Chicago Expat

I will give this a shot. I would like to do the download. In the BFT FAQ, there was mention of a short tutorial or instructions on what to do. I assume the process isn't any more difficult than downloading albums off emusic with their downloader disabled, but a helpful pointer or two would be appreciated.

Gerald Cleaver - "Be It As I See It" Avant-guard with some orchestral flourishes. This isn't the kind of sound my ears are interested in these days, but I can't stop listening to this album... it's that engaging, almost hypnotically. Highly recommend giving this a listen. Should appeal to Clean Feed junkies. You can stream the entire album on his Bandcamp page. Also, it costs ten bucks to download it there and you can get it in FLAC if you want it. From what I understand, buying through Bandcamp, more money goes to the artist than, say, on Amazon. http://geraldcleaver.bandcamp.com/

Michel Portal - "Champ d'honneur" Link to Youtube video of song I was introduced to Portal just this week and now I'm searching down as much stuff of his music that I can listen to as I decide which albums to get.

I was able to hear it on NPR's First Listen and it was pretty good. NPR, actually, did a decent job of presenting it, 'cause I also heard a track from it on NPR radio a few weeks back. Really went well with driving now that I think about it. I love finding "driving" albums.

I see from Brad Shepik's site that he has a new album out... "Across the Way" Brad Shepik, guitar; Tom Beckham, vibraphone; Jorge Roeder, acoustic bass; Mark Guiliana, drums I listened to the samples and there was a full track listen for one song on the Songlines site... http://www.songlines.com/acrossthewaycontent.html ...but nothing on his own site or myspace for a better listen. Hopefully that will change after the official release date (which may be today, actually. He's playing a show at 55 Bar in NY today at which purchasing a ticket gets you a free album). The samples alone sound great. My introduction to Brad's music was last year's "Human Activity Suite", which is a great album. Shortly after that, I picked up "Lingua Frnca", an excellent album he did with Ralph Alessi and Matt Kilmer. A few months ago, I scooped up his album "Places You Go" off emusic, which was a decent album, though I don't play it that much. This new one, especially Shepik's sound on the guitar with the addition of vibes, it just makes perfect sense like two ingredients that inspire an innovative new dish. Very looking forward to it. I wish I could be at that show tonight. Those Live at Smalls discs are so nice. I just love they're able to record them.

We found this about a year ago in one of the boxes of vinyl albums that my wife had stored at her grandmother's house over ten years ago. It's a box set for "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book". It looks like this... That's the cover of the box, and the cover of individual album vol. 1. All drawings are by Bernard Buffet, and all of them are terribly cool. The rest look like this... The 40pg booklet wasn't in the box, but we have some places to look for it when we're so inclined. It's been over a year since we found it, and I still think it's pretty neat. I want to frame it more than I want to play it.

Never saw Danger Man. I'll have to check it out. I remember the first time I saw The Prisoner, they were showing it as part of a telethon for PBS Chicago on Sunday nights (this was a long time ago, maybe back in '90/'91). I was hooked big time.

I had totally forgotten about the "Deep Dead Blue" live album. I'm not sure why I don't own it. I can't remember offhand if I gave a listen and passed or if it mistakenly was never placed on a to-buy list. I'll have to look into that. I had hoped the "Painted from Memory" would provide me an entrance into Bacharach's music, but to no avail. Just didn't care for it. Oh well, can't like everyone's music. Been awhile since I listened to American Blood. I owned it a long time ago, but can barely remember what it sounds like. Must not have clicked, I guess, or I'd remember it better. That Frisell/Holland/Jones album (which I accidentally attributed to Ron Carter in my earlier post) was terribly disappointing to me. Three great musicians collaborating on some of my favorite Frisell tunes (especially ones off the Quartet album), and it just came out as uninspired and a bit, I don't know if sloppy is the word I'm looking for, maybe more accurate to say they didn't sound like a cohesive unit, unmeshed perhaps. I keep listening to that album once a year every year hoping that eventually my ears pick up on something previously unheard that finally makes it the masterpiece I always expected it to be.

I'm actually rather fond of that album. And even though I've never liked Costello, I think his turn on the song "Toledo" is exceptional. The whole album, IMO, had the same warmth as the "Quartet" album, generated somehow within Frisell's odd schematics. If I had to pick a Frisell album that never connected with me it would be his Richter 858. Y'know rereading your post, I realize you mention that you like lots of Costello and Bacharach, whereas I don't care for either of them. I wonder if that's the beginning of a hypothesis on who is more likely to enjoy "The Sweetest Punch".

I was caught off guard by how much I enjoyed that album. I picked it up off Amie St. (RIP) in one of those what-the-hell moments, and now I find it gets played a couple times a month.

