Patrick

Chris Perez will not be wearing an Indians uniform next year. Ugh. Jason Giambi, of all people, saves Chris Perez's butt. Go Tribe!!!!!!!!!

My wife and I watch it. A little darker/less fun much of this season, but serves as adequate escapist entertainment. I agree much of the Westen VoiceOver stuff likely is BS, but still entertaining. I think Mythbusters went after one or two of the spy craft "techniques" used. We put Covert Affairs in much the same category.

Headed to Portland for the first time ever tomorrow. Interested in jazz CD rather than vinyl. What do folks recommend -- Music Millenium and Everyday Music? Something else in town?

Looking forward to David and Wallace at Strathmore next Saturday. Tickets priced nicely and available!

I will be there (at American Art Museum)!

I enjoyed all three sets of the Shorter in NYC extravaganza. First up was the Lovano/Douglas ensemble, performing a collection of their own compositions including a few inspired by (or dedicated to) Wayne (eg "Weather Man"). Linda Oh on bass and Joey Barron on drums were a revelation. I was a little underwhelmed by pianist Lawrence Fields, who sounded a bit tentative to me. Perhaps it didn't help that Douglas stood fairly close behind his shoulder during several of his solos (...much like a music teacher might). Nice mix of tunes played and one could tell that the musicians were enjoying themselves (except maybe Fields). Next up was the Geri Allen/Terri Lynne Carrington/Esperanza Spalding trio. I did not recognize the tunes and they were not announced. After exclaiming how much inspiration she draws from Wayne, Carrington briefly mentioned that it is really tough arranging Wayne compositions for a trio, and that they were performing them for the first time. Allen then admitted how intimidating it was to be on this bill. (I found this a bit odd for a successful "name" jazz musician of roughly 30 years). Esperanza simply smiled and said "Happy Birthday Wayne!" I enjoyed Allen's playing the most of this group, but had the sense that they were not totally clicking. Hopefully they will when they hit the road. Finally, Wayne led his quartet out, carrying his tenor and soprano horns. They basically played continuously for about an hour. I will confess to not knowing my Wayne compositions too well, but they included several from Without a Net (eg "Orbits"). Wayne started on tenor and his first utterances were barely more than exhales through the horn. The kind of thing that, in other circumstances, would make you think, "it's a little late in the evening, is this old fella up to the task at hand?" Such concerns were fairly quickly quelled. There was no coasting by anybody. My sense is that Wayne played tenor for most of the set. When not playing, he leaned back into the curve of the piano much of the time. Danilo Perez, Brian Blade, and John Patitucci were all solid. JP was especially punchy on bass, but it fit in well with what Wayne and the others were doing. I smile when I think of this Wayne quartet and the Akoustic Band both being on JP's (extremely long) resume. Looking forward to some of the upcoming Wayne events in DC. I'm not a Wayne completist as far as recordings go (esp post-Blue Note), but I would see this quartet live again without hesitation.

I will be in NYC that week, and have purchased tickets to this. Have never seen Wayne perform live. Of the announced musicians, I've previously experienced Danilo Perez with his own trio, Dave Douglas as part of his Thousand Nights quartet (performing "Goldfinger", among other things, at the Chicago Cultural Center a long time ago), and Joe Lovano in various small group configurations. Looking forward to it!

...minus the entire Indians squad not named Masterson.

Congrats to LeBron and his teammates. As a longtime Cavs fan, I'll admit that I'm still a fan of his game, and find nearly all of the choker/can't finish/etc hating rather ridiculous at this point. But hey , that's sports. While I understand that Bosh does things that don't always appear on the stat sheet, I find him quite over-rated (...or at least way too much attention is paid to him). To my eyes, DWade is the one who has transformed into quite the prima donna. Would have been great if LeBron had bothered to recruit a single high quality player to play with him in Cleveland. Or set a single pick. Or post up. But none of that happened. At least he learned to play D and shoot 3's there. Pat Riley arguably tampered while LeBron was still under contract, but he is the essence of Smooth Operator (cue the muzak) and David Stern is not going to get in the way of sizzle. LeBron's Decision fiasco (not the actual move, just the utterly classless way it went down) was so much more full throated than any of the occasional apologies that have surfaced since. But he's matured, and largely just plays [Yes some unsightly complaining about calls.]. And congrats to the Spurs. I don't follow the western conference as closely, and I thought that much of the high regard for them was based on past performance (...and the fact that experiments in LA didn't work out too well). But they played extremely well given the advanced age of some of the parts there. Kawhi Leonard is the man. Not so sure about Danny Green. And getting anything useful out of Boris Diaw? Wow! Go Popp.

I just ordered this from importcds.com using a 10% off promotion ("SAVE10"), resulting in a price of $37.93 + $3.49 Shipping + $1.50 Handling = $42.92.

Contribution made via paypal. How are we doing now?

