7/4

...and just in time for the holidays!

Keep in mind that the pianist, Vijay Iyer, spent some time playing with Steve Coleman and I also believe Mahanthappa has some form of relatioship with him as well. Steve Coleman, M-Base, and Music Collectivism Vijay Iyer here

December 22, 2004 Photos Show Mars May Have Active Volcanoes By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:12 p.m. ET Photographs taken by a spacecraft orbiting Mars indicate that active volcanoes may still exist on the red planet, further eroding its image as a dead world and offering prime sites to prospect for signs of Martian life. Images from the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter indicate geologically recent volcanic activity in the summit craters of five Martian volcanoes, with some areas showing activity as recently as 4 million years ago. Though long in human terms, 4 million years amounts to the most recent 1 percent of Martian history -- a strong suggestion that the planet retains a capacity for volcanic activity. ``I suspect that as we get more spacecraft in orbit that it will increase the chances of seeing some kind of active eruption,'' said Jim Head, a professor of geological sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I. He is one of more than 40 scientists who contributed to an analysis of the images to be published in this week's issue of the British journal Nature. In the last few years researchers have found abundant evidence of ice at the Martian surface and signs that water flowed there in the past -- most recently with the United States' twin robotic rovers still exploring Mars. There have also been signs of recent volcanic activity. The latest work suggests that water could still bubble up in hydrothermal springs on some of the planet's spectacular volcanic peaks. ``This is of great interest to biologists,'' said Michael Carr, a planetary scientist in the Menlo Park, Calif., office of the U.S. Geological Survey. In recent years researchers have discovered that hydrothermal environments on Earth are remarkably rich in life. Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor and hot springs on land provide the nutrients and energy to sustain rich ecosystems. Some biologists even argue that life began in such places. Martian hydrothermal systems would probably look much like the steaming pools and spouting geysers of Yellowstone National Park, Carr said. If such environments do exist on Mars, they would be a critical place for future missions to investigate. The Mars Express orbiter has been taking three-dimensional images of the Martian surface since January. The European Space Agency expects that by the end of its mission late next year Mars Express will have photographed the entire planet to a resolution of 33 feet. The researchers determined the age of the Martian volcanic features by counting craters on the Martian surface. When a volcano erupts and spreads lava over the landscape, it creates a smooth surface that is gradually pocked with craters as the planet is bombarded over the millennia by asteroids, comets and meteors. The rate of that bombardment has been established using a number of different methods. So by counting the number of craters in a patch of Martian terrain researchers can tell how recently it was resurfaced by volcanic activity.

AN EARLY PRE-INTERNET WAY OF TRACKING YOUR LISTENING HABITS.

Vijay Iyer - Blood Sutra

More like an 1 1/2 hrs. from NYC, but it's an amazing place.

Albany in in NY state.

Downtown Music Gallery

I would hope so. It is happening in Phily where the band lives.

clem's view.

Good news and just in time!

Rudresh Mahanthappa - Mother Tongue Jimmy Lyons box

This thread and his web site made me decide to pick up a copy this afternoon and I'm glad I did. I'm on track 6, this is going to get quite a few spins this weekend. I can see myself picking up his other disks and his sideman gigs with Vijay Iyer real soon too.

The first time I played the Knit, in '99 they wanted me to sign a release for a video recording for possible release on some video comp. I'm sure they did this with every one who played there. I didn't do it because I was making a DAT recording for later release and I didn't want any conflict of rights to my music. They seemed shocked. Later Zorn found out they had their web cam on 24-7 without any permission in the main space. He wasn't too happy about this.

Hey where'd you get the Slimer jpg? And what's it mean? (I'm curious because I was one of the producers of the Ghosbusters movies and tv show.) I drive past that firehouse all the time. (In Tribecca, right?)

sonny

December 16, 2004 Lisa Marie Presley Selling Elvis Estate By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:11 p.m. ET MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Lisa Marie Presley is keeping Graceland but selling the bulk of the Elvis estate, including rights to her father's name and image, in a deal worth approximately $100 million. Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. announced an agreement Thursday to sell 85 percent of its assets to businessman Robert F.X. Sillerman, founder of music and sports promoter SFX Entertainment. The Presley estate brought in almost $45 million last year. Sillerman said more aggressive marketing, supported by capital raised through a new publicly traded company, can make Elvis an even bigger earner. Presley occupies a unique place in American pop culture, and ``I don't think there's much likelihood his influence is going to wane anytime in my lifetime,'' Sillerman said by telephone from New York, where he runs the Sillerman Companies. As Presley's only child, Lisa Marie is the sole heir to the estate, most of which is now to become part of a publicly traded company that will be called CKX Inc. The agreement will pay her $53 million in cash and absolve her of $25 million in debts owed by the estate. She also is to get shares in the new company expected to be worth more than $20 million. Lisa Marie will retain possession of her father's home, its more than 13 acres of land and many of her father's ``personal effects,'' an announcement on the agreement said. ``For the past few years, I've been looking for someone to join forces with to expand the many facets of (Elvis Presley Enterprises), to take it to new levels internationally and to make it an even greater force in the entertainment industry,'' Ms. Presley, also a singer, said in a statement. Tours of Graceland, which gets 650,000 visitors a year, will continue unchanged. The throngs of fans drawn to Memphis each August on the anniversary of Presley's 1977 death will notice little different, Sillerman said. Although Elvis already ranks No. 1 on the Forbes magazine list of top-earning dead celebrities, Sillerman said new markets and business opportunities may be available, including abroad. ``Does it make sense to invest in Elvis Presley enterprises in Japan? Does it make sense in Germany? Are there things that can be done in other jurisdictions in the United States?'' he said. ``The answer to some of the questions is obviously yes, we just don't know which ones.'' Sillerman said the staff at Graceland will remain in place. Elvis Presley Enterprises was created in 1980 by Priscilla Presley, the singer's ex-wife and mother of Lisa Marie, who was still a child then. She is to remain as a consultant to the new owners. Sillerman founded SFX Entertainment in 1977 and ran the company until it was bought by Clear Channel Communications in 2000. He said he expected the sale to wrap up within two months, pending standard regulatory approval.

