Rooster_Ties

Trivia question: Who, right here (meaning someone on this very board), has recorded with Von Freeman?? (Also possibly the only guy on this board that's every played with him too, though I'm not 100% sure of that one.) B) PS: The guy who recorded with Von can't answer this question, so keep your mouth shut. (Boy, now wouldn't THAT be cheating!!! )

No, not really into any other vintage clothing. I mean, I certainly appreciate lots of what I see, but I can't really pull it off myself. At 5'11" and about 225 lbs, I'm an "XL" kinda guy. And finding "XL" vintage clothing is pretty darn hard to do, or at least finding something you actually want, and in good condition - is difficult. Can't tell you how many cool vintage shirts I've noticed over the years, only to look at the label and find they're medium or small size. I do have one vintage wristwatch that I'm quite proud of. It belonged to my Dad, and dates back to the 40's. He wore it for nearly 40 years, but all it needed was a good cleaning, and otherwise runs like a dream. I used to have one vintage suit that I bought back in college (not because it was vintage, particularly, but simply because I needed a good suit, and found one I liked that actually fit. Of course that was 15 years and 50 lbs ago). I am always on the lookout for short vintage tie-clips, meaning those that are about 1.5 to 1.75 inches in length. Nearly all the tie-clips you find (new, or vintage) are aways for much wider ties. All my Roosters are about 2 inches wide, so I'm always in the market for nice but short tie-clips.

I dislike football (and most sports too, for that matter), Johnny. But it's incredibly easy to ignore the sports threads around here. Some days, almost half the board traffic is in the Politics forum. I wouldn't ever choose the "non-political" version, but I sure can see how some folks might like that option.

Arkestra members (and hangers-on) were not even allowed to drink (alcohol), if I remember correctly. Hell, coffee may not have even been allowed (though I may be imagining that one -- but it wouldn't surprise me either). Ra ran a tight ship.

During the entire history of this board, there's been like one or maybe two Football threads (at most), and maybe as many as 6 or 8 sport-related threads (total!!!!!). However, there are currently 1,055 separate threads in the political forum. That's over one THOUSAND separate political threads. I can easily see why some people would like an option to not have those threads come up when brousing the board's "Today's Topics". I think they can still get to the politics forum by going to the front page of the board, and clicking into it directly. Johnny - the whole world doesn't revolve around politics, and many people come to this board to get away from the daily news cycle. I don't blame them a bit, especially given how some of our political threads can be pretty polarized. To recap: Total number of sports-releated threads: Probably less than a dozen Total number of political threads: Over a thousand!!!

Most of mine (or at least the one's I have that I REALLY like), look pretty much like this bunch (same pic at the very first post in this thread). I probably have 30 or 40 of this quality, in terms of nice colors, and cool themes.

In the late 50's and early 60's, Rooster had "plainer" looking square-bottom neckties too. I have more of these than I really want, but back when I first was collecting them, I got whatever I could find - which more often than not - were the "plain" striped ones, like these...

Couple more REALLY ugly "wide" Roosters from the 70's. Also, I think they must have given up on the "flat bottom tie" thing sometime in the 80's, or sold their name, or something. When I do eBay searches for "Rooster" ties, I do get hits on totally conventional "pointy"-end ties too. Wierd.

WARNING: Rooster made ties on up into the 70's, and they got wider too!!! Some were 3 inches wide, and even as wide as 4 inches!! The colors got more noisy and bold, and these "wider" Roosters are of much less interest to me. (I have one or two, but I never wear them.) The trouble is that you often can't tell the width of Rooster ties just by looking at the pictures. These are 3-inches wide. Notice how the colors are louder? - and the designs are usually less subtle too.

These aren't the best examples ever, but they give you an idea of the range of Rooster ties that were made...

Vintage clothing stores and eBay are probably my best sources. I'll go months and months without seeing any, and then out of the blue - I'll stumble on 5 or 10 eBay auctions, usually all from the same seller. Or I'll be out of town, and walk into a vintage store with a dozen or more high-quality Roosters. But more often than not, my searches come up dry. If you go to quite a few vintage stores, you tend to find which ones have the highest chance of having any. There's two Vintage stores here in Kansas City that occasionally get them in. And there's one good store in St. Louis.

