JSngry

Pretty damn good. Piano's a bit funky, nut Hope's playing is wide open, sounding not at all unlike he's a step or five away from crossing over into early Ceciltaylorland. If I exaggerate, and perhaps I do, it ain't by much.

If they didn't, if they automatically accept "odd" OCR readings w/o any further human intervention, then that's incredibly piss-poor procedure. But it would also be incredibly cheaper, so who knows? No matter, for a company that size to not have at least minimal QC procedural safeguards in place... Not saying that that's not the way it is, but like I said, your typical Customer Service rep don't know squat about how the processing really goes down. Human error would, I should hope, be the more likely culprit, but maybe not. Also, here's a "dark little secret" -a lot of this type of data-entry work is being outsourced to foreign countries. The imaging technology makes it possible, since the checks stay at the processing center awaing whatever data completion neds to be done, and it can be done anywhere. If you want to really know how it works, skip the phonedrones & contact the processing center directly, or at least as directly as possible. Or even better, the head of the processing department. A lot og things go on "in the trenches" that the "brain trust" is either unaware of or looks the other way on. But when they start getting calls from customers, especially angry customers who threaten to make noise, they turn up the heat in said trenches to get the act together, at least for a little while. Make noise!

Man, that sucks! Do you do the .00 for cents, or 00 over the -- mark?(And zeros under the slash, does this make sense?) I just wrote a check to the IRS and they want the .00 for cents, but it seems to me a digital reader could miss a decimal point....I would think it would be something you could fight with your bank, surely it is illegal to write a check for a hundred, and have someone cash it for a $1000! I work in a payment processing center that uses OCR, and although I have no idea what type of system Discover uses, I can maybe offer some general information as to how this might have happened, at least in our system. Your payment coupon has a scanline at the bottom, which includes, among other things, your account number, and a payment amount (or two), which usually includes the full balance due and/or the minimum payment due. The payment envelopes that are of "standard" bulk (i,e. - one coupon and one check only) then get opened and read mechanically. If the amount read by the machine matches either one of the amounts on the coupon, that's as far as it goes - all the checks that meet this criterion are bundled together and sent off for encoding, and then straight to the bank for deposit, etc. The ones that don't get a "kill" are subject to further examination. In our operation, it's done through imaging - technicians see a captured image of the check and go from there. Ideally, these technicians assign a value to the check based on the amount written on the legal line, which is, as the mname implies, the actual negotiable value of the check. However, these techs are on production, and it's a helluva lot faster for them to key the numerical amount written in the courtesy box. So - if the image is less than perfect (quite common), or if there's a distortion to the image (ditto), or if there's a stray mark (same), or if the tech accidentally keys an amount with the decimal in the wrong place (not at all hard to do, although a thousand dollars would require some major miskeying,,,), and/or if the same tech is in a hurry (it's pretty mindboggling how many payments a major processing center processes per hour, especially on a high volume day, and production quotas are some folk's raison d'etre, staff and management alike), voila - there's your error. Now - shouldn't your bank catch this before the money goes out of your account? That depends - groups of encoded checks (called "batches") run through your bank like water through a sieve, and the total of the reported (by the company) encoded value of each batch is matched against what the bank's machine actually records. If everything balances, nobody gives it a second thought (or look), and it's up to the customer (you) to spot the error. If, however, a batch does not balance, or if there is a mechanical error processing the batch, then it gets looked at, and all encoded values are matched against the amount written on the legal line. That's when an error is picked up on by your bank. Like I said, that's the way it goes with the company I work for. Don't know how different Discover is, but it can't be that different. Something else, though - it's been my continued experience that the average Custome Service rep don't know jack shit about the inner workings of their company's payment processing operation. Or, if they know anything, it's just enough to make up a bunch of speculative bullshit to feed/placate the irate customers who call in needing errors to be fixed. Nobody in the coprporate world, it seems, is able to fess up to simple human error. It's always something else, except when there's inter-departmental power trips going on, which is most of the time. Anyway, I'd be less upset about the error happening (assuming that it was quickly and effectively resolved) than ignorance/buck-passing of everybody involved. And - if your bank didn't catch the error, I'd give them a call too. They need to know about it as well, for the purposes of their QC evaluation process Bottom line in matters such as this -the process is becoming increasingly "hands off", and the technology ain't near good enough to yield flawless results yet. In time, it probably will be, but thattime is not "just around the corner". The process is getting incredibly faster (and therefore, in the eyes of those who rule, more "efficient", which is to say cheaper), but it leave ample opportunities for errors such as the one you had. Nobody in a postiion of visibility wants to openly admit to that, but there it is.

Well, if you were gay, would you want to be associated with Kenny G? I think not!

And let's not forget how he gave John Snyder free reign (for a minute or two, anyway...) with Horizon.

Dan, it was an original copy, none the better for the wear, but still listenable. I also found your BFT selection whilst Googling. I remember liking that cut quite a bit. How soon we forget... Jim, you got mail!

