JSngry

I saw B.B & Bobby together about 5-6 years ago, and they were both obviously old and slowed down, and BB made a point to say that, yes, he would be sitting down all night, problem, officer? but, you know, those guys still carried an aura. I hope (probably in vain) that people for whom that was the only time to see either one of them went home thinking/feeling that they had seen BB King & Bobby Blue Bland, if you know what I mean, because, no, sorry, but you did see them, and those type of people, at least it's an idea of what was once going on Full Speed Ahead, Long Ago & Far Away. If you know that, then, yes, go see people like that even if all they do is stand there and drool a song, seriously, because that is a part of life too, and the name of this game IS life. Just know what it is at that point, okay? Hell, I saw Willie Dixon in New Mexico when he was 67 or so and I figured he was almost dead then. He wasn't, but you coulda fooled me. But damn, that was Willie Dixon, you know? Not very many people are. In fact, most aren't. So just pay attention to what is left, not what is gone, however that ends up being.

I went to school with a cat from Oakland who always laughed (not derisively) at the mention of Dr. Herb Wong. Apparently he was know (back in the day, at least) to come out to gigs and would give a few words on the music's behalf, and he'd speak exactly like his liner notes read, very enthusiastic, and not afraid to drop some words that might not everybody in the house understand. But he was just so...happy about it that everybody dug him, when he could have come off as just a presumptuous croak. But no, his love shone through and the feeling got spread. Gotta love a guy like that.

Just for the records, I'd have loved to have heard Bix on some Jackie Gleason records. Seriously.

If you deal with illicit substances obtained through illicit channels, you are taking your chances, no matter what, drugs, alcohol, music, movies, cars, whatever. Legit channels are quirky enough, but once you go out from between the lines, hey. If you trust anybody, I mean, really trust them, you're your own biggest enemy and/or fool. I don't expect "the government" to ignore all the illicit traffic, nor do I expect there to never be illicit traffic, nor do I expect them - any of them - to be Dudley Do-Right while not doing so, be it in enforcement, collusion, whatever. The government is made up of people, and people get weird when they think they're on an organized mission. Hell, gangsters, G-men, doctorslawyersindianchiefs, put any of 'em on an organized mission and watch shit get weird, just wait long enough and shit will get weird. Once the name of the game becomes Help Yourself/Be Somebody, look out now! As a result, eyes wide open, always, and be ready to die, always. And whose "fault" is it? Hell, it's nobody's fault. Being stupid is what people do best. They do smart pretty good do, but not as readily, not as rapidly, and not as collectively. Sorry, Bix. Had you lived, you might have made some records with Jackie Gleason!

Marion Rombauer Becker Ethan Becker Irma S. Rombauer

Crazy! I'll tell the people I know that they're wrong about the 45. I consider myself corrected, although still wondering about some things. Namely - what about this Jerry White guy? That looks like a story untold, perhaps? And where can I get these Don Wilkerson Blue Beat records?

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Cowboys, send them next door and let them grow up to be Colby Lewis, at least in terms of professional character. http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=340419113 I remember in 2012, he was holding his arm up in some kind of cast, this was his contract year, and everybody said, damn, Colby's dead, and the Rangers said, no, this guy is important to us, and gave him a deal. Then in 2013, the hip thing came up and everybody said, damn, not only is Colby dead, he's left-on-the-side-of-the-road-with-his-guts-spilled-out-and-the-flies-all-a'swarmin' dead. But the Rangers said, no, this guy is important to us and gave him a deal. Then this year, ok, Colby will battle valiantly and will be there in the minors to come up when/as/if needed, but we'll not see Colby Lewis pitch in the majors ever again, thank you for your service. And then, MOOB - Tanner Scheppers (being groomed to be The Future Closer) is your Opening Starter and now on the DL, Matt Harrison's back gets funky (great rehab start tonite in Frisco tonite, btw). D-Wreck Holland was already out from breaking his limbs playing hockey with his dog who was driving while texting (or some such crazyass Holland-istic Act Of Holland-ism), and now who ya' gonna call? Colby Lewis, right on, damn right, hell yeah, that's who. And of course, he is there and he does answer. His body might crumble and fall forevermore into the boneheap of dustbindom the next start (or one other of them), but damn, hello one more time, Colby Lewis. Much love here.

