Jim Alfredson

I didn't say that was their best stuff, just that it's a good place to start. My favorite record of theirs so far is "Uninvisible" and I think "The Dropper" is extremely cool and interesting, just very very dense. Overall I think their BN output leaves the other stuff in the dust, but it is all good. It's very interesting to hear their first record and then go in sequence up until their latest and hear how the band has evolved while staying true to the concept.

The quote, I believe, was that Ben wasn't as effective a defender one-on-one. He's tough under the basket in team play. I see. But that's the difference between the Pistons and so many other "teams". They play team basketball. One-on-one doesn't work with them.

The Pistons are putting the hurt on the Pacers. Only 11 Pacer points in the third quarter?! Ouch! What's up with Jermaine O'Neal claiming that Ben Wallace isn't that good of a defensive player? He's certainly schoolin' your ass right now, Jermaine!

They are fantastic live. I saw them once at the H.O.R.D.E. festival and once at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival (much more intimate). Both were around the time Shack-Man was released. Medeski had a great rig both times: real grand piano, Hammond C3, clavinet, a Wurlizter electric piano, and various wah-wah's, distortion pedals, etc. Billy Martin had all sorts of cool percussion and that dude can lay in the pocket like no other. If I remember right, the show started with Billy Martin coming out first and doing "spacey" percussion. Then he moved over to the kit and started throwing down some nasty groove. Then Wood came out and started laying in the cut. Finally Medeski came out and they launch into the tune. I do not remember what tune it was.

That's funny, Paul, because I'm the exact opposite. I heard about them for awhile and finally saw them at the H.O.R.D.E. festival one year (this was ages ago... probably like '96 or so). I enjoyed the show, but didn't really think much of it. It just didn't hit me. Then I bought one of their records and my reaction was lukewarm. Then I saw them live again and it started to click. Now I just think they are (Medeski in particular) brilliant. I haven't seen them live in a long time, something I'm hoping to fix.

damn near any album recorded by any other organist besides John Medeski. I take it you don't like Medeski? I think he's brilliant.

All of their stuff on Grammavision is great. "Shack Man", "Friday Afternoon in the Universe", etc. are a little more straight-ahead than where they've been going on Blue Note. That said, Uninvisible is probably my favorite so far. I haven't had the chance to really dig into their latest, "End of the World Party". I also have "The Dropper" which is really wild... very avant garde and experimental. It needs to be digested in small doses. I'd start with the Grammavision catalog.

I really don't understand why Benson didn't capitalize on the organ revival of the 1990's. He still could, but why he didn't jump on it while it was really happening, I don't know. He could still smoke 99.9% of the guitarists out there in that format... ... my brother Joe being in that .1% of course.

I just got a call from customer service. The fellow was very understanding and offered to move the site off the current server free of charge (usually it's at least $75). He also gave me the option of sticking it out for a week and then moving if need be, no charge. I told him we'd see how it goes. The site seems to be running much better. I guess they've already moved a lot of sites off... the server was being overloaded. We'll see how it goes...

Nice try! The Pistons will win tonight. I guaran'sheed it!

OK, we're f***ed now... rachel are you saying the pacers are now toast?? I think she's saying that with your poor track record for picking games, if you say "GO PACERS", that means they're gonna lose. Which they did. And they will tonight, too!

Thanks, all. I'm off to bed. I hope it's still running good in the morning. I've been having anxiety dreams of late because of this whole fiasco. I had one of the scariest half-dream/half-waking experiences I've ever had last night. Zora woke up around 5am. My wife got up to tend to her and I fell back asleep. When she came back into the room, I woke up again and then started to drift off. As I was drifting off, I could feel this darkness enveloping me. It seemed to go from color, to gray, to deep black. All of a sudden I realized that I was driving. I could hear the tires on the road, I could feel the bumps of the uneven concrete, and I knew I was going at high-speeds down a highway, on the way home from a gig. I thought to myself, "Oh shit, I've fallen asleep at the wheel!" And at first I just resigned myself to the idea that any moment I would crash into something and die. Then I started thinking about Zora and Alison and that I couldn't leave them, and so I started to try and wake myself up and suddenly I was back in my bedroom, my heart racing like crazy. It was the wildest experience, dream-wise, I've ever had. It was very real! Anyway, in short, I love all you guys (ok, most of you!), but you're stressing me out!!! Nah, it's not your fault. I just hope this site is running well in the morning.

I couldn't tell by the fact that everywhere I look, there's some sort of advertisement. From M&Ms to the NBA Play-offs to fastfood to video games to drinks to everything in between. Today while I was working, there was a package of Kudos on the editing table. It was the Star Wars edition and it actually said on the back... I'm not kidding... (here's the kicker) ............. ........................... How utterly ridiculous is that? I've said it before and I'll say it again, Star Wars sucks.

Seems like it's running faster now. And the repair I did on the Private Messages seems to have worked. I can access and send from here. Is everyone else good?

I am seriously close to tears right now. This is so extremely frustrating. I think I just need to go to bed and come at this tomorrow fresh. I was chatting to the tech guy, trying to figure out why I cannot access my email (which is the whole fuckin' reason I made this switch... the board was running great on bytehosting's servers, but I had no email) and the guy does this to me after a 20 or so minute conversation about why the server is still acting like shit, what is being done, etc. etc. : organissimo.org: Well, I created a new email alias but I can't get the server to log me in. AzizB: AzizB: AzizB: organissimo.org: I know I'm a novice, but I'm trying. Can you help? <-- your party has left the conversation --> Thanks, asshole. I'm supposed to be up in 5 hours with Zora and here I am at 2am dealing with dickheads.

Yes it is. I'm chatting with tech support right now trying to figure this out. This is extremely stressful.

damn neither can I I'll look into it. Thanks '

It looks like they may have fixed the problem. I was on the phone with tech support three times today and once with my salesperson, raising a stink that I've only been with them since Wednesday and this was happening. Looks like they took care of the problem... I hope! Let me know if anything seems fishy!

When 'Sheed makes a guarantee... he means it. Pistons played like they are supposed to play today. Chauncey was devastating. GO PISTONS!!!!

Is he still around? I love his playing on Don Patterson's "Why Not" on Muse. I was just listening to that the other day and Bootsie was killin'!

That's a heckuva lineup on that CD!! I'll check it out! Gotta support each other...

The top row: Paul Bollenbeck, Reuben Wilson, Joey DeFrancesco, Jimmy McGriff. The bottom row: Don't know, Byron Landham, don't know.

Yes, ready? Listen to Jimmy Smith.

Pistons came back in the 4th and almost won it. I didn't really watch because I was playing a gig... I was catching things out of the corner of my eye. Sidenote, anyone else think that ESPN's female reporter (redhead) that is always in Indy is beautiful?

Please, if anyone experiences slowness, let me know. I'll be monitoring the traffic and if we need to upgrade to a faster server, then we can do that. Thankfully, since it will be with the same company, the actual transfer will be much much faster than this last one.