Rooster_Ties

Unfortunately we just unplugged and turned in our cable box yesterday — before our move to Pittsburgh in two days (this Monday). Will have to watch it on Passport in the next few weeks when I can (we’re PBS subscriber/supporters, NPR too).

OK, here's the most epic one of Kansas City that I know of... Jimmy Witherspoon With Jay McShann And His Band – Goin' To Kansas City Blues And after a LOT of digging around on DIscogs (simply searching on 'Pittsburgh' - and scrolling through pages and pages of results), this might be the only(?) jazz album I can find with an actual pic of downtown PGH on the cover... Frank Cunimondo – Frank Cunimondo Plays George Benson Live In Concert – Vinyl (LP, Album, Stereo), 1978 [r9325057] | Discogs Seems to have been a local guy, best I can tell. It's been on CD too -- but the cover looks way too 'CD modern' for my taste -- but I'm looking for LP covers anyway (if I'm gonna hang any). Every release on that same label is by Cunimondo -- so it's essentially a private label then... Mondo Records Inc. | Discogs Here's the cover of the CD reissue...

Those are all four of the bigger cities I’ve lived in throughout my life (well, Pittsburgh starting in a few weeks). But rather than devoting an entire topic to Pittsburgh only (which there don’t seem to be dozens of examples from Pittsburgh alone) — I thought I’d go for our four cities in one thread. How many can we come up with?? The landmarks can be obscure, and don’t have to be incredibly well known — but outdoor shots that include buildings, venues, what-have-you — or best of all, entire city-scapes. Who knows — maybe I’ll decide to track down physical copies of the very best example from each city — and put framed copies of the covers in a hallway in our new place in Pittsburgh.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m unquestionably ALL in on getting this on CD. But with a total of 5(!) tunes that are all 22+ minutes each — by just a quartet (Joe + piano trio) — that’s gotta mean a LOTTA bass solos.

Track listing for the Joe Hen… A1 – Mr. P. C. (24:00) B1 - Inner Urge (26:46) C1 - Invitation (22:15) C2 - Relaxin' at Camarillo (7:41) D1 - Recorda Me (23:33) E1 - 'Round Midnight (16:10) E2 - Good Morning Heartache (9:30) F1 - Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise (23:39) F2 - Isotope (6:37) https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/19818

Technically mine was the Don Cherry Complete BN Mosaics — all of two CD’s total!! But that was just to dip my toe in the pool with Mosaic, just to see what one of their sets even was like (and I’d never seen a jazz CD box set up close before, of any kind). But almost immediately after, I bought the Andrew Hill and Jackie McLean Mosaics (same order), and others not a year more later (I forget the chronology). So I really consider those Hill and McLean Mosaics as my first ‘real’ box sets.

Books and CD’s were the first thing we packed — about 50 cubic feet of boxes, iirc. And that was AFTER we donated or sold off 20 cubic feet (combined) of books and CD’s. I only have about 200 LP’s (if that even) — and of those, only about 50 are ones I especially wanted to keep (but I’m probably gonna wait to get to Pittsburgh before I thin out the LP’s — mostly in the interest of time).

I’ve heard Christian McBride’s name mentioned here and there — just wishful thinking (nothing from any insiders). I suppose Jason Moran is available too (after he left the KC).

I’ve got about 55 box sets (including maybe 20 selects). At least HALF of them I haven’t spent anywhere near enough time with over the last 20–25 years — which I plan to rectify in retirement, a whole box a week sometimes (with luck). Most of them are Mosaics — but I think I’ve got about 10 non-Mosaic big boxes too.

So, a little less than 4 weeks til we and all our stuff moves to Pittsburgh. As of this post, I think we’re about 60% packed (+/-5%) — and since neither of us are working any more, we should be 90% done within 2 weeks. Which is good, because we’re taking 2-3 days to run up to PGH with a carload of artwork — plus a few clothes, and some kitchen stuff — the week before the movers take everything. Won’t be too much longer!!

No, afraid not. The set is 8 discs long — and comes in 2 four-disc ‘fat-boy’ jewel box cases — along with a tall booklet that has all the notes.

On the Dusty Groove site alone (all because the spellings on the releases themselves) — sometimes he’s Rickey, sometimes Ricky (no ‘e’) — and I think I’ve occasionally seen Rick.

Yeah, saw the Post-Gazette is folding — but oddly, they’re not even trying to do anything just online, not in any sort of reduced capacity even. Hard to fathom a city the size of Pittsburgh without a newspaper of record. We’re already trying to survey the PGH media landscape for where to get our news — hoping to find some enterprising, hopefully non-profit news-gathering source (which if they’re no. I’m sure when we transfer our NPR support from here in DC to the Pittsburgh NPR station, we’ll double our yearly donation.