I'm bumping an old thread since it seemed more appropriate than starting a new Frisell thread. Frisell is one of my favorite musicians. I first came to his music back in '92 when a friend played "Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus" for me, and his haunting guitar immediately connected with me. I picked up his ECM Works album soon after that, and then just about every one of his albums since. There is something about his sound that I find equally ominous and comforting, a potent mixture that I find is rarely replicated by other musicians. My favorites would be "Quartet", "Intercontinentals", "Ghost Town", and "Disfarmer". I'm not a big fan of his trio work, such as "East/West" or the incomprehensibly disappointing Frisell/Holland/Jones recording. I liked his work with Zorn back in the day, but it's been a while since I've really given it a listen, so I'm sort of withholding my opinion on it now until I have the opportunity to revist "News for Lulu", etc. I'm glad to see Ron Miles get a mention on this thread. I think he's a tremendously underrated talent, a trumpet player with a heartbreakingly evocative sound. "Heaven" is a good album; "Stone/Blossom" is even better. Frisell and Ron Miles clearly have a symbiosis at play. http://www.myspace.com/ronmilesmusic Other albums that Frisell makes an appearance on that I would strongly recommend listening to are: 1. Disinterested - "Behind Us": It's a guitar/shoe-gaze band that he plays a few tracks on. very pretty stuff. Disinterested Myspace 2. Mount Analog - "New Skin": An ambient electronica outfit that has some real players associated with it. Mount Analog Myspace 3. Marc Johnson - "Sound of Summer Running": Frisell/Johnson/Metheny/Baron. Amazon samples 4. Floratone - "Floratone": Mentioned upthread. A Lee Townsend production that is a real sold effort. I can't remember if Wayne Horvitz plays on that album or not, but it kinda sounds like a Wayne Horvitz album, which should give you an idea of the sound. Floratone Myspace 5. Vinicius Cantuaria - "Tucuma": Another gift from the collaboration on "Intercontinentals" Cantuaria Myspace 6. Gabriela - "El Viaje": Frisell adds another layer of haunting guitar as texture to Garbriela's vocals. Songtone Gabriela site I've seen several Frisell concerts. I saw him at the Boulder Theater in support of the "Quartet" album, and it may have been the greatest show I've ever attended. I saw Bill play at a little coffee shop in Denver somewhere around 38th. I saw him play with his "East/West" trio in Chicago, and with the Nashville String Quartet in a country church in Franklin, TN. Hm, I'm forgetting a show. I'm pretty sure I've seen him one other time. He's got another Floratone album coming out this year and his new collaboration with Vinicius Cantuaria sounds pretty good. I've been listening to his most recent release "Beautiful Dreamers", which I like, but I have so much of his music that I like more, it pales by comparison. He offers downloads of past concerts on his site, and those also sound pretty good (well, those that I've heard). I think that's all I got for this post. I feel like I had more to say, but I seem to have run out of steam.

For Bruce Springsteen fans in Amazon UK territories... "The Collection: 1973-1984" Price = £11.93 Collects together Bruce's first seven studio albums onto eight CDs in Mini LP sleeves all together in a simple red box. Albums: Greetings from Asbury Park, The Wild the Innocent & E St. Shuffle, Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River (2cd), Nebraska and Born in the USA. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collection-1973-1984-Bruce-Springsteen/dp/B003QZ5222/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296657745&sr=8-1

Actually, the hipsters are starting to shift from PBR to Busch, so you might want to move on to a different unpretentious beer (hey, nice smilies you got on this site) I've moved on to the tea portion of my day. Currently drinking...

Very sad. The soundtrack to "Midnight Cowboy" is one of my favorites.

Clarence Cooper, Jr. - "Black" also reading... Mike Carey & Peter Gross - "Unwritten"

Agreed.

I'm pretty sure I've never had that Ichabod before. I've had some New Holland before, but I'm failing to think of which ones. The pumpkin beer that I enjoyed the last two seasons is from Schlafly.

OMFG... "the delicate subtle smell of a chocolate brownie", are you serious? If true, that's bad news for my liver. Speaking of bready beer, I've had this twice... It's not as gimicky as I feared. The banana isn't overpowering either in the scent or the taste. I liked it enough to have it a second time. I'm not sure I need to drink it again, though I would definitely take another pint if it were on tap somewhere. I recommend giving it a shot just in case it turns out to really float your boat. I would approach it as one might a seasonal pumpkin beer... keep your excitement in check until after you've started drinking.

mixed with... while listening to...

