Stefan Wood

Just watched this today. Down in Williamsburg visiting my folks. Downpouring rain the past couple of days -- areas are going to get flooded. The theater is the place to be today! I think this is Scorcese's best film in years, possibly since Raging Bull. Even knowing it is an American remake, the plot is well written. You get a feel for Boston's seedy underbelly, the old Irish Catholics whose mob presence is still pervasive, and the scuzziness of some of the old neighborhoods. There is so much testoserone and foul language being tossed around it borders on cariacture. Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, even Alec Baldwin are all fine in their roles. Leonardo DeCaprio is outstanding -- and this comes from someone who dislikes his acting. I would be shocked if he doesn't get nominated for an Academy. Marc Wahlberg is over the top, and is meant to be -- he has some of the funniest lines in the film. The best thing about this film is it lacks the trademark Scorcese style; he eshews his "style" in favor of a clean, no nonsense look that just delivers a story. No "look I am a film genius" here. I'm wondering on some level he has grown tired of the gangster world that he romanticized so much, like in Goodfellas. There is no glamour in the gangster world -- Nicholson is a nut job, a murderer who leads other killers in maintaining control over Boston. My dad made an interesting remark that this builds on a prior film, Gangs of New York, in dealing with the Irish mob. I agree to some extent. 2 1/2 hours long, but solid. Recommended!

I was there for Tower's grand opening on 4th and Broadway, many years ago. When I was in grad school in NYC, I would go to the outlet store a block away on Saturday mornings. I loved that store. It has been years since Tower was a must shop store though. I am sorry to see them go, but it has been cheaper to get stuff online. Bertrand, if any store is going to close I bet it would be the one in DC, near GW. They have cut down on their stock so much it is barely a music store anymore. That was the flagship store in the DC area.

Awesome. I'm glad they worked things out.

I've seen the HK movies, all three of them. I found them to be enjoyable, but not on the level of a Johnny To film (see Election), or the crime movies of the late 80's/early 90's HK scene. I am interested in this version, and will probably check itout.

I promise I'll be at the Baltimore gig! Driving through the rainstorm to Baltimore, I was cursing that I couldn't be there. However, I had a good time at an art gallery opening and made some friends, especially the ladies!

Still love those trees. But I never heard of Gambit. What are they releasing?

Hundreds. This is a huge back catalog spanning not just Fania, but Tico, Alegre, and others. A treasure trove of Latin music.

I have managed to stay away from this site for months. Took just one little peep today and this is what I see: 3 cds for $20 from one of my favorite soul labels! Looks like a real nice compilation. So, I nabbed it.

Happy Birthday!

It'll be winter.

I'm going to try to make the 10 pm show.

I mentioned in an earlier post about Milt Jackson, which was wrong. I meant John Lewis' "Original Sin,' released in 1961, which is a ballet score.

I thought Milt Jackson wrote one that appeared on an Atlantic lp in the late 50's or ear;y 60's. Too early in the morning to get the brain working, though.

The Grammophone guide is nice, but a bit Euro centric (understandable, since they are in England) on favoring some performances. I refer to it for the more obscure composers.

Who knows?

Buy the damn sets! I did!

They do that with politics as well.

It doesn't sound harsh to my ears, that everything from the treble to the bass doesn't sound enhanced. Clean.

Listened this morning to the NPR article on Chico Hamilton, who turns 85 today. Happy Birthday! I love his Pacific Jazz and his Impulse material. Apparently he has released four new cds of his current group. I haven't heard any of his recent stuff, but they seem to be highly regarded. Has anyone heard them?

The Select sounds fine to me. Better than the previous cd releases.

Weird. I'm amazed the guy owned up to it. However, is the other guy on the level as well? Sounds like a disgruntled bidder.

How can the email be construed as a threat?

Yeah, this thread needs to be deleted. No need for personal stuff to be displayed out in the open like this.

Gapless Playback iTunes now has options that enable the long-requested feature called “gapless playback.” This enables the continuous, uninterrupted playback of certain albums which were meant to be played without the short gaps that iTunes and previous iPods had to place between tracks. Good examples are live concert albums and electronic mixes. To enable gapless playback for these albums, select the tracks in the album, choose “Get Info” from iTunes’ “File” menu, toggle “Gapless Album” to “Yes,” and click “OK.” With this tag set properly, the iPod and iTunes will automatically play the tracks without gaps.

You guys are KILLING me!