Rooster_Ties

How does this early, pre-'Piper' version of "Interstellar Overdrive" float your boat, Jim?? This was recorded a good six months before the version from their first album (which I'll also include in the second YouTube clip below). But this first one (16-minutes) is the early one... And here's the version most people know (if they know any version), from Piper At The Gates of Dawn...

Dad got his emergency call button today (that that he wears around his neck now, 24/7 - even in the shower). It's cellular based, so it works if he goes out in the yard, or (eventually?) if he can get cleared to be driving again (we're going to do a LOT of careful testing to make 100% sure he can drive again, before he ever does). It also will automatically detect if he falls, even if he can't interact with the person on the other end of the line (like if he's unconscious, or incapacitated). It gives both an exact address where he is (the best it can resolve to), and his GPS location too. Supposedly local emergency people are called, like if he was 40 miles from home and fell -- the local jurisdiction's police/emergency are called. I still have yet to understand exactly how they do that, but supposedly that's the case. When he's at home (or in his home zip-code), then the first number on his call list is contacted -- which is his local police department. We would likely continue that service while he's in the retirement community, we think -- or at least unless we determine it's duplicative of any support he can get there. There will be two call-buttons (pull-ropes) in his room at the retirement center, in what will be his bedroom, and also the bathroom. Of course that wouldn't help if he fell and was unconscious. All to be worked out. In any case, he's got it now, so that's some piece of mind right there. BUSY, crazy day at work, trying to get caught up. But it was good to get my mind off my dad today.

I'm NO fan of The Wall, a couple of David Gilmour's brilliant songs therein notwithstanding. I barely listen to The Wall 2-3 times a decade any more. It's great 'aural theater' - and Roger Waters deserves an enormous amount of credit for its success and impact culturally. But I grew completely tired of The Wall after 5 short years (after I first heard it in college, in the late 80's). I do really love David Gilmour's solo output, and some of his Waters-less Floyd output too. Dave's stuff after 1978 has grown on me more and more and more (but slowly) over the years. The 1994 Gilmour-led Floyd album The Division Bell (TDB) is a good example -- I heard it in '94, but never bought a copy then (I'd moved on to jazz and 20th century classical by the early 90's). But I did finally pick up a copy of TDB in 2003, which I rather liked, but still didn't ever listen to a ton. Then when the 2014 mostly instrumental Floyd album The Endless River was announced, but before it came out, I started listening to The Division Bell again, and absolutely fell in love with it (only 20 years after it first came out). Animals is probably my single favorite Floyd 'album' (as far as album experiences go), followed by Wish You Were Here. But really, I think the early pre-Dark Side stuff is the most fascinating, and of the most interest to me overall (even if none of those earlier albums as quite as satisfying from a content/sequencing perspective. The Final Cut is like The Wall to me -- great for what it is, but what it is isn't anything I'm interested in (nor any of Roger's solo stuff). They're like a good play (straight-show, non-musical) -- something I'm more than happy to 'see' (hear) once ever decade or so, and then I'm good for another 10 years.

Yeah, if my dad wasn't already familiar with the place, I think this would be a LOT harder, maybe an order of magnatude so. My dad hates change, but at least he's known and had experience with this place, off and on, for 23 years. As far as skilled nursing, they don't have an on-site RN 24/7, but they do have another lesser level of nursing available throughout the day. I'm forgetting the details, but that is (as I understand it), the sole reason they aren't technically an "assisted living" level center. So close, but not quite. Something for me to follow-up on, though, thx. Oh, and there are two emergency buttons in each room: a pull-cord above the head of the bed, and similar in the bathroom. He's also going to have an emergency call button around his neck, with automatic fall detection, so he should be covered 24/7 that way too, even if he blacks out.

I've got one of the Dial Schoenbegs, #2 maybe? (red/red-orange color), that my uncle bought back in the day. Chamber Symphony #1, iirc. I'll have to look when I get back home. HEAVY vinyl.

