JSngry

Not so sure that I would disagree with you. Look, I've heard talk for a long time about going "beyond Bird". That's bullshit. You can't go beyond Bird, because Bird was everything. If it existed in life, it was in his playing at some point. Now, what you can do, and what I'm a big believer in, is going different than Bird. Bird's way was just one way, and there's no limit to the number of ways there are to go. Never has been, and hopefully never will be. But no matter what way you go, you're not going to go "beyond" where Bird got, nor "beyond" what Bird was. Such a place does not exist. If you can do so well as to get to where Bird got going your own way (and maybe, maybe, a few people have), you've been blessed.

Next on Behind The Music:

Also, the very best Bird is often heard on some pretty rough sounding airshots. The Dial/Savoy/Verve trilogy (none of which is in anything resembling "poor" sound) is far more often than not just the tip of the iceberg. Live Bird is a universe unto itself, a freakin' glorious universe, and the sound quality often requires active listener engagement. Deal with it.

Look, I'll probably be inducted into the Subjectivity Hall Of Fame on the first ballot, but by any universal objective criteria I can think of, the collective body of Charlie Parker's improvisations rank as some of the most profound music of the 20th century. The "sound quality" of the various recordings will eventually remain a factor only if you're listening to music strictly for recreational reasons and are either unwilling or unable to listen to the music as music and not just as a lifestyle accessory. If at some point you don't "get it", fine, but there's no excuse to be had from any source other than within yourself.

Just a thought - have you checked you email's trash bin to see if their response (if they've actually sent one) might have accidentally been classified as spam & autodeleted? I know it's not "supposed" to happen like that, where a new sender is automatically classified as spam and automatically deleted, but I've had it happen once or twice for some inexplicable reason.

Just for the record, when I did work out, it was never at a fitness club (except when I first moved to Albuquerque, LTB & I joined a Nautilus club that was really cool). It was either at a city rec center, a school weight room, or at a local Y. I know the atmosphere at some of those hardcore gyms can be pretty, uh, "intense", and sometimes there's a level of brain-dead machismo that's pretty hard to take. Plus, there's the matter of ethics. We tried to join a Bally's here in Plano, signed a contract even, only to be called back in to sign a contract which, amazingly, showed totally different terms than the one we had signed two days earlier! Immediate threats of legal action got that deal (and the one that we had already signed) rescinded in a bigass hurry! So I can appreciate the tactic of wanting a less "intimidating" atmosphere to encourage greater participation in a truly worthwhile (and profitable) endeavor. But dammit, it's working out. It's exercise. There's weight lifting involved. You can only go so far into it before it's time to shit or get off the pot. And should you choose to shit, hell, anytime you shit, there's going to be a possibility that there's to be some occasional grunting involved. DUH!

Oscar Hammerstein Oscar Madison Ollie Matson

this is not accurate, Jim, and I think you know it. He violated the rules (as inane as they may be). He was told his membership was being cancelled, to stop lifting and follow her to the front desk. He ignored her, continued to lift weights, and behaved in an intimidating manner to the female manager. That's why the police were called. Well, yeah, but if his story is to be believed, the "intimidation" consisted solely of saying "I’m not grunting, I’m breathing heavy", ignoring her request, and continued exercising (and I've done enough working out to know that it's not at all a good thing to stop cold in the middle of a set unless something crashes or is about to crash. Just as you don't try to take away a dog's food while it's being eaten, you don't interrupt a serious set of reps. Totally uncool.). Even if his story is not to be believed, there's no allegations of physical or verbal threats (oh sure, he got "loud" & "offensive". WTF does that mean, that he grunted again? ) or anything like that. Nothing concrete other than that he refuted her assertation in some form or fashion & went back to work. So if all it takes for a fitness center manager to get intimidated and call the cops in is somebody not respecting their authori-TIE, then I stand by my original assertion that this is a clear cut case of Wimps' Revenge. Read the club's "techniques" & comments by other members. WTF is that all about anyway? People who get turned off by sweat, grunts, any of that, clearly have a hard time dealing with the simple realities of physicality (I shudder to think what making love to them would be like), and shouldn't be running something as purely physical as a fitness center unless their sole goal is to make the money, in which case, they should get the phuk out of the way, hire a manager who knows what time it is, and let the money come in all clean and sanitized through the bank. You don't create a supposedly serious environment for working out and then bitch when people actually do it. WIMPY! Truly a world gone wrong.

Yes, I think so. See you at Planet Fitness!

Nowhere Man Chicken Man (He's everywhere, he's everywhere!) Goose Tatum

I've gotten burns of all those Atlantic sides, and I can only say that although Harley was definitely not a "major figure", he made some good albums that very effectively held together as "presentations" of his "point of view". No rush, but I'll probably spring for this set at some point.

