kinuta

You guys are lucky you don't have ' J Pops ' as the ubiquitous popular genre is called here. Dancing girly boys and talentless cutie pie dancing girly girls. I asked a teenage girl if she really liked the cd she had just bought, her answer ' yes, they are great dancers '.

Maren ' Many a true word is said in jest '. Tokyo suffers from the so called heat sink syndrome in summer. The high day time temperatures , compounded by massive use of airconditioning mean that heat is stored in the concrete building and roads causing the phenomenom know here as tropical night. This is when the minimum night time temperature stays above 26c. This in turn causes many people to leave their air conditioners running 24 hours a day and further worsens the heat sink problem, superheating the upper atmosphere above Tokyo and producing thunder and lightning storms of amazing ferocity. Real Blade Runner stuff. Anyhow, in an attempt to try to do something about this, the govt have ordered all govt offices to set the thermostats at 28C , which many would consider pretty warm, and ordered that all male employees shall henceforth come to work in no tie and short sleeves. Private companies are being urged to follow suit. The result will probably be a huge surge in fan sales and a huge increase in traumatized office workers who can't adjust tobeing unable to hide behind a business suit and tie. Totally trivial information but it will be interesting to see what happens this summer. ps I've just noticed the Japan Times link !

Looks good http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/ascannerdarklyqt.html

After listening to his versions of ' What's New?' and ' I'll Be Seeing You' on ' Les Trinitaires ', I'm inclined to add Andrew Hill to some of the other names mentioned. Thelonious Monk for sure.

A strange coincidence. A few weeks ago I spun a few old Philly soul sides out of sheer curiosity as to how they sounded after 30 odd years and ended up really addicted. I ended up listening to almost nothing but 70's soul for about ten days. Some of it sounds just too slick, but stuck in there are some real gems. A few things I listened to - Shirley Brown Roy Ayers Little Anthony Attitudes johnny Bristol Margie Joseph Bloodstone O'Jays Brainstorm William Bell Blue Magic JR Bailey ( great ) Chilites Creative Source Chicago gangsters Gene Chandler Detroit Spinners to name a few. The O Jays and Spinners stand up very well.

I doubt blue jeans were common back then except in America. I remember buying my first pair of Levis when they first went on sale in UK around 1964. Transistors didn't exist in 1944, maybe in an experimental lab somewhere. in the late 50's in UK most radios were valve type. Gramophone players that were wound up manually existed, my grandfather had a beauty , but I don't think electricity powered models were common outside America. Maybe someone else can elaborate on that. Chemical weapons was my mistake, they were, of course , extensively used in The First World War. Overhead jets is possible but I don't think it would lessen the impact of seeing one close up, let alone getting on one. As you say, the sociological and historical changes must be completely mind boggling.

Nothing constructive but from conversations with various people who have travelled there on business, it's very, very hot and humid in summer and quite badly polluted with photo- chemical smog so it might be advisable to take some surgical masks. This comes from fellow Tokyo dwellers so it must be strikingly so for them to comment as Tokyo is notoriously obnoxious in summer with combinations of dizzying heat and humidity.

I was out for a long walk and started to make a mental list of all things these guys have never seen and are probably unaware of. Starting with tv, antibiotics, mass use of plastic, lps, record players,jets, large airports.missiles, napalm, atomic weapons, computers,nuclear weapons, biological weapons, chemical weapons,pocket tissues. blue jeans,transistor radios, printed circuits, satellites. sputnik, Vanguard. Apollo Moon landings, Mars landing, after a while I started getting a headache and I hadn't even scatched the surface or got anywhere even approaching the digital era. Please feel free to add things to the endless list.

Barak did you ever see the famous Seinfeld episode titled ' The Drake' ? The gang chipped in to buy the soon to be hitched Drake and Drake-ess a giant tv but things did not work out as planned. Very funny episode.

I feel sorry for them. They would be better off staying where they are. They'll die of culture shock when they see what Japan has become.

I'd like to load up a bunch of pics of Tokyo but can't get the attachment to work anyway I try. Any pointers ?

I thought ' Meet The Parents' was very funny. DeNiro shows a real flair for deadpan humour. It appealed to my British sense of the absurd.

I don't think I've ever walked out during a film. I usually have a good idea of what it will be like before I fork out for a ticket. I have however abandoned quite a lot of things mid way on dvd and video. Usually my brain gives out and I fall asleep.The last one that was so bad I couldn't watch was the horrible remake of 'The In Laws' Absolutely dreadful rubbish.

I've got three Johnny Coles, the BN, 'Warm Sounds' on Koch and the Criss Cross ' New Morning'. They are all very good and it's hard to pick a favourite, you'll have to get them all.

Surprising that Joe Jackson got a mention. Just the other week I burned a copy of ' Night And Day' from an old metal tape and really enjoyed hearing it again.

Congrats Sundog. The box is fantabulous you will love it.

Check out the link posted by Randy Twizzle. Click ' fantastic news about Vince Giordano's Nighthawks' and then the earth cam link. I was amazed, sitting eating my lunch in suburban Tokyo and watching a live gig in Times Square. Broadband internet is really something. B-)

I'm a big fan of Oliver Nelson and have had 'Skull Sessions' for a couple of years. I don't like it at all. Get ' Sound Pieces' instead. B-)

Hey man that TOCJ of 'Basra' has been available here for y..e..a..r..s. The new series looks seriously good though, all remastered in 24 bit by the esteemed Toshiba engineers and at the giveaway price of 1500 yen ($15). If money was no object I'd repurchase the entire series. Dream on bro'.

Carmen McRae - When You're Away ( Kapp/MCA Japan) Very hard to find, I was plain lucky to find a used copy.

Phil Woods - Souvenirs ,Stanley Cowell - Dancers In Love and Bill Charlap - 'S'Wonderful are good.

8.00 am Sunday. Cloudy, temperature ranging from 17-23C.

As mentioned ' Solero' and ' Man At Work' on Chess and Argo are really good. Has anyone mentioned the twin set Ellington tribute, ' Ellington Is Forever ' on Fantasy ? Not a guitar dominated session but a great band effort. I also like the set with Jimmy Raney 'Two Guitars' on OJC. Don't forget the others on OJC, 'Kenny Burrell' and ' Bluesy Burrell' come to mind, there may be others. One more is 'Ellington A La Carte' on Muse, which is really good.

Great. Thanks a lot. Dave

Any progress on archiving the big bands programmes? Obviously the time difference for Japan rules out listening live. Thanks for all your splendiferous efforts and may the force be with you.