Dave James

You know how some people make the argument that the whole of The Beatles was greater than the sum of its parts? I've always felt that the opposite was true of the MJQ, i.e. the whole was less than the sum of its parts, especially the original iteration with Kenny Clarke. As a performing unit, they just seemed so laid back, just coloring inside the lines that John Lewis drew for them. I'm not saying they couldn't or didn't swing, but it didn't seem to come very naturally. I know there was a distinctly third stream element in their music, and that's something I've never really warmed up to in jazz, so maybe that's what gets in the way for me. Up over and out.

I have all four of the Bear Family Dean Martin boxes and one they did on Zarah Leander, the Swedish singer/actress who took Marlene Dietrich's place in the German entertainment heirarchy after Dietrich emigrated to the U.S. Those folks do a very nice job. I'm with you, Ghost, a Cole BF box would be tempting, depending on how far it strays from the Mosaic. Up over and out.

I also have the first season of Lost in Space. Fun from a campy point of view. As someone else said, funny but without the intent to be funny. Without Dr. Smith, though, pretty much a total waste of time, although June Lockhart does sport some of the worst hair in the entire history of television. I don't think I'd want to go beyond season one. Much like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, another show that was reasonably watchable at first, Lost kind of deteriorated into a monster of the week effort after the writers wore out whatever creativity they originally brought to the table. Say, for being 60 years old, Marta Kristen doesn't look half bad. She's probably fashioned a nice career for herself going to Lost in Space conventions and the like. Up over and out.

I went with "So What". There's something about that tune, leading off the album, building up the tension like it does and then the release, at which point the listener realizes they're up against something pretty new and different. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be a jazz fan and to have heard this when it was first released in 1959. I mean hearing it with "virgin ears" without all the hype that now accompanies the recording. How cool would that have been? Up over and out.

Sidewinder, Yes...thanks for posting the Mobley article. Fascinating. It's stuff like this that makes this board special. I also must say that I enjoyed the spirited repartee between Jim and Cornelius. Up over and out.

GA, Not to be argumentative, but what do multiple choice questions have to do with writing skills? By the way, I agree with you that evaluative subjectiveness would have to be an issue. The only way there could be any kind of consistency would be if the same person reviewed each an every writing sample. Don't think that's going to happen. Up over and out.

Let me plunge the dagger in a little further. "...fairly grade this portion or "grade this portion fairly?" "Fairly" is an adverb that modifies the verb "grade", so it is properly positioned after the action word. Seriously though, I agee that writing skills have deteriorated markedly from when I was in high school. My limited experience tells me that kids today write in a free associative manner but rarely go back and look at what they've put on the paper, i.e. they write a lot like they talk. My S.O. has a 14 year old daugher who gets straight A's, but she's a lousy writer. To her credit, she recognizes her shortcomings and has been talking about taking a writing class, but, I'll believe this when it happens. What shocks me is that someone can get straight A's who really can't write a lick. I think that can be attributed to the dumbing down of a curriculum that's geared to lowest common denominator education. I also happen to think that writing on a computer, which almost all kids do, tends to marginalize the product. It's like they think if it's written on a computer, it has to be right. Wrong! Up over and out.

I don't know how anyone who's a jazz fan wouldn't enjoy this set. It's full of good music. Chet and Gerry when everything was still uncomplicated. The added attraction is that this is one of the earliest Mosaics, when they were still HQ'ed on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, California. The back of the booklet is green and the CD trays are arranged in that peculiar horizontal / vertical combination that characterized the label's earliest releases. Up over and out.

I'm getting to be a fan of the shuffle feature too. Not only does it vary the music you're listening to, but you can run blindfold tests on yourself at the same time. Up over and out.

The question I have is why Congress won't step in and tell Google to go fuck themselves. I realize it runs counter to that body's nature to actually do something of any real value for their constituents, but it sure seems like this might be worth looking into. Otherwise, you have to ask the question, where does it end? Up over and out.

Her name was Tempest and she played up a Storm. Up over and out.

clandy, When I finished setting up my i-Pod (the 20 GB model) I had 18.5 gigs left. Seems like 1.5 gigs going towards the set up is a bit much, but I can't figure out where else they would have gone. The fact that your 40 gig Pod with twice the memory of of mine shows 37 left must mean something. Like it takes 1.5 gigs of space per 20 gigs of memory get these things up and running. Up over and out.

BFrank, I was trying to buy a 50 song booster pack when this message popped up. Up over and out.

