Patrick

Obviously, there is an inverse relationship between frequency of pledge drives and the amount that would need to be raised/donated on a given drive: more frequent fundraisers, less required per drive. While participants may face different financial challenges at different times of the year, my preference would be for a single, annual fundraiser. My sense is that the "annual subscription" amount shouldn't be too burdensome for most folks to deliver all at once, especially if they could plan ahead a bit (take those last few CDs out of your shopping cart--come back to them later). Maybe make the collection of funds at the beginning of the year--New Year's resolution, starting the year off right, investing a little capital into a project that produces high returns (in terms of enjoyment etc). Maybe that timing would not be good for people that get a bit overextended purchasing holiday gifts, but your contribution here would be another gift, a gift to yourself and this community of jazzheads. Since it would be voluntary, those folks that needed to spread payments over a period of time could do so. But with a once-a-year setup, we wouldn't all receive frequent prompting for additional cash. [Maybe there is a way to use PMs for folks that need to "finance" their donation over a period of time.] As noted, more frequent requests would be easy to tune out. A major defect of PBS, in my opinion, is the (what seems) constant begging for bucks, and the turn to self-help nonsense that they don't show any other time of year. While it is necessary to pay the bills, asking for donations distracts from why we really congregate here [...insert your own punchline about astronaut sex, or ...]. In addition to having one fundraising period, I think it would be good to have a well written paragraph or two explaining to a newcomer what the deal here is (how this place is run/funded, what makes it special), and placed, if possible, where it would be seen by guests or newly registered participants, and not get too much in the way (maybe pinned somewhere?). It would encourage donating in the intervening period. Plenty of good writers (...maybe fewer good typists) around here, so it should be possible to craft something that is reasonably effective without sounding too much like begging, guilt tripping, self-congratulatory etc. Twelve months may be a long time, so in addition, perhaps an occaisional nudge (if the current balances are not high enough) from someone on Jim's Board of Directors, aimed in part at folks that became active after the most recent organized collection of funds. Maybe a broadcast PM to all of us directing folks to a new thread in the forums discussion area which would be passing the hat. Naive paypal question: If I donate without using a credit card (I use funds from a balance held at PayPal), doesn't the recipient (maybe if it's not itself a business) get the full amount? That's how I read the Paypal fees. So if you don't have a bank account linked to Paypal, sell a few CDs on eBay, insist on Paypal payments without CC, and donate the proceeds here!

Let me join the large chorus thanking Jim for all of the time, effort, and resources he spent creating and maintaining this jazz board. As the good ship BNBB was taking on water, I wondered how successful anyone would be at transforming that situation (great collection of knowledgeable and friendly participants, flawed corporate ownership/oversight) into a new venture. Jim really delivered!! Deep gratitude and respect for all of the non-music effort being expended by a guy with a young family trying to make it as a professional musician. [Repeat that last sentence again!] Perhaps the source of that energy was all of that clean living in Michigan . Like a few others that posted earlier in this thread, my time spent here largely was as a lurker [‘cept maybe when a thread’s focus turned to a couple of small market sports teams stationed along the north coast, or the next great CD fire sale]. Way too many items from this board to be thankful for, but just a few representative items that spring to mind as I type now (in no particular order): getting hipped to Frank Hewitt, Maria Schneider, Mingus’ East Coasting, Jazz in Paris, the Nessa AEC box; news of the bigtime Concord/OJC firesale, Night Lights, CD shop recommendations in various towns and online (esp StereoJack’s and Dusty Groove), getting hipped early to forthcoming BN reissues, reading eyewitness stories about jazz greats from yesterday and today. Besides all of Jim’s hard work, the key ingredient here is the community of individuals willing to share their knowledge, stories, passion for the music, etc. Thanks again Jim for fostering this in such a tremendous way. Like others, I am willing to pay an annual fee for the privilege, but I suspect that it is more than $$ here. [Repeat that sentence above one more time!] At the very least, let us know how we can keep up with the activities of that great jazz organ trio Organissimmo! Gotta catch you live again when you next past through DC, and maybe even introduce myself to some of the connoisseurs from my neck of the woods--folks with monikers like Bertrand, Stefan, mr jazz, weizen, … And what about the next big O recording project?

