovett or his Large Hair. Maybe next time...