I'm in as well. Did I read somewhere around here that Organissimo may be hitting some dates on the east coast, say in the lovely mid-Atlantic region? [...or just wishful thinking on my part]

Yan Gomes! Twice. Next up two against Detroit. Corey Kluber vs. Max Scherzer (it will be tough to win that one) and then Ubaldo Jimenez vs. Justin Verlander (also tough, but a more even matchup).

Yes it is! [referring to the Cleveland ballclub] Tribe added some of their customary rehab/refurbish jobs (Scott Kazmir, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Brett Myers, Jason Giambi). Typically this would be it for the cheap franchise. But they broke team records with free agent contracts to Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, were opportunistic with Mark Reynolds (whom the Orioles didn't want to pay) on a one year deal, and lucky thus far with Ryan Raburn (and others). I'm not at all convinced that Swisher is any sort of stud and Bourn is no Kenny Lofton. National press making much of the Reds' addition of Shin-Soo Choo. It should be remembered that this is a one year rental of a Boras client who definitely needed a change of scenery, and the Tribe got back (as part of a large deal) prospect Trevor Bauer (who admittedly may be a head case), outfielder Drew Stubbs, and reliever Bryan Shaw who are all contributing. Outfield defense which was dreadful last season is now quite good--helps when you can put three good centerfielders out there (Bourn, Stubbs, and Michael Brantley). There have been a few injuries, but no one could have expected things to go much better than they have thus far (at least over last 20+ games). Starting pitching was (and frankly still is) the big question mark. Masterson has been a stud and Ubaldo is a recovering head case who may be able to give you 7 innings. We'll see how long it lasts. Too bad attendance is still poor. But being a cheap owner for years on end will tend to do that in a cash strapped market. Hopefully with school out and more reliably warm weather the gates will improve. Today's fun fact: Tribe is now 7-1 against Cy Young winners. They have now vanquished Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, R.A. Dickey, David Price, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Bartolo Colon. Only Cy loss was to Jake Peavy. And they are not just squeaking by in these wins.

Guess I'm late the party here. I've lived in Fairfax now for about 18 years. Traffic can be bad, but I don't know that it is significantly different than other major metropoli (e.g. Chicago). We live within walking distance of Metro (which is how I get to my DC job in the Penn Quarter), and know that there are destinations that are "far away" due to traffic (e.g. we've been to the Eastern Shore only two or three times). But there also is plenty interesting that is accessible (esp. when you let Metro do the driving). An important distinction is that we have no children, so no big issue if the ride sometimes stretches out due to traffic/train problems.

...keeps it interesting...

Jordan Zimmermann!!! (only 91 pitches)

No. He is not speaking to Cavs. I bet he ends up in Seattle if the Kings move there to take a GM or consultant gig. The Return of Mike Brown remains the current likely outcome in Cleveland. Already sick of the speculation about how having him back affects the possibility of a LeBron return. Please, give it up already! Would be useful if Cav defense improved significantly (a Mike Brown specialty, looking at you Kyrie!), but I'd be comfortable with Part Deux only if he had a strong offensive-minded assistant on his staff. Something that didn't quite happen the first time around. Lakers did make playoffs, so Cavs get to move up from #30 (Heat pick) to #19 (Laker pick) as part of the worthwhile Ramon Sessions trade.

The earliest that this will happen is when Fox's current NFL contracts expire, which I understand is several years from now.

Cavs had a shot to win #11 in the streak down in Miami. Led by 8 with about 5 minutes to go, but Heatles pulled it out 109-105. Tomorrow night: No Kyrie, No Waiters, No Varejao, No Chance!!! The offense (such as it is) will run through Tristan Thompson, Sean Livingston, and Wayne Ellington. LeBron will sit on the bench (comfortably) for the entire fourth quarter. It will be a showcase game for Cleveland State alum Norris Cole. Book it.

I hope he doesn't miss much, or only games that LAL have no chance to win. Lakers need to make playoffs so that their first round pick goes to Cleveland in exchange for the Cavs' Miami pick (figure to be about 30th). Otherwise Laker pick goes to PHX. Utah's fall in the standings has helped this possibility immensely.

Gotta include the Twins so that Bert Blyleven can visit.

Perhaps late to the party, but I just received a parcel from http://salemusic.com/ where the price for the Miles Bootleg Vol. 2 was $29.95. Shipping there is a flat $5.95 per order, so I also picked up the Stan Getz Complete Columbia box, Tyner's Fly with the Wind, and a Cezanne hardcover. They also have the Complete Columbia boxes for Woody Shaw, Duke Ellington 1951-58, and Louis Armstrong Okeh etc. Nice to see fewer of the Past Perfect titles taking up space in their catalog.

Notes from Big Sur and The Water is Wide definitely fit this category.

Yes, somewhere Mike Brown is hanging out, watching his kids play hoops with a large smile on his face.