kenny weir

Yikes! And she STILL hooked up with the guy?

More food for thought. Which raises for me an interesting issue that I don't think has been addressed here so far: Hands only - or knife and fork? Like fish and chips, I simply don't do takeaway or delivered burgers. Freshness is all. Eat in is the go for Bennie and me. But ... I do prefer a burger big and tasty and juicy, but one that I am STILL able to ge my mitts around. Even if I habitually cut my burgers in half on the plate. The hoomungous jobs that require cutlery, well I think I'd sooner have a "real" restaurant meal at those prices.

Don't try - it's all revolting.

You're triggering memories here...first ham and pineapple pizza I ever had was in Australia, way back in '82. Sounded strange, but damn, it was good! (It was in Bunbury, if putdowns are required... ) None required. Yeah there is quite a different culture here for such things. Dill pickles in burgers only came in with the arrival of the golden arches. The poms are different asgain from whats I recall. How could they call a burger chain Wimpy?

Yech. I disagree. And BTW, generally speaking you gotta ask for the pineapple - it's called a Hawaiian burger. Same deal with Aussie pizzas in terms of egg, pineapple and so on. Thankfully, in the past decade or so there's a whole bunch of joints opened up doing real Italian style pizza. Yum. My burger vote goes to Bud's Brolier in New Orleans. No.1, No.2, etc etc. Here in Melbourne there's a growing trend of places that are sort of real upmarket McD's or Burger King. Grill'd is one of them - good meat and trimmings and fries, so much so that it is tasty and relatively healthy. Where does the "Australian side" of your family come from? I need to know so I can choose the appropriate put downs.

... someone would tryta kill me.

Allen I hear you - I had/have pretty much the same problems, although I wouldn't come down "so hard" for the simple reason that once I filtered out the author's pontificating there was much fascinating hard information to satisfy myself, who is well familiar to New Orleans after numerous visits and much reading, but who still finds the whole thing a beguiling mystery. And as I said, above, the oral hisotry stuff is cool. I have the Bechet book at home (unread), but thanks to the recs here, it'll now be top of my "to read" pile. Speaking of string bands, I am digging the hell out of a brand new release on American Music - Echoes of Tom Anderson's/The New Orleans String Jazz Traditions by the 6 & 7/8s String Band. One CD would've been a better fit, but man o man this is some essential stuff in my world. http://www.louisianamusicfactory.com/showo...;ProductID=5389

It's better than the biographies I've read. In fact, I'm soon expecting to read it again. That said, it's not without it's flaws. I feel the author really labors with some of the points he makes. And he quite often states something as fact when a more qualitfied approach would lend his arguments authority rather than detract from them. But that's just nitpicking. In terms of info on the early days of jazz in New Orleans, I found it fascinating. And putting aside the author's handiwork, much of the text is oral history, which speaks for itself. I've been a frequent visitor to New Orleans and so thought I had a reasonable handle on this sort of stuff, but there plenty of revelations in this book for me.

yes, I believe so.

Fighting talk Kenny! When did you go over to the dark side. Anyway, it seems to be true that traditional coffee shops, in Tokyo at least, are rapidly disappearing while Starbucks, Tullys and their many Japanese equivalents are now everywhere. With over 600 stores Starbucks has been a great success here, despite their no smoking policy, which many had predicted would never work in Japan where drinking coffee has always been associated with smoking. Just tryin' to see if I kin get a rise out of CHEWY. How 'bout: Hank Mobley is utterly insignificant compared to coffee in terms of enriching the human experience?

One albums stands out, for me, as the all-time Guy classic. Live - This Is Buddy Guy on vanguard. More than blues - real James Brown showman stuff - but simply incredible

Aktually, I'm not at all sure that Sonny Clark and Lee Morgan - or anything on Blue Note for that matter - are good enough to accompany coffee drinking.

Yesterday I went out and bought an album that was a soundtrack to my early teens - and it's blowing me away all over again. Magic Sam - Black Magic. Perhaps not as well known as West Side Soul, but much the greater album for me. And having listened to a lot of jazz in the past couple of decades only makes it sound greater. Great band - drummer Odie Payne Jr, pianist Lafayette Leake and rhythm guitarist Mighty Joe Young are fabulous - giving perfect form to Sam's magic modern blues, a sort of sophisticated yet biting soul-blues. Here's Eugene Chadbourne's allmusic review (the bold type was made bold by me):

Yeah, Waller is barely heard on some of the Vol 2 stuff, but it's hardly something to complain about - it's being marketed as "complete" and that's that. And yes, Vol 1 has a bunch of stuff backing singers. I'm looking forward to it.

So what's your excuse? Oh, wait ...

And yet life is full of random stuff that prevent schedules from running like clockwork. Sure, it sounds like your acquaintences are always running late and that is a major headache, but at the same time I've learned lately that expecting a tight schedule to work is unrealistic and if I'm going to get that bent out of shape over it, I need to drop something. Yet this is about more than "random stuff". I, too, have people in my life for whom being late is a necessity. There's something in their makeup that simply requires them to always be under that sort of pressure. It's a kind of sickness, I think. In my life I have never run late for a plane. My ex has missed half her flights. Yes, probably a part of the reason she IS my ex. Thnakfully, now I am older I am being a little wiser and smarter about dealing with this - if nothing else!

Great site - thanks for that, I expect the guest books stories will keep me happily entertained for the rest of the week.

Allen, sent you an email. Cheers, Kenny

Not much guessing involved there. Man, they're high.

Ahhh, those were the days! R-i-i-i-i-g-h-t ...

In terms of that board, you might just be spot on. Of course, I'm sure you don't wanna go where all those scuzzy cheapo boxes are.

Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985

Well whatever ... ya might want to leave it until there's a change of gubmint up here. A rabid leftie such as yer good self might well experience visa difficulties until then.

Fixed.

I like the bit in the BBC story about how one gushy reviewer had already reviewed - several years prior - the album in question! Yuk Yuk yuk.