Just happened to be listening to Randy Weston's With These Hands... when I clicked on this thread. RIP brother Cecil.

I took too long to place an order--the Steve Lacy Monk tribute and the Koglmann/Konitz Duke tribute have stocked out. Maybe I got the last Shepp, I Know About the Life?

Mentally?

That's interesting. I just assumed the computer automatically sorted things out as far as what was eligible for the discount. I don't think the computer does it. Awhile ago I used a similar Borders coupon to purchase Zawinul's Brown Street (which is two discs in a slim case). Coupon claimed to be for single disc items, but the worker applied it to Zawinul (as well as some single RVGs). The original price on Brown Street wasn't that high, so that may have contributed to my ability to use the coupon. ...Just don't try to use it on the complete Ella songbooks box (or something similarly huge).

Glad to read the injury appears to be healing well. Gotta ask whether this episode will have any effect on the next tune title in the "Clay Yo Hands", "Stomp Yo Feets" line...

Berigan, thanks for posting that. I've never waded deep into the sabermetrics, but enjoy reading Neyer when the price is right.

Please. It's a regular season award. Sabathia had a slightly better regular season. If your complaint is only about the margin of victory, then count that up to the scoring system. Don't know what Neyer said about it today because I refuse to pay to be an Insider. I thought Stark had a decent grumbling about it toward the end of the regular season, but can't seem to locate it now, though here's at least one version of it [dated September 30]: Maybe I'd also put less importance on the "versus aces" numbers, but it's still tough to beat Johan Santana (15-13, 3.33 ERA, 5 of those losses against Cleveland--3 to CC, 2 to Fausto) even if the Twins weren't great this year. Maybe Beckett has a similarly impressive list of aces he beat during the regular season, but I haven't heard about it. How often did Beckett pitch at least seven innings, give up 2 runs or less, and not get a win? Twice, earning losses against Toronto and Cleveland. How often did Sabathia pitch at least seven innings, give up 2 runs or less, and not get a win? Six times, resulting in two losses and 4 no decisions. Would you still complain if Sabathia had say two more wins? Say what you want about how tough it is to pitch in Fenway, Beckett benefitted from pitching for a team with a more prolific offense (home and away). And doesn't quantity of high quality starts/innings get some consideration here? And yes, I think it's obvious to everyone that just about everyone (including Beckett and Sabathia) would prefer a championship ring instead of an individual honor like the Cy Young. Congratulations to Beckett for his awesome post-season. He and his teammates rose to the occaision.

Perhaps only folks in Ohio will recognize the name, but one of the current all-time greats for basketball radio play-by-play is Joe Tait. Legitimately in the same category as Chick Hearn and Johnny Most (...just in a much smaller market with much less NBA success). Initially recommended to ownership by original Cleveland Cavaliers coach Bill Fitch. After the '80-'81 season, was fired by the all-time worst owner in any team sport, Ted Stepien (RIP). Returned to announce Cavaliers games two seasons later (after working for the Nets and then Bulls), and is still doing games today. Tait works by himself and tells you everything you need to know about the game, and little else. If you turn on a game midstream, you will know the score very quickly and how the teams are performing with no guesswork. It's unfortunate that the radio and television feeds are not in sync. After listening to both, you have great reason to believe that this incongruence is on purpose (...so that folks will actually listen to the tv guys). Great Joe Tait calls

My Damn Ovaries

On Borowski, I think it was a team option and Shapiro exercised it. They think he's recovered medically. I see the point regarding Manny if it's specifically about discipline in preparing to hit--he'd be a good example for that. Like Albert Belle was. If one can rely on the other vets for the other stuff, then maybe MC would improve in Boston.

