Christiern

It's not about slowly driving someone insane, it's about: "We'll go out for dinner--no we won't." Berigan's analogy is a good one, IMO.

Thank you, Mikeweil, for making me blush. Contrary to rumors, I never appeared on a cylinder.

What do you mean, Chuck?

I have been on 3 records, but in a very limited, unimportant way. I was on the cover of a Riverside album, wearing a mask. (see attached scan) My voice (speaking) is on a Verve disc and a Columbia disc (both a part of a boxed set). BTW Behind most of the masks hides a member of the Riverside staff.

Dan, I am sorry that you don't get it. This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with history and changes on society. Recently, however, some of the changes seem less evident. I hope I did not touch a sore spot with my posts--that was not my intent. So, let's not get all paranoid here, I posted what I saw as an interesting glimpse of history and made an observation based upon it. I also suggested that recent events/attitudes are discomfiting in that they show a return to the kind of ignorance reflected in the article. I'm sorry that you misconstrue that as an attempt to make a nefarious "point." What's happening with the Weinstock piece?

I am also very sorry to have missed it. I thought I'd be able to make it at least for an hour, but couldn't get out of a prior commitment. Want to see photos of y'all in lederhosen, swinging those foamy steins to a Bavarian polka. I even got dressed for Zum Schneider (see photo). Hope there will be another opportunity to meet.

Continued...

While perusing the June 19, 1912 issue of the Atlanta Constitution, I came across a big story on the Rotary Convention. It's long, so I am only giving you excerpts here, but I think you will sense the atmosphere that prevailed--there has been considerable progress, but many of our current citizens seem somewhat stuck in time, don't they?

I'm still enthusiastically recommending a LightScribe drive ... here's a label I made today. I won't bother you with more as I keep on burning the backsides.

I agree with your observations regarding Preservation Hall. It was (is?) a plantation run by the tuba player, Jaffe. When I was in New Orleans producing the Legends series for Riverside, there was no Preservation Hall. Jaffe (who died several years ago) once told me that he was inspired to start PH when he heard those recordings. I liked the idea, but it did not take long to find out that he was exploiting the musicians. He paid them very little and some did not at all share in the merchandising that bore their name. I don't know it the place is still running, but, if so, I hope it is run with more consideration for the artists and the music. I never cared for the Dukes of Dixieland, but I thought the Firehouse Five Plus Two was a good little band, and its leader, Ward Kimball was truly dedicated to the music of Oliver, Morton, and Louis. I guess you know that the band comprised Walt Disney animators, who played the music for love rather than profit.

How can you not be sure that the New Orleans band count as jazz? What they play was jazz long before most of what you listen to today was even thought of. If anything, the question might be, what subsequent music was/is jazz.

I have heard him do the same sort of thing to another musician--correcting his birthday. I wonder what that Billie book will be like. Phil keeps referring to it as "my book," but there are two co-authors. The other guys plug the book as a "hand book," and always mention the other two authors. The funniest (saddest, perhaps) thing is the Phil repeatedly tells listeners that $250 will get the the "deluxe edition" and that he will sign it--in the same breath, he mentions the recent auction at Lincoln Center Jazz, pointing out that some books sold for thousands of dollars and that "his" book, which will be "definitive" and--in the "deluxe edition"--"rare," will very likely be extremely valuable in years to come. Unbelievable! Am I the only one who thinks devoting 15 days and 15 nights to Billie Holiday is excessive? I love Billie, but hearing the sam recordings over and over again, day in and day out, soon ceases to be a pleasure. Then, too, I think that playing every little scrap (including some very unfortunate ones) does the artist an injustice--there comes a time when one has to wonder where the line between tribute and exploitation lies.

Chuck Nessa? That youngster?

Here's a April 22, 1931 follow-up. Both clippings are from the Chicago Daily Tribune.

April 19, 1931. One wonders if there is a link between the two stories.

Still loving this drive ...

