BruceH

The Sound of Surprise remains my favorite (non-doorstop) Balliet book. I rather wish he wouldn't edit his old articles---reading the original the way it first appeared in print puts me more "in the moment" as it were.

Tina Brooks Sonny Clark Elmo Hope Teddy Edwards ...and is there already a book about Charlie Rouse?

That's a great book, Cat on a Hot Thin Groove(Fantagraphics Books). It also reproduces all the covers he did for the magazine. ← Indeed, a fine book. I read some rather tiny reprints of Gene Deitch's "The Cat" cartoons in Crumb's Weirdo magazine some years back and became an instant fan. When the Fantagraphics book came out I felt the need to buy a copy at a real, physical, off-line, brick-and-morter store (I get these odd notions sometimes.) Wouldn't you know, right then almost nobody seemed to be stocking the damn thing and it took me a week or two to find one. Worth it though.

Party of One is a real "touchstone" Nick Lowe album for me. It came along at a time when I had sort of written him off; it not only changed my mind (proving that he still had the old compositional and singing chops) but caused me to re-evaluate his first decade or so of work, getting into it more than ever. For the first time I saw Labour of Lust as a more consistent and in some ways solider album than his first, Pure Pop, rather than a weak followup. I got into albums that I had previously dismissed for the undeniable few gems that even the least of them had, and began to appreciate the joys of his many middlin' songs. Kind of a Lowe revival, you might say.

Hmmm, electric Birth of the Cool... Honestly, the idea has about as much appeal for me as the notion of remaking Psycho in color.

I look forward to re-listening to this album tonight. I recall liking it, but haven't given it a spin in a long time. Like Red, I'm not a Hancock fan either, but I have nothing against Tony Williams. Will have to re-listen to Page One as well.

One of my erstwhile roommates was friends with a part-owner of Looney Toons. I think he had a 1/3 stake in the place. Small world. A pretty good store, from what I recall.

By all means, check out Newbury Street and Cambridge (Central Sq, Harvard Sq, and Porter Sq----the latter containing the fabled Stereo Jack's!)

There used to be Planet Records in Kenmore Square, but I think it closed. And there used to be a Nuggets, too....same comment. Hey, you people who still live in Boston: Help this guy out!

Same with me. If a movie turns out to be worse than I expected, I chaulk it up to a learning experiance (you've got to experiance "bad" to really know what "good" is.) Usually, if a movie looks ahead of time like something that will cause me actual pain, or be a total waste of money, I just don't go see it in the first place. Some of the worst movies I ever sat through were because I went with a group of people. But in that case you can often talk to the folks you saw it with about how bad it was, which takes some of the curse off. (On the other hand, if they all liked it, while you hated it, you note that for future reference.) I've always kind of thought of walking out on movies as a little childish---I mean, why did you go to it in the first place? Well, we all make mistakes I suppose, but my general rule in movie theaters, no matter what the film is like, is "Shut up and watch the damn movie." And that means all the way through. Of course, this doesn't necessarily apply to tapes or DVD's borrowed from a library. That's different. Though I must admit, I more often don't watch those at all through lack of time, rather than stop halfway through.

Wait a minute, I just remembered that no box sets are allowed, so for Ellington I'll go with...Such Sweet Thunder (vinyl). Some more: Grant Green--Idle Moments Benny Carter--Further Definitions Horace Silver--Finger Poppin' Freddie Hubbard--Ready For Freddie Teddy Edwards--Sunset Eyes Pepper Adams-- " Quintet (Mode/VSOP) Art Blakey--Roots & Herbs Kenny Burrell--Midnight Blue Tina Brooks--True Blue Walt Dickerson--Impressions Of A Patch Of Blue Wes Montgomery--Full House Sonny Stitt--Constellation Wayne Shorter--Speak No Evil Clifford Jordan--Glass Bead Games Johnny Griffin--The Little Giant Benny Goodman--At Carnegie Hall 1938, Complete The Cannonball Adderley Quintet--Plus Dizzy Gillespie--The Modern Jazz Sextet John Lewis--The Wonderful World of Jazz Steely Dan--Pretzel Logic

Some people are all but impossible reduce to one album. How do you approach Ellington, for instance? Choose one of the better suite albums, Such Sweet Thunder etc, or one of his album-as-album efforts such as Blues In Orbit, or simply go for one of the better compilations of his pre-album singles. I took the latter course, but I don't feel great about it.