And in much smaller news, Tribe picks up one year options on three of their potentially available pitchers: Joe Borowski ($4M), Aaron Fultz ($1.5M), and Paul Byrd ($8M). Given the HGH mess, the last is a bit of a surprise given MLB hasn't informed Byrd/Tribe what, if anything, will happen to him. Byrd is a 4-5 guy in a good rotation, and that's probably a reasonable price (or a little rich) for him if he's not suspended for 50 games. Borowski is overrated/underachieving, but appears not to be a headcase like Wickman was (so hopefully, Betancourt, Perez or someone else can ease into closing and Borowski can become a 6th inning guy. Come on Wedgie, thinkabout it... ). Fultz is a decent lefty matchup guy, and inexpensive. Main goal for Tribe is to find a powerhitting leftfielder, most likely via trade. One possibility suggested by the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto is Jason Bay in Pittsburgh. Some knee problems, but a reasonable contract. And another ex-Indians man in the front office there (Neal Huntington). And if someone else signs Kenny Lofton, Tribe will be entitled to a sandwich pick in the draft. Come on down! Your ticket to the postseason! Sign Kenny up for your team TODAY! Interesting about Miguel Cabrera. Have no idea what it would take or (more importantly for the present conversation) what I'd be willing to see the Tribe surrender. The Ortiz/Ramirez influence in Beantown might be helpful, or not... Does Manny really lead in that clubhouse, by example (?) or otherwise? He always struck me as this amazing hitter who was a bit deficient in other categories (including giving enough attention to anything not hitting-related), and even shy. I think Ortiz has been helpful to Manny outside the batter's box. Not sure if that would also work with MC. Maybe it would.

So there's your confirmation that Coco has some appeal despite his recent hitting struggles. I would think the Yanks would jump at a Crede-for-Damon swap since the salaries are quite uneven and I don't think they'd do any better than Crede. ...And confirmation that his price is a leading attribute. Funny, no mention of glove...

Cool. Thanks, David

David, Nice show--fun/good for me to get educated a bit about Sun Ra. Do you intend to provide a playlist link (I found this useful for the Lighthouse All-Stars program)?

(May have missed a mention of) Maxine Roach

At the very least Coco matches Hunter defensively, and would probably get a significant boost as a speedster hitting on artificial turf. He's also highly affordable, locked up for something like three years and 18 million or so. Hansen remains only 23 years old and could very well replace the Twins closer in a year, since Nathan is the next one to leave for greener pastures. Manny Delcarmen is also regarded as having the best "pure stuff" on the entire Red Sox staff, and Masterson happens to be someone that Tony Gwynn coached at San Diego State and regards as a future ace. Its hardly offering table scraps for Santana. And where were you when your team unloaded Renteria for a couple of prospects? I am a Coco fan, but Crisp's best attribute is his current salary. Not sure how great his arm is compared to Hunter--stats suggest he has similar or better range in the field, but he is a much much weaker power hitter. Not sure that moving from Fenway to Minnesota will help his SLG, or that his BA won't diminish when he's not part of that stacked Bosox lineup. Coco worked on a new higher arm slot last spring and it definitely seemed to help this season - on the other hand, I've never really thought about Hunter when it comes to his arm, I imagine it is better than Coco's (or Jacoby's for that matter) but I would say in playmaking skill, Coco and Torri are equivalent. Moving to Minnesota could help his slugging to the extent that he gets more groundballs through the hole that he turns into doubles and line drives in the gap that skip past the defense because of the turf and go for triples. Plus the overall dimensions are smaller - Coco hitting righty could turn around a fastball and hit out in Minny what would likely be a double at Fenway. And I really don't understand why you think his BA was artificially elevated in the Boston lineup. Beyond the fact that he hit eighth or ninth most of the year, since when does BA get effected by lineups? I thought things like RBIs, runs scored, maybe OBP are effected by lineup, but BA??? BA is about the only truly "personal" statistic a batter has. Perhaps Coco would benefit from the turf and will get a few more doubles/triples. I'm not predicting that Coco's BA will definitely decline somewhere else, or that he faces more favorable pitching batting seventh (in front of those sultans named Varitek and Lugo ) but come on, you yourself were explaining how Youkilis benefits from his spot in the stacked Boston lineup. Didn't they try Coco batting first or second for awhile, and would batting first or second in Minnesota be comparable? How about Youkilis batting third in Kansas City?

