The Magnificent Goldberg

This is a terrible thing. It's worse than Dunblane and Hungerford put together. MG

The Masked Announcer The Lone Ranger Zorro

Hope that this was issued a while after 1964. Michael Cuscuna was 16 in 1964 - doubt that he'd have had much of interest to write then. Yes - Just Sunshine was the label for which Stuff recorded in the late seventies; a WB subsidiary. My guess is that this is the album originally issued on Transatlantic called "Red hot from Alex" - it contains "Back at the Chicken Shack" and "Haitian fight song", as far as I can remember. MG

Red Allen - Quadromaniadiscs 1-4 MG

Yeah - I hated it when Fantasy did that - I'd much rather have paid for 2 complete CDs. And my copy of the LP is in shit state (but not the missing tracks, fortunately - now I've got the equipment, I may do my own CD). A1: Crazy! Making my own twofer with "Gatorade" in a few days/weeks/whenever I can get round to it. A2: Well, it is the progressive model of history; an elitist construction, if I ever saw one. I've a nice little pile of Gator LPs to make into twofers in the coming period. A3: Pitts... If all you'd heard of her was "Star bag", well she's really groovin' on that one. I had (still have) "These blues of mine" and didn't really like it much. She swings on that nowhere near as much or as hard as on "Star bag" - mind you, Willis would make anyone swing, even Kenny G, I reckon. But I recently succumbed to the Jap Victor reissue of "Introducing the fabulous T Pitts" and I like that a lot more. And, having played "These blues" again since I got "Intro", I'm finding I like that a bit more. But "Star bag" is definitely her finest hour. Q4: re A2: what do you think of Malaco? MG

My sense of the term "African-American" is of a person squaring up his shoulders and sticking his chest out - so I think that's about national pride. Kind of a people pulling themselves up to their full height after the humiliations of slavery and segregation. So I think a pride in their heritage comes into that, in that by dressing up in dashikis, blacks were able to identify themselves with pre-slavery ancestors = people who could carry themselves around unabashed - without the fear of the whip. I'm not sure it's about inventing an identity so much as seeing their identity in as positive way. I don't think they invented the tradition of African forebears so much as brought it out. Any musical ramifications? Simon Weil What got invented was Afro-centricism; the idea that a) Egypt was run by sub-Saharan Africans (it was for some of the time) and b) had a big influence on European culture (well, certainly some, but not necessarily when the southern kings were running Egypt); and that therefore Europe owes Africa its civilisation (or maybe a free pass to the ball game). This notion is VERY big in African-American circles. I had to go to 125 Street in Harlem to buy (on the street) books in English by Cheikh Anta Diop - couldn't get them in the mainstream bookstores of NYC; not in Britain, very easily. I accompanied a bunch of African-Americans on a tour of Goree Island, just off Dakar, in Senegal, a few years ago. They were astounded, and almost hysterically mortified, to learn that Africans had participated in and profited from the slave trade. MG

You got that Willis Jackson LP, Clem? MG

Well, it's not being driven by the record industry. It's perhaps being driven by the advertising industry, since what you seem to get all the time is adverts, with your music. MG

It's a nice thread to read. But there's no answer to that question. True Blue had a sale last year of OJC LPs that were going out of print. Don't know if that was the whole lot that was available, but I really don't see them issuing any replacements once they run out. MG

Hey, that's not nice! I often tend to type that - but I usually notice and correct it before I hit the button. MG (Also Babby Blond)

This is a very important point. But the invented tradition has no such virtue. It is, in Hobsbawms view, and others, a response against a new situation, when what is usually called for is a response with a new situation; ie the development of a new tradition, that works. MG

I'm afraid you'll be looking for vinyl; never issued on CD. One LP went for $25 recently on e-bay. Oh, it's not live; shouts by musicians, engineers, producers or general hangers-on, I guess. Glad you enjoyed it, John. MG