I’m sure we’ll take in 2 or 3 games a year — the view of downtown over the outfield is amazing!! I’m on my phone (in St. Louis visiting my dad) — but the main photo on the PNC Park Wikipedia page is a pretty good example… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNC_Park

Yes, definitely. From what I understand, transit west of downtown leaves a LOT to be desired. (And the airport is west of downtown.) Pittsburgh’s transit isn’t as good as it could and should be — but that one busway east of downtown is easily overlooked (and better than bus transit usually is most places). There are also some busways south of downtown too — which I know next to nothing about — and I have no idea how efficient they are (how isolated from other vehicles they are — or aren’t). PGH’s transit is a mixed bag overall — but still better than quite a number of other cities that aren’t bigger than PGH.

The thing about Pittsburgh transit is that they didn’t/couldn't ever fund their main public transit corridor with light rail — instead opting for a protected rapid-transit busway (no other vehicular traffic) down in a valley that cuts thru the heart of the east end of the main part of the city (immediately east of downtown). Back 50+ years ago, there used to be 4 or 5 freight rail lines down in that valley. Then in the mid-70’s, they tore out all but two of those freight rail lines, and replaced them with a 3-lane road for busses only (and emergency vehicles) — and said busses can get up to 40 even 50 mph, taking commuters to and from downtown in 1/4th the time of the city streets above. They also treat and plow the hell out of the busway in the winter (when it snows). I understand the busway actually moves a lot more people daily than Pittsburg’s light rail does (their light rail is called the “T”). And the busses on the busway run almost as frequently as some DC Metro lines (like every 10 minutes during rush hour, 15 minutes during the day, and 15-20 minutes later at night). My wife and I will be in an apartment that’s just a 10-minute walk from one of the two busiest busway stops immediately east of downtown (one of the things we wanted to be close to). Pittsburgh’s east busway was the very first bus-rapid-transit system in the entire US (built in the mid 70’s) — and its cost-per-mile to construct and operate is substantially lower than light rail or heavy rail (a bare fraction of the cost). Nowhere near as sexy as rail — but in the right circumstances, it can be incredibly efficient — especially in this formerly freight-rail-only valley that never had vehicular traffic on it before in the first place.

10,000 steps a day keeps the cardiologist away. It’s definitely helped manage my blood pressure (and probably stress too) — and affected my mood (for the better). Of course I probably need to redouble my efforts — I haven’t lost as much weight as I need to (I lost 20-25 lbs over the last several years, but I really need to lose 20-25 MORE). I’m pretty sure being in a new place, with TONS to explore — and the luxury of time, initially not working for maybe six months, and then only part time after that — will help too. With my wife fully retired now (she might try and pick a part-time job in a bookstore, eventually, mostly for fun and book discounts, as she’s a voracious reader) — I’m sure we will have all the time in the world to exercise more, as we work to walk the entire city. Pittsburgh has 90 distinct neighborhoods, and I hope/plan to walk half of them within our first year.

Update: We’re moving to Pittsburgh in February! — in about 7 short weeks. We found a nice apartment in a ridiculously good location about 3 miles east of dahntahn, between the rivers (Bloomfield-Friendship-Shadyside neighborhoods area). We’ll literally be a 15 minute walk from a dozen places we really wanted to be close to — and there’s tons more within a 30-40 minute walk. Even downtown (or ‘dahntahn’ as they say there) is just a little more than an hour’s hike one-way (with plenty of bus lines back). For years we’ve sometimes hiked an hour to the Kennedy Center in DC (and taken the Metro subway home) — likewise, we plan to hike to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra when we can (and bus home). We also bought a new car!! (2026 Prius) — after 15 years without any cars in DC. Although we wanted to drive, especially longer trips — we also want to be able to walk everywhere (weather permitting), like we do now. (I’ve been walking 5 miles a day, every single day, for the last 6 months — which I plan to try and stick with as much as I can.) We are super excited about Pittsburgh!! — which as I said before, we’d only visited once way back in 2013 for a long weekend — and then two trips last year to explore, and look for an apartment.

Kinda wild that we’re only a couple years from being a quarter of a century old — as an online forum.

My profile says I joined March 13, 2003 — so, yeah, I probably joined about a week after the very first folks here did.

I don’t recall that he ever did. Anyone remember for sure?

What’s my number? Probably over 50. I think I procrastinated a week before I signed up, iirc.

Me!!!

I’ve got it on CD via this budget release under Herbie’s name. https://www.discogs.com/release/9128473-Herbie-Hancock-Baraka Not sure if this has ever gotten any decent — or recommendable — release on CD.

Yes, rest in peace.