At the very least Coco matches Hunter defensively, and would probably get a significant boost as a speedster hitting on artificial turf. He's also highly affordable, locked up for something like three years and 18 million or so. Hansen remains only 23 years old and could very well replace the Twins closer in a year, since Nathan is the next one to leave for greener pastures. Manny Delcarmen is also regarded as having the best "pure stuff" on the entire Red Sox staff, and Masterson happens to be someone that Tony Gwynn coached at San Diego State and regards as a future ace. Its hardly offering table scraps for Santana. And where were you when your team unloaded Renteria for a couple of prospects? I am a Coco fan, but Crisp's best attribute is his current salary. Not sure how great his arm is compared to Hunter--stats suggest he has similar or better range in the field, but he is a much much weaker power hitter. Not sure that moving from Fenway to Minnesota will help his SLG, or that his BA won't diminish when he's not part of that stacked Bosox lineup.

Hey Hoppy, I was there at the DC show as well, and enjoyed it. Jason personalized it some by playing a taped interview of him explaining how he first heard some of the Monk recordings being played by his folks at home--apparently one such instance was when his parents had something like Crepuscule on while the television (sound turned down) presented coverage of the death of a revered local politician. In at least two places, Moran had headphones on and was apparently playing with the Town Hall recording, but we only heard his piano part. Later in the presentation, all musicians put headphones on and started to play--presumably this was each of them playing along/improvising with the same tune, but not listening to the other members of the live ensemble. An interesting brew. Definitely historically based, but as you say, absent of cliche. Did you stick around for Bad Plus after the break? In about an hour they managed to squeeze in (among a handful of originals) "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Tom Sawyer" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (or whatever that tune is). While a fan of their first two Columbia albums, I was a bit underwhelmed. At least it is obvious that BP drummer Dave King really enjoys percussing. Gotta say, really lame presentation by Washington Performing Arts Society. Don't know if the Moran show was added at the last minute, but no programs and a lame set of announcements that dragged on at the beginning. Hopefully the Sonny Rollins show in the spring will not suffer these inadequacies.

Thanks everybody! Rachel, very tempting, indeed. Is this deal only available when Organissimo is there to provide the music? Kept it pretty simple this year. After a weekend of dance and music (Martha Graham Dance, Greg Osby, Jason Moran/Bad Plus, friend's halloween party), stayed home with the spouse and the Ledo Pizza she brought home (thick cut pepperoni, pastry-like crust--it's not Giordano's, but very good in its own mid-Atlantic way). Yum.

Count me among the non-Renteria fans, and count me a fan of Jurrjens. Still quite a bit of uncertainty with a young starter, but JJ pitched well in limited action this year. To me, this is a steal by the Braves. If I recall correctly, Guillen would only give up short if he was replaced by a gold glover. And to think he would have been the Indians shortstop if Omar Vizquel hadn't flunked a physical in Seattle. (...so the Tribe had to deal Eduardo Perez (nice in a suit, and almost content-free on ESPN) for Asdrubal Cabrera ).

Friday Night: Martha Graham Dance Company at George Mason University. Was reminded that Copeland composed "Appalachian Spring" for Graham and titled it "Ballet for Martha". Saturday Night: Greg Osby Five at Kennedy Center. Adam Birnbaum, p, Christopher Tordini, b, Reggie Quinerly, dr, and Sara Serpa (mostly wordless) vocals. First official gig for this ensemble--mix of Ornette, Monk, and original tunes. Sunday night: double bill of Jason Moran (presenting a multi-media Monk-inspired piece), and the Bad Plus (not trying to be ironic) at George Washington University.

I'll take the under, and be happy for Lester's return.

Park effects and a DH may explain small parts of it (and it's a tiny sample of games), but for the 2007 postseason, it looks like the Red Sox have the pitching AND the hitting. Red Sox/Beckett had a dominant game 1 win against Tribe in a series that went 7, after Tribe took game 2 at Fenway. I agree that this is pretty much must-win territory for Rockies.