Dave James

Link Wray. Boy that brings back some memories. Definitely some nasty stuff going on there. His nickname is the "Grandfather of the Power Chord." Up over and out.

Jim, I'm a late comer to this thread like so many others. Just to let you know you and your wife are in my thoughts. Just hope this is all resolved in a positive way as soon as possible. The two of you have gone through quite enough. Up over and out.

Just some poor decision making on the part of whomever green lighted this for ABC. I did hear yesterday, though, that the network had screened the ad for the NFL and gotten their OK. If that's really the case, then you could certainly characterize the NFL's post-game reaction as being a bit hypocritical. I don't think there's any doubt that people are overreacting to this. It's one of those situations where it's hard to find anyone who will say they they, personally, were offended, but they know people who were. The other issue that has raised its ugly head is racism. This line of reasoning goes as follows: if it had been Beyonce Knowles jumping into the arms of say, Brett Favre, it wouldn't have been as controversial. The fact that it's a white woman jumping into a black man's arms is what is underlying the intensity of the reaction. That, of course, is absurd, but probably not in some areas that tend to be identified with the color red. I guess if I have any issue with this, it's just the timing. I live on the West Coast, where the game started at 6:00. Lots of kids were certainly watching and I'm sure their parents were completely blindsided by the opening. It's almost like they should have run one of those "...the following program contains..." warnings before they went on the air. Outside of that, a tempest in a teapot. With regard to T.O. he's the quintessential "if he's on your team you love him, if he's not, you hate him" kind of guy. He about sent me around the bend when he was a Niner. Now that he's an Eagle, I'm jiggy with his whole act. The bottom line is this: even those who can't stand the guy can say he doesn't back it up. Up over and out.

Well I see there's a fairly active thread for "Desperate Housewives", so I thought I'd see if anyone is hooked on "Lost". I know I am. Any pet theories about what's really going on on the island? The most interesting speculation I've run into says that the survivors of the air crash are already dead and that the island is a waystation between the here and the hereafter. This theory also holds that John Locke (the bald headed guy who used to be in a wheelchair) is operating in the role of a medium/facilitator who will help the survivors get from where they are now to their ultimate destination. Any other thoughts? Up over and out.

I thought at some point in the past - maybe as far back as the old BNBB - someone had determined with some level of certainty that the number on a given Mosaic set really wasn't indicative of how many had been sold or how many were left. Up over and out.

Agree 100% with Lon. I only have a handful of Venus CD's, but they are of uniformly high quality. Some of the best non-SACD sound reproduction I've run into. Up over and out.

Maybe this will do the same thing for Webster's posthumous career that the VW "Pink Moon" commericial did for Nick Drake's. Naaaaahhh. After all it's just geezer music. Up over and out.

Thanks to several posters who recommended "Zombie Heaven" (BTW, that is one terrific collection) I've developed something of a Jones for bands from the '60's British Invasion. One of them I'm exploring is The Yardbirds. I've done a fair amount of research and it's become apparent that one must be very careful when deciding which reissues to buy. That goes to the sound quality of their recorded output. For example, I just bought a 4 disc set from Charly Records (The Yardbird's Story - The Giorgio Gomelsky Years) and if the sound on the first two discs is any indication, exercising a fair amount of caution is probably a pretty good idea. Apparently, there's a French outfit called Repertoire that has reissued a number of YB outings using the best available sound sources. Not sure what that means, but I'd prefer not to be guessing when it comes to picking up some more of this band's music. Does anyone know much about what's out there and what has good sound? Also, which recordings would you consider to be Yardbird "gotta haves"? Any help / direction would be much appreciated. Up over and out.

If you've been watching the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS over the last few weeks, you may have seen several interviews with a woman by the name of Katherine Hall Jamieson. She is a dead ringer for Kurt Russell. Check out the two pics below. Up over and out.