An UPDATE, as I'm getting ready to fly back to D.C. Later this afternoon. In June or July (maybe late May even), we're moving my dad to a nice, small, family-owned/run retirement community [not even "assisted living", and certainly NOT a nursing home] about 3 miles from his house (so still very close to his Masonic network of friends). This is the same place my grandmother (his mom) went in 1996, when she was 99 years old, where she lived out her last 2 years. Unbeknownst to us, this place is still in business all these years, despite not really having any online presence (we looked a couple weeks ago, and their URL had been snapped up a couple years ago by some squatter when they didn't pay their URL management fee, or whatever it is), and they still haven't sorted it out. The place is very old-school, but spacious and nice in a utilitarian sort of way. It's small, private apartments, and onsite elder care services (and 24-7 staff). Nothing fancy, but very good people run the place, as best I can see. Over half their staff has been there over 10 years (some 15-20 years), and the current owner/director was new on staff there when my grandmother was there back in the late 90's. The place has only ever had 2 owners/directors (including the curent one), since it first opened in the early 80's. Both directors have also been the sole owners of the place (which I think says something). So my Dad has experience with the place, since that's where he took his mother, and he's also known close to 10 other people who've lived there in the last 10-15 years, so he's been there a fair bit to visit people. On-site dining, and the food was actually really GOOD (for what it was -- my dad and I had lunch there on Monday). So 3 meals a day, medicine management services, rides to doctor's visits (even way over in St. Louis, 30+ miles from where my Dad actually lives - and almost ALL my dad's doctors are over in St. Louis, because the county he lives in over on the IL side of the river, is one of the most litigious counties in the entire country, for medical malpractice suits). They've had any number of residents there who were in their early 100's, even one who lived to be 108(!) recently. SIDENOTE: one of the original members of the Inkspots lived his last X number of years there too, recently. They pride themselves on making it possible for people NOT to have to go into nursing homes, if they don't want to. They can handle dementia cases, in all but the worse manifestations. "In home (apartment)" hospice is also possible, and often elected. The owner/director and all the staff we talked to were super down-to-earth, total straight-shooters, with what seemed like tenacious can-do attitudes. Almost scary how decent these people seemed. Damn good people, was what I got out of all my interactions with them. And they all seemed like very caring, and REAL, no BS-people. And fun too, if you can imagine. Turns out the director and my dad knew about 25 people in common, and she figured out which exact house my dad lived in, with not much info (they still don't even have his exact address), because she grew up about 6 blocks away from where my dad lives. The place isn't fancy, but we think the place is just about perfect for my Dad, and he's fully on board with it. $1,765/month, all inclusive. We need to do some due diligence in checking other options, but it would be hard to imagine going somewhere else. Honestly, I almost can't believe such a seemingly reasonable, and already familiar place has popped up. 5 days afo(!)I didn't even know they were still in business, and yesterday he's already picked out a specific apartment, which they'll hold for 90 days for just $100 (which can be applied to his first month's rent), with just a $300 deposit once he moves in. Or if he goes somewhere else, we're out $100. And they'll even move all his stuff in for free too! This place is really old school, build in 1982, with some updates, but mostly lots of TLC over the years. Maybe 80 units? Everything is all on one floor, with WIDE halways, and lots of natural light. Blessed relief. Getting his house sold over the next year; that's the huge headache looming. But getting my dad somewhere that he's safe seems like a very near-term thing now. Maybe in as little as 7-8 weeks, or certainly by the week of July 4th. I still feel overwhelmed, but not about everything. Just the house. And not as much about my Dad, long as we can make it through the next 2-4 months.

