Dave James

alankin is in the house! Welcome back, Alan! Hello, Alan. I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss Jazzmatazz. That was de rigueur at least one a week back in the day. It sustained me in my hour of need.

Emphatic yes. If you're not familiar with this guy, he's well worth checking out. Don't be like I was and assume because of his name, he's some kind of smoothie. He's not.

The three John Handy III Roulette releases, Jazz, In The Vernacular and No Coast Jazz.

It ain't over 'til it's over. More bad news from reactor #3. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T2

Came across this today when I was reading some news about upcoming movies. Interesting. http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/ruffalo-throws-down-gauntlet-to-academy-members-by-playing-

With all this talk of Esperanza Spalding, there are other bassists floating around out there who are deserving of wider recognition. Case in point is Tal Wilkenfeld. She (yes, she) is 24 years of age, hails from Australia and, although she's something of a natural musician, has only been playing bass for a few years. Here's a video of her with Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scotts in November of 2007 when she was just 21. Her solo begins at the 1:25 mark, but you'll want to watch the whole thing. Pay particular attention to Beck's reaction during and after the solo and the "no problem, it's all in a day's work" look she gives back to him. He knows there's something pretty special going on here.

I love the fact that Bonds and his crew claim that if he did take steroids, he did so unknowingly. Let me get this straight. HIs lawyers are asking us to believe that when his hat size went from five to ten gallons, his feet grew several sizes and he put on 30 pounds of muscle all in a couple of years that he didn't stop to wonder WTF was happening? Come on. I know he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but no one can be that dull.

"There's a reason we compare the greatest screen actors to stars: The light they emit endures in our vision long after the bodies that projected it have faded or even disappeared. Elizabeth Taylor the living, breathing woman is gone, but all the Elizabeth Taylors she ever was seem likely to live on forever." Shawn Levy - The Oregonian

O.K. I just officially spun off my axis. File this under "G" for gorgeous. That's about five beautiful womens-worth of good looks.

Those eyes. My word. I can't say I was a huge fan of her work outside of "Cat" and "A Place In The Sun", but she was certainly as iconic as they come. Another piece of old Hollywood takes their leave. R.I.P.

Too bad the original wasn't also released in the same manner. The fact that the reissue is, apparently, unavailable in perpetuity is a blessing, That is genuinely awful music.

You gotta love it when you can get a brand new copy for 20 some bucks but the used ones start at $250 and go all the way to $600.

Story and video from the NYT about the discovery of film showing Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/sports/baseball/23ruth.html?hp

Subject: Nigerian Astronaut Wants To Come Home Dr. Bakare Tunde Astronautics Project Manager National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Plot 555 Misau Street PMB 437 Garki, Abuja, FCT NIGERIA Dear Mr. Sir, REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE-STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humor, but wants to come home. In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association. If we can obtain access to this money, we can place a down payment with the Russian Space Authorities for a Soyuz return flight to bring him back to Earth. I am told this will cost $ 3,000,000 American Dollars. In order to access the his trust fund we need your assistance. Consequently, my colleagues and I are willing to transfer the total amount to your account or subsequent disbursement, since we as civil servants are prohibited by the Code of Conduct Bureau (Civil Service Laws) from opening and/ or operating foreign accounts in our names. Needless to say, the trust reposed on you at this juncture is enormous. In return, we have agreed to offer you 20 percent of the transferred sum, while 10 percent shall be set aside for incidental expenses (internal and external) between the parties in the course of the transaction. You will be mandated to remit the balance 70 percent to other accounts in due course. Kindly expedite action as we are behind schedule to enable us include downpayment in this financial quarter. Please acknowledge the receipt of this message via my direct number 234 (0) 9-234-2220 only. Yours Sincerely, Dr. Bakare Tunde Astronautics Project Manager

This has all the earmarks of a Nigerian scam. I'll bet when you go to cash in your free DL, they ask you for your credit card numbers.

Kindle - What's not to like? If you travel at all, it's a godsend. Last summer when I went to Hawaii for several weeks, I took enough paperbacks to put my luggage over the weight limit, so I had to transfer some of them to my carry-on to avoid a $75.00 fee. If I'd had my Kindle then, it wouldn't have been an issue. To me, the travel element makes the whole thing a no-brainer. Also, if you have lots of books like I do, space and storage become a consideration. Not so with a Kindle. My only complaint at this point is that Amazon takes advantage of you when it comes to newer releases. When they start charging you within a buck or two of the actual hard cover price, it strikes me as usurious.

I guess I follow the pre-season about as closely as anyone and I'm with David, what I'm seeing is encouraging. Nonetheless, one thing I've learned over many years is that Spring Training is to the regular season as the driving range is to the first tee. If they can take their Steinbrenner Field game to Yankee Stadium, that would be great, but it's a tough out. We shall see. With respect to the catching situation, Montero pretty much has to stay unless you move Posada into the backup role and wait for Cervelli to get better. Since he needs everyday work, I'd prefer see him sent down. Also, while the all-around solid play of Jeter, Rodriquez and Texiera has been good to see as has A.J. Burnett's mini-resurgence, some other key components like Cano and Swisher are struggling. Two weeks before they drop the puck. Release the hounds!

Not to be argumentative, but I would be interested to learn how those among us who were unhappy with the Burns documentary would have changed it in a way that made it more palatable, keeping in mind, of course, that the series was geared towards, at best, the casual jazz fan and, at worst, the complete neophyte. Further, like it or not, that ratings and viewership matter. I realize that for many, the marginalization of the free jazz movement was an issue, but if you lean too heavily on that aspect of the music, I'm afraid the clicking sound you'd have heard would have been made by folks all across America turning off their TV's. LIke I said, I have no interest in arguing. I am genuinely curious about what you'd have done differently had you been behind the wheel.

It's getting a little scary when no one seems to know what to do about the problems at Fukushima. This article from the LA Times is the most disconcerting of any I've seen to this point. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-wrapup-20110318,0,2262753.story

The only comment I have about "Bird" or Ken Burns' Jazz documentary is this. Would you rather they were made or weren't made? I vote for the former since anything that makes people more aware of the music is, at least to me, a good thing.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Or I guess I could be like the Japanese government which is apparently capable of doing both.

The New York Times announced today that its policy will be changing with regard to free online access. Under this new program, those reading on-line content will be able to view only 20 articles a month before they will be asked to ante up for the privilege. They are offering staged price points depending on what level of access you want. The minimum charge is $15 per month or $180 per year. If you already have a subscription to the Times, there will be no additional cost. This strikes me as quite a gamble. With so many sources of web-based information, the Times must believe that what they have to offer is worth a price for admission. I'm an NYT junkie, but I don't think I'm going to pony up $180 a year to continue accessing its content. Here's a link explaining the changes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/business/media/18times.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1300397968-ryB/uUsmF+vP3W8saJ+mrg

I guess I'd rather save lives than face, but what do I know.

There appears to be a significant difference of opinion developing amongst those with knowledge of the situation. The United States recommends that anyone within 50 miles of the Fukushima plant clear that zone immediately. TEPCO or the Japanese government seems to be going in the other direction, feeling that the current restrictions are sufficient. This is what's so frustrating. Only one thing is actually happening. Why is it so hard to come to an agreement about what's really going on and then tell the truth about it. What do you gain by hiding anything? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17nuclear.html?_r=1&hp