BeBop

Holy smokes! I left the Economist off my list. My subscription runs to 2013, at which time, I will renew for the longest-possible period. Seed is a pretty good magazine too.

So...you're saying that the new "Spaulding Meets Spalding" disc is a no go for you? Not unless it's a DVD featuring medieval weapons. I'm kidding. I do have a heap of LPs/CDs with James Spaulding. (22, if my database can be trusted, including many enjoyable ones with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter and Duke Pearson) I just tend to put him deeply in the liability column when I calculate the worth of a recording, to me.

Actually, it's 365 - I've no home at all. I have four, strategically placed post office boxes, coincidentally in the United States airline hub cities. Between overseas destinations, I always have to set foot in the United States, before I can begin another assignment. All this said, magazines are by far the heaviest part of my luggage.

Lack of sideman listings is an almost surefire no-go here too. Possibly because of another strong aversion: James Spaulding Another: any CD for which the mainstream hype-machine is spinning wildly out of control. (e.g., Esperanza Spalding)

I think the jazz mag thing has been done enough. I'm mostly interested in print (not online-only) magazines, since those are the ones I can carry as I travel about. I already subscribe to a truly frightening number, but I still get through them all, cover-to-cover. (Thanks, United Airlines) I'm looking to trade out some of the losers for something better. And that's where you can help. My interests are incredibly wide, but I do need some intellectual stimulation. Current favorites (not very imaginative): - Harpers - Atlantic - New Yorker - Reason - Portfolio

You know the phenomenon: you're shopping for CDs or LPs (...or 78s or cassettes..). You pick up something based on the title or artist. A quick glimpse and back she goes. What will cause you to put something back - aside from money or the discovery that you already have most or all of the music? Too many standards? Too few? A player, song or instrument you don't like? A label you don't like (e.g., Andorran)? 27 minute recording time? Suspect mastering? Cover art? For me, it's vocals, Andorrans and, for easily located music, cutouts.

Oh, I could DO Norway again. Another 'cruise' on a small boat. This time without the drunken tourists. (Drunken Organissimo denizens excepted.)

Over at one of those other forums (http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=33769) they're apparently excited about a cruise in the New York Harbor. I guess that's why I hang out here. (No rivalry implied.) For an Organissimo cruise, I picture something more like... or

Ah yes, but oh so much more!

I'm with Uncle Skid. You seem to have pretty good musical tastes (perhaps I should say 'consistent with those of many on this forum), so do join in. Make some friends. Contribute to the discussion. You'll probably find it a lot easier to buy/sell/trade once you're known. So welcome.

Just as drugs have ruined many lives, jazz ruined mine. (Ah, exaggeration!) Look at me: homeless, country-less, completely out of touch with 'pop' culture. haven't watched television or seen a movie in thirty years, gave up professional sport (maybe that's because I physically fell apart)... But between recordings and live event attendance, I've got enough jazz to smother Ouagadougou. So, am I happy (choose punctuation: "!" or "?")

Until then, I'm enjoying the heck out of the new Mosaic. Priceless.

Happy Birthday (99), Pres. None finer.

Johnny Griffin and Lockjaw Davis, In Copenhagen (Storyville) $9 NOW $7 Blue Mitchell, Jazz By The Sea - Live (That's Jazz) (Rare mid 70s straightahead performance) $10 NOW $7

A quick reply is no. The part of the book that covers the 40's to the early 50's is worth knowing about, but the rest of the book (and his career) is very uninteresting to say the least. I'd agree. The expression "legend in his own mind" seems to apply to the Porter autobiography. He spends a lot of time talking about his relatively few commercial and artistic "triumphs". I'd have been as interested in the tidbits and observations from the forgotten and overlooked experiences.

August 25-26. 40% off single disc CDs. http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/coupon_40...=SA_20080825_NR

I'm just trying to decide whether or not I'm surprised.

Just a note: the third question requires an answer, but presumes the respondent downloads. Ideally, there should be an "I don't download, period" option.

Yes, yes, yes. Bud in Paris, I think it's called. Nice stuff. By the way, the Bud in Paris album also features a couple of tracks with Barney Wilen.

Maybe I'm too much of a worrier, but I'd be afraid of hidden damage to magnets (from a demagnetizer, or one of those dreaded vibrating stylus cleaners), the coils/windings, the unexposed part of the cantilever, the suspension... How do you evaluate all that?

Yes, yes, yes. Bud in Paris, I think it's called. Nice stuff.

My pricing's a bit old. Grado Prestige Black now $60 retail; discount around $50 (see, for example, Amazon)

Instead, spend $40 or $50 for a NEW basic Grado or other cartridge, if price is important. You'll get guaranteed function and known, modern technology.

Personally, I wouldn't take a chance. There's really no way to evaluate the thing, and it's true value could range from $0 to a few hundred, with a MUCH greater likelihood of the $0. I wonder how the pawnbroker saw his/her way clear to buy (at some assumed price) and to set the selling price. Just too much COULD be wrong with the thing, deep, deep inside.

The no-brainer (that's me!) recommendation would be the Rogers LS 3/5a, a small, two-way monitor developed by the BBC in the 1970s. The general design has been adapted, cloned, stolen and enhanced over the years by several manufacturers. I think this website is still out there, but I'm behind a firewall that won't let me in. http://www.ls35a.com/ There's also a Yahoo! group dedicated to this design.