My only issue with the Chesky date -- which I've had on CD for eons (one of the first 50 or so CD's I ever owned, iirc), is that it almost sounds TOO good By which I mean that it sounds decidedly like every musician was recorded separately, each in their own hermetically sealed chamber. The playing is undeniably great, but there's something slightly antiseptic about this date, that at least for me, is just a little too clean and perfect sounding. Yeah, yeah, "it sounds just like your in the same room" as the musicians, blah, blah, blah. But I can't help but actively hear (and see, in my mind's eye), four very separate rooms that these guys were in as the session was being recorded. I used to love this date back when I was 25, but I haven't spun it much in the last 15+ years. Anybody get what I'm saying? Or does it have to do with some extreme lack of compression used in the recording (I'm guessing?) -- and the fact I've only ever heard it on the half-ass stereo systems (decidedly non-audiophile) that I've had all these years Maybe that's it?

I'm going to see Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets band tomorrow while I'm here in St. Louis (because I'm in town to visit my dad, tickets purchased months ago). And I've got tix to see Nick Mason's group again in DC in about 3 weeks -- the only time I'll have ever gone to hear the same rock show twice in different cities on the same tour. I've been an on again, off again Pink Floyd fan (all eras) since about 1987 my freshman year of college. And I even bought that massive "Early Years" 28 CD/DVD box set a few year so ago. "Animals" might be my favorite single Pink Floyd album, but collectively I'm the most facinated by their early 67-72 output (pre Dark Side). Anyone else here dig early Floyd? And their pre-massive-fame output?

Forgot to say thank you, Jim, for your kind support. And I wanted to put it out there that 1) I don't want (and never have wanted) ANYTHING to do with owning my Dad's house. And I don't love it (though I'm certainly fond of some aspects of it / good memories / etc..). You couldn't pay me to inherit this house. If my dad died tomorrow, the executor of his will sells the house, and that's been the plan for 15+ years (so I don't have to deal with it). It's loaded with 90 year old knob-and-tube wiring, and hasn't had any updates since the 1960's. I wouldn't touch owning this house with a 10-foot pole. ...and 2) I'm convinced that my 4-5 years of dreams about my Dad's house being dismantled, or sometimes grotesquely and crudely modified (think more like the sarcophagus over what's left of Chernobyl) -- ALL THAT seems clearly to be a metaphor about my dad aging and his health issues. I'm sure I could literally correlate specific increased concern about my Dad over the last 4-5 years, with my crazy dreams about this house and its demise. The mind is indeed an amazing thing.

This slow-roll of my Dad's last 5-10 years he has left on this earth is nothing like when my mom passed 16 years ago. She passed suddenly, without warning, an aneurism. This is all so different, because I'm really seeing the aging of one of my parents for the very first time. And the enormity of it all isn't a one time event, but rather something to manage over several upcoming years now. And the weight of all the associated logistics. I really did not anticipate how this would affect me. And I should say for the record that I'm 100% certain a good chunk of the people on this very board have experienced FAR more difficult challenges than what I'm going through with my Dad now. I hope I'm not coming off with a "woe is me" attitude in all this. Compared to many, I know I've had a comparatively easier life, been dealt a much easier hand of cards, etc. I don't want to come off as not being mindful of that. None of what I'm experiencing now is anything like a "gut punch", but I am suprised it feels like that some of the time, when all these emotions I can't even quite identify come bubbling up.

Bremen (if that's just the quartet only, and I think it is) is definitely 2cd's ~ 100 minutes total (I've had a burn of that one for 15 years, and it's stunning). I'm pretty sure Basel is 2cd's too (iirc), and much longer than it is on LP (just 1 LP). I don't have it yet, so can't confirm personally. But that's my recall from the links up above. LP is barely 4 tunes, iirc. CD is like 8 tunes (half of them really long), and 2cd's (again, iirc).