Informed and concerned yes, but trying to discredit a book before it's even been seen or read is hardly a case of "expectations", it's just plain being a blowhard and tossing negativity without reason. Members of the audience have a right to expect discussion based on actual knowledge of the work being discussed, generally obtained by actually reading it or, at minimum, having some first hand exposure to it. This is the same kind of rubbish that goes on continually at the whiner's forum (www.stevehoffman.tv) - endless complaining and bitching about every single little trivial thing, even about stuff that not only has yet to be released - but has yet to be created! Please! I've read nothing in this thread that reflects any other sort of attitude than a desire for a good book, tempered by what I would consider legitimate concerns fueled by a review, concerns which were addressed straightforwardly and (at this point, convincingly) by the author himself. The author's answers were recieved graciously enough and the general attitude now seems to be one of eagerness to read his work, w/o any guarantees of finding it to anybody's particular likings (anything else, a "I know I'm going to love it before I even read it!" attitude is the fawning of fanboys). Fair enough, and what's the problem? And as for Tom's assertion that I can only say that both Larry Kart & Allen Lowe, each in their own way, have shown an ability to discuss their work in a very palatable manner (when the discussion stems from genuine points of concern and not disingenuous "criticism"). There's another guy who's seemed to take a Planet Fitness approach to his work, but hey - there's always that type. Tom, to his credit and at this point, seems to be the former type of guy. Here's hoping that once the book is out & has actually been digested, he comes back to address any concerns, questions, and/or criticisms that anybody might have in the same fashion that he's handled this pre-release mini-flurry of same.

Having played all-acoustic gigs in restaurants where they tell you to "play softly" and you do, only to be told to "play softer", and you do, only to be told that "it's still too loud", so you play so soft that you can't even hear each other, only to be told that "it's still too loud", I sympathize with the guy's probable realization that they didn't really want him there in the first place, so they were going to have to make him leave, and fuck'em on the way out while we're at it. Seriously - how can there be exertion w/o the occasional noise? Impossible. This gym is marketing the illusion of working out, not the thing itself, and they need to be honest about it ("Come to Planet Fitness, where nothing really happens!"). Some poor souls still mired in tired, outdated 20th Century notions like doing what you set out to do probably think that the object of working out is to work out. Planet Fitness owes it to the Wondeful World Of Tomorrow to not accept these people as members in the first place. Doing otherwise leaves the impartial observer with the impression taht they're only in it for the money, and I know that that's not it. They're on a mission to get people to exercise. Of course they are! They called the police on this cat! For the "crime" of making noise while excercising. In a gym! It's a world gone wrong, I tell you, a world gone wrong...

God knows I'm out of shape to the point of embarassment, but if & when I decide to get it back together, I'm not so sure that this is the place I'll be going... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/18/nyregion...l?th&emc=th Hey, I used to work out a little, and I understand that those "serious" types can be intimidating, either directly or indirectly. But geez, you gotta grunt sometimes. Besides, it's been my experience that people who fear being around people who have proven themselves highly adept at accomplishing a certain task don't really want to accomplish the same thing for themselves nearly as much as they want to just revel in the thrill of thinking about doing it.

Wow. Maybe somebody will start a smashmymosaic group...

Lady Bird Johnson Misty Knight Newton Minnow

otoh, writers should be encouraged by the fact that at least a portion of their potential audience will be informed & concerned enough to expect a well-researched & well-written book, unless they're hoping for the opposite so they can get by with writing slop. Knowing that expectations ae high tends to lead one to either excellence or evasion. Thankfully, Tom sounds like he's in the former category.

Post-Clifford Max on Mercury is some of the very best major label/artist music that you're going to have a hard time finding w/o effort. For those who know most of the music included, the set's a "no-brainer" (as in, yeah - you're going to want to get it, it's that good). I myself am going to wait until it hits Running Low, but I'll definitely be getting it. I've got most of the material on old Trip LPs & various Japanese issues in various formats, but what I don't have + my expectations of the total packaging make getting it the aforementioned "no-brainer". If I let it pass, it'll be one of the more stupid things I've done.

Tiberi lives to the best of my knowledge. You're probably thinking of Frank Vicari.

R.I.P. Ms. Brown. You kept it real. Much love and the fullest of props.

You made them up! (Where's the smiley with an accusing finger gone?) The first two are real, as any Superman fan will tell you. The third one, I don't know Gsptisnz was Mister Mxyzptlk's lady friend in a TV version, or something like that. I got it from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Mxyzptlk

Mister Mxyzptlk Mr. Kltpzyxm Gsptlsnz

Damn fine album. One or two lulls, but immensely more peaks. Just don't expect Sonny to sound like he did in the 50s, 60s, or 70s.

The Doug Carn made Japanese CD. It's a good, slightly Larry Young-ish set, but I much prefer his Black Jazz albums.