Read this one 48 years ago and I bet it's still every bit as funny. A brief summation from the blurb: The study starts with the dramatic date September 22, 1957, when at 5:35 in the morning (Eastern Daylight Time) the first child with a tail was born. With truly encyclopedic grasp of the subject, Mr. Smith then proceeds to survey this new phase in the evolution of the human race in all its manifold aspects. ...and I still highly recommend Patrick Dennis' "Little Me" Don't take my word for it: "Enormously funny...Mr. Dennis's dialogue is hilarious, his pages a riot of magnificent absurdities, sly puns, quips, and other verbal buffoonery." --The New York Times "A masterpiece of parody." --The New Republic "One of the most outlandish collections of narrative and photographic nonsense ever put between hard covers. Only Patrick Dennis of Auntie Mame could have done it." --Chicago Tribune

The drive I bought is a DVD +-RW 16x4x16 Double Layer by LaCie. It will burn the 8.5GB DVDs. it requires special discs for the printing part (not expensive) and the surface is completely smooth after printing, so I wouldn't worry about burning into the signal side. More on it here.

Yesterday I installed in my main Mac a double layer DVD drive that features LightScribe. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes neatly labeled CDs and DVDs. In case you are not familiar with the technology, it allows you to create high resolution label designs and burn them into the disc. You flip the disc over, push the print button, and the drive gives you something like this (photo does not really do justice to the label:

That's not much of an excuse. Back in the mid-60's, I was running a listener-sponsored station in NYC. We were in desperate need of $25,000 and faced the station becoming commercial if we didn't raise that amount rather quickly. I asked myself what the listeners tuned in for, why many of them subscribed at $12.50 a year, and drew the obvious conclusion that it was all about our programming. So, I decided to take it away until we had the needed money. In the middle of our even newscast, I broke in and announced our need, adding that we would not return to regular programming until we had $25,000 in pledges. To make long story short, our listeners came through and--guess what--we received $10,000 above the amount pledged. All this to say that we were rank amateurs when it came to fund-raising. In fact, we did not have the advantage of a model, as WKCR has, for we were the first to perform marathon on-air fund-raising. I did not learn that until many years later, when a writer sought me out as "the father of on-the-air funding pleas." I don't know if that is so, and it surely is not something to be proud of, but we did succeed. $25,000 is a laughable amount today, but it meant a lot to a little station in 1965--it may even be why WBAI is still going strong as a non-commercial, listener-sponsored station. Yes, we were probably every bit as obnoxious as Phil was the other night, but we performed our task with humor and we attracted amazing people who came in a pitched with us. Here are a couple of items from the NYC, who afterwards plugged us in an editorial.

John S. Wilson did not mention Coltrane in his Nov. 30, 1957 NYT review.

There has.

Detailing Schaap's inaccuracies is a case of "where to begin." As anyone who engages in serious jazz research will tell you, the guy is so bent on standing out from the crowd that he simply makes things up! He will established facts and contradict them without offering any evidence to prove his point. He makes assumptions with an air of authority and people who don't know enough to see through his little game end up believing that he is, indeed, an authority. He knows a lot of details, such as recording dates, matrix numbers, personnel, birthdays, and solo orders, but that does not make him the authority he likes to bill himself as. I have previously (in other threads) given specific instances of Schaap distortions, so I hope you can find them rather than have me repeat earlier posts. The disturbing aspect of his revisionism is that it often flies in the face of fact to such an extent that it has to be deliberate distortion. When you spend a lifetime trying to correct the sloppiness of early researchers (often amateur record collectors like Schaap), as many of us have done, you hate to see some attention-seeking jerk come along and twist the work of truly dedicated scholars. It would be one thing if he actually turned up facts, such as Ted Joans did when he unearthed Armstrong's true date of birth (Giddin's shamelessly took credit), but that is not something Schaap does. In closing, let me give you a quote from an e-mail I received yesterday. Respecting his privacy, I will not mention this gentleman's name, suffice it to say that he is very accomplished and that his name graces many a book and record album. I had mentioned Phil Schaap's botching of reissues. The response is typical of what one hears from people who--like me--have observed Schaap from inside the business" " Phil Schaap: oh, you mean the man who knows everything about everything, to the exclusion of everyone else on the planet. I can not stand to be within a mile of that posturing prig! His productions are generally antiseptic and confusing, despite his efforts and intentions. He's probably the worst individual I've ever encountered during my entire lifetime's involvement with jazz, etc. 'Nuff said!!" Indeed, 'nuff said!

Jim and Alison Alfredson (the makers of Zora) Harold Z Dmitry David Gitlin ? and....DEEP!

I agree re Ben Young and I think Ted Planken is another asset. His interviews can be as illuminating as Phil's are painful.