Mostly going ok-ish here with my Dad (I've been here in St. Louis with him since Wed) -- all things considered I guess. Long story, short (best as I can): we're going to get my Dad out of his house and into a retirement center (not quite "assisted care"). A place with his own appartnent, with onsite dinning 3 meals a day, just down the hall from his own space. One possibility is the place my dad's mother went when she was in her late 90's (she was born in 1897, and lived to be 100!). That may not be the exact same place he moves into, but something quite like it probably. Added bonus though is that's where he took his own mother 24 years ago, and it was a good, family-owned place. It's a small facility, just two small wings, maybe 40-50 units total? - not sure how big the place is exactly. We have a more formal visit scheduled on Monday. Earliest we think we can move him in there might be June or July. He's pretty on-board with the whole thing. He's pretty frustrated that he feels fine, and is very moble, but twice now he's just crumbled into a heep. We've got a walker for him, and a compact wheelchair that will actually maneuver ok through the corners in his house. He can walk around fine, but is a risk for falling, so that transition into the mobility aids is not going to be easy, BUT he is trying. I'm holding up pretty well, but 2-3 times I've had something happen that -- I don't know what -- and I've just lost it (or damn close). Once was walking out of the retirement place my grandmother was in 24 years ago (which I ducked into quickly, alone, while I was out without my dad). And most of that was relief that the place was still there (they aren't on-line), and seemed to still be a very good and down-to-earth place. The day manager I talked to for 10-12 minutes informally was super nice and genuine, and I got a really good vibe from her. She said she'd worked there almost 20 years, iirc, and seemed good. And then I totally lost it recounting my impressions of the place on the phone with my wife, about 15 minutes later -- just her and me, my dad was back home still. And then I decided to give my dad a hug this afternoon. He's not very affectionate, and I usually only give him a hug literally just as I'm about to leave when I've been visiting him. But still I'm here until Tue, and I just decided to give him a big hug an hour ago. And I simply said he meant a lot to me. I kept it all down, but I totally lost it inside. I had dreams again last night, like I've had a several times over the last 4-5 years, of this house my Dad grew up in being "dismantled" room, by room. Holes in walls, walls knocked down, entire rooms being taken out with cranes, and occasionally a wrecking ball being taken to the whole house, despite it being such a great house, in good shape, with lots of character, and early 20th century style. I can believe how hard this all is. Not 24/7, but every day something causes me to let my emotional guard down, and I'm either a puddle, or at least one on the inside for a minute or two. I'm ok, but this is really hard.

Frankly, any true biopic about Miles was likely to be disappointing, imho. At least Cheadle's portrayal did give quite a good view (imho)into how Miles might have been like to have interacted with at various points in his life. Like I said, I liked it better than I would have a disappointing traditional biopic, and my expectations for these sorts of things aren't mega-high. Cheadle did ok by Miles, far as I'm concerned. I'll bet Miles might have even dug the movie himself too.

I mostly enjoyed the Don Cheadle movie. Didn't love it, but I definitely liked it for what it was. I felt like Cheadle's movie and performance did portray quite a number of 'truths' about the kind of person Miles was, even through the clearly fictional story.

Holy unexpected developments, Batman!!

I'm on a plane in a couple hours, for a full week with my Dad in St. LouIs. All this with him came up a few days before my 50th birthday (which was last Monday). And I have to say that I suddenly feel dramatically older than I have my entire life. Like my Dad's situation aged me 10 or 20 years overnight. Not trying to state that in a "woe is me" sort of way. But god damn, if I don't suddenly feel old right now, like 50 smacked me up the head with a crowbar. I am not ready to deal with this, but I'll be 'back home' in 6 short hours. I know we'll figure it all out, one way or another. Up in my head I "know" that, but I sure don't "feel" it, or anything even remotely like it, deep inside.

