Christiern

Max lives down the street from me--I saw him last week, walking with a walker cane, and not looking too healthy. I hope it's only a temporary condition, but he is nearly 80, and that's a reality I find difficult to accept.

To all who yesterday posted a birthday greeting aimed my way, I send a big, heartfelt... THANK YOU! Weizen, Dan, Conn, and the rest of you Bush folks, you've made an old, somewhat pinko (but not quite) rebel feel rejuvinated. Loved the map of my old island home, Weizy ... and Claude, your Icelandic is impeccable!

So he didn't elope with Carmen Santiago... whew!!!

I will be there, of course.

Not only that, but Annie's aunt was Ella Logan.

If people writing about this dug a little deeper, beyond the record industry's VCR and audio tape phobias, they would discover that the same industry was ready to sue when Martin Block started his "Make Believe Ballroom" to fill air time during breaks in the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. Playing their records on the radio would, thought the short-sighted ones, kill record sales. Duh! They changed their mids and did a 360º turn. Anyone remember payola?

Lonson, I just hope the Fab Five don't get to Corona before you do!

Here's one I received a few months back: NETHERLOTTO CORPORATION, 41132, NL-1007 DB AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS. FROM: THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, REF: EGJOJS255125600344 AWARD NOTIFICATION; FINAL NOTICE We are pleased to inform you of the announcement of the,4TH JUly. 2003, of winners of the NETHERLOTTO CORP./ INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS held on 19TH MAy 2003. You / your company, attached to ticket number 013-2316-2002-477, with serial number A025-09 drew the lucky numbers 37-13-34-85-56-42, and consequently won in category C. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$1,500,000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO. EGJOJS255125600344This is from total prize money of US$28,500,000.00 shared among the nineteen international winners in the category C. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 30,000 names from Australia, New Zealand, America, Asia, Europe,USA and North America as part our International Promotions Program, which is conducted annually. CONGRATULATIONS! Your fund is now deposited with a Finance and Security House and insured in your name. Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this program. We hope with a part of you prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes US$1.3 billion International lotto. To begin your claim, please contact your claims officer immediately: THOMAS JONKA FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER, EUROSHORE FINANCIAL, TEL: +44 774 223 3824 Fax: +44 207 681 2478 EMAIL:euroshore@financier.com For due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designated account of your choice. Remember, you must contact your claims officer not later than AUGUST 30TH, 2003. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed. All correspondences to Mr.Thomas Janka,either by fax or email,should have this email sent along with it and your reference number clearly stated in every correspondence. NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference number in every one of your correspondences with your claims officer. Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your claims officer as soon as possible. Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program. Sincerely, THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS, NETHERLOTTO CORPORATION. N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. Please do not reply this mail But I think this one's my favorite: CONFIDENTIALITY NOTES: THIS MESSAGE IS CONFIDENTIAL &PRIVILEDGED.IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT NOT MOVED TO BE A PARTY, DESTROY OR DELETE IMMEDIATELY AS DISTRIBUTION OR DISEMMINATION IS PROHIBITED. IF YOU ARE NOT DISPOSED TO BE A PARTNER, ANY EMBARRASSMENT CAUSED YOU IS REGRETTED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. ------------------------------------------------------------------- DEAR SIR/TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN., THIS letter will surely take you by surprise but be assured that no harm or embarrassment is meant as your personal information was sought without prior permission from one of the international commerce Directories. We strongly believe that as a neutral by -stander or observer of events in the world today, you would not be biased or take sides and would do your level best to help fight or support our course. Moreover ,the matter on hand requires someone with your identity to resolve without delay. My names are JOHN NESTOR , A CITIZEN of THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA, where the current war has killed and maimed thousands of innocent lives of civilians and military alike. I used to be in support and in fact was a leader of one of the rebel groups on the side of the President, Mr. CHARLES TAYLOR who, stubbornly refused to live power in spite of the high human and economic casualties until a few days ago when he was forcibly driven into exile . Just three weeks ago ,Charles Taylor called me and some loyal members of the rebel group and entrusted some huge amount of funds {US$97 MILLION} Dollars to us and instructed that they be moved under cover to Europe or Asia in the name of a MR. ABUHASAN A. MOHAMMED because he could not use his real identit y for good reasons.MOHAMMED was a business partner of MR. TAYLOR who left Liberia when the war got serious. We that are close to Taylor knew that Mohammed operates secret Accounts for him in Asia and Europe. But , within us that the assignment was given , we agreed to divert part of the funds ,US$37MILLION for our personal use in future, without the knowledge of Charles Taylor. What we did was to package the Dollar bills in boxes, took them through the war zone to a nearby country from where the funds were moved by Diplomatic Courier to different destinations .But we told president Taylor that we were attacked by the other rebel groups who made away with part of the funds .He was happy and grateful because the remaining part got to his partner safely and he hope that would sustain him and his family in exile . We hope to return to our country and invest our part of the funds in humanitarian services or businesses that would benefit the people. We believe this is a worthier or better action which should be supported by any well- meaning individual anywhere in the world. For your information, we made thorough research and worked out method and means of a smooth operation and found out that firstly, the funds could only be moved to DUBAI in UNITED ARABS EMIRATES. This is because the laws of that region allows transaction of this nature provided the money is NOT fake or drug funds.{Pls. find attached to this mail a publication of the U.A.E. to verify this claim}. Fortunately, as I write this message, the Boxes containing the funds have been moved successfully through a Diplomatic Agency Courier Company to Dubai and deposited as FAMILY VALUABLES AND GOLD JEWELLRIES of MR. MOHAMMED .The boxes can only be claimed by the presentation of the proper documents to the Security Company that would do the final clearing on behalf of the family at the customs. We are contacting you therefore, to do us the service of meeting or contacting the Agency and, with the proper papers have the bags released to you as the rightful owner on whose behalf the bags were shipped. This means that the AIRWAY BILL & CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT will be attached with A POWER OF ATTORNEY OR AUTHORISATION bearing your name and identity to collect the bags which were sent by Mohammed on your behalf . In fact, a detailed information shall be sent on agreement to safe-guard our share which shall be 75% while you could have the balance 25% , which is US$ 9,250,000.00. for your efforts. The remaining part would be invested or lodged in a fixed deposit joint ACCOUNT with interest accruing to be shared by the parties concerned until situations stabilize in my country. .Note that your compensation or what you want is open for negotiation which I shall table before my colleages as soon as your positive but confidential response is received. Your private phones and email might be preferable for purposes of confidentiality without which we cannot deal with you further than this first contact. PLS., reach me at my private box: john_nestor2003@go.com OR call me at tel nos: 00882 162 112 1546 as soon as possible. Thank you for your time. JOHN NESTOR

