Rooster_Ties

I think I have that same 10" Capitol LP. Belonged to my mom, actually. (Seriously!)

Amazon has an upvote/downvote system ("was this review helpful?") -- and over time, the most useful reviews (whether positive or negative) will float to the top. As my esteemed colleague Mr. Ptah states, I don't think Amazon reviews are bound by journalistic standards. (Hell, anymore, most of what passes for journalism these days doesn't either.) In any case, I wouldn't worry about it. The public's reaction to whatever reviews are there will provide another layer of editorial input to the process. Crap reviews, good or bad, will basically be ignored in good time -- and only the "useful" ones will prevail -- entirely based on the content of the review, and not the number of stars given.

I only pay attention to 1 and 2 star reviews on things like vacuum cleaner, and lawn mowers. When it comes to something like recordings, or movies and the like -- I find it's best to ignore negative reviews, and see if the content of the positive reviews can win me over. Negative reviews of music, especially, seem more often to come from people with axes to grind.

Texting while driving your car or SUV?? Rank amateurs... This is the real way to text on the highway.

Quake shifted Japan; towns now flood at high tide

Several well-written 4-star ratings wouldn't hurt either.

If I'm moved to DC by the 10th, I may try and make it to the Heath Brothers. Looking like my flight may be sometime around the 7th at this point. I'd especially be interested if there are any local names on the 'progressive' end of the spectrum -- names I wouldn't know -- appearing towards the end of the run of the festival. The very earliest I could be in town is June 2nd, but more likely closer to the 7th, give or take a couple days.

A whole slew of us should do that.

Didn't realize there was such a thing as inessential Mobe

I'm sure these will not disappoint... Stunning film clips of the Sunset Strip in the mid-60’s

Somebody remind me to check this out when I get to DC next month. (I'm on an old PC, without any sound.)

Best recap of the events in Fukushima I've read to date, from The Economist. Those with even a mild interest should take a gander... Piecing together Fukushima

Maybe my favorite non-Miles jazz box. Good find!!

Time to shorten their season (not literally shorter, but fewer concerts over the same time). If people don't like it, they can pony up more $$$. The classical series in St. Louis was 24 weeks last time I saw. Kansas City is 14. I just looked, and Philadelphia was something like 4 weekends per month, 8-9 months of the year (some of that might have been pops). Cut the season, do less, get by. If people don't like it, they can donate until such time as they can do more.

Kinda cool as well... http://blacktube.tank.jp

Don't know if it draws from other sources, but everything I saw was from Youtube. Click on the "Youtube" box in the lower right-hand corner of the clip itself, and a new Youtube window will pop up, with any description that might be there (if any), plus Youtube comments, some of which might happen to be useful. Here's the best footage I've ever seen of Larry Young, with Tony Williams' Lifetime in 1971.

This isn't directed AT you, Mark, just so you know. My first thought is, BFD. People do what their employer pays them to do, and the employer generally defines what the duties of the job are (within reason). Now I realize that the union exists to negotiate on behalf of their members, and I generally support unions more often than not. But when times are lean, I think it's necessary for organizations like symphony orchestras to do whatever they have to, in order to continue to exist. If that means that some of the orchestra-players salaries come from community outreach (which enables orchestras to pay a portion of musicians' salaries through grants that the orchestras get to do said community-outreach), then so be it. I know quite a number of symphony musicians "somewhat well"-ish here in Kansas City (I sang in the KC Symphony Chorus for 10 years), and to the best of my knowledge, KC Symphony players have either had to, or are provided 'incentives' to do community outreach -- all the time, in fact. I don't really know the details, but for all I know, these may be job requirements. This has been the case for 5 or 10 years. For musicians elsewhere to suddenly get bent out of shape about having to do community outreach concerts and such, as a part of their jobs, seems kinda crazy to me. I want orchestra musicians to get paid "pretty well" (their education isn't cheap) -- but they also need to suck it up, and do what's necessary to keep their organizations solvent too. I worked in the non-profit world for the last 6 years, and not-for-profits are constantly bobbing and weaving to follow the money from donors and grant sources. Performing arts organizations aren't much different. Symphony musicians need to bob and weave too, or else get paid less if they won't, simple as that. A 40-week season for a symphony in a city the size of Detroit sounds a little crazy to me. 52-weeks was probably absolutely insane. The dollars simply couldn't have been there to support that.

Why can't the DSO just reduce the size and scope (sounds more like "magnitude") of their season? To me, that sounds like their only option, actually short of some 'deo ex machina' donor with infinitely deep pockets. Surely the contract(s) with the musicians obligate the symphony to pay certain minimums PER CONCERT (and per rehearsal, per hour, etc) -- but surely the musicians' union has no control over the scope of the season. If they only have $X much money, that only buys so many concerts, simple as that. Not a long-term solution, I know -- but it sounds like the DSO is wanting to bite off only what it could formerly chew. See my post #5 above.

If I remember the St. Louis Symphony only has a 24-week classical series (plus pops and other stuff, but they aren't year-round, I'm pretty sure of that). And Kansas City only has a 14 week classical series (plus a separate pops, etc), iirc. So I'm not sure Detroit really has a "52 week" season, but surely they need to look at downsizing the scope of what they do. The musicians union would have some complaint about reducing the effective hourly-rate that these salaried musicians get -- but the orchestra itself has control of the scope and scale of what they do, and it sounds like they need to downsize THAT - in order to control costs.

aka "Travellin' Man" on Black Lion. The BL is the only CD issue of this material I know; has this session ever been released on CD under the "Blues for..." title??

Got Roach's "Lift Every Voice and Sing" in today's mail, and I'm on my third spin (hadn't ever heard it before). (Got it as a two-fer with "Members...", which I already had as a single.) Lot's of good moments (anything with Billy soloing is good!) -- but all around, "It's Time" is a much stronger date. Stronger chorus on "It's Time" for one, tighter, and the vocal arrangements are a lot more interesting. Not sorry I got it, but was a little disappointed.

First and foremost, RIP Ms. Vickers. ====== HERE's a much bigger image similar to the one you posted Chewy(cropped slightly) -- but one can almost pick out all the titles. The ones that I can read are (Left to right), Chet Baker, Bud Shank, Chico Hamilton, "Jazz Loves Paris". Can't make out the rest. What's the one that says "Zen" in faux Chinese characters? And of course, the real question is, would Chewy have forgiven her for the glass on the LP cover by her knee?

Thanks, Don! I've updated the other thread (on the other board) with the link.

I wish there was a way for artists and their heirs to absolutely get their due for a legitimate period of time, while obscure and practically "abandoned" recordings might also be able to see some new light of day as well, and within some reasonable time-frame (much quicker than is traditionally the case now). Somewhere someone suggested that copyrights be REQUIRED to be renewed every 30 years (for up to, say 60 years -- which would then require only ONE renewal before something would fall into public domain). But then for anything NOT renewed at the 30-year mark, such things would fall into the public domain automatically. That would open up the possibility of reissuing one hell of a lot of "abandoned" material. Also, I think the renewal process should be easy, and very inexpensive too (for copyright holders) -- so there would be practically no reason that holders would have for not renewing (other than complete oversight). Of course that would put the onus on holders to re-up their holdings, but I think the value to society would be immense. Think of how much stuff has been created and produced before 1980 (about 30 years ago) that is otherwise technically unavailable. I'm not saying this proposal is flawless, and there may be some unintended consequences I'm not thinking of -- and I'd welcome more discussion.