The Magnificent Goldberg

That's a baaaaaaad mofo rite there! Yes it is! But again: is this the one you (MG) mean above? I always referred to it as "Soundtrack"... Larry Goldings is on this, I think. And there's a terrific minimalist/groove bass solo on the first cut that I've always loved! Yes it is. It really is the soundtrack of a documentary about him, which was called "Maceo". MG

Bumpin' fer later. MG

Oh, and welcome Pollock. If I know who you are, it's nice to have you here. And if I don't, it's nice to have you here. MG

MG

Now that gets my vote as the most surprising post of 2008! I had no idea she was alive and still performing. MG

The public good in this context is unfettered access to music without which a particular form of cultural deepening through accretion cannot occur . The public earns such free use by the grant of an unnatural monopoly to the copyright holder for a limited time. Musical copyright protection is only justified to the extent that it promotes the greatest amount of creative musical expression for all to enjoy . It's a measure of just how firmly the United States has been in the grip of individualist ideology recently , that people don't understand what public goods are anymore . I don't believe in "unfettered access" to music, then. Being able to "own" music isn't for the public good in the sense that access to health care is, and I don't see how that can be argued. Music is the creation of individual artists, not a public right. Justifying illegal behavior by saying it's for the public good is just as much an individualist ideology as anything. In fact, it's a copout. You don't seem to understand that copyright protection exists to benefit the consumers of art not as a recognition of some pre-existing natural right that artists have in preventing others from copying their work . Even if you believe that artists have some such Lockean right in their original work , it doesn't follow that they have the same type of right to prohibit copying of that work . It is for this reason that The Constitution says , " Congress shall have the power " to grant copyright protection , not " Congress must grant copyright protection " . A society is free to strike any deal it wants with artists , calibrating copyright durations to ensure , not the greatest amount of creativity per se , but the greatest public enjoyment of that creativity . Copyright protection grants time-limited privileges to artists only as a means to this public good and never for their sake . Retroactive extension of copyright protection is particularly egregious , for there is absolutely no public benefit in such an extension , given that it can't possibly result in retroactively increasing the amount of creativity to be enjoyed by all . I entirely agree with you on this Chas. But I wonder: a) what proportion of Americans actually do understand the concept of public good; and b) what proportion of American lawmakers do. If this proportion is so small as to be virtually nonexistent, is it still correct to argue that laws are passed for the purpose of achieving public good, rather than achieving some benefits for those who can bribe their way into the charmed circle? MG

I suspect conservatism can best be characterised in a general sense as respect for authority; whether of the bible, political and business leaders, the ancien regime or experts. TV ads, seen over and over, are intended to work that way, so it should come as no surprise to find that they work better in conservative areas than in socialist areas. MG

They're all excellent! None of them are as good as "Us", "Life on planet groove" or "Maceo" but they're equally as good as "Southern exposure" - slightly more Hip Hop than that album, but not a lot. MG

Thanks to both of you. Deeply depressing. MG

Unit Four Plus One The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Plus One Afro-Blues Quintet Plus One

Gerry Anderson Hans Christian Andersen Roald Dahl

I ordered this from the library (and they actually BOUGHT it for keeping on their shelves - will nyone else read it?) Africa's urban past - ed by David Anderson & Richard Rathbone It's a series of academic papers presented at a conference organised by the School of African and Oriental Studies at London University. I'm about halfway through at the moment and it's very mixed. The low point is a cogent argument for more archaeological research to be done on town walls - clearly important but of little interest to the general reader. And a study of inflation in Lagos between 1914 and 1945 is only a little less uninteresting. But the high points - an analysis of the religious/ceremonial significance of Mbanza Kongo/Sao Salvador in Angola; the development of Kampala in the context of religious wars; Arusha's battles between the Arusha and the British colonials, as a reult of which the Arusha don't live in Arusha; and, particularly, the revelations about the cluster towns, with no monumental or celebratory architecture in the Middle Niger, which I found fascinating. But it's clear that there's a big bias in this book. Of 16 chapters about specific towns, only six are not from Anglophone countries - Tunis, Middle Niger towns, Mbanza Kongo and Brazzaville, plus two from Ethiopia. Two from Ethiopia and two from the whole of the former French colonies looks a little unbalanced. "Is there some war between British and French academic historians?" I ask myself. Unfortunately, I don't give myself an answer. MG

I've just been listening to Jacquet's Epic album and he plays alto on some tracks of that one. VERY Bebop alto! (But still very Jacquetish.) MG

Thanks for posting the fRoots link Bev. I wasn't really expecting to get much out of it - and indeed, it's all stuff that appears to have been released in the West. But I noticed at #6 on the album of the year list was Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara - Soul Science (Wayward) Juldeh is a guy I met when I first visited West Africa in 1993. He's a great riti player and a powerful vocalist. I think me I had better cop this album soon. By the way, who's Justin Adams? MG

Over breakfast, groovin' with Lionel Hampton RCA Victors disc 2 MG

Kade Diawara - L'archange du Manding Mama Diabate - La biche du Manding Kerfala Kante - L'oiseau du Sankara

Patti Page is not an estate? Wow! Good luck to her, at least. MG

The rumour is that Branson had to get out from under a sinking ship, or its failure would cast a black mark over his other enterprises in the City. So, apparently, he had to throw £200 million worth of training into the package as a sweetener. MG So what did the £200 million train employees to do? How to stock only sure-fire winners? A friend sent me a Virgin voucher back in October and I finally got round to trying to buy an album from them in December or so. I looked and looked and looked and looked. Eventually I DID manage to find something in the Cardiff shop - which always used to be a sure place to pick up something - the new one by Orchestre Baobab. The staff training appears to have taught at least one member of staff that it's a good thing to enthuse about the records people are buying. He said he was sure I'd think it was fantastic. I said I already had fifteen of their albums and if the new one was anywhere near as good as the early stuff I'd be very surprised (but pleased). He looked a bit put out at that, but thanks to his share of the two hundred million training package ( ), he refrained from turfing me out of the shop and even gave me the penny change from the voucher. So there you are... Don't shop at Virgin/Zavvi, savvy? MG

:wub: Perhaps there will be a similar statue of Comrade Wynton one day in front of the Lincoln Center!!! I've got that as my desktop background now. My grandfather knew him. MG

Sister Sister Sister Sledge Sister Sadie

Pee Wee Marquette Morris Levy Mountainous Maurice Dennis (banjo player with Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra)

The rumour is that Branson had to get out from under a sinking ship, or its failure would cast a black mark over his other enterprises in the City. So, apparently, he had to throw £200 million worth of training into the package as a sweetener. MG

I got BFT 55 today! Thanks Jack! Still only halfway through BFT 54 - must get a move on. MG

Jutta Hipp is not Les Baxter, or even Martin Denny Anyone got a UK release date for this lot? I need to upgrade my cheapo Baby Grand CD pronto. MG

That's a very good point indeed, in my view. MG