Dave James

Clearly Morrison was the little engine that could when it came to The Doors. His voice, but more so, his personna was what made that band tick. However, I wouldn't underestimate Robbie Krieger. He is a way more than adequate quitarist. Not to mention the fact that Light My Fire was his idea. Agree 100% on Bonham. Other than maybe Keith Moon, I can't think of anyone who was more important to the sound of his band.

OK, let's start a business and here's how it will work. We'll charge high prices for readily available items that can be had from multiple sources for far less money. Oh, I almost forgot, we'll charge a lot for shipping too. Anyone with their head screwed even half way on would say, "whose dumb ass business plan is that?" Answer? True Blue. Perhaps when times were better and people had more disposable income, it could work, but when the economy goes south and discretionary spending with it, your business model is like the emperor's new clothes. FWIW, If I was going to try to make a go of it in online jazz music retail, I would focus most all of my efforts on bringing Japanese CD's to the American market. At least then you can justify charging premium prices because whatever the demand might be, it's greater than the supply. What I wonder is to what extent, if any, True Blue's issues may have contributed to Mosaic's financial difficulties.

I've been listening a lot lately to The Doors newly released live shows from the Felt Forum. I always had my suspicions about the adequacy of John Densmore, and they are justified in spades on this set. He's pretty much just a hacker. This is confirmed during the final set on January 18th, when they bring out Dallas Taylor, he of CSN&Y's Deja Vu and Stephen Stills' Manassas. The difference is pretty hard to ignore. Densmore has zero subtlety. Taylor has nothing but.

Just like Troy Aikman said, the first thing you learn when you become a quarterback is that only bad things can happen if you throw the ball back across your body towards midfield. That probably cost the Vikings the game, although with the number of turnovers they logged, they were probably lucky to be in any kind of position to win. I guess it would have been fun to see Favre and Manning in the Super Bowl, and I'm sure that's what the networks were hoping for, but it's not to be. The upside for Favre is that this early exit will give him a couple of more weeks to turn up the bubble machine with respect to his retirement. Personally, I'm hoping the old soldier hangs up his cleats so the Eagles can get a first round pick from Minnesota for Donovan McNabb.

One of my dogs will get up on our bed and nose the blankets around until he's able to crawl underneath them. I wouldn't say he wraps himself up in the manner you describe, but he apparently accomplishes whatever goal it is that he set out to achieve. Ralphie is a Lab/Border Collie mix and very smart. This behavior is not consistent with anything else he does. Oh, one other thing. He only does this when Deb is in the bed, not me. As a matter of fact, I've never even seen him do this.

When I was 12 years old, I saw Spartacus. I was horribly smitten with Jean Simmons. Still am. As a matter of fact, my tiny psyche could not handle simultaneoua infatuations, so I was forced to abandon Gina Lollobrigida. R.I.P.

Seriously? I'm having trouble deciding which responses are tongue in cheek and which are serious. Assuming this is serious, Tiger is reportedly at a rehab clinic in Hattiesberg, Mississippi that specializes in the treatment of various and sundry addictions. Of course, it's also been reported that he's in South Africa, Phoenix, Arizona and, my favorite, sleeping on an air mattress in the basement of a good friend's house.

Tonight marks the final chapter in Conan O'Brien's NBC odyssey. I've never seen his version of The Tonight Show, but I'll most likely be watching this evening out of morbid curiosity. If I'm NBC, I'd be expecting to absorb some pretty nasty parting shots all of which, BTW, will be well deserved. Frankly, I'm just happy we can finally get back to the really important issues. You know, like where in the hell is Tiger Woods.

Music for elevators or soft pr0ns? I LOVE soft prons. Then you must really have liked the movie, District 9.

Geez, I don't know. How about spam?

While the Viking's Sunday beat down won't erase the sting associated with the Eagles' late season pancake, it does ease the pain. If there's anything better in sports than watching the Cowboys get beaten like a rented mule, I don't know what it is. Minnesota could have run up another two or three TD's and it wouldn't have been enough for me. America' team can KMA.

CNN is reporting that O'Brien will sign a deal tomorrow that pays him $40 million to leave NBC and the Tonight Show. The only stipulations are that 1) he has to stop bad mouthing NBC and 2) he can't accept any offers from competing networks for one year. Nice deal. One year should give him just about the time he needs to get a show ready for Fox Television.

Someone call me a cab. OK, you're a cab.

I've heard "she" blows a pretty mean horn.