I realised I was dyslexic when I went to a toga party dressed as a goat. Marcus Brigstocke at the Assembly Rooms Cats have nine lives. Which makes them ideal for experimentation. Jimmy Carr The right to bear arms is slightly less ludicrous than the right to arm bears. Chris Addison at the Pleasance My dad is Irish and my mum is Iranian, which meant that we spent most of our family holidays in Customs. Patrick Monahan at the Gilded Balloon The dodo died. Then Dodi died, Di died and Dando died... Dido must be sh*tting herself. Colin & Fergus at the Pleasance My parents are from Glasgow which means they're incredibly hard, but I was never smacked as a child ... well maybe one or two grams to get me to sleep at night. Susan Murray at the Underbelly Is it fair to say that there'd be less litter in Britain if blind people were given pointed sticks? Adam Bloom at the Pleasance My mum and dad are Scottish but they moved down to Wolverhampton when I was two, 'cause they wanted me to sound like a tw*t. Susan Murray at the Underbelly You have to remember all the trivia that your girlfriend tells you, because eventually you get tested. She'll go: "What's my favourite flower?" And you murmur to yourself: "Sh*t, I wasn't listening ..Self-raising?" Addy Van-Der-Borgh at the Assembly Rooms The world is a dangerous place; only yesterday I went into Boots and punched someone in the face. Jeremy Limb, at the Trap I saw that show, 50 Things To Do Before You Die. I would have thought the obvious one was "Shout For Help". Mark Watson, Rhod Gilbert at the Tron I went out with an Irish Catholic. Very frustrating. You can take the Girl out of Cork .. Markus Birdman at the Pod Deco Got a phone call today to do a gig at a fire station. Went along. Turned out it was a bloody hoax. Adrian Poynton at the Pleasance Employee of the month is a good example of how somebody can be both a winner and a loser at the same time. Demetri Martin at the Assembly Rooms A dog goes into a hardware store and says: "I'd like a job please". The hardware store owner says: "We don't hire dogs, why don't you go join the circus?" The dog replies: "What would the circus want with a plumber". Steven Alan Green at C34 Hey - you want to feel really handsome? Go shopping at Asda. Brendon Burns at the Pleasance I like to go into the Body Shop and shout out really loud "I've already got one!" Norman Lovett at The Stand It's easy to distract fat people. It's a piece of cake. Chris Addison at the Pleasance I enjoy using the comedy technique of self-deprecation - but I'm not very good at it. Arnold Brown at The Stand If you're being chased by a police dog, try not to go through a tunnel, then on to a little seesaw, then jump through a hoop of fire. They're trained for that. Milton Jones at the Underbelly

Me too, on all counts! I bet! MG

Don Camilo José Cela Trulock, Marquis of Iria Flavia Octavio Paz Lozano Nadine Gordimer

Because there is massive market demand for high-res movies and (especially) video games, but there are very few audiophiles. People don't pay close attention to music as much as they used to; background listening is the norm and hence audio quality for music files is not a big issue. Movies and video games are activities that require one's full attention, so video quality is more important to the average consumer. An important point. MG

It's very very quiet. But there's some good stuff coming over. And Ingrid is, at least making announcements. Trouble is, it's very hard to hear them. Is it so quiet because it's only 56kbps? MG

First time I went to Paris was in April (1969) and it was like that. I thought it was WONDERFUL! Summer here, too. 10c above normal for the time of year. MG

Not in the Third World - their mass publics are just beginning to be prosperous enough to START buying CDs. And when they get going, there are a hell of a lot more of them than there are of us. MG

Just tuned in. Hey this is nice. Why don't you say what is playing? MG

The gig is at the NoHo gallery. WHo's Don Ho? MG

Blige me Chewy - I didn't know about that! MG

This is a pretty well known phenomenon. The development of traditional Welsh dress is a well documented 19th C phenomenon. The more recent "resurgence" of the Welsh language is a continuation. The chap who used to live upstairs of us in the seventies was the head of the Welsh National Language Unit and part of his job was inventing new Welsh words and deciding on their grammar etc! Religious fundamentalism is part of the same movement. Hobsbawm deals with this issue at some length in "The age of empire", which I finished a week or so ago. MG PS Hobsbawm also made a very good TV programme about 3 hours long about it perhaps five or six years ago. I think it was called "The lies our country tells us".

Wel, I don't really care what format stuff comes in, so long as I can buy the music I want cheap as poss. MG

Louis Armstrong Pops Foster Roebuck Pop Staples