Jim Alfredson

He's got the perfect first name to be in charge of the turf!

Precisely. Nobody who was there survived. To argue back and forth whether these poor souls are heroes or not, seems completely pointless and ugly to me. I did not intend it to be a personal attack on anyone in this thread, just a general statement of the conversation. And with that, I'll bow out.

Honestly, your ideas are very noble. And I agree with them. But, just to play devil's advocate, I don't know how plausable they are. I guess we'll never know because WBEZ dumped jazz altogether. That leaves WNUR and WDCB to pick up the pieces.

so enlighten us please. It's pretty simple. Nobody knows exactly what when on up there, including whether they were trying to save themselves or save the Whitehouse or whatever, except the people who were there. And they are all dead. And in the end, it doesn't matter whether or not they were trying to save their own lives, the lives of people on the ground, or the Whitehouse. The simple fact is they recognized they were not going to be held hostage but instead they were dead meat and decided to do something about it, instead of passively allowing a few men to control their collective destiny. And for that they are heroes. Not exactly true that only the passengers knew what went on up there , because a number of the passengers were having conversations with relatives and others on the ground about what had occurred at the Trade Center, etc. and about what the passengers were planning to do So one issue is that the United 93 passengers had a big advantage over the passengers who crashed into the Trade Center because those passengers had no warning that these were suicide flights. those passengers should not be denigrated for letting others control their destiny because they probably really believed if they did not resist, they would return to the airport. Furthermore, I think it does matter whether they were trying to save just themselves or others. Saving yourself is not usually a heroic act, saving others is. But what do I know, I am just pathetic right? I never said anyone was pathetic. I said the conversation was. That's a big difference. Also, by trying to save themselves they inherently were saving other people, since they were all aboard the plane together, no?

I don't think those WBEZ lists posted represent "most played" but rather DJ picks.

so enlighten us please. It's pretty simple. Nobody knows exactly what when on up there, including whether they were trying to save themselves or save the Whitehouse or whatever, except the people who were there. And they are all dead. And in the end, it doesn't matter whether or not they were trying to save their own lives, the lives of people on the ground, or the Whitehouse. The simple fact is they recognized they were not going to be held hostage but instead they were dead meat and decided to do something about it, instead of passively allowing a few men to control their collective destiny. And for that they are heroes.

Yeah, we found the same thing when looking into renting a cargo van for our trip out east last October. Luckily, a buddy of mine "loaned" us his van for a measly $400 for the week, which, compared to what it would cost to rent one, was a bargin. At $1000, it would be cheaper to have it crated and shipped to you.

I understand that and I realize I don't know the full story. Like I said, all I know is that the station was very supportive of us and that support helped tremendously. I got many, many emails saying "I bought your CD after hearing you on WBEZ!" I've been in these situations before, refering to Greg's questioning what I should do with this information. It reminds me of when I first got into the Lansing blues scene. I'd get advice from people saying, "Don't talk to so-and-so. He's an asshole." And yet that "asshole" was always nice to me. Maybe it's my boyish charm! Not trying to step on any toes and again, I'm the outsider here, but sometimes "history" can get in the way, if you know what I mean. I agree with you. But frankly, if WBEZ is indeed "Chicago's Public Radio", then they are probably doing exactly what they are supposed to do. That is, follow the public will. Considering the general public doesn't give a rat's ass about jazz, why should WBEZ play it? If the public wants talk radio, that's what they should get, right? I never claimed that jazz can be split into inside/outside, but you have to admit that the majority of what NUR plays would be considered "outside". I don't have time to look through their playlists with any regularity (which are horribly archived, btw) but they bill themselves as "Chicago's Sound Experiment". Again, nothing wrong with this, but I don't believe they are representing the jazz idiom as a whole, either (which again, is fine. I don't think one station has to do that to be viable.)