I am sure there are but exactly how many of them are world famous athletes like Michael Vick? I seem to recall some hip-hop guy got caught in this business but I would submit that Vick is the poster-child for the evil of dog-fighting and that further, animal activists need Vick to stand in for every one of those other anonymous demons. And the last thing they want to see is Vick scoring any sort of publicity coup by showing that he can be a good canine companion. See Mark, there is more hypocrisy: The animal activists plead for the chance to show that this breed can be loving and decent members of a human family. But under no circumstances should Vick be allowed to show that he can be a loving and decent "parent" to dogs, ever again. And I totally don't get this "he did it before, he'll do it again" idea when it comes to an athlete celebrity like Vick. Does anyone have any belief that dog-fighting proves some sort of psychological deficiency, like pedophilia? Its a crime about making money (via heartless treatment of animals). Does anyone believe Vick needs to abuse animals? I did some searching around, but I can't find any official statements by the "animal activists" you claim "need" Vick to stand in for anything. The worst thing I could find was the Best Friends group saying they didn't think Vick should be allowed to have a dog again, which is not an extreme response, especially by the people who are witnessing the fallout of Vick's enterprise on a daily basis. Yes, it's good to keep dogs away from people who have abused dogs in the past; this is not some aberrant response. Then there's these other comments you make about animal activists calling Vick's behavior pathological and calling them hypocrites. I know I didn't say or imply this, and you're making these statements directly beneath my quote. It reads like a whole lot of bad assumptions piled onto a lot of strawmen. And let me add, for those of us who have had to go in and deal with the fallout of animal abuse, it's a pretty easy leap to make to understand why we believe some people should not be allowed to own pets ever again. I don't know if Vick should be one of those people. Because unlike the strawmen you pile on up above, I think a redemption story about Vick changing his view on the value of a pet's life would be a good thing for the animal welfare society. It's a discouraging thing to try to explain to people that dogs and cats shouldn't be viewed as expendable as a pair of old sneakers just to see them get treated exactly that way. But maybe a front page story or two of a celebrity changing their views so that they do value the life of a pet, maybe that people would listen to. Vick as the "evil dog hater" provides no benefit to the pet welfare community. People are gonna look up to Vick no matter what because of his talent on the football field, and if while they're looking up to him they see him also as a pet abuser, well, there isn't gonna be anything good that comes out of it; they might view pet abuse as no big thing. However, if instead of a pet abuser, they see him as someone who values the life of pets, if they view him as someone who thinks that dogfighting and pet abuse is wrong, good grief, that's what we need people to be understanding and believing. Cause lemme tell ya, I don't care whether it's me or my co-volunteers or Vick who gets people to change their minds about pet welfare, I just want to see it done. I think that's something everyone on this thread can agree with. But the decision on whether Vick is able to adopt a pet (once his probation is over) will be in the hands of whichever local organization he goes through, and I have no doubt that they will do whatever they think is in the best interest of the pet. I have a hard time believing that a real advocate of pet welfare would do anything different. If they think Vick has made a change and would give a loving home to a dog, then he'll have his adoption approved. If they think he hasn't changed his views and this is all about publicity and the dog won't be in a safe environment, then the adoption application will get denied. Like I said, it should be as simple as what's in the best interest of the pet. And the daily job of humane society volunteers is hard enough that they're gonna deny a pet (one which they're taking care of every day under very tough circumstances) a good home. Also, who is Mark?

At Dadaellius, Stitt's Bits for thirteen bucks... http://www.daedalusbooks.com/Products/Detail.asp?ProductID=87489&Media=Music&ESCC=11078

There's no hypocrisy. The surviving dogs served their time (in Vick's "prison"), they went through rehabilitation, and now they've got a second chance at life. Vick served his time, he went through rehabilitation, and now he's got a second chance at life. Not wanting him to play football or turn around his life would be hypocritical (and counterproductive); not wanting him to have a dog just seems prudent. Pet ownership shouldn't be about what's best for Vick, it should be what's best for the pet. All things being equal, putting a pet in the hands of someone involved with a dog fighting ring isn't in the best interest of the pet. Unfortunately, all things aren't equal and many dogs and cats don't have good homes and live awful lives, so a case could definitely be made that Vick's home, assuming he has experienced a sea change in his view of dogs and cats, would give them a better chance than being on the street or in a shelter. I assure you that there is no shortage of demons out there to posterize as part of a narrative, and most who are involved in the pet welfare community aren't looking to add to the already sizable shortage of good homes for needy pets. Vick may be special on the football field, but he's a dime a dozen in animal cruelty cases. If someone doesn't want Vick owning a pet, it's because they don't think it's a safe environment, and if someone in the animal welfare industry thinks that Vick's home would be a good one for a needy pet, they're not going to deny it to protect some "narrative". We've got too many of those than we know what to do with. What we have a shortage of is loving pet owners. If Vick is ready to become one, then I think that's awesome. Good for him and good for the pet.

I'm sorry to hear for you loss, Free For All. As both a pet parent and a Humane Society volunteer, I understand very well the genuine hurt you're feeling. The fact that you put Clancey's needs before your own shows how much you loved him.

Pharaoh Sanders Gato Barbieri EDIT: Barbieri mentioned above.

Co-signed.