I went a little overboard the other day on e-music, at least I tried to. Apparently, there's a limit to how many tunes you can download from them in a given month. When I tried to do an upgrade to my account and add another 50 songs, I got a message saying I'd reached my limit. The message also said they were working on some other packages that would eventually allow junkies such as myself greater access to their "catalogue", but there was no specific information provided as to what and when. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised when this message popped up. I wonder why they care how many songs someone wants to download in a month as long as they're paying the freight. Seems odd to me that any business would turn down a paying customer. Up over and out.

I went with both. Probably a little more "book" than "street", but not so's you'd notice. Hey 7/4, love that pic. It's from one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, "To Serve Man". Up over and out.

With Kamuca and Gordon on the Manne OJC, that makes it at least 3/5ths of the Blackhawk band. If Monty Budwig is on bass, then 4/5ths. I assume Russ Freeman the pianist on this date...yes? Up over and out.

I owned a '48 Packard for about five years. Neat car (first American car ever made that was wider than it was high) but I never could get comfortable taking on the road simply because I may be the most unmechanical person in the entire solar system. If anything had gone wrong, I was big time SOL. I guess from what I know, I'd always check a Hemmings to get an idea of what similar kinds of cars are selling for. Then you need to do a rust check, and this can involve some pretty extensive investigation. A lot of older cars have had what are called cosmetic restorations that make them look like they just rolled off the showroom floor when, if you drill down beneath the surface, you find can be worth something less than 100 cents on the dollar. Now that you have the car, you might check around to see if there's a Studebaker Club in your area. In Portland, there was a very active Packard Club I belonged to when I had my rig. You'd be amazed how much some true afficianados can tell you about your car. I will tell you one thing, there is nothing like tooling down the road in a vintage automobile. It's a major ego thing. Whenever you'd stop for gas or food or whatever, you were invariably approached by people who just wanted to have a closer look or even sit behind the wheel. I ran into lots of people who said they grew up with a Packard just like the one I owned. To make along story short, I sold the car back to the dealership I bought it from for exactly what I paid. Now we own an '80 and an '02 Corvette (neither of which was my idea) but that I wouldn't hesitate to take on the road regardless of my mechanical shortcomings. That is if I was allowed to drive them. Up over and out.

Here's all you need to know. The Babe hit 60 in 1927. It took 34 years for Roger Maris to hit 61 in '61 and then 37 years before McQwire broke his record in '98. Then, in the three year period between 1998 and 2001, the 60 home run barrier was broken six different times by three different ballplayers. That just doesn't make any sense unless steriods are part of the picture. Up over and out.

I will concede that the Mavericks lead singer or I guess ex-lead singer, Raul Malo, does have one helluva set of pipes. I saw him do a medley that included "Make the World Go Away" and "For the Good Times" on that Top 100 County Songs TV show that aired awhile back and it gave me something akin to goosebumps. Up over and out.

I went with "Talking Book", but in a photo finish over "Innervisions". I know TB includes one of the all time top-ten syrup tunes in "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", but what it has, at least IMO, is a really nice mix of different songs. Everything from a great ballad, "Blame it on the Sun" to "Superstition", arguably the funkiest of Wonder's many funky tunes. I think TB just noses out "Innervisions", but I'd take either one in a heartbeat. These two clearly represent his high water mark. Up over and out.

Peter, Wonder why she's dumping such a stellar collection of unlistenable music? Has she experienced some sort of musical epiphany by virtue of her working in your immediate vicinity? Up over and out.

Did a little research on the Kyser movie. It's called "You'll Find Out". Made in 1940. Not only is Bela Lugosi in it, but Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre as well. The only other names you might recognize are M.A. Bogue who plays a character called Ish Kabibble. I think Kabibble was a Kyser band regular. Ginny Sims also appears and plays herself. Up over and out.

And here I thought wasting money to validate what is painfully obvious to anyone with an IQ over room temperature was the exclusive province of the government. Frankly, I've never figured out why anyone bothers to bid before the deadline unless they're trying to ramp up the returns for a buddy. My approach has always been to determine what I'm willing to pay (knowing full well that I may not win as a result) wait until the last second, bid and let the chips fall where they may. I also never bid in even dollars, i.e. I won't bid $50.00, but $50.05. I lost once by going with an "even" number and only matching an earlier bidder. Never again. Up over and out.

This guy was (is) seriously weird...and seriously funny. Haven't seen him for ages, but he does show up with some regularity on the XM Satellite comedy channel. I've always loved that bit about not being able to get his face into the corners. Up over and out.

My folks used to listen to this guy. The College of Musical Knowledge. Boy, is that clever or what? I saw Kayser in a movie the other night with Bela Lugosi. Something about a touring band being stuck in a weird house, stormy nights, seances, lights going out...the whole nine yards. They played a couple of numbers. Pretty stock stuff. Way more novelty than anything one could consider musically serious. Up over and out.