The Magnificent Goldberg

This isn't wrong, but I'M GLAD I WAS ABLE TO RETIRE AT 60! Fuck working for a living! Even though I really liked my job, did it well and influentially and was well paid for it. The idea that large numbers of people WANT to work on into a later retirement - rather than retire before they're totally fucking clapped out - is a nonsense. And yes, I recognise that there is a problem with pensions and how a shrinking population can afford to pay them. But the solution is productivity increases so that a smaller population can indeed produce an income of the size necessary. MG

Just got the Paris material with Clifford Scott, which is fabulous, so I'll be onto this one. MG

I haven't got this, but thanks Ubu, for what you've said, particularly about Abbey. I've got "Abbey is blue" because Stanley & Tommy are on it, but don't like her much. But you've persuaded me I should put this on my list. MG

Well, that's been implied for many decades now, starting, I suppose, when those French geezers began to write about jazz as if it were part of the European aesthetic. And musicians were lauded as such over there - not that people like Bechet and Hawkins shouldn't have been lauded, but on their own terms. But you can't blame them for taking what they could get, either. That was the thin end of the wedge, it seems to me. Marsalis is the fat (cat) end. MG

Dave Clark (of Duke & Malaco) Dave Clark (of Five) The Rt Hon Kenneth Clark (of brown suede brothel creepers)

Simon Bolivar Thelonious Monk Thelwell

Dylan Thomas Richard Burton Angharad Rees

Johnnie Walker Sir Walter Scott The Scotsman

Harold Vick - Don't look back - Strata East MG

Oh well... MG

Twelve fucking million operating surplus for 2004/05!!!!! TWO HUNDRED FUCKING MILLION assets!!!!! (OK, it owns a big building in NY. But...) And the next but is ALL CHARITIES ARE LIKE THIS MG Scrooge

I used to have one of those...he went by the name of Corey I think he's made the rounds, 'cept he changed his name when he got to me. Man! This visitor thing is intriguing, maybe we ought to start the CIAO. Oh, should I watch out for the overseas branch of the CIA? MG

I've never heard (or even seen) it. Is it really that bad? I've heard worse...but it's the only Turrentine Blue Note album I have that only got played once...and I'm a Turrentine fanatic. Apart from the newie, which I just haven't got round to, it's the only ST BN I've never bought, nor wanted to buy. heard it plenty, when I was working in a record shop in '69. MG

Not really one trick ponies. They hit the big time with "Eyes" in 1959, but had been making great jump sides and bluesy ballads since the early 50's. Check out their Chance or Chess recordings some time - a far cry from the slick pop for which they're famous (which I also dig, of course). Yeah - I've got some stuff on videotape done at the Apollo featuring the Flamingos and did they ever jump! Around '56, when they got their first hit - the original version of "I'll be home", which Pat Boone killed, they started doing retro-Doo Wop stuff. The groove on "Eyes" is truly sublime, but an accident of timing - how could they do that in '59? Dunno. MG

Given the bad dietary habits in the U.S. - go to a mall or to a street in a U.S. city and check out the number of obese people walking around - that might well be true. it's cute they claim in the article this is because americans have the money to be as fat as they are - this may make the difference in comparison with many countries in the world but i guess for most countries which are "better" than the us on that list it's rather ridiculous to think that is part of the reason... Well, I think that MAY have something to do with it, but not in the way they think. One of the things that Americans are definitely OK with is being rich. "Making it" is the American dream. so conspicuous expenditure, on luxuries including lotsa grub, is not something that is looked down upon, as it is over here. Over here, being rich don't give you class. So, someone moving to the US wouldn't get fat UNLESS they digested the American dream whole. MG MG, here it is no different. Being rich does not give a person class, it just means they have money. And for the record my initial comment on this topic was a joke. Kind of like me saying, when I turn 75 I'll move somewhere else to pick up a few extra years. Guess you've got to start adding sarcastic smileys so overserious types like me get it. I did get it And actually, your other post about obesity in poor areas is on the mark, too. A lot of this is about what you eat (see Dan's thread) rather than how much. But what you eat isn't simply a question of whether you can afford to eat more healthily. It's also what tastes nice. And I've got to admit that the mayo in the soul food restaurants in Newark in which I've eaten is the best tasting stuff EVER! And I bet, if I lived over there, I'd kill myself on soul food! MG