Well, Dan, congratulations. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. In retrospect, I'm thinking that 19-8 win in Beantown last Saturday night might have been the worst thing that could have happened. At that point, the Yanks may have thought they had this in the bag and they took their foot off the pedal. Problem is you can't let a team that's as good as the Red Sox up off the mat and that's exactly what they did. Three outs from a sweep with the most dominant and reliable closer in the history of the game on the hill and now we're goin' home. Say it ain't so, Joe. I'll tell you one person I would not want to be today and that's Brian Cashman. While no one couldn't predicted how bad Brown and Vasquez would be in the second half of the season, I'm not sure The Boss is going to see it that way. They need to take some of that money they've earmarked for Carlos Beltran and get themselves some reliable arms. The futility of their starting rotation and the resulting overuse of Quantrill, Gordon and Rivera during the regular season is a big part of what happened over these past few days. When I was getting grumpy at home last night, my SO, who thinks sports of any kind are a complete waste of time, asked me why this mattered so much. That's a tough question to answer, especially when the someone who's asking doesn't care. But I guess that's what being a fan is all about. She'll never understand why this matters, but it does. Oh well. To coin a phrase, "it's better to have won and lost than to have never won at all," See you next year. This is Harold, signing off.

The Carmell Jones Select. Some mighty fine stuff on this one...especially the nonet and sextet sessions arranged by Gerald Wilson on disc 2. Not to mention the fact that the elusive Hadley Caliman is in the tenor chair for one of the sesssions on the third disc. Up over and out.

In the immortal words of George Costanza, "I'm dyin' here." Walks are absolutely killing us. Rivera two nights ago and Gordon and that moron Loaiza last night. You simply cannot keep dealing out free passes and win close ballgames. Torre has to be going nuts. And where are the bats? God, you score 19 runs on Saturday night and now you can't buy a hit. The Yanks had chance after chance in both games and not one of their high priced guys could get a hit. I about came unglued when A-Rod fanned with one out and Cairo on third. Talk about not coming through in the clutch. They left 18 friggin' guys on base last night. That's horrible. I'm just praying the Shilling doesn't have it tonight and Leiber does. Otherwise, I think this is over. I don't even want to comtemplate going into a game 7 with the pitching choices that remain available to the Yanks. Just shoot me. Up over and Harold.

This is killing me. Hockey is my favorite sport. What'll I do without the Red Wings? Up over and out.

Happy birthday, Chris. Your musical and political insights are greatly appreciated. Up over and out.

I know the Yankees need a second baseman and that their pitching could stand some shoring up, but my understanding is the one guy who's squarely in their cross hairs right now is Carlos Beltran. Let's see. Matsui in left, Sheffield in right and Beltran in center. Yup...that'll work. Dan, seriously, my condolences vis a vis Curt Shilling. While I'll take a Yankee win under any circumstances, I'd much rather see them beat the Sox with everyone healthy. That would make it much more of an accomplishment. Of course, assuming the Yankees do go on and win, the upside of this is that it will do nothing but reinforce the notion that the Beantown curse is alive and well. Up over and Harold.

What...no mention of Shelly Manne's Live at the Blackhawk? Those five discs are ones I return to with great regularity. That band is as crisp as the snap of a chalk line. And, it's very well recorded. Up over and out.

Talk about running the full gamut of emotions. Up 8-0 and I'm higher than a kite. Up 8-7 and I'm close to cardiac arrest. Then the mini-comeback, 4 outs from Rivera and that's that. Props to the Sox for making a game of it...have you ever seen a pitcher pitch that well and then lose it faster than Mussina did last night...but don't forget to give the Yanks credit for tacking on two keys runs late to put it away. Poor play across the board in left field, but I can forgive some fielding gaffes when my guy is plating five. Manny, on the other hand, looked as bad as I've ever seen him look both offensively and defensively. One quick comment about Shilling. Next time you bring your mouth to Yankee Stadium, better make sure you bring your arm with it. Watching him bite the dust after popping off like he did was immensely satisfying. Dan, I agree with you, if he's not 100%, your hill just got a lot steeper. It's going to be a long series. And, if last night's game is any indication, a nail biter of Brodbinagian proportion. Not sure I can handle it. Up over and Harold.

