JSngry

We called Quartet Out "Post-Apocalyptic Be-Bop" whenever possible. People who liked the sound of that tended to come out, those who didn't stayed away. Win-win. The only issues we really ran into was with calling it "jazz". "Jazz Fans" & "The Jazz Industry" expected something that sounded a certain way, which was not how we sounded. So we pretty much decided early on to say fuck them and pursue alternative routes. Never really "made it", but we played some music of which I am proud, and it pleased people who wanted to hear music like that, which in turn pleases me to this day, all of it. Really, in the absence of a cohesive market & marketing system (absent in both us as a band and "them" as "them") what more can you ask?

I think that if you want to please people, then you should do what pleases the people you're trying to please. Hoping that you can do something that doesn't but wondering if maybe you can fool them into liking it by calling it something else, that's a pretty dumb idea. People aren't that stupid, not usually.

Larry, have you know any "professional commercial songwriters" in your life? The path of writing a song, getting a cheap demo made of it, getting it to the publisher, getting the publisher to get it to label's A&R dept, getting the A&R dept to get it to producers, to artists, ad infinitum, that's a whole 'nother world right there, and could probably fill several books worth of tales about how such-and-such a hit song ended up getting recorded. It's a world that's pretty much gone in pop music now, except for Nashville, where songwriters still go through that whole routine, and from what an acquaintance of mine who played the game for a couple of years told me, the hoops to be jumped through just to get a song auditioned by a producer are damn near epic in scope. But those demos still get made daily, still using real players!

I gotta laugh anymore when people complain about not having gigs and then almost immediately follow it up with something like "what I do is not something most people are going to like". Hey baby, wanna go out for dinner? Before you answer, let me warn you that you're probably going to find me repulsive, weird, and you're probably going to want to go home early. So, how does 7:30 sound?

Paris Hilton Conrad Hilton Robert Conrad

Florida Evans James Evans Thelma Evans

EXACTLY! Snappyass whitebread. I'm a fan!

Ah, not so much that, just that...from what I know about the "typical" Japanese character (as much as there is or isn't such a thing), such things might have been more hurtful to a Japanese player at a level that maybe a lot of Americans wouldn't think about. Then again, there's Donnie Moore, so...who knows, really. I'm just sayin'....maybe it should be a "lesson learned" going forth. Maybe.

Between "Fat Toad" & "Upperdecki"...was the guy allowed to have any face left to save? I mean, I know it's America, & I know that The Boss was The Boss, but still... Maybe relevant, maybe not. Just kinda makes me cringe a bit, all things considered. One more ? in the Hall Of ???? about the experience of "international" talent in pro American sports.

This is sad... Hideki Irabu found dead; suicide suspected http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/28/hideki-irabu-found-dead-suicide-suspected

If I'm going to use "change" to mean that if you play two records by the same person back-to-back and you'd never guess they were by the same person based on tone and proclivities of phrasing, one of the first names that comes to my mind is Benny Golson. Comparing how he went into his Hollywood-writing-and-not-regularly-playing-for-public-consumption period and how he came out of it, I really had a hard time hearing it as the same guy. It wasn't atypical case of shedding youthful influences in the cause of getting a personal voice, it was more like a wholesale reevaluation of what he wanted to do and be as a player. Also, maybe, Hampton Hawes, especially in the 70s. some pretty basic reconsiderations going on there. For that matter, Henry Grimes.

Are we distinguishing between "changing" and "evolving"?

I'm sure we bring different backgrounds to this, so take this for what it is and/or isn't worth, but I had massive, immersive, exposure to British Invasion AM Pop pretty much nonstop thoughout 1964, and no, she doesn't necessarily sound "boyish" to my ears, but she doesn't sounf\d "feminine" either, at least not relative to what that word conjures in my mind relative to the time and place from whence it issued. Wayne Newton in those days didn't really sound "girlish" but he didn't sound "masculine" either. I like that song and that record very much, actually. That era of British pop had some great sounding records, really wonderful rich & deep reverb that created a sound sub-world unto itself (not sure if it was a question of studios or boards or a combination, or what, exactly, but I love the sound of those records, a good song/performance is really just icing on the cake for me), and this is a prime example. I just don't immediately hear it as being "sung by a girl", which is neither here nor there, just somewhere else.

Pat Suzuki Ichiro Itchy & Scratchy

Four game series, this one is, Al. One more tonight, so hope for the split! (but last night's performance took the luster off Dollar Hot Dog Night for real. Inexcusable!)

Mileage is good on the ability front, but does vary on the "feminine"-quality of the timbre of her voice, that first cut in particular...maybe it's the stark contrast between the sound and the appearance, but...a female equivalent of the young Wayne Newton was definitely what came to mind, and still after a re-listen this morning. Not that that's a bad thing, just that...it is what it is. OTOH, I think we can all agree that whatever sterling moments Ms. Winehouse might have had, "It's My Party" was not among them. Good GOD that sucks!

Vinnie Terranova Mel Profitt Sonny Steelgrave

Dean Chance Bo Belinsky Joan Collins

Snappin' dat record ass all up and in, goin' HAM! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESm7nfPM4qo And finally, to come full circle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07IAeWA6lUk&feature=related

That Helen Shapiro chick sounded more like a teenaged boy than Wayne Newton did a teenaged girl. A duet would have been confusing as hell for most, although no doubt a secret wet dream for those who would have such things about such things. The thing that caught my eye (and stuck in it) was that she had the original on "It's My Party". This clips allows us to finally credit the synergistic genius of the Leslie Gore/Quincy Jones partnership, becaus although Ms. Shapiro give the song a competent reading, Q & Gore snap the shit outta it, and that, Dear Friends, is what that song needs to get itself right and tight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxS3zhDv5AU

Now you get to buy three CDs instead of just two in order to have the music you want. Genius Of Modern Marketing.

Pete Rose Gypsy Rose Lee Rose Marie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLy1gNn5CB8 And now, The Safe Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af6puzkvR8o&feature=related Looks like this might be one of those songs that had many versions before it actually got laid down on wax: http://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/RAGGEDBU.HTM

Hey, comments about the economy should be reserved for the Political Forum!

In my book, that's not being honest, at least not with yourself in regards to your own abilities, and that in turn turns the good job you're trying to do into something more/less/different than providing competent impartial adjudication. Pretty much like anything else, a problem is best addressed from within. If and when the game is rid of these type umpires, then I'll gladly accept truly honest mistakes in umpiring being as much a part of the game are honest mistakes in player performance. But that's going to require some discipline amongst the umpires' union, and like all unions, when protection of jobs for incompetents takes precedence over maintaining high standards for the trade itself, well, that's a problem that needs to be resolved by somebody. If the umpires don't want a solution imposed from without, they should handle it from within.