Dave James

Yikes--did I put the jinx on him? Man, what just happened in the Boston-KC game? Boston was up 4-1 last I checked going into the bottom of the 6th, and now they're down 9-4. I'm hoping to get a classic Dan rant out of this. Hopefully, he won't let us down.

What's semi-reassuring to me is that no matter what kind of music they're confronted with, white folks generally cannot find the beat. Of all the people in this video who are moved by the groove to clap their hands, not one of them gets it right. As long as I was sure I wouldn't get stuck, I'd like to crawl inside their heads for a spell and see what they're thinking.

If there were any remaining questions as to whether Phil Hughes or A. J. Burnett would stay in the Yank's rotation once Freddie Garia heals (if not before), Burnett just answered them in spades. Later, A.J.

Thanks, Jim. I did a little research and found that the JLO tribute to James Black occurred on May 29, 2003. I've searched high and low for a video documentation of this concert without success. Anyone have any idea if anything like this exists and, if so, how one might go about procuring it? As usual, thanks for the help. I don't know about the JALC concert being archived, but a Marsalis family all-James Black concert ran on PBS a few years back. Should be obtainable. Black was a drummer and a contemporary of patriarch Ellis, and indeed a distincive composer. The concert is worth having. They did a good job. Joel - Yes, that's the one. Great concert and extremely interesting music. I've looked on the PBS website, but I can't find anything. Guess I'll just keep poking around and see if I get lucky. Here's a brief bio followed by a piece I found on AAJ about the concert itself. http://www.fogworld.com/jamesblack/ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=2668 Yes, I dug it a lot. He's a quirky writer, lots of thought, personality and sort of nice compositional knots. It swung, too, including one piece in 5/4. The band did him justice, too. You could hear the respect. Before losing hope try this: The Museum of Television and Radio. There are two, one in L.A. and one here in N.Y. They will lend material that's archived---if you tell them it's for research . Obviously they have to own it. Or else if you're in either cities you can visit and look it up in the library. They have quite a collection. The last time I drove by the N.Y. building it was renamed, but after someone in the industry. I think it's still a television museum. At least I hope it is. There's also the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers. The staff, right up to Dan Morgenstern, are crackerjack and would love to help. Dan was great when I had a research project. If they don't own it they will tell you who does and how you might borrow it or even get your own copy. Short of those try researching it at a university library (maybe one known for a jazz collection?) or research library in your town. Librarians love the hunt and conquest of the find. If they do track it down you could get it by interlibrary loan. Good luck. Thanks for the insights, Joel. If I stumble on anything, I'll let you know. You'll be the first to get a copy if I have any luck.

I always liked the fact that goalies go after each other. Amen to that. Here's a video of the best one I can remember. Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon from the SCP in 1997. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOCXfu_mWyY

Thanks, Jim. I did a little research and found that the JLO tribute to James Black occurred on May 29, 2003. I've searched high and low for a video documentation of this concert without success. Anyone have any idea if anything like this exists and, if so, how one might go about procuring it? As usual, thanks for the help. I don't know about the JALC concert being archived, but a Marsalis family all-James Black concert ran on PBS a few years back. Should be obtainable. Black was a drummer and a contemporary of patriarch Ellis, and indeed a distincive composer. The concert is worth having. They did a good job. Joel - Yes, that's the one. Great concert and extremely interesting music. I've looked on the PBS website, but I can't find anything. Guess I'll just keep poking around and see if I get lucky. Here's a brief bio followed by a piece I found on AAJ about the concert itself. http://www.fogworld.com/jamesblack/ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=2668

Have you guys seen this? Wow. It's like you went to a basketball game and a hockey match broke out. This is a serious rumble. Fists flying, guys swinging chairs, the whole nine yards. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/videos-capture-chinas-brawling-ballers/

Long time baseball fans will recall with fondness, the antics of Browns, White Sox and Indians owner, Bill Veeck. What has to be his most famous stunt occurred 60 years ago today when he sent Eddie Gaedel to the plate as a pinch hitter in a game against the Detroit Tigers. For his one time appearance, Gaedel, who was all of 3'7" tall and weighed 65 pounds, sported the number 1/8 on the back of his St. Louis Browns jersey. Needless to say, he walked on four straight pitches. Here's a little trip down memory lane. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6875533&categoryid=2378529

Anyone out there familiar with Batting Stance Guy? He's become cyber-famous doing spot-on impressions of current and past baseball players batting stances. He's also gotten into doing impressions of baseball commentators like Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian from ESPN and others from various other networks. Needless to say, he has his own website which, if you're into baseball, is pretty entertaining. Here's a link. My link

I remember anxiously defrocking The Who's LP, Live at Leeds and having all manner of detritus tumble from the packaging. I thought back then there was no way anything could ever again rise to this level. Little did I know.