Anything would be better than my Dad's old, kludgy landline phones that are mostly 25-40 years old (every one of them). And his answering machine ain't so hot either. I don't think he ever figured out how to playback messages, and they seemingly auto-delete(?) after he plays them the first time. No idea where the manual got to (the machine is a 20 year old ancient digital machine -- just barely better than the old tape-based(!) machine he had before, for 10 years before that). But like everything else in my dad's house: if it still works (even if just barely), why replace it? He had an old electric kitchen stove that literally dated back to the 1920's -- which finally bit the bullet back in the 1970's -- and he was LITERALLY complaining about not being able to get parts to fix it as little as 4-5 years ago (because 10 years ago he gave it to my cousin as an antique, simply for 'display' purposes -- and before he gave it to her, he went around town to every single place he could find in the entire yellow-pages that (supposedly) fixed old stoves, trying to find someone who could get whatever replacement part it needed -- because DAMN IT, it's a perfectly good stove and would still work good as new, if only part XYZ could be replaced. Again, this is a stove dating back to the 1920's. ANYWAY, all in all, he'll be OK with the new cordless phones, and the new (integrated) answering machine -- and I really should have made him upgrade all that 10 years ago.

I think my dad will actually use, if he needs it. We don't have it installed quite yet (within the next week, I think). but I think some of them have a microphone integrated into the button device, so it's possible my dad can speak to someone on the other end of the line about his situation, and how serious it is. I understand there is no "per use" fee for pushing the button, and in fact they want the person to test it at least weekly. This is so the user (the elderly person) gets used to how easy and commonplace it is to use, so they don't have any stigma about using it (and to reinforce to them that it doesn't cost anything to at least push the button, so someone can help assess your situation.

Actually, I'm about to order a couple cordless landline phones off Amazon, with 2 separate base stations, and one of them has a much better answering machine than my dad currently has (and that'll play back messages at half-speed, if he wants). Fairly big buttons, and reasonably simple -- not 2 dozen features he doesn't need -- and fairly simply answering machine interface. That should solve a bunch of issues with his phones -- and also let him keep the phone with him at the dining room table, or in a room where the phone isn't super close -- so he *doesn't* feel like he has to RUN to get the phone (in another room). He's also going to have a panic button (probably a small unit he can wear on his wrist), for more true emergencies. It's a 60-day trial (his insurance will pay for the first 60 days), and we may get a better "help I've fallen" button after the first 60 days, one with automatic fall-detection. So that's all completely separate from the cordless phones (meaning the cordless phone isn't intended to be his emergency life-line, necessarily). Edit: Just joined Amazon Prime (finally), and I'm looking at a bunch of different cordless phones now (with a built-in answering machine), that have free one-day delivery. Seem to be lots of good options.

Those "Yo Miles!" 2CD sets are fantastic. Each one is 160 minutes, and some of the best reimagining of electric-era Miles I've ever heard. And all 3 together is like 8 hours of material.

I have to confess I don't know any of Scott Walker's music at all, though I understand David Bowie held him in the highest, of high esteem -- and may have covered a couple of Walker's tunes over the years (iirc). I'll have to listen some of the music linked to in this thread. I've read his AMG bio a time or two, and maybe his Wikipedia entry -- because of the Bowie connection -- but I have to confess to not really having any idea where to start with any of his music, which I understand changed considerably over his entire career (iirc). RIP.

Pretty reasonable price on the Larry Young. I think I paid $115 for my used copy (but without the booklet, and no box) from eBay 20 years ago -- and I thought that was a good price back then. Heaven On Earth has only ever been on CD once, back in 2010 (for about 5 minutes), and it alone tends to be pricey as hell. Here's that specific CD on Discogs, fwiw. https://www.discogs.com/Larry-Young-Heaven-On-Earth/release/5040595

Then there's also this more recent album cover, which doesn't mean shit...

Damn, I count something about 15 kitties in that photo! Well over 10, that's for sure.

The lettering configuration sure seems nearly identical to this album cover (down below, should be visible). Also, this source (bare URL link right below) has the picture above (the one in the OP), with a caption stating that the title(?) of the photo (above) is... “Miles Davis, San Francisco, 1961” by Leigh Wiener https://jerryjazzmusician.com/2015/01/liner-notes-miles-davis-person-friday-saturday-nights-blackhawk-san-francisco/