Wellstood tells the same story in the notes to the just released Storyville Don Lambert CD. I wonder if the Storyville release is the old Pumpkin in new dress? There is nothing to indicate that.

I knew Lil Armstrong (Louis' second wife) very well for the last 10 years of her life. I did not know Lucille nearly as well--they were very different. Louis' maid once told me that in all the years she worked for Louis, one of the best moments came the day Lil rang the doorbell. She had come to NYC for Louis' funeral. The maid told me that she went upstairs and announce to Lucille that "Mrs. Armstrong is downstairs." After the funeral, Lucille told me that she had Lil ride in the family car, because "if I didn't, Louis would have found some way of getting back at me." Lucille was not very well liked--she was a tremendous snob, and Louis was anything but that. He often straightened her out. I was at the house in Corona about 3 years ago--I don't recall seeing a wall-to-wall bed in Louis' bedroom. Lots of mirrors and glitter, however, and a very nice den or office.

As far as I recall, Plaza Sound Studios (where Riverside recorded most of its sessions) had a pipe organ--located above Radio City Music Hall, they were somehow hooked into their organ.

Has anyone mentioned Sir Charles Thompson?

Go back to 1925 and you have Fred Longshaw (along with Louis A) accompanying Bessie Smith on a harmonium. Very effectively, I might add. BTW Harmoniums were small and inexpensive--perfect for shoe-string rural churches.

An absorbing book with a happy ending, I bet.

I like margins, Al... ...what can I say?

Re the Parker bio, they showed some footage of Stanley in his office. There were several file cabinets with drawers marked "Parker A-H," "Parker I-S, etc. He explained that this was the book he has been expected to write for 11 years (I think he said 11), and that it would be ready in 2 years, because so many of the people he interviewd have died. Hmmm Shades of Quincy T?

Yesterday, I sat through the 3-hour Crouch interview on C-Span, and it was as amazing as it often was boring. Still, I wanted to hear what Stanley had to say and, of course, the interview being transmitted live, there was always the possibility of seeing him punch out the interviewer. They took calls, but the callers rarely got an answer--instead, Stanley rambled down a different path, most of the time. He obviously does not take well to criticism, although he should have grown accustomed to it by now. He arrogantly refers to his critics as "minor men." When they read to him an excerpt from a lengthy, negative review of his novel, Don't the Moon Look Lonesome, he immediately tagged the reviewer (an accomplished author) as a "minor" person, and added that he was a man of small physical stature, too. It was gratuitous and dumb. Inevitably, someone asked about Wynton. Crouch pointed out that there are people who hate him, but that they are "minor men." He said that jazz was considered all but dead when Wynton came on the scene, but that Wynton helped prove that to be untrue. He also called Wynton "the greatest trumpet player in the world," and when asked if that was greatest of all time, he wouldn't come out and say it, but mentioned that someone who had shared a stage with Gillespie and other greats thought Wynton was the best ever. Stanley also referred to Wynton as "an extraordinary composer," and that his success prompted many musicians to believe that they could be as successful, but they could not. His enthusiasm for Albert Murray seems to have cooled off. Could it be that Murray is becoming a minor man? Like I said, amazing.