Interesting article. I've argued for many years that anyone who is really into music will eventually find their way to jazz. But, when I say "really" I mean "REALLY" into music. Most people aren't and never will be. What happend to Mr. Whitman, though, is probably the same thing that happened to you and me in that most of us can relate to some level of musical experimentation along the road that led us to jazz. I did this many moons ago with Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth" and I didn't come back to jazz for years. As hard as it is to believe in the context of now, that recording was as startling to me as "Bitches Brew" was to the author. I just wasn't ready for it. Fortunately, the hill this created wasn't high enough that I couldn't negotiate it later in my life. My initial reaction to the "Gateway" recordings, though, is gateway to what? With the exception of the Meldau's "Anything Goes", the list is heavily skewered with jam band, fusion centric recordings that can only take you so far. I guess I would like to have seen Mr. Whitman suggest 2-3 recording from the cannon of genuine jazz masterpieces...something from the list of giants that he says now populate his own, personal collection. Then I think you're talking about a real gateway. Up over and out.

He was here in Portland a couple of months ago with his trio. Not sure if it's the same two guys you mention, as I wasn't able to attend. I do have a friend who was there who said it was a very solid, if very sparsely attended show. He did get me an autographed Tchicai CD, which is a nice addition to my collection. He also said Tchicai was very approachable. They spoke for some time. Up over and out.

I'm a major sucker for a good ballad, so "Clifford" gets my vote. "Whisper Not" runs it a close second. "Along Came BettY" ain't bad either. Up over and out.

Dan, How about that Yankee mystique? And didn't you think Alex finally earned his pinstripes last night? Up over and Harold.

There are indeed, 39 entries in the Moodsville series. I dug out my notes at home last night. Here's a list of the ones I don't think have made it to CD. I put a question mark by the ones I'm not sure about. #2 Modern Moods #5 The Shirley Scott Trio (?) #6 The Red Garland Trio #12 The Al Casey Quartet #21 Mood Indigo - The Taft Jordan Quartet Plays Duke Ellington (?) #24 The Bad and the Beautiful - Sam Taylor #25 The Jazz Version of No Strings Attached - Coleman Hawkins #26 The Jazz Version All American - Clark Terry #27 The Solid Trumpet - Cootie Williams #30 Misty - Lockjaw Davis (?) #31 Make Someone Happy - Coleman Hawkins #32 Miles Davis & John Coltrane Play Richard Rogers #33 Jazzmen Play Gerschwin #34 Jazzmen Play Porter #35 Jazzmen Play Rodgers #36 Jazz Version of Oliver - Dave Pike #37 Lusty Moods #38 Jazzmen Play The Broadway Scene If this series has been a good seller for Prestige, I'm surprised they haven't pulled it all together for release as a boxed set. Up over and out.

Boy...I about had a seizure watching the Yankees last night. Just one key hit with men on base, or Sierra connecting a split second earlier and hitting the foul pole or Alex getting just a nickle's worth more juice on that shot in the 8th to dead center...then maybe it turns out differently. But that's like saying if Aunt Martha had a mustache she'd be your Uncle Fred. On the upside, that was certainly not the overpowering Santana we've seen since the All-Star break. But, give credit where credit is due. The Twinkies spinning a game one shutout at Yankee Stadium is huge. Having said that, the pundits I've heard said that if the Twins lost the first game with Santana, they were finished, not the other way around. I think the Yanks can come back, but they've certainly dug a hole for themselves in a short series. And they know they're going to have to lock up with Santana one more time before it's over. I was 75/25 Yanks before last night. It's now down to 60/40. And you can book this, Danno. They absolutely have to win tonight. Up over and out.

One of the very funniest of the niche comedians. He used to crack me up on The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson ruled the roost. Practically everything he'd say to Carson was peeled directly from one of his standup routines, but it was still funny. His "flinchy" physicality, the constant shoulder shrugging and the straightening of his tie, added texture to his humor. I think Johnny really liked him. I did too. We went to beach one time when I was a kid and I got lost. I went up to a cop and asked him if he could help me find my parents. He said, "Geez, kid, I don't know. There are an awful lot of places they could hide." RIP - RD. Up over and out.

It's amazing to me how much a single role can define an actor's entire career. When you consider that Leigh was probably on screen for only the first half hour of Psycho but the degree to which she is and will always be remembered for those 30 minutes of work...well, like I said amazing. I will bet you the average man on the street couldn't name another Janet Leigh movie, but Psycho is hard wired into the memory banks of almost anyone over the age of 30. Up over and out.