Nice write-up today from Marc Myers at JazzWax about this release. http://www.jazzwax.com/

For all intents and purposes, free shipping. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I've been retired for almost three years, but I spent 35 1/2 years working in an office environment. Much of that time, I had my own office, but I was on the floor enough to have developed some serious pet peeves. What really bugged me were what I call the "flitters". These are people for whom socializing takes on a life of its own. They move from desk to desk wasting not only their own time, but that of their victims. This was especially pervasive on Monday mornings when they felt obliged to share their weekend experiences with anyone who would listen. If they had kids, it was even worse and if they were talking to someone else with kids, it was brutal. Don't want to sound too curmudgeonly, but, man, what a waste of time. I used to preach what is called the 4/8 theory. That you should consider yourself lucky to get four hours of real work out of any employee in an eight hour day. Don't even get me going on unlimited access to the internet. That has to be the single biggest impediment to getting anything accomplished that I can imagine. Funny story...at least to me. When I first went to work in 1973, there were no cubicles, just row after row of desks, like the movie 9 to 5. One of the women who worked a couple of rows over actually belled her bosses chair (he was at the desk behind her) so that when he got up to do something and the bell rang, it was her cue to begin fulfilling her true calling as the floor's social butterfly. We had some time management people come in at one point, and they actually tailed her surreptitiously to find out what she did all day.

Looks like Dan Uggla's streak may be coming to an end. He just grounded out to end the 7th inning and is 0-3 today. Barring a big inning by Atlanta, he 's not likely to see another at bat.

This is pretty cool. Horace Silver, Steely Dan, George Benson, Karrin Allyson, John Coltrane, Stanley Jordan and Ricki Lee Jones all moving in generally the same direction with the help of some goofy instrument called a Choppertone

$110.00? Free shipping? Unopened? Wow. That's one hell of a good deal.

Saw these guys at an outdoor concert in Eugene, Oregon. I believe the Doors were there as well. I was heavily medicated.

Turn back the clock day at Yankee Stadium. Hip hip Jorge logs three hits, six RBI's and a tater in five trips. Maybe there's some gas left in the tank.

Gotta be Delk Scram or Maverick Lasker. Both are great names though I think you'll have to agree, they pale in comparison with the infamous Rusty Kuntz:

Well, most certainly, the sobriquet, BlackBart2010, seems to make it more likely that the perpetrator is, indeed, Bill Barton. I gotta tell you, after reading as much of this as I could stand, I really have to hand it to you guys who can find it in your hearts to forgive. No way. These aren't human beings, they're monsters.

T.M.I.

I have one of these and I've used is successfully several times to digitalize LP's. They're fine for what they are and if you're just moving the conversions to iTunes, the sound is about what you'd expect i.e. approximately mp3 quality. Needless to say, if you're working with unkempt vinyl, all the scratches, pops and clicks will be picked up and transferred along with the music. The deck I have has some enhancements and editing functions, but I'm not nearly smart or curious enough to find out how they work. ejp626 - mine works without a pre-amp.

A friend of mine just passed this along. Someone has way too much time on their hands or they are some sort of scrabble/anagram savant: PRESBYTERIAN: When you rearrange the letters: BEST IN PRAYER ASTRONOMER: When you rearrange the letters: MOON STARER DESPERATION: When you rearrange the letters: A ROPE ENDS IT THE EYES: When you rearrange the letters: THEY SEE GEORGE BUSH: When you rearrange the letters: HE BUGS GORE THE MORSE CODE : When you rearrange the letters: HERE COME DOTS DORMITORY: When you rearrange the letters: DIRTY ROOM SLOT MACHINES: When you rearrange the letters: CASH LOST IN ME ANIMOSITY: When you rearrange the letters: IS NO AMITY ELECTION RESULTS : When you rearrange the letters: LIES - LET'S RECOUNT SNOOZE ALARMS : When you rearrange the letters: ALAS ! NO MORE Z'S A DECIMAL POINT : When you rearrange the letters: I'M A DOT IN PLACE THE EARTHQUAKES: When you rearrange the letters: THAT QUEER SHAKE ELEVEN PLUS TWO: When you rearrange the letters: TWELVE PLUS ONE AND PROBABLY THE BEST OF THE BUNCH: MOTHER-IN-LAW: When you rearrange the letters: WOMAN HITLER

Very cool, Allen. I'm happy for you.