kenny weir

Matthew and others: After a week's frustration - and several to and fro e-mails with the AMG people - I am now able to search on the site. They made several suggestions, mostly regarding adjusting my settings on things such as cookies, trusted sites and so on - none of which worked. The problem - on my work computer only - was solved by one of our in-house boffins, who installed an updated version of IE and ran AdAware to get rid of some nasties. Seems a little housekeeping might be in order. The site still seems more cumbersome than it used to ...

Ten replies? I was sure this would be the shortest thread in the history of the known universe!

A film called Festival Express opens in Melbourne next month. It's a doco that uses footage from the 1970 trans-Canada rail tour by the GD, Joplin, Buddy Guy and the Band (and, I suspect, others). Has anyone seen this? Does it have some juicy musical moments, or is it just talking heads and so on? Sounds fascinating anyway ... I'm just checking out the site - http://www.festivalexpress.com/

Hmmm ... I can search from my PC at home (or I could last night), but I CAN'T here at work..

I, too, have found I can find what I want with Google. It all seems to be out there. I can access AMG but not do any kind of search. What a cock-up!

What is they say about ... "You can never go back"? For about 2-3 years now - since I became a little Internet savvy and discovered the joys of online music and musical discourse (in my own modest way), I have been looking for a version of a particular show. The only GD show I ever saw - the start of a three-night stand at Winterland in March, 1977. Now thanks to gdogus and a link to that remarkable archive site, I have found it. Early bits sound like crap, but it's warming up now on Scarlet Begonias. But I suspect there better shows to be found there, so I'm going to have a swell time trying them out with a view to burning several for repeated home use. It's certainly the most diverse, voluminous site of Dead shows I've found. And seems to be pretty user friendly, too. Still, "my" show sounds pretty modest and scrappy for what was for me a momentously life-changing experience! As I'm gradually regaining an interest in the Dead, after a couple of decades of very passive fanship, I still have mixed feelings about them. I like only the live stuff. And even then ... well, I can easily live with the vocals, but sometimes they just sound so damn dribbly and pathetic. Other times, tho', they sound just what I need. Magical. Shimmering. Head-spinning. Another funny thing: I blame the GD pretty majorly for my interest in jazz, yet I sometimes have difficulty reconciling the jazz-lovin' part of my brain with the GD part. Sometimes it seems the jazz guys and gals do so, so brilliantly what the GD wish they could do. The story in What A Long Strange Trip (or whatever its title was) about the Dead HATING the idea of following Miles on stage at Fillmore rings true. A few months back I got a real cheap copy of the last Winterland show and have been enjoying it a lot. Big applause for Lon for starting this thread - it seems like it's going to be a Live One!

I've had this set for about three weeks and love it all, with the small exception of the four Rosolino vocals - goofy fun but still a minor irritant. The Cooper small band tracks are in the same league as the Cooper/Shank stuff. The Rosolino cuts are in a tougher hard bop bag. The Holmans - both medium and big band - are fantastic. There's a lot of music and variety over four discs, so much so I am surprised this set is so little discussed - until now. As one of the glowing reviews at the Mosaic site has stated, the label has does a pretty good job of representing various facets of west coast jazz.

Done.

Wesbed, It was foolish of me to start specifying individuals when there was certain to be others who thank AAJ for their hospitality. In addition, Lon is among those who post at AAJ when they find a topic of interest. What irks me more is that whenever the world of jazz boards in general is discussed, there are those who seem to feel obliged to take an almight dump on AAJ, as if they by doing so they reassure themselves of their smarts in preferring somewhere else. Of course, it's a free world, at least in this respect, so there's nothing in the world to stop 'em if they feel so inclined I agree with you - it behooves us really to support all these initiatives, regardless of the differences in approach or philosophy. But again, each to his own. Back on topic: Who of the mighty Organissimo Army would really want to have a regular Tom Evered thread here? One of the real blessing of the BNBB Demise seems to have been that for many us of BN has become just another label, albeit a Very Excellent one!