Peter Gunn Rodney Peete Stirling Moss

Sounds like you missed the first rebirth, 1990. But the second began around 2011. Link I can't say I've seen brick and mortar stores focused on 8-tracks in the past decade or so, but they're often displayed prominently in the hipster botiques. (I use the term "hipster" pretty loosely. Beyond Brooklyn and Portland, I'm not sure what to call the people in Salt Lake City and Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Seattle...) I told my son about this rebirth of cassette today, and his immediate response was, "what, has vinyl gotten too popular?" On the personal experience front, we took a trip out to East Texas today to see relatives, and decided, hey, I'm getting tired of using the cassette hole in our 1999 Accord for that adapter, let's use it for cassettes, so I grabbed a handful of things I knew made good road music. Caravanseri ejected at he end of side one, the leader tape just kept going and pulled itself loose, game over. Borboletta played fine all the way through (and got me to considering that maybe I liked it more than Caravanseri after all, and believe me, after 40 or so years, that's not a decision to make lightly), but there was definitely some high-end loss due to tape his due to years of road trips. That got us out there. On the way back, after stopping at the cemetery to see Mom & Dad, in went some Sony Classical thing from 1999 with Firebird, Daphnis et Chloe, and Petrushka. Firebird & Daphnis did well, but as Petrushka (Side Two) wore on, the pitch started getting real wobbly and I decided to eject before something cassette-y happened. People who have walked on streets and roads on the last quarter century of the American 20th Century have seen the carnage and know what I mean. So, moral of the story...analog, yes. Cassette....Really? ?

I like that expression "dead heat". Usually when we think of dead we think of cold, but imagine a murder victim, perhaps by stabbing, on a cold night as they first fall to the ground dead or near dead. You know there will be steam and heat around it as the blood starts coming out and over everything, especially if it's something like a slashed throat, blood, still warm blood, just galloping to get out. Dead heat indeed!

The Sonny is probably a duplicate of the two Moon discs too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Dp6N1AZgQ

Gene Rayburn Farmers Insurance Agents Gene Pool(e) Watson & Crick

Phil Roof Phil Regan The Energizer Bunny

Wooden Joe Nicholas Red Nichols Penny Singleton

Our Hero! Ok, yes, I do still have many, many cassettes, but...really? Analog is still King (Sentimental Division), but you had to buy damn good blanks to not get obvious hiss, and 1 7/8 IPS...again...really? I make it a point to get stuff on CD that I only have on cassette. Legit stuff, that is. The whole point of "settling" for cassette was portability, and shooooot...that game ain't even close these days. Hiss, jams, broken/streched tapes...it ain't like it's an LP, something built to (theoretically/ideally) endure. The whole point was to play it in your car or on your jog or even worse. OTOH, if it = this hipster cassette fetish gets music distributed to people looking for it, hey, win-win.

Maybe it was on Board Krypton, but wasn't it scientifically proven that that was about as fast as you can play tempo and still have it heard/felt as "time" rather than "pulse"?

Oh well!

Not just punkropockov: http://www.parlourtapes.com/ http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/parlour-tapes-contemporary-classical-cassette-spektral/Content?oid=12264058 I have heard some of this music and find it attractive. The cassette thing seems kind of gimmicky, but they also do downloads, so yes, go for that hipster-hook if it gets them fish to bites it.

Sir Mix-A-Lot Little Miss Sunbeam Bread

I heard him with Santana first, a bit before I realized that George Shearing made anything other than easy-listening elevator-jazz records. But the path did lead back. That's a long life he had playing a lot of music with a lot of fine, fine players. Hard to say who was more blessed, him or his listeners. Maybe that's the point, to have it all even out like that. RIP, and muchas gracias, con el máximo respeto.

Sonny Clark Quintets = the bonus cuts from My Conception & Cool Struttin'. The latter cuts were also released by BN Japan along with the original album as The Complete Cool Struttin' Session, but in America...not sure. They're probably going to release My Conception in its original form.