Johnny E

Exactly! That's why he's gonna be a Mariner next season.

← Have you looked at Mike Lowell? He doesn't exactly look like Juan Gone. ← Neither does Ryan Franklin

Quincy I know it don't look like much now, but when Quincy plants a wet one on her.

Update: I never picked it up. It's at the Half Price Books on Capital Hill if anybody wants it.

11.21.05 M's to sign Japanese catcher Johjima By Bob Finnigan - Seattle Times staff reporter Scoring the first big-name free-agent signing of the offseason, the Mariners will announce the signing of catcher Kenji Johjima, possibly as soon as today. He kinda looks like a Japanese version of Bret Boone doesn't he? Sources say that Johjima has agreed to terms with Seattle. His name is much bigger in Japan, where he has averaged .305 with 30 homers the past five years and won seven straight Gold Gloves. The Mariners increased their offer late last week from two years plus a club option for a third year to more than $5 million a year for three years, a deal that also includes incentives. Also, Johjima and his family were said to take a liking to the Northwest in their visit last weekend. Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi declined to comment on the imminent announcement of the signing. Instead, Bavasi said, "if we are lucky enough to sign Johjima, he would fit in playing on an everyday basis." Seattle scouts have given Johjima high marks as a two-way player. "Our people tell us he has high potential as an offensive player and a solid defensive catcher," Bavasi said. Bavasi dismissed what most U.S. baseball men have seen as the main problem — the fact that Johjima doesn't speak English. "If he's here, we wouldn't regard it any different than the situation with Latin guys," he said. "He'd have to pick up some English and even some Spanish. But we're talking about enough to get the next hitter out, not to split the atom." With Johjima coming in as the front-line receiver, sources say Seattle is prepared to trade Yorvit Torrealba, the catcher who played most of the games in the second half of the 2005 season after coming here from San Francisco in a midseason trade. Johjima's team in Japan, Fukuoka Soft-Bank Hawks, reportedly had offered him a one-year deal of $10 million to stay. He will make his decision public on Tuesday in Japan. At Fukuoka's breakup meeting before the offseason, a tradition for Japanese teams, Johjima will tell Hawks' manager Sadahura Oh that he will play in this country.

What's the deal with Pavano? Did he get hurt last year or did he just have a crappy season, I can't remember? He may return to his old self, right? It's no bigger risk taking on his salary than signing Burnett at $12 mil a year, which is what some crazy teams are considering..

Still on hold. I have to pick it up tonight or it gets put back out. I'm leaning toward letting it go, unless dova wants to buy it from me.

Cameron is not a superstar, but he's a good player to have on your team. I'm a couple years removed from seeing him play day in and day out, but when he was on the Mariners he was one of the best centerfielders I'd ever seen. Gooddeal for the Padres.

Mike Cameron to the Padres for Xavier Nady. I don't know much about Nady, but Mike Cameron is one hell of a player. He covers center field like Griffey Jr. in his prime. He hits 25-30 homers a year and is one of these players that lifts an entire team up with his ebulliant personality and leadership. The Padres lucked out on this deal...as long as Cameron is healthy and can still see.

You too!?!? I thought I was the only one. I been checking the SI Truth & Rumors section everyday for the past week. ← Man, it had gotten so bad, I almost thought about joining ESPN's Insider! ← Don't Do It!!!

This is a good mlb rumor site that gets updated everyday: http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/mlbrumors.html

You too!?!? I thought I was the only one. I been checking the SI Truth & Rumors section everyday for the past week.

Fairly cheap? I remember getting a shit load of em' there for like $5 a pop. Man that was awesome! That's when I really stocked up on the Black Saints and Souls Notes. Some of my favorites are: Andrew Cyrille's Metamusicians' Stomp & Special People (featuring young firebrand named David S. Ware) Misha Mengelberg/Steve Lacy/George Lewis/Ernst Reyseger/Han Bennink - Dutch Masters The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet (featuring John Zorn and Wayne Horvitz) - Voodoo Leo Smith and the New Dalta Ahkri - Go In Numbers and although they've been mentioned already, they can never be recommended enough - Muhal Richard Abrahms Hearinga Suite & Blu Blu Blu

Hey, you live and you learn.

I do have Let Me Tell You 'Bout It and dig it a lot, but it doesn't knock my socks off. $20 is a lot for a used disc, plus Washington state sales tax is almost 9%. Maybe I'll hold off...but then what if I never see it again?!?! I do have almost every Bluenote...urrrgh!

The one that jumps out that hasn't been mentioned is: Sweet Exocist The title track kicks ass as well as "Power to the People" and "Kung Fu".

I just discovered "Rollin' with Leo" at a used CD shop for $20. I put it on hold. I've never seen this disc before, and I believe it is one of the rarest of US Bluenote CD reissues. No one has put it up for sale on ebay in a long time so I have no idea of its street value. I usually don't spend $20+ on a single used disc - so my question is this: Is it worth it - in terms of musical and monetary value? Should I go back and get it?

I just discovered "Rollin' with Leo" at a used CD shop for $20. I put it on hold. I've never seen this disc, and I believe it is one of the rarest of US Bluenote CD reissues. Hasn't sold on ebay in a long time so I have no idea of its street value. I usually don't spend $20+ on a single used disc - so my question is this: Is it worth it - in terms of musical and monetary value? Should I go back and get it?