Mike that may me be the case, but if so it is unintentional - whatever ban there was, it's my understanding it was based more on lengthy speculation about the fate of Organissimo when it was down by those who are Organissimo regulars. There is now space allocated there for just that purpose. I am one of those who feel quite happy here, at AAJ and JC - there are quite a few of us - and I just don't feel the need to profess undying loyalty to a website, let alone doing so by slagging off the "opposition". No big deal, though. Internet jazz is a really swell part of my life, but it's only a part. But I still find it a little icky that every time these issues are discussed at Organissimo there are those who feel the need to jump in and slag AAJ, even when - as is most often the case - the thread involved was never started with that purpose in mind.

I didn't say it's all business (as a reading of my post will testify), and surely it's possible to combine business and fun. For fuck's sake, if you don't like AAJ don't go there. Simple. BTW, I can not recall hearing any snide putdowns of Organissimo at AAJ. Unlike here. Pathetic. Yet AAJ is where the Organissimo junkies go when this board goes down - just hopping on when with their in-jokes and smugness and little grace whenever it suits them and then flitting off again without so much as a farewell, with the always honourable exception of JSngry. Grow up.

Leeway says: "That Evered notice has the smell of ego all over it. Really, of all the unmitigated gall (as they say)! Not blaming XRICCI- he's doing what he can for his site. But Evered knows that the BN faithful" are concentrated here, yet he chooses to blow us off. Frankly, it bugs me." Seems a bit of a stretch to me. This board may contain the greatest single concentration of former BNBBers. Combined with AAJ and JC and wherever, it may even constitute the single biggest block of potential BN reissue customers. Bur Evered's role as businessman - not as a buddy orhardcore jazz nut - would seem to require a broader approach. I say that as someone who is far from being a fan of many recent BN signings and releases.

White Light - actually, that's just a common usage name for an album that is rightfully called simply Gene Clark - is a beauty. It's a great place to start, although I can't name the other two on the info you have given. A double disc compilation might be a good way to go, depending ...

Hnmmm ... tasty flame wars.

Thanks to a nifty trade with another board member, I've had this set for a couple of months. It's sounding better and better. As these sides are early in the piece in terms of the west coast sound, they seem to have a more feisty hard bop feel and less of the glibness that crept in later on. I'm just about to order the Cooper/Holman/Rosolino box. To join the Chico Hamilton one I already own. Help me! I'm turning into a Californian!

Somewhere sounds great to me after having it a few days. I thought the trio's first BN album a little too downbeat (although I'll revisit it) and the second basically ruined by having too many guests. But this newie ... echoing a previous post, relaxed AND adventurous. A big plus is that, the obvious (America, Somewhere) aside, this material is all new to me. Lovely tunes.

