BeBop

I don't recall seeing WD45 around much lately, but hope you're having a great one, wherever!

An interesting add to the Kohlberg portfolio - certainly a diverse mix! (Note: not Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts. That's another firm.) Kohlberg owns Bauer (hockey stuff), Katy (janitorial), Hawkeye Pedershaab (manholes!), Aurora (funeral, cremation, burial supplies), some medical care companies, picture frames, auto glass, parking lots, sewing machines - the last one probably the closest "kin" to pianos.

I bought one of the first laptops loaded with Windows 8. Without a touch screen, the OS is is virtually unusable. So I'm now back to doing everything....on my phone. I did download 8.8 over the weekend, appehensively. I've heard it's better, but, once you upgrade, you can't go back without a complete OS uninstall/re-install. Brilliant.

Congratulations. An impressive achievement for all involved.

Can I be the vocalist in front of three rows of horns? Happy Birthday!

Have a great birthday, PhillyQ!

First chance to hear a bit of this: "up in the playroom" on KNTU radio. Nice.

Also, the recordings of Wardell Gray from the Beehive, early 1955 (shortly before his death)...long rumored to be coming out momentarily...rather like the Detroit Before Mowtown recordings. Yeah, I could find bootlegs of the Beehive gig.

A little off-topic, but if you'd asked me 45 years ago, I would have said "The Benedetti Tapes of Bird". So who knows?

To the Hawk/Pres "confrontation", I'd add Ben Webster and Herschel Evans....if the stories I've heard retold are true. ;-)

...so you can skip the record-cleaning machine and do it all right on the turntable.

Am I disqualified from answering? I have a $2K+ turntable and tube equipment. From my experience, the differences have become more subtle over time, as the turntable manufacturers have gotten better at providing stock mats that perform near-optimally with their 'tables. Years ago, there were many, many mats available because the stock mats often left much to be desired. To my mind, the whole turntable mat situation is now different than a lot of component upgrades, tweaks and accessories. Cables aren't optimized for the components they connect. Tonearms and cartridges aren't necessarily optimized for each other. Speakers aren't optimized for anything "upstream" or your room. But there isn't any reason for a modern turntable manufacturer to provide anything incompatible. And once "compatible" is achieved, we're really working around the edges of performance. If you do decide to change, don't worsen the compatibility! In particular, consider where your turntable manufacturer has chosen to "isolate" vibration - in the feet, in the plinth, in the suspension...perhaps in the mat/record interface. (I'd say this was part of the original Rega Planar design, with the felt mats and "hard" feet and absolutely rock-solid plinth...if I recall correctly.) Then again, when it comes to audio (or damn near anything), I'm not looking for any excuses to spend. I have enough "needs" without creating any "wants".

Have a great birthday. Heck, have a great year!

...another great one!

All the best, 2013!

I always wonder if they won't bring a founder/key dude back. Think Charles Schwab, Howard Schultz, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs. (I hope all those examples are correct, but you get the idea.)

32. Man, I don't even REMEMBER 32. Oh well, you make your 32nd year memorable...in a good way!

Thanks, Allen. I trust your opinion more (better expressed: "expect it will be harmony with my own") than that of Mr. Stokes. I'm going to skip the Jones book unless I see it cheap. That's a shame; I do like Jo Jones as a musician, and he did do some interesting interviews.

Thanks, I really enjoyed that.

I'm ceratinly keen to read the Keystone Korner book, having grown up there with Todd, Jessica W, and Milt the cook/waiter. And I'm looking forward to cracking open (right after my fifth Bud Powell bio, now in progress) the Papa Jo bio and ESP-DISK Oral History, but I was already aware of all these. While I can read five Bud Powell bios, another book on the Gershwins or Sinatra...

Looking again at the list, it tends toward the mainstream topics already well-represented in my library. But still a few things I wasn't aware of. And I'm a book junkie anyway.

Sorry, I can't link-ify http://www.jazzhouse.org/diary/2013/03/w-royal-stokes-roundup-of-135-jazz-blues-and-beyond-books-published-in-the-past-year-or-so/ This is certainly going to cost me.

Jim Dandy Howdy Doody DOuble Doody

Just to be precise, it's not ALL of the sets on the linked page. Only one ones which say "Father's Day Sale: 10% Off Until June 17th"...which doesn't include the Mingus. Mosaic's kind of "blended" things on the page.

Kilgore Trout Billy Pilgrim Winston Niles Rumfoord