December 16, 2004 Knitting Factory Settles With Musicians By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:03 p.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) -- The owner of the renowned avant-garde music club the Knitting Factory reached an agreement with artists on its record label to pay damages for underreporting royalties, disposing of unsold CDs and not allowing artists to retain the rights to their work. Knitmedia Inc., which runs the Knitting Factory clubs in New York and Los Angeles and Knitting Factory Records, agreed to pay $1,250 in back royalties to each musician who signed on to the settlement, said David Lennon, president of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. The company also agreed to return to the approximately 80 artists all rights to their work and the master recordings. Existing inventories will be sold back to the musicians for $2 a piece rather than the standard $5, Lennon said. Jared Hoffman, who took over Knitmedia in mid-2002, said many of the issues in the dispute arose before he became head of the company and he was pleased to see them resolved. ``We are extremely happy that the situation has been resolved amicably and that we are finally able to put this distant past behind us,'' he said. The agreement was reached after several of the musicians who had formed a coalition called Take it to the Bridge in their fight against the company rallied outside the New York club Wednesday night, prompting a sit-down, Lennon said. Knitmedia also has agreed to enter into arbitration with those artists who were not party to the agreement over mechanical royalties dating to Jan. 1, 2000, and to return to them the rights to master recordings. The label has produced work by a wide variety of artists including Arto Lindsay, Charles Gayle and Gary Lucas. Marc Ribot, a New York musician who has played regularly at the club but was not involved in the settlement, said the situation underscores a lot of the difficulties independent artists face. ``There's a myth that its the little artist-friendly indie David against the corporate label giant. But artists get ripped off by both all the time,'' he said. ``What's unique here is that the artists organized to do something about it, and it was also one of the first times that a major union was supporting them.''

Paul looks like plastic surgery gone bad.

Happy birthday!

December 16, 2004 Jones's Suit Says Conte Defamed Her By JERE LONGMAN, NYTimes The former Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones filed a defamation suit yesterday against Victor Conte Jr., the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, charging that he had made false and malicious statements accusing her of using banned performance-enhancing drugs. Jones is under investigation by the International Olympic Committee, which is examining a doping claim that Conte recently made against her on the ABC program "20/20" and in an interview with ESPN the Magazine. Conte said he had devised a doping program for Jones, who went on to win five medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, by using banned drugs that were undetectable or difficult to detect in routine screenings. He also said he had witnessed Jones injecting human growth hormone into her leg. Jones has repeatedly denied using banned substances and faces no formal charges of cheating. Her lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in San Francisco and seeking $25 million, charges that Conte developed a vendetta against Jones after she refused to enter into a professional relationship with him and declined to endorse a legal dietary supplement called ZMA, which Balco manufactured. Conte was never involved in any aspect of Jones's training, the lawsuit says. Conte's animosity toward Jones continued to grow, the lawsuit says, when she entered a romantic relationship with the sprinter Tim Montgomery, who holds the world record at 100 meters and who has also had a falling-out with Conte. Conte's accusations against Jones have also threatened her endorsement contracts with corporate sponsors, the lawsuit says. The suit called Conte's credibility into question, noting that his lawyers publicly denied early this year that Conte had told federal investigators he provided illicit substances to Jones and other athletes. According to court papers filed on Jones's behalf, Conte's current accusations, which come months before he is scheduled to face trial on federal charges of distributing steroids and laundering money, "appear motivated by a desire to curry favor with prosecutors, garner sensationalized media attention, bolster Conte's own financial and other self-interests and harm an individual against whom Conte has a long-standing grudge." Conte denied the accusations yesterday, saying in an e-mail statement that Jones's lawsuit was "nothing more than a P.R. stunt by a desperate woman who has regularly used drugs throughout her career." Conte said he stood by everything he said on "20/20" and looked forward to the legal proceedings against him. "I am telling the truth and Marion is lying," Conte said. Whether or not she prevails in her lawsuit, Jones had already faced a difficult task in rehabilitating her reputation, legal and marketing experts said in the months before the Athens Olympics. In Athens, Jones did not win a medal in either of her events, the long jump or the 4x100-meter relay. Her former husband, the retired shot-putter C. J. Hunter, tested positive four times for banned substances before the Sydney Olympics. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in July that Hunter told federal authorities that Jones had also used banned substances before the Sydney Games and that he had helped to inject them into her. Jones's lawyers said Hunter was lying out of jealousy that his marriage had failed. Montgomery, with whom Jones has a young son, faces accusations by the United States Anti-Doping Agency that he used illicit drugs in the Balco scandal. The accusations were built on evidence collected by federal investigators during a raid of the Balco lab in September 2003. The case has not been resolved. The Chronicle reported in June that Montgomery admitted before a federal grand jury that he had used prohibited substances. Jones and Montgomery drew the concern of track officials by training for a brief period with Charlie Francis, the disgraced coach of Ben Johnson.

YIKES!!!

I liked the first couple of albums, then they went a bit limp for me.

No relation, but I want an order....