kenny weir

From yesterday's The Australian: And ...

Hmm, I haven't read that. If it's true, I'm happy to stand corrected on that aspect of this sad affair.

Nomatter the personal feelings about the event, statistics indicate a "fluke". If you have numbers to contest this please do so. Chuck - it's the first day back at work, so I don't have time. You may be right. But who defines fluke? The fact is, he was within striking distance of a potentially deadly creature.

Yeah I can see differing points of view. Bottom line for me though, is that his modus operandi always seemed a betrayal of espoused beliefs. And I still maintain it wasn't a fluke, or at least not the way it is being widely interpreted. He was within striking range - it's that simple. If he respected that which he reckoned he loved so much, he wouldn't have been. Such deaths are rare, but it strikes me as nowhere near the sort of "one in a million" being bandied about.

sounds flukish to me. Yeah tough luck. BUT ... he was swimming above the beast in quite shallow water, with a camerman in front. It seems far more than likely to me that the ray was responding to what it perceived was a threat. If Irwin had so much of the respect and love for wildlife - as he was always banging on - then he would've made sure he was out of harm's way. Regardless of what sort of threat - deadly or otherwise - it posed. But no. How could it be otherwise with a bloke who may have had deep and righteous conservation/wildlife aims, but who provided entertainment based almost solely on tormenting animals? Not a lot of respect there, IMO. His whole schtick was based on NOT giving wildlife the sort of space his so-called respect would have semed to make a no-brainer. And now there's a widow and two orpahns. People who think like me are being labelled as urban elites full of cultural cringe. Fine. I can live with that. But just a reminder: Australia is a nation of about 20 million souls and is overwhelmingly an urban country. The kind of outback lifestyle - and critters - evoked by the likes of Irwin does exist, but is only a small part of what makes Australia tick. Like the US, we are full of immigrants - and brilliant jazz musicians and artists of all sorts of, er, ilk.

No it wasn't. The ray was spooked by having someone so close above it, and a camerman in front. It was reacting to a threat; it wasn't random.

Hooker? Fuzz? Junk? Rumble? Oh, Yes Please!

Bring it one youse cultural midgets. Scott is fucking brilliant - it's those who haven't heard him or have an in-built resistance to listening to anything Australian - or even considering jazz greatness dwells there - who are missing out.

Lame!

The hottest, most original and explosive trumpeter in the world right now is Scott Tinkler. Pardon the hyperbolly, but I believe it to be true. IMNSHO. Other Australians well worth checking out: Peter Knight, Phil Slater, Eugene Ball, Paul Williamson.

Seriously, the versions I've heard are pretty humiliating, IMNSO, compared to Slim Harpo or Etta James - an outlook with which I'm sure Pigpen would agree.

I suck.

Damnit youse guys - I thought some of us had made an admirable effort to derail a thread about jazz records to one about sports terminology. But no. You have to wrestle it back to the original topic. Boring!

I wondered about the use of footy, as well. I've nevber heard that term used outside of Australia. Has anyone? Be it grid iron, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules, soccer (the "real" football ... ), Gaelic football.

Yeah, I reckon he looks guilty as hell, too.

My own Mosaic habits bemuse me in this regard. When I first started hanging out at BNBB, any suggestion that I would veer AWAY from the Blue Note stuff as I slowly caught the Mosaic habit I would have found riotously funny. As it turns out - with 12 on the shevles (Hey that sounds pretty cool, heh? ) and another on the way - the DByrd/PAdams (bought at Running Low) is the only BN Mosaic I've bought. And I like ity, but it's not a favourite. Meantime, I fallen hard for Mosaic and the pleasure ir provides exploring some older and (often to me) less familiar areas ... Chico Hamilton Johnny Hodges Woody Herman (Columbia) Kenton (Holman/Coopper/Rosolino) Kenton (Russo/Holman) - bought for $40 at last year's Wangaratta Jazz Festival! Mulligan CB Tav Farlow cheapie ex Amazon HRS Bix/Tram/Tea Jazz Crusaders Yesterday I ordered the Condon mob set, based entirely on the giddy pleasure the Bud Freeman Single has provided for the past week. More weirdness: I've become a Dixieland nut. I look at the likes of the Mobley, Turrentine and Parlan sets, think about it, then say, "Nah".

What bullshit. Writing and playing are two different thing, although it may be possible to do both, of course. I can think of a long list of non-playing writers who have enriched my life. The list of good player-writers is short. You display the same sort of attitude that regularly gets tossed up in Australia. Bitching but all to eager to gets some ink or airplay from those you despise. If you feel those folks aren't up to writing about your music, don't provide it to them. And speaking of airplay and/or ink, wanna get some in Melbourne? PM me.

Seems to be a merging of the terms critic and reviewer here. Are they same? Interchangeable? Mutually exclusive? Whatever. As someone who considers himself a reviewer but who is regularly tagged a critic, I would change this to read ...

Tonight, the real significance of recent leaps and bounds by Australian soccer really kicks in. With the World Cup over, the Socceroos take on Kuwait in Sydney in an Asian Cup qualifier. Sold-out crowd of 40,000+, while I'll be beer drinking in a CBD bar frequented by the green and gold army (I think - I also got a lot of goodies in the mail today). Get this: There is not a single player in the Australian team who played in Germany. Thankfully, there has not been weeping and moaning over this. Somer former Socceroos have been recalled for experience and there is a wealth of youngsters getting their first chances to press for Olympic and potential South Africa trips. And against what will prolly be a tough but supremely beatable amateur side, that should be enough. Besides, Lebanon has withdrawn making it a three-team group, two going through to the Asian Cup finals. It's a huge thing for me/us - normally, even after finally making the World Cup finals, we'd have to wait about three years to see the Socceroos working hard. And now here they are, mere weeks after Germany and with plenty more to come.

Yep, that's the one. Hey, I think you and I have discussed this before. Arghhhh. Our minds are rotting. Condemned to reliving long lost days of hippy bands. Over and over again. And again. And again.

Oh yes, but mostly Sardonicus and after - especially Spirit of 76 (the only one I actually still own). Best version EVER of Like A Rolling Stone. What the hell's wrong with you? I also liked Son Of Spirit. I actually saw them at the Rainbow in about 1978. The show became a live album. It was pretty disappointing - basically a heavy metal show! And of course Mark Andes went on to Firefall, along with Rick Roberts (whose stuff with the Burritos I liked) and Michael Clarke of the Byrds. Less than the sum of its parts, really.

Yup.

Geez. Price and desirability of the music aside, this all is just plain crap. I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, even if they did accept OS customers. What a frigging bad look.

Maybe I should just go ahead and get that Jazz Crusaders set. Yep - that's one of several I picked up soon after. Ideal. A natural. On the solid advice of my financial advisor, who said: "Go out and spoil yourself a little." I did. Also: It may seem like a silly thing to say for where you're at now, but ... there's a lot to be said for enjoying new-found space and freedom (movies, TV, sports, jazz, food, music of all sorts, sleeping in, housework, whatever ...). Just being able to make decisions in the now, on the merest whim, I got a real kick out of, and still do ...

How I dealt with my "divorce" (we weren't offishilly married, but y'know ....): Which reminds of a tune what a music pal of mine wrote many years ago: "Victoria Bitter, she made me that way ..." Ha ha. Also: Divorse Smoother Only joking ... mostly. FFA, hang in there - it does get better/easier. I may have missed it somewhere, but ... any kids involved?