For what it's worth, NUR (nicely) refused to play our disc due to it being too "traditional", so there's two sides to every story. Are they alone adequately representing the "wide range of aesthetic traditions which fall under the "jazz" umbrella"? No. They focus on the outside stuff. That's fine with me, but shouldn't one be lambasting them as well for not upholding "it's mission as a *public* radio station, meaning to present what is actually going on in the community and in the world" since their focus is every bit as "narrow" as WBEZ's was? In case I'm not making myself clear, I agree that it should not be a problem for a station like WBEZ to present a diverse picture of jazz, rather than focusing on "safe" material but I think it's silly to rag on them for it while holding up NUR as some bastion of freedom when they are doing the same thing, just on the other side of the spectrum. So what? The DJs, afaik. A station in Michigan that seems to do it right is WEMU. They have news Morning Edition in the morning (when most people are driving to work), relatively safe jazz & blues during the day, broken up by Fresh Air at noon, and then come evening some progressively more "unsafe" stuff with Michael G. Nastos (although still pretty much straightahead). But then then have programs like "The Outside Within" during the night, where I've heard some great stuff. It doesn't seem like that would be a hard model to follow for a station like WBEZ.

This whole exchange is pretty pathetic, imo.

That's fucked up. Evans is lucky Kaman didn't knock his ass out.

I heard a story about Mr. Menashe on NPR this weekend. Here's one I like. Cargo For Rachel Hadas Old wounds leave good hollows Where one who goes can hold Himself in ghostly embraces Of former powers and graces Whose domain no strife mars— I am made whole by my scars For whatever now displaces Follows all that once was And without loss stows Me into my own spaces Samuel Menashe

I think Alexander's point (and maybe what the film was trying to portray) is that, regardless of how evil these guys were and what they did, they were still human. We can sit here and curse them and want revenge and live by the ol' "eye for an eye" law and blatantly follow our animal instincts, or we can try to understand what makes our fellow humans do what they do in order to change ourselves and the world. You can't do better unless you know better.

That's a drag. All I know is she was very nice to us, played us a lot, and was very supportive. I do share the common frustration of jazz stations keeping things so middle-of-the-road. The local jazz station here in Lansing just syndicates Bonnie Gryce's(sp?) show, which is extremely bland (and usually has some of the worst female vocalists I've ever heard... where do they find these people!? No wonder people think jazz is awful. That stuff is!!!) The only good show they have with jazz is a local DJ named Mike Stratton that spins actual vinyl and plays some wild stuff. But he's relegated to late Sunday nights.

I have that on CD somewhere, when someone told me, "Hey, you like Genesis? Then you'll love Marillion!!" NOT!

Marillion?!

I have to say it... as much as I dislike the Lakers... Kobe is the man. He should've gotten the MVP award. That last shot was insane.

Paging Jim, paging Jim! Jim Alfredson, white courtesy phone! This was relayed by an ex-bandmate of mine who worked with McDuff and McDuff told him this story. Supposedly, McDuff and Albert King were playing a double-hit at some club in Chicago. McDuff had Martino with him at the time and Martino was very young. He's always been skinny and slight, too... in stark contrast to Albert King. I guess the two bands were trading sets. Albert's band went first. During McDuff's set, Martino was playing one of his bad-ass solos and Albert was watching from the side, next to McDuff. Jack leaned over to him and said, "That skinny little white kid is kicking your ass!" Albert was not amused. McDuff kept rubbing him the whole night.

The Lions are looking to trade Harrington to the Browns for a draft pick!!! Good luck with that, SS1!!!

Kurt Thomas's absence seems to be hurting them quite a bit. I'm kind of surprised that the Pistons would mail in a game like they did today. To get slaughtered by the Bucks, embarrassing. Brent Musburger made a crack about how even though Kenyon Martin's contract will be tough for the Nuggets to unload, there's always Isiah Thomas in New York. Guy Pistons got bored. They're fine. Besides, they wouldn't want to win the series on an opponents floor, would they? Much more fun to drop one and then win in 5 on your own court.

As I said in another thread, if your post count is important to you, just let me know what it used to be and I'll change it in your profile. Just PM me. Please don't fill the board with completely worthless posts. It bloats the database and slows everything down. Thanks.

Just giving you shit for the phrase "not trying to be a wise-ass." You?! A wise-ass?! NEVER!

I still have not tried to re-attach post counts (by re-counting posts in the database) to the "lost" members. That is a very server-intensive function, best started early in the morning when nobody is here. Last night I got home from the gig around 4am and went straight to bed. Perhaps tonight, after a relatively easy wedding gig, I can try it.

If you want to opt out of the politics forum (again), just PM me.

What is your email address? Also, I have someone else's private messages stored in my private message area. Did I fix it? His name and member info just disappeared from his post above! Right, but his name and member info should now be attached to his old posts. The above was made when he was member number 1477, but his original member number was 1402. It's very confusing! But I think it will all work out.