http://www.xe.net/ucc/

The book discussed here is available via the website listed. Big media firms twisting intellectual property laws,professor writes By Richard Pachter Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) ``Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity,'' by Lawrence Lessig (Penguin Press, 348 pages, $24.95) (also available as a free download in a variety of formats atwww.free-culture.com). After a recent review of a book on the history of music recording and play back technology, e-mail from a London correspondent excoriated me for not respecting the rights of creators. I responded that throughout the history of popular culture, the status quo resisted many technological changes that were ultimately - and profitably - adopted. In the course of my research, I also discovered that industries and companies now among the most outspoken opponents of liberalized access and distribution of intellectual property were established under very interesting circumstances. I'd encountered an article in Wired magazine byLawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, in which he excerpted from his new book. He wrote: ``The Hollywood film industry was built by fleeing pirates. Creators and directors migrated from the East Coast to California in the early 20th century in part to escape controls that film patents granted the inventor Thomas Edison. These controls were exercised through the Motion Pictures Patents Company, a monopoly 'trust' based on Edison's creative property and formed to vigorously protect his patent rights. ``California was remote enough from Edison's reach that filmmakers like Fox and Paramount could move there and, without fear of the law, pirate his inventions. Hollywood grew quickly, and enforcement of federal laweventually spread West. But because patents granted their holders a truly 'limited' monopoly of just 17 years (at that time), the patents had expired by the time enough federal marshals appeared. A new industry had been founded, in part from the piracy of Edison's creative property.'' In his book, Lessig also points out that Walt Disney's first big success, the animated short, ``Steamboat Willie,'' was an early example of ``rip, mix and burn''- the technique used by today's downloaders, mixers and other digital ``outlaws.'' That Mickey Mouse cartoon wasa parody derived from Buster Keaton's 1928 hit film,``Steamboat Bill, Jr.'' Indeed, as Lessig also points out, many so-called``Disney'' properties are based on works by the Brothers Grimm and others: Jungle Book, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Cinderella, Robin Hood and more. These stories did not write themselves or appear from thin air. Some were in the public domain or out of copyright. But that was in the day when copyrights had finite terms. Lessig writes that many big media companies -Disney among them - have subverted a fundamental aspect of copyright laws by extending their ``protection''almost indefinitely for their own benefit - not the creator's or the public's. Lessig writes about the music business (naturally), as well as architecture, copy machines, software, drugs and other aspects of what's been placed under the umbrella of ``intellectual property.'' It's an interesting and provocative book, and one thatought to be read by artists and others who make their living creating, buying and selling pieces of culture. The history and context of the commercial exploitation of creative work might help readers understand its future, too. Lessig's approach toward copyright is further evidenced in the fact that this book is available as a free download. He's also encouraged the creation of some very creative derivative works. Go towww.free-culture.com for more information. --- © 2004, The Miami Herald.

Speaking of which ... On my lunch break perambulations today I saw and snagged the 4cd final Winterland show set 2ndhand. For $20! It sounds great! I don't have any of the dick's picks, and other live stuff I'd heard was from the interent. This stuff's on a whole 'nuther level, sound-wise.

Gosh websed - I've been speculating about the HRS about my next (second) Mosaic purchase, along with a few others (think: west coast). But I can't imagine a more persuasive argument in the HRS's favour than the New Orleans > Ellington line. Hmmm ...

Fabulous - he's boasting about the number of hits he got via organissimo!

Well I'm so glad you've taken the phrase "know thyself" to heart. What a fucking moron. There's a heapa folks here who are players, and on another whole level from you, Dickhead.

First 45 (a gift): Don't Sleep In The Subway by Petula Clark. Still have a VERY soft spot for Pet's best, mostly penned and/or arranged by Tony Hatch and Jackie Clarke. Next 45: Windy by the Association First 45 purchased: Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces. Great tune, but it was the flip side I played over and over - I'm Only Dreaming is a simple pop masterpiece. Later on I also got the Faces' The Universal single. Other 45s I remember fondly: Lady Madonna by Fats Domino and Blue Greens by William Truckaway. A real lost classic: Avenging Annie by Andy Pratt. I had a radio-only thing for Spanky and Our Gang. I also had an album with the Mamas and the Papas' lovely "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" on it but had no idea WTF it was all about. After all that it was all downhill - Hendrix, the Animals, Muddy Waters, the Dead, Bob Wills, Doug Sahm, Professor Longhair, the Pistols, the MC5 and onwards!

Wow what a great read. Fascinating to find that so many people who are a regular part of my jazz diet were also anonymosuly part of my early teens fondness for great trashy pop. And I still dig all of it, but a shame that there was no mention of Johnny Rivers, for whom a lot those cats recorded.

I got that, too, after signing on - out of sheer curiousity - to become what they are calling "an AMG insider". I wouldn't bet on the service - which I uses dozens, perhaps hundreds of times each and every working day - staying free forever. But reading between the lines of this, it sounds to be like they've done their research and crunched the numbers and discovered that, for the time being at least, they'd lose more than they'd gain by charging fees. I'd be pissed off to lose use of their site, despite its flaws, but I'm sure I could find most of what I want/need through Google searches. It'd just a while longer, that's all.