The Magnificent Goldberg

Very NICE! Thanks. MG

George Braith - Musart - Prestige orig stereo MG

We got a new kettle the other week, when the old one clapped out - and that was Durabrand, too. It came from Asda (owned by Walmart). Cost a fiver ($10). Hasn't gone wrong yet MG

Well, two orders turned up this morning. From Dusty Groove a couple of LPs Paul Bryant – Burnin’ – Pacific Jazz mono (sorry, no pic on the web) I’m quite pissed off with myself at buying this, because I already had a copy! But it had no sleeve, so it didn’t get out much. I expect, now I’ve got a sleeve, it’ll get much more frequent airings (yes, I’m consoling myself). Howard Roberts - Color him funky - Capitol orig mono This was a real bargain at da barstids, and as it has Paul Bryant on organ, I snapped it up. It’s the only album I’ve ever bought by Roberts. Quite probably I shan’t feel the need to buy another. But now I have everything Bryant ever recorded! And a CD I had this before, but I’m pleased to have upgraded to a CD. It’s probably my favourite GM McGriff (and nearly my favourite McGriff of all) – with Conrad Lester on alto, what else would I be saying? And from Amazon.com Now this is really interesting. I’m about three quarters through disc 1. This is VERY restrained jump music which sounds to me like it might have been a big influence on the early R&B jump band leaders like Jordan, Liggins and Milton (but they weren’t restrained). Very enjoyable! MG

Bar keeper's friend - the best and cheapest product I've found for shining up yer copper saucepans! (I don't know what the US version is like, of course.) MG

I only know the name, but I've been wondering what he was like for some time. Sad to find out more under these circumstances. RIP MG

Andy Amos Amos

More John Patton (and A N Other) Blue John - Blue Note Pathe Marconi Soul Connection - Nilva orig If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem - Do I need to say who this is? - Milestone Fantasy pressing MG

Julius LaRosa Brother Julius Junius Simmons

Albert Collins Jackie Collins John Collins

To my mind there is no ethical question at all. All pensions, no matter how provided, are inter-generational transfers. Even if a person saves all his life and lives solely on the interest after retirement, that is still an inter-generational transfer. Because the savings and interest had been, and could still have been, used as investments for something in the "younger" economy. MG

Leaving aside the ethical question of whether younger people should be forced to fork over chunks of their income to fund an ever-lengthening retirement period (not saying that this is cut-and-dried, but I think it is an open question), there's also a practical problem with betting on productivity increases (at least in the US).* Here in the US, social security is indexed to wages. Since in the long run wages pretty much grow at the same rate as productivity, there aren't any productivity increases left to support a shrinking workers-to-retirees ratio. Over here social security is linked to inflation, which usually lags wages. So that, when people retire, their standard of living represents some formulation relating to what they've managed to achieve in their years at work. And that does leave some room for productivity improvements to meet the demands of extra people living longer. How much and whether sufficient are harder questions. MG

Cain James Caan Orson Welles

Reaganism without Reagan would still be Thatcherism I'm with you on the impact of the Thatcher/Reagan years. But it's clear to me that Thatcher & Reagan didn't change what was in people's heads. They were, at the time, the latest version of what to me has been the tragedy of the post WWI world - an increasing ruthlessness, manifested throughout societies, not just at the political level. And yes, they were a lot worse than what had gone before (or most of it). But they've been surpassed subsequently, to my even greater regret. But even Thatcher and Reagan were themselves only symptoms, as are Bush and Cheney. The problem is us. And how do we find solutions? MG

As ever, a very interesting response, which I'll think about. For the moment, a question - since I'm not any kind of economist, just an intelligent ex-customer of economists. If you adjust the second meaning of productivity for inflation, doesn't that produce something that looks very much like the first? (Because a "unit" means something concrete only in relation to a specific operation, otherwise it's an average.) Oh, and in case other readers of this thread are getting bored with this MG

Well, Jesus said "the poor are always with you". A little-noticed corrollary is that the rich are always with us. All we can do is fight the power, not think of winning. MG

Yes, but clearly from different points of view. There is Art, which serves the interests of the ruling classes - that's Wynton. And there is art, which doesn't - perhaps that's Gator Tail, as a personal example. The ruling classes can afford to support Art with big money. That's what they've done. The rest of us HAVE to support art with our little bits of money. Because, if we don't, it dies. And that's what happened. It's all our fault, audience and musicians - but particularly musicians, who should lead the audience, but who were themselves led by the vision of Art (promulgated by who?) to the big money. MG

Wynton Kelly Paul Chambers Jimmy Cobb

I did, and I'm one Good! I've registered. Waiting for e-mail and link. In the meantime, I'd like to say that Lansing's downtown looks remarkably healthy! Downtown Tonyrefail Voted now! MG

My guess is Not microgroove = thicker wall between the groove Faster speed = less music per inch of groove So, harder to damage from casual use (but unfortunately very brittle) and equivalent damage affects smaller duration of music. MG

The Marty Kahn interview Larry posted says precisely that. MG

Reginald Perrin Joan Collins Arturo Ui

Can furriners vote? MG

The Vogue material - I had an EP back in the day and only recently heard from Brownie that it was out on CD. Hamp isn't someone I've watched assiduously... MG

Margie Hendrix Burkley Kendricks Nat Kendricks & the Swans