Dave James

ESPN is reporting that Joe Torre has left his job with MLB to pursue the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Could be the first step in the process of restoring a storied franchise that has fallen upon the hardest of times. I'm not a Dodger fan by any means, but this would be a good thing for baseball.

My stock answer to this question invariably and without fail is Gil Cuppini's 1961 recording "What's New, Vol. 2" featuring Barney Wilen, Dusko Goykovich and George Gruntz. One of the most pleasant musical surprises I've ever encountered.

It's called Mo' Joe. FWIW, it's available from iTunes for only $5.94.

While high scoring games are always entertaining, I've come to the conclusion that good defense is an endangered species. I did a little research this morning and found that out of 126 football teams in Division I, only nine allowed less than 300 yards a game on average over the course of their 2012 schedules. One can easily conclude from this that offenses have become so sophisticated that the defenses have simply been overwhelmed.

You want topless? I'll give you topless. Dennis Rodman is starting a topless basketball team that will "play" for a so-called "gentleman's club" with which he is associated. http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/34156246

I happened to watch ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve last night and was "treated" to the 40th anniversary appearance of Dick Clark. I know he's in ill-health and has been since his stroke, but why in the name of all that makes sense, does ABC continue to trot out the envelope that used to contain Dick Clark when he looks like he died and was embalmed by some sort of low rent, third rate mortician? I mean, it's just embarrassing. I grew up with Clark and his influence on some of the music I love cannot be underestimated. I just hate to see his legacy tarnished by this sort of thing. Also, even though I didn't see it, I understand Carlos Santana backed up Justin Bieber when the latter abused the Beatle's Let It Be on national television last night. Guess Carlos has hit the point where he'll do almost anything for a buck. Talk about tarnishing your legacy. C'mon man.

Darvish is accustomed to pitching in the climate-controlled Sapporo Dome, as well as other domes, where temperatures are a comfortable 70 degrees. Dallas-Fort Worth area had 71 days above 100 degrees last summer, including 40 in a row. Better keep the Gatorade handy.

Now that's funny.

What does the IRS have to do with this?

Amazon wants like $33 and change for this. Is it available anyplace else for a little less? It's not on iTunes.

You're thinking of geology. Right. The study and tracing of lines of descent or development.

If this helps, the music video that was made to accompany the song showed the band taking the ferry from Birkenhead to Liverpool.

Speaking of copyright issues, has anyone heard anything recently about the disposition of the William Savory collection?

I really enjoy stories about people stumbling upon unexpected treasures. One of my favorite was recounted in the coffee table book "The Art of Rock". Some guy is walking the aisles at an outdoor flea market held weekly during the Summer months at an abandoned drive-in outside of Oakland. He comes across a guy selling posters. He starts flipping through some stacks of stuff and comes across a couple of hundred original, first edition Fillmore/Winterland/Family Dog posters, all in pristine, just off the presses condition. The seller wants almost nothing for them which the collector is more than willing to pay. Another involves two guys who were renovating a house they'd bought in a small town in Indiana. As it turned out, the home had been owned for 30-40 years by a guy who ran the local movie theater. When they started tearing down the walls, they found that for insulation, he'd used old movie posters. They wound up with a huge stash, some of which represented the only example of a given poster known to be in existence.

I thought that was the sign in Lou Donaldson's driveway.

Merry Christmas, Victor, and to the whole Organissimo community. Some of the best people I don't know hang out here.

I'll have to admit that watching a collection of 1%'ers trying to trip the light fantastic to the music of Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver might be worth a least a portion of the entry nut.

Even in New York, I doubt you'd often see the collection of rich hipster dufuses and faux jazz fans that you would at an event like this. Might be amusing to just watch the well heeled arrive. I know this is sick and twisted, but I once hung out outside of a John Tesh concert just to see the sort of people who showed up. I was genuinely humbled, awe struck even, by their musical naivete.

I have a man cave. It's not all that big, but it houses all my CD's maybe 50-60 LP's, quite a few books, a couple of guitars and amps and my stereo system. Not a whole lot or room to move around, but it's all mine. Access is restricted.

Not familiar with them myself, but when I'm interested in a guitar, I usually see what's on YouTube. Sure enough, there are lots of videos that discuss and dissect Seagull acoustics. Here's a link. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=seagull+acoustic+guitars&oq=seagull+acoustic+guitars&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=1528l9670l0l12741l24l24l0l15l15l0l155l1015l4.5l9l0

The classic, quintessential boom or bust scenario. At the very least, this is going to be really interesting.

Article in today's NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/books/review/the-exegesis-of-philip-k-dick-edited-by-pamela-jackson-jonathan-lethem-and-erik-davis-book-review.html?_r=1&ref=books

I just looked at my oldest functioning iPod. The first Organissimo tune I have is "O Christmas Tree" from the 2002 Holiday Sampler. The gift that keeps on giving. Thanks, Jim. Merry Christmas to you and your family.