I just started listening to his music. The only thing I knew about him was that he produced Elvis's early records, wrote 'What's so Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding', and had one hit with "Cruel to be Kind". I got the CD '16 All-Time Lowe's' a few months back and I really liked it. What a great pop writer he is. "When I write the Book" and "Little Hitler" almost seem like precursors to the Elvis tunes that bear similar names. "(I Love the Sound of) Breaking Glass", "Big Kick, Plain Scrap", and "So It Goes" all get stuck in your head with those sticky hooks and quickly memorizable guitar solos (a la George Harrison). "Nutted by Reality" has a McCartney & Wings flavor and "basing Street" is haunting and beautiful. I must now go out and get 'Jesus of Cool', 'Labour of Lust', and the Rockpile record 'Seconds of Pleasure' so I can hear the rest of Mr. Lowe's golden era. ← I predict that you will love "Labour of Lust"! I also highly recommend Lowe's "Party of One" album from his 'comeback' period of the early 90's. (Or you might call it his middle period at this point.) And don't forget Pinker and Prouder Than Previous. Despite a not-so-great title and a terrible front cover, this is a solid Nick Lowe album.

Speaking of Graham Parker, I like him, but I made the mistake of buying Squeezing Out Sparks first. Then everything I heard since then, including all the earlier albums, never sounded as good. In other words, with Costello ranging so widely over different styles and sounds over the years, it's hard to say that any single Costello album is the one unequivical "best"----whereas clearly, SOS is Parker's best. Every once in a while I'll give it a spin and still dig it. The Rumour were such a great band, and the songs and production on Sparks are top-notch. Still haven't heard the latest Costello album. From what I read here, sounds well worth it.

So much better to not go to it at all. Cheaper too.

No big surprise there. That pretty much describes Frank Miller to a T. ← Frank Miller? Awful? I don't think I've ever heard anyone ever say that before... ← ...Talk to Kalo. ← Kalo ??? You are talking about Frank Miller, the comic book/graphic novel writer/artist, right? You might not have liked Sin City, but Miller is generally considered one of the most talented and innovative comic book creators of the last 25 years. He's hardly "terrible." ← Well, personally, I think he can't draw and can't write. Other than that, I've got no complaints. As for him being considered one of the most talented and innovative comic book creators of the last etc, all I can say is that some people also think Godard is a "genius." Hey Kalo, a little help here?

No big surprise there. That pretty much describes Frank Miller to a T. ← Frank Miller? Awful? I don't think I've ever heard anyone ever say that before... ← ...Talk to Kalo.

Some more: Benny Golson--Gettin' With It Art Farmer--Meet the Jazztet Wire--Pink Flag Jonathan Richman--The Modern Lovers The Velvet Underground-- " and Nico (first album) Television--Marquee Moon Talking Heads--More Songs About Buildings and Food Brian Eno--Another Green World The Clash--The Clash (British version) Stan Getz--Stan Getz with Cal Tjader Cal Tjader--Stan Getz with Cal Tjader Vince Guaraldi--Stan Getz with Cal Tjader Ellington--Smithsonian "Explosion of Genius" box Pere Ubu--The Modern Dance The Rolling Stones--Aftermath (British) Elvis Costello--This Year's Model Horace Silver--The Stylings of Silver Lee Morgan--Leeway Sonny Clark--Cool Struttin' Dexter Gordon--Go!

The Beatles--Rubber Soul The Ramones--Rocket To Russia the Minutemen--What Makes A Man Start Fires? Miles Davis--Kind of Blue Joe Henderson--Mode For Joe Mobley--Workout Andrew Hill--Black Fire Gigi Gryce--When Farmer Met Gryce Brubeck--Jazz At Oberlin Sly & the Family Stone--There's A Riot Going On

This movie looks like crap.

I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan, to say the least, but I've got to admit he's occassionally gotten a chuckle from me.

I've regretted missing the Shorty Rogers, the Lee Morgan (I STILL kind of regret that), the Jones/Lewis and the Andrew Hill. Though in the case of Hill, I have to admit I've been getting the individual BN reissues, so that's not such a big deal anymore.

Anybody seen the DVD of Sanjuro? This Kurosawa film is something of a followup to Yojimbo, but if anything is even better.

Ah, the good old days...

No big surprise there. That pretty much describes Frank Miller to a T.