Hot Ptah

St. Stephen Dupree Cosmic Charlie

I find it fascinating, having read this board for only about a year, how the sudden appearance of Scott Yanow as a member and active poster seems to have changed the dynamics. As I see it, being a newcomer, there had been a group of highly respected critics, record label owners and music industry titans who had been given much deserved respect and a certain degree of deference. One of the things that everyone seemed to agree on was that Scott Yanow's reviews were a target of scorn, always good for a thread in which many could join. Then Yanow himself appears, is unperturbed about the scorn, answers questions rather flippantly and in good humor--and suddenly the highly respected music titans of the site are being called "old coots"and other rather derogatory terms by other posters? I don't know what it means, but it is interesting.

Long John Silver Black Dog Pew

I have read recently that Regina Carter was very much affected by her mother's severe illness last year(which led to her mother passing away), and cancelled many gigs to stay with her mother--which led to her being sued by many promoters, and to her emassing a huge stack of legal bills. For anyone to be able to get out from under a stack of legal bills--you have to have some sympathy for her, in my opinion.

You forgot "crusty exteriors but hearts of gold".

Memphis Minnie Detroit Junior St. Louis Jimmy Oden

I have no information on how the grants are awarded. I wonder if there is a type of informal application process, in which the judges come to know that giving them to a particular musician will allow them to finish some creative work--for example, Budding Genius has been unable to finish his sure-to-be-brilliant string quartet compositions because he has to keep a jazz/funk band on the road to pay his bills. Or are the awards more of a trophy for past achievements?

I am troubled by some of the discussion about Regina Carter being a woman and gettting the grant for that reason. If a male jazz violinist had exactly duplicated her career to date, would everyone be as dismissive of him? I am not as positive as many of the posters here that she is unworthy of this grant.

Yanow is literally here. He has just become a member of the board and has posted four times.

I don't understand those who defend Dylan taking full credit for "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Trouble No More" by stating that those songs pre-dated Muddy Waters and thus Muddy should not have been given a songwriting credit for them. This argument often continues by citing Robert Johnson songs and other songs which pre-dated the version that is copyrighted. So what? Can't Bob do the right thing in 2006? Is a new Presidential graft scandal perfectly all right because "Warren G. Harding did it in the 1920s with Teapot Dome--it's part of a folk tradition!" Why does an old violation decades ago justify a new violation today?

I don't understand the hostility on this board to Regina Carter. She truly blew me away in live performance in an instance in which the sidemen had not been introduced by the bandleader and I did not know her name before hearing her play. I have enjoyed three of her solo albums, and the duet album with Kenny Barron especially. I have found her live performances as a bandleader to be quite engaging, with consistently interesting and beautiful solos. I must have a "reverse blind spot" in which I hear virtues that aren't really there. She may not be a Muhal Richard Abrams or Wayne Shorter, but she is not an embarassment as a jazz artist, in my opinion. I think that everyone is way too harsh to her here. Others are far more deserving of your scorn.

It is good to see that Hill Auditorium is still hosting jazz. I lived in Ann Arbor from 1978--1981 and saw some very memorable Sun Ra concerts at Hill Auditorium. A group of us came to call Hill Auditorium by our private nickname for it---"The House of Ra."

Always felt that Gram Parsons was a better idea than a reality. The concept was there; the image was there; maybe some of the will was there; but there just wasn't much that was real there. For me, the Everly Brothers did it much, much better ten years earlier. I can listen to them, some of the Bakersfield cats, and maybe Percy Sledge or Arthur Alexander and hear what Gram Parsons was supposed to be. OK - he put the hippie spin on it, but, for me, that's nothing much. Just my take. I'm sure others might disagree, but I know where I'm at on this - have been for a long time. For me, he hit a career high point on "Grevious Angel", which to me is one of those albums where they caught lightning in a bottle when it was recorded. If he had lived for another 50 years he probably would not have done anything nearly as good again. The rest of his output---I largely agree with you.

It's been a long time since Dylan was the Voice of a Generation. I am also surprised by the, shall we say, latitude that many are willing to give Dylan for the outright copying of at least the music of copyrighted works here. If Norah Jones took the exact music to "Lay Lady Lay", used some of Dylan's lyrics and added some verses of her own, and then released it as solely her composition, with no credits or attribution, what would be the reaction? But Bob gets a huge pass when he does it.

Desmond Dekker Annie Ross Ross Perot

I think that it is possible to view "Modern Times" as a mediocre album, patched together with borrowed or stolen words and music, without belonging to any cult or camp that either adores Dylan or is unduly harsh to Dylan. It just isn't that great of an album. I have listened to it over 50 times now and it is a mediocre album by any standards, Bob's or anyone else's. I wish that Dylan would put out something great. I wish him well. But this album, ho hum.

"Nonaah" is my all time favorite by Roscoe Mitchell. "Snurdy McGurdy" is another favorite. I never checked out "More Cutouts" but will certainly do so now.

While it wasn't easy, I tracked down a group of innocents to wish you a happy birthday!

Jimmy Rushing Dizzy Gillespie Johnny Hodges

I do it alphabetically, then I try to keep it chronological within a particular artist. During the years that online jazz forums have existed, my collection has increased substantially--hmmmmm, are the two related? So I don't keep up with the chronological arrangement within an artist as well anymore. My philosophy on that is one that we studied for a semester in college. It is the "Oh Well What The Hell" school of thought. Likewise, if there is a CD with four co-leaders on it, I adopt the philosophical system that oddly, we did not study in college--the "Just Shove It Anywhere Because You Don't Listen To Most of These CDs Hardly At All Anyway" school of thought.

Blind Blake Blind Boy Fuller Don Denkinger

Mitch Mitchell Cutty Cutshall Corky Corcoran

Joe Montana Dave Krieg Steve DeBerg

Booker Erwin Booker Little Tiny Grimes

Whatever the orangutan is listening to, I hope it relaxes him. The last time I saw one at a zoo, he was intensely engaged in throwing his waste products as hard as he could at the people watching him, with a look on his face that would do an NFL middle linebacker proud. As he was in a viewing area which was quite a bit lower than the observation area, his waste products, upon being thrown, would always hit a concrete wall below where the people were standing. They sounded like hockey pucks hitting a concrete wall at high speed, quite a loud sound.