It was a brand name. There were some other brands that also made square-bottom times, "Ernst" being probably the second best in quality. "Tina" was another brand, and there were some others too. But "Rooster" had the best designs, by far. Muted colors, often dark or medium in hue. Multi-color Batik fabric with some really interesting designs. I don't have any kind of set-up to photograph my collection, but as I encounter on-line images, I'll post some more of them here.

This particular tie is somewhat less than top-drawer, but it includes a better shot of the "Rooster" tag.

Vintage stores usually, or occasionally I'll find one at a thrift store (Salvation Army or Goodwill), or occasially at estate sales. Sometimes on eBay, or some other on-line "vintage clothing" stores.

The picture of Schuller in a Rooster tie (look for the pic of him conducting) is in the notes to this album... I don't have a scanner, but if anyone else has a scanner, and also has this CD...

Anything for March 18th, 1969?? PS: The closest BN dates for me are... Elvin Jones - "The Prime Element" (the date one with Lee Morgan) - March 14th 1969 Reuben Wilson - "Love Bug" - March 21st, 1969

Years ago, when I was back in high school, I answered some Jimi Hendrix trivia question right on the local classic-rock station (K-SHE), and I won free tickets to see the band America play live (in St. Louis, at the Fox Theater). Yikes - America!!! (I think the question was, what Hendrix song does this line come from: "Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful"??? -- Answer: "Are You Experienced") Well, at least Graham Nash was the opening act (solo, backed by his band at the time) -- and as I recall, he was pretty good. (America was pretty lame as I recall.) This would have been circa 1986 or maybe early 1987. PS: Nash was probably out in support of this solo album of his, from 1986... Innocent Eyes (Atlantic, 1986)

Nothing. Closest matches are Grant Green's "Visions" from May 21st, 1971; to Bobby Hutcherson's "Head On" from July 1st, 1971. Actually, there is one other title in the middle of those two dates, but no specific date is given: Jimmy McGriff's "Black Pearl" just says "1971" with no month or day given, but it is listed in the discography right between the Green and Hutch titles I just mentioned. (Source: 2001 edition of the Complete BN Discograpy) Anybody else???

Here's a music-theme Rooster, complete with the tag visible... I've got about 50 or 60 of these, with all kinds of themes. And for the most part, I haven't worn a traditional "pointy"-end tie for about 6 or 7 years.

Just thought I'd pass along a couple pics of some good "Rooster" band ties from the late 50's and early 60's. All of them have (had) square bottoms, and were pretty thin (usually about 2 inches in diameter). Unlike "pointy"-end ties, the sides of the tie were parallel for most of the tie, until you got to where you started to tie it around your neck. I've seen pictures from the 50's, of both Gil Evans and Gunther Schuller wearing what are probably Rooster ties (or at least what they're wearing are narrow square-bottom ties that sure look like Roosters to me). If I can find the pics of Evans and Schuller on-line, I'll be sure to post 'em.

No BN dates were recorded on my birthday (March 18th, 1969), but I used to think it was moderately cool to have discovered that Jimi Hendrix recorded his studio version of The Star Spangled Banner on my actual date of birth. (Trouble is, however, that I don't particularly care for his studio version - with it's 5x overdubbed guitar parts. It's interesting, sure - but nowhere near as powerful as the Woodstock version.) I'd love to find out what other sessions (jazz, or rock) were recorded on my date of birth, however.

CDBaby is the good one - and where Organissimo CD's are currently sold. Jim's had nothing but good things to say about them. (And I know of at least 3 Kansas City artists (all friends of mine) that have discs available through CDBaby as well.)

I'm not much for vocal jazz in general (and thus I own very little vocal jazz), but I do have a boatload of Steve Coleman CD's, and Ms. Wilson guests on about half-a-dozen of his discs, with results I find both interesting and enjoyable. (I know that sounds like faint praise, but you gotta realize I really don't go for vocal jazz much.)

McDonalds has close to 50% interest in Chipotle. Can't remember if it's like 40%, or 60%. There's a few of them around here, in Kansas City. They're good (and much better than McDonalds, that's for sure), but there are a couple other similar places around here that I like better than Chipotle.

What, we're supposed to stop posting then? I swear, no one ever told me! People tell me that all the time. I must get 2 or 3 PM's every day telling me to put a sock in it.