The Magnificent Goldberg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXGjsmlghJU...feature=related MG

Coleman Hawkins & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Night Hawk - Swingville (Xtra UK) Florida Mass Choir - Lord, you keep on proving yourself to me - Savoy orig MG

I wasn't ignored - I think I was too much of a challenge - but my history teacher bet me I wouldn't pass history. I didn't go back to collect though, because I couldn't stand the place. I didn't do any homework, but I read a hell of a lot of proper history books, starting with Herbert Fisher's "History of Europe" in 1955 or '56. MG

Great story Bev. I didn't get reprimanded (grammar school) for not doing my homework, either, and I didn't even have bird shit on my shoulder. It was, "I don't suppose YOU'VE done your homework, have you?" I just shook my head. Everyone knew I hated it. Ten years later, when I went back to see if I'd passed any O levels, one of the teachers actually remembered me, even though I'd only been in that school 15 months. MG

Pity they weren't NM, they realy be worth something. MG

What an INCREDIBLE woman! MG

My wife was telling me a story yesterday about her history class in school (sec mod) in the early sixties. "Right, the Industrial Revolution." (Teacher sees Lawrence Goodway's hand wrapped in bloody bandage.) "What's wrong with your hand, lad?" "Been bitten, sir." "What bit your hand, then?" "Rat, sir." (No more Industrial Revolution that day. It was a bit like an Organissimo thread, at that school, she tells me.) MG

(Analhirt is a pain in the rse, if you ask me) MG

Played my newies earlier Shirley Scott & Clark Terry - Soul Duo - Impulse promo mono (I'm quite surprised that promos were being issued in mono in the mid sixties) Odell Brown plays Otis Redding - Cadet orig MG

Two newies turned up today from Berts Shop Very nice - the Shirley Scott/Clark Terry in particular. MG

Nggghhh Too much to buy. MG

Interesting that you should say that, Chas. Just yesterday I read the text of a speech given by a journalist from England who said that the staffs of today's newspapers are only one-third what they were ten years ago. The result is that the people don't have the time to investigate and write on everything they are assigned to cover. The result of that is that press releases are often passed along as news articles. He said this is also true for 24 hour television news channels. edit for typo Yeah, when I was at work, I often used to read my own words in the paper. "Where are the fuckin' journalists?" I'd say. Answer - they're crawling over draft press releases in Government and commerce. Maybe the schools of journalism aren't producing enough journalists to meet demand? Or maybe news outlets are just becoming skinflints? MG

Nyah! Our dishwasher collects cassettes!!! MG

"Night mist" is bleeding fabulous! MG

I rather suspect that's mostly because of their age. I'm pretty sure kids were like that when I was a kid. And I don't doubt it has always been the same. That's the big downfall with those ideas of education that seem to rely on the pupils to create their own learning agenda. Kids have actually got to learn something at school and that is, to me, the only time the heavy hand of public authority really has any justfification. (Also, a heavily authoritarian school may encourage people to be rebels, which is a generally good thing for society.) MG

Yeah, another reason why Britain is a bit more than an unsatisfactory place. MG

Cheer up, it might have been Kenny G! MG

Hard subject this. In Britain, education up to the age of 11 became compulsory in 1870. The legal school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1918, to 15 in 1945, to 16 in (I think) 1968. I dare say there is a similar timescale in America. Now we have an effective education-leaving age of 18, because you can't get dole until you're 18. But a society that sees education as an alternative to the dole has something seriously wrong with it, I think. All this past legislation on the age at which education ceases to be compulsory reflected the demands of industry for, initially, workers who could reeed, rite and do riffmetick. As industry became more technical, greater skills were needed, and a longer period in education required. But this was all quite popular because, although the teaching profession doesn't like to think of education as anything but a good in itself, almost everyone could see the value in education - and particularly those who lived in bad situations, because you could see that it was the way out. Here in South Wales, education was widely seen as the way you managed to avoid having to go down the mine. But when you can see that it isn't the way out - and viewed as an alternative to the dole, that's clearly true - what are you supposed to think? But it isn't just people in bad situations that are affected. The perception of the disconnect (except at the highest levels) between education and earning a decent living is pervasive. Partly, maybe mainly, that's simply down to the nature of the west's present economic problems. Partly it's also because, over here at least, but I think we're not unique, fads in teaching, particularly in how reading is taught, have reduced levels of literacy to the point where, though many can read, they don't delight in it, can't absorb written material well, or easily. And of course, there is now a lot of competition to books (but I think there always was). It seems certain that TV has contributed, but not, I suspect, simply as a competitor. Almost all TV programmes, even ones on abstruse and academic matters, are constructed in three minute segments, because the producers/directors believe (and it's probably true by now) that the audience's attention wanders if a scene/shot or whatever lasts more than three minutes. So trying to hold the attention of a classroom for forty minutes is now a monumental task because everyone is used to short bursts. MG

MG

He seems to be looking in two directions at once. I suppose it goes with the dirty tricks, though. I always thought it was YOU. MG

Shopping trip into Cardiff today produced Andy Kirk & his 12 Clouds of Joy - Juke Box Hits 1936-1949 What an effin' band!!!!!! And Pha Terrell! Never heard him before. What an important vocalist! MG

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=39729 OK - the second most surprising post! I missed your other post because, living over here, seeing who people have seen live makes me feel very bad indeed! MG

Just listened to the samples of most of "Erotic moods". Apart from the title track, which is new to me and doesn't sound like a Gator Tail effort, all the tracks are from Willis Jackson's Trip albums, recorded by Paul Winley in the early seventies (but usually with Willis turned way down in the mix). They'd have done better to have reissued those two other LPs - "Mellow blues" and "Funky Reggae" - than "Plays around with the hits". I'd maybe have joined up for "Funky Reggae", because I haven't got a proper copy. MG

It's not, though. It's one of the worst albums he ever made. Its sole redeeming feature is that it's only 27 minutes long, so it's over quick. Oh, OK, it's not quite that bad, but I imagine you've got lots of better things to do with your money. One of the tracks - "Ain't no sunshine" - is on the Harlem Underground Band album, much of which is also on the George Benson. All of HUB is made up of Willis Jackson recordings done for Winley and originally released on Trip, with vocal overdubs on three tracks to make them pseudo-hip. It's pretty interesting, actually. I play it quite a bit. I'll listen to the Benson tracks that maybe I haven't got (or maybe I have under different titles) and see if I recognise anything. Can you do that if you're not a customer? MG

You'd have to have a traffic cone on his outstretched fist all the time, however. MG