I don't know, she looks like the funniest cumedian I ever saw.

How valuable can he be when the teams he's on never win the big one? There's more to the game of baseball than numbers. There is guts, leadership, teamplay and grace under pressure. 11 years in the big leagues and he can't even win on the Yankees! He drains the payroll of the teams he plays for and when the pressure is on he folds like a lawn chair. Pathetic. I reiterate: The Yankees will never win another world series until they dump A-Rod.

Slap a bottom head on that rack tom boy! What you tryin' to do choke the thing to death? Playing without bottom heads is so 70's.

Nessa Box Review by Scott Yanow This limited-edition five-CD set available directly from Nessa not only reissues the important free jazz albums Old/Quartet, Numbers 1 & 2, and Congliptious but contains quite a bit of music taken from rehearsals by the members of the group that would by 1969 become known as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. With such advanced improvisers as trumpeter Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman on reeds, bassist Malachi Favors, drummer Phillip Wilson, and appearances from bassist Charles Clark, drummers Robert Crowder and Thurman Barker, the music is usually very emotional and sometimes quite scary. There are meandering sections and individual performances that do not work all that well, but in general the music is quite colorful, adventurous, and innovative: in many ways the beginning of the modern avant-garde. Open-eared listeners are advised to search for this important historical set. Review of Congliptious by Brian Olewnick Congliptious is a landmark recording of modern jazz, an extraordinarily strong and creative album and one that, among other things, perfectly encapsulates the ideals of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). One of the graduation requirements of students in the AACM was to be able to pull off a solo recital on whatever their instrument happened to be. In the late '60s, the idea of an evening-length solo performance on saxophone or drums, for example, was unheard of. The first three cuts on Congliptious are solos for bass, alto saxophone, and trumpet that not only stand on their own as powerful statements, but also mark out several of the conceptual territories near and dear to this organization's heart. In "Tutankhamen," bassist Malachi Favors pays homage to the deep past, his rich arco delving into a theme older than the blues, but always keeping the blues in mind. Roscoe Mitchell's "Tkhke" remains, more than three decades later, incredibly alive and corrosive, reaching the furthest limits of his instrument, harrowing yet tightly controlled. Only when it resolves into a placid near lullaby does the listener dare exhale. Humor was another constant element in the work of these Chicagoans, rarely better expressed than by the late Lester Bowie in his historic soliloquy, "Jazz Death?" Posing as both unctuous interviewer and sly interviewee, Bowie wends his way through virtually the entire history of jazz trumpet with affection, soulful beauty, and a sardonic glance or two. The side-long "Congliptious/Old" is a masterpiece in breadth of conception and execution, an exemplar of the newly drawn lines distinguishing chaos from order. The trio is joined by drummer Robert Crowder, who leads things off in march tempo before dissembling into a maelstrom of percussion and the "little instruments" beloved by these musicians. The piece ebbs and flows, traveling from thunderous explosions to childlike songs to abstract vocal exhortations (including the timely phrase, "Sock it to me!"), but always retaining a sense of the blues. That aura comes into sublime fruition in the closing section, "Old," where Mitchell has written a theme as timeless as its title, an utterly gorgeous tune with roots in New Orleans dirges and beyond, which the quartet takes out with gusto, aplomb, and — again — a devilish humor. As of 2002, Congliptious was only available on disc as part of a limited-edition five-CD box set on Nessa (The Art Ensemble 1967/68). However the listener gets hold of it, it is one of the single most vital recordings of the jazz avant-garde, and an album of unique beauty. Old/Quartet Review by Brian Olewnick Recorded in the year prior to his groundbreaking Congliptious but not released until 1975, Old Quartet captures the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble (which would later coalesce into the Art Ensemble of Chicago) on a clear pathway toward the later album's majestic heights. In fact, it leads off with "Old," which closed the other album, and this performance is arguably superior both in its greater expansiveness and in Lester Bowie's incredibly poised trumpet work. That they slightly flub the ending (and joke about it) only adds to the relaxed air of the piece. "Quartet" is in two lengthy parts, and is a loose, somewhat rambling exploration that anticipates the title track from Congliptious less, perhaps, than it does Mitchell's quasi-narrative epic "The Spiritual" from two year later. The amount of freedom already at hand in 1967 is breathtaking, however. The group never meanders aimlessly; each little sound or moment of silence contributes to the flow. Vocal hums, whistles, harmonica tootles, and struck bells share equal footing with the more "traditional" instruments. Early on, Mitchell had realized that "free jazz" didn't only mean screaming at the top of one's lungs; there was room for quiet. The group would mature greatly over the next year, but all the seeds are clearly here. The album ends with a solo performance by Mitchell, augmenting his alto with bells, harmonica, and percussion. It's almost frightening how he's able to seesaw between delicate, music box-like melodies and the most harrowing slabs of sonic assault possible. As of 2002, Old Quartet was available on disc only as part of a wonderful limited-edition five-CD box set, The Art Ensemble 1967/68 on Nessa. While perhaps a small step below Congliptious, it is nonetheless a beautiful album in its own right and one that ranks very high in Roscoe Mitchell's discography.

The BYG recordings are really good (A Jackson in Your House/Reece and the Smooth Ones/Message to Our Folks) but in my humble opinion, the Nessa set captures the true essence of the AEC. It's MUST HAVE SHIT plain and simple. Buy it now before it's too late!!!