Easter hasn't been the same since President Carter was attacked by a killer rabbit.

What is really amazing is that Sony gave this clown the reissue assignments when George Avakian, who produced the original sessions, is but a phone call away.

The liner notes were anotherself-glorifying Schaap fantasy. Among other things, he contradicted Dukes own account re Jo Jones having been a positive factor. Schaap is a very dishonest person when it comes to relating jazz history--he is a revisionist who invents things to maker himself appear more knowledgable. In this case, he wants us to think that he knows more than Duke, who, after all, was present at Newport! I recall a radio interview where he told an older musician that he had the wrong date for his own birthday! Then there was Black, Brown and Beige, on which he included a track he called "Mahalia Swears." She did no such thing (although she was capable). She was having a problem with the lyrics so she said "Help me, Jesus!." Well, Schaap edited out the "help me" part to make it sound like she might have been swearing. It was typical of the sort of thing Schaap does to attract attention to himself. He was kicke out of Verve when he claimed that some Ella Berlin tracks were previously unissued--they weren't, but that fact somehow escaped Mr. know-it-all. I guess it's obvious that I have no respect whatsoever for Phil Schaap--I don't/

Ah-ha! Right you are. Regarding Tom Jones....why was he in this Chris? Do you know? I believe Jones sang some blues in the early stages of his career, but I suspect that he was included here more for his celebrity than for his relevance to the subject.

I believe Lulu made her mark when she sang the title song in "To Sir, With Love."

I found it interesting. It focused on Chess Records' contribution to the Chicago blues scene and sought somewhat successfully to show a correlation between urban blues and rap. The rap/blues fusion session fell a bit flat, I'm afraid--they reunited the original band from Muddy Waters' "Electric" album and threw in a couple of rappers and a scratcher, but it didn't work for me. I also think that Chess came on a bit strong and, at times, patronizing. I realize that he has been around black people for most of his life, but his seeming acculturation struck me as somewhat forced. That, of course, does not in any way diminish the importance of the label his father and uncle founded.

Noise reduction need not eliminate any part of the recorded signal. It often does, but that's simply poor work on the part of the transfer engineer. I spent almost three years working nightly with the late Larry Hiller at Columbia (on the complete Bessie Smith reissue, mainly). The then conventional noise reduction method did indeed cut off the highs and, in general, yield unsatisfactory results. We did a lot of experimenting using Dolby in an unconventional way, we had custom-made styli, and we used as many as four pressings of a selection to come up with a good one (determining which side of the groove had the wear, for example, and taking from each pressing the cleanest passage). We also found a novel way of de-ticking; the conventional method was to physical cut ticks and pops out of the tape, but when you have a lot of them, you begin to lose meter. We discovered that it could be done without cutting and splicing, and the solution was very simple: an old-fashioned typewriter eraser. It is because we had the luxury of no time restraint that we wwere able to do all this, but I think it was worth it, and NARAS awarded Larry a well-deserved Grammy for his work. Today,it is done digitally. I can tell you that the horrendous surface noise on Schaap's Benny Goodman release could have been reduced, if not eliminated, without marring the music in any way.

That's an opinion I share. I thought last night's show was interesting, although Lulu was a misfit--Tom Jones was less of a sore thumb. I guess I mainly enjoyed it because I can identify with the early British jazz/skiffle scene. Humphrey Lyttleton was the first person I ever interviewed (in 1953), and Ken Colyer's band (with Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber) was the first group I recorded for commercial release. I had memorable experiences hanging out with these guys, as well as Johnny Parker (the pianist on "Bad Penny Blues") and George Melly, who used to sing Bessie Smith songs with Mick Mulligan's band in a funny little London joint called The Metro. It was an interesting scene and my first real encounter with the off-stage jazz world. Sure, a lot was left unsaid, and too much time was spent on Lulu and Tom Jones, IMO, but I was not bored. So far, the series has either omitted many important blues performers, and made only cursory mention of others, but that's to be expected, I guess--especially when each episode has a different producer. I also wonder why the female (so-called "classic") blues singers barely got a mention. I hope the final episode, focusing on piano blues, will spend some time on such artists as Leroy Carr, Champion Jack Dupree, and Jimmy Yancey.