Bengan, Yes, welcome to the board. Hopefully you'll be a frequent poster. Sounds like you might have some interesting stories to share. Due the efforts of another Organissimo board member by the name of Victor Christensen, a resident of Denmark, I have gotten pretty seriously into Scandanavian jazz. As a matter of fact, I was pleased to see that my collection includes the Staffan Abeleen/Lars Farnlof Dragon you mentioned in your post. I shall listen to it shortly.

I kind of lost track of Pendergrass after he left Harold Melvin. I wasn't much of a fan of the slow jam, bedroom-centric style of music he gravitated to later in his career, but the stuff he did with Melvin & The Bluenotes was as good as soul music ever got. Songs like Bad Luck, To Be True, Wake Up Everybody, If You Don't Know Me By Now and others, my Lordy me, just terrific stuff. Yes, definitely. One of the great soul voices ever. His accident was a genuine tragedy as is his passing. R.I.P. my man.

Check this out: http://www.garagehangover.com/?q=Dome Also a CD: Jimi Hendrix With Soft Machine - Southeby Reel With Soft Machine Format: CD, Unofficial Release Tracklist 1 Soft Machine Jam I 8:50 2 Castles Made Of Sand 2:58 3 Spanish Castle Magic 2:48 4 Instrumental Jam I 4:52 5 Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (Instrumental) 5:06 6 Wait Until Tomorrow 3:28 7 Instrumental Jam II 3:45 Featuring - Brian Jones (5) 8 Instrumental Jam III 3:50 Featuring - Brian Jones (5) 9 One Rainy Wish 3:57 10 Soft Machine Jam II 3:45 11 Soft Machine Jam III 4:39 12 She's So Fine 2:43 13 Bold As Love 3:39 14 Belly Button Window 13:19 15 Instrumental Jam IV 6:24

If I recall correctly, Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees at the Memorial Coliseum right here in Portland, Oregon. I did not see that concert. The worst pairing I have personally witnessed was Albert King opening for The Kinks. King literally blew the roof off the old Paramount Theater leaving nothing but scorched earth for the boys from Muswell Hill.

Santana. Wow. What can you say? One of my fondest musical memories was seeing him and Eric Clapton jam together at the end of a concert that featured both their bands. As close to a musical OD as one is likely to get. My first exposure to Santana came in the Fall of 1967 when a college friend from Southern California brought their first album with him when he came back to school. It's still hard to describe my first reaction to Soul Sacrifice. All I can say is that I'd heard nothing like it, not even close. Sort of like the first time you heard Hendrix. Up to that point, my idea of rock music was pretty much encapsulated by the Beatles and Beach Boys. I can still remember showing up outside Music Millenium on East Burnside around 7:00 in the morning the day that Santana's second album was scheduled for release. The store didn't open until 10:00, but I wanted to be sure I was the first one on my block to have the new album. What a ride. That guy has made more good music than any one person has a right to make.

I'll still take Revolver. Taxman is one of my all-time favorites. Great lyrics. I've always thought that this album was the coming out party for George Harrison as a songwriter. Not to mention what a watershed "moment" it was in terms of how The Beatles would go about creating the rest of their music.

I'm on the 50 songs per month program, so last weekend, I downloaded Elvis 75. There are 100 songs on four "CD's", but it's a two for one deal so I was able to cover the whole thing for the 50 credits I had available. Some mighty good music here, especially the early stuff. Probably as good a beginning to end Elvis retrospective as you're likely to find.

What gripes me is that the Eagles just signed that fat pantload Reid to a three year extension. I would have dumped him and gone after Cowher in a heartbeat. There is such a thing as staying too long at the party. I do think we've seen the last of Donovan McNabb. He's signed through next year, so the trade value he has is now. If you deal him for some picks and do the same with Vick, then, hopefully, the rebuilding process will not take forever. I'll tell you one thing, losing three times to the Cowpies in one season is just about more than I can handle.

A brand new Hadley Caliman CD called Straight Ahead will be released a week from next Tuesday. Here's a list of the tunes: 1. Cigar Eddie (5:50) 2. Rapture (5:59) 3. You Leave Me Breathless (6:28) 4. Cathlamet (4:54) 5. Blues For PT (3:15) 6. Lush Life (3:25) 7. Totem Pole (4:47) 8. The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (4:32) Up for pre-order at Amazon.

The Doors Live At The Felt Forum, a 6-CD set from June of 1970. Crystal clear audio. Must be soundboard recordings.

That's a tough question to answer for any Manne fan because the level of his overall output was so uniformly high. If I had to pack for a no return trip to the proverbial desert island and I could take only a limited number of CD's, these would probably be among them. I've said it before; I think this is the finest example of live jazz ever recorded.