A good friend bought the Lp BERT MYRICK - ALIVE 'N WELL from Dusty Groove and sent me a burn. It's on the Strata (not Strata-East) label, and release date is not given, but the graphics suggest early/mid 1970s. However, it was recorded live on April 4, 1965. The music is very good mid-60s post-Hard Bop, very much in the mid-60s Blue Note "conservative-progressive"bag. Although the album is under Myrick's name, the group seems to be what was actually, according to the liner notes, the George Bohannon/Ronnie fields Quintet, rounded out by Will Austin on bass and BN "cult hero" Kenny Cox on piano. Cox also wrote the liner notes and provided the source tapes. Why the album was released under Myrick's name is not explained. A few questions about Bert Myrick (and Co.) for all the old Michigan vets: Is he still alive, and if so, is he still playing? Any rememberances of this particular group? What about Ronnie Fields? Is Bert Myrick any relation to Chicago altoist Don Myrick? How many other groups like this were active in Detroit at the time, and what type of local success did they have? Any idea why/how this Lp was released under Myrick's name? What else, if anything, did the Strata label release? The producer is listed as Bud Spangler. Any info about him? As always, thanks in advance.

Several, dating back to 1981. Dennis Gonzalez, Rob Blakeslee, and most recently, Quartet Out. All local, all self-produced, and all not to be found on AMG.

Depends. Mostly open these days, as the abilty/discipline/whatever to focus from within has become greater, but occasionally it's necessary. Note - eyes open in no way automatically means that you're looking at something. I've had my eyes open and not really been looking at anything. It's just that it's a more "natural" state, for me, anyway, usually, to let your eyes remain open than it is to close them. The name of the game is focus, and that ideally comes entirely from within, and by any means necessary. Of course, if there's a game on TV while I'm playing, that goes all to hell...

I dunno....the thing about Theismann is that he seems to be one of these guys who's not pre-disposed toward mouthing cheerleader lines at every turn and'll regularly say: 'hey, that was not a good move'. His equivalent in the golf world is Johnny Miller. While the herd is out there jumping all over the 3-wood that landed on the green, spun off a trap lip and wound up 2 feet from the pin, with a collective 'OOoooooo, what a spectacular shot!!', Miller says 'Ya know, I question that club selection....had he not caught that lip he could have easily skipped over that dry green and into the pond. He should have used a low iron and come in around the front of the green and then......". Theismann's got that goin' on too. Yes, he does have that goin' on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. And on. Etc.

Hell, when I'm playing a gig and MNF is on, I'm usually watching while I'm playing. Same for the World Series, etc. I saw Buckner's flub right in the middle of "Soul Man". Once played a series of blues gigs in 1983 during the MLB playoffs w/a harmonica who was a serious White Sox fan. This was before the Watchmans and all that, so, this cat brought a 12" portable B&W to the gig, set it up on the stage, and had it playing the entire gig. Hell, I watched that too! And as far as MNF and music goes, some of the best MNF and musical experiences I've had were in South Dallas bars, yeah, you gotta wait until the game's over, but the passion displayed during the game gets carried over to the enjoyment of the music afterwards, and that passion is nothing if not, uh, "intense". The problem is not sports, the problem is fans, and fans come in all types. Some of the hippest musicians I know are extreme sports fans. As are some of the biggest dickwads. So it just goes to show ya'.

I easily avoided Hank Williams, Jr, since I never got situated in front of the TV until just a few seconds on either side of the opening kickoff. Agreed too about the current ESPN NFL crew. What a bunch of second-stringers, except for Paul McGuire, who's always sat well with me. But Theissman & Patrick? Geesh...

So, where's Madden going to go? If he goes to NBC and gets paired with Dick Enberg, I think I shall blow chunks.

Wow...the end of an era.

Five - one to hold the candle, and four to get the cake burning. (sorry, dude, it's congenital )

"Casino Royale" was actually a pretty nifty single, but that's Bacharach. Then again, Bacharach did his early solo albums on A&M, and his productions for Dionne Warwick often featured that kind of pinched trumpet tone that Albert had, so which came first? Who knows, and who cares, but all I'm saying is that although most of the TJB's catalog is cliched and formulaic corn, pure and simple, there's occasional pieces of genuine pop nexusism to be found, if that sort of thing contributes to your daily pleasure. And then there's a John Pisano tune called "Slick" that is exactly that...

What I find interesting is how Allan Toussaint had hit songs with both Herb Albert and Al Hirt. Well. "interesting" might be stretching it, but...

This is Wayne & Miyako: Contrast and compare.

I don't know what's worse, Beechwood Aging, Aging Beechnut, or aging Beach Boys. Probably the last one, but it's close.

So, AGGIE87, when's your birthday?

This one is a keeper, for sure: One of "neither/nor" records in terms of being "European" or "American" in it's concepts (close enough to either, but not enoguh to stick). It is what it is, and Jan Ptaszyn Wroblewski on tenor has the kind of sound and feel that makes you want to hear more and more and more.

Might as well face it, you're addicted to music journalism.

To dig out your old Booty People LP?

Even $5.99 is cheaper than most used joints.

Most of my list would be Classic Rock albums from the 70s and beyond. I lost interest in Mainstream Rock as anything other than "miscellaneous" music and/or driving music (which meant songs, not albums) in late 1970, and never really ever got back on track with it..