Pat Boone Debbie Boone Daniel Boone

AAAAARRRRRHGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I missed it! Sorry - but hope it was loud and greeeaaassssyyyy! MG

"Always something there". MG

Given the bad dietary habits in the U.S. - go to a mall or to a street in a U.S. city and check out the number of obese people walking around - that might well be true. it's cute they claim in the article this is because americans have the money to be as fat as they are - this may make the difference in comparison with many countries in the world but i guess for most countries which are "better" than the us on that list it's rather ridiculous to think that is part of the reason... Well, I think that MAY have something to do with it, but not in the way they think. One of the things that Americans are definitely OK with is being rich. "Making it" is the American dream. so conspicuous expenditure, on luxuries including lotsa grub, is not something that is looked down upon, as it is over here. Over here, being rich don't give you class. So, someone moving to the US wouldn't get fat UNLESS they digested the American dream whole. MG

Little Stevie Wonder will always have my greatest love for "Fingertips" pts 1 & 2, his first single. For why? On part 2, as Stevie is being led back on stage, the pianist (I seem to remember it was) was quite audible and shouting "What key? What Key?!" And someone pushed it through the Motown quality control system! Wow! Nothing he's done since then gets me as much. Bennett? Gordon Bennett! (You Americans won't get that. Tough.) MG

Don Patterson - Moving up - Muse orig Florida Mass Choir - Be encouraged - Savoy orig James Brown - I got the feelin' - King Polydor reissue MG

Oh, come on. There is some fine music you're missing out on. I have a modest collection, mainly compilations. I dig it and listen to the 50s and 60s channels on sirius radio often. Great music to grill or cook by... Oh oh oh oh I got a girl named Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding dong she's everything to me Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding dong I'll never set her free For she's mine, all mine Oh oh oh oh I got a girl named Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding Dong, She's fine to me, Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding dong You don't believe that she's mine, all mine I love her, love her, lover her so. That I'll never, never let her go. You may be certain she's mine, all mine, She's mine all of the time. Oh I got a girl named Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding dong she's everything to me Rama Lama, Rama Lama Ding dong I'll never set her free For she's mine, all mine Is that a bonifide Doo-wopper? If so, oh gawd, I think I'm gonna hurl. I didn't care for that stuff the first time around either. I was more into Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Smelvis Presley; never cared for Chuck Berry either. Don't pay attention to any of it anymore; PBS's fundraisers broke me, for sure. Yes - it was by the Edsels. Bona fide, but a bit on the late side - I think it was '61 or '62. Didn't make the R&B charts. For Doo-wop that was kind of beautiful music, you have to go back to the late forties and early fifties: Orioles, Moonglows (as Jim said), Ravens, Penguins, Cardinals, Clovers, Billy Ward & the Dominoes (with Clyde McPhatter), the Drifters (with Clyde McPhatter), Five Keys, Four Blazes. Many others. After about 1954, like much else in the R&B world, Doo-wop was changed by the impact of Ray Charles. The better groups (Drifters, Falcons) moved into Soul. Others moved into pop. MG Forogt to mention the Flamingos.

Sanders of the River Pharoah Sanders Merl Saunders

I agree - except there are 7 Verve LPs and two RCA Victors, and at least an LP's worth of unissued material - looks like a big box to me. MG The Andorrans are taking care of those Hodges/WBDavis: Bleedin' 'ell! Well, Verve weren't interested. Mosaic haven't been. There's no doubt about market demand. So... MG

I agree - except there are 7 Verve LPs and two RCA Victors, and at least an LP's worth of unissued material - looks like a big box to me. MG