JSngry

Ok, I'm doing a show band gig in Farmington, NM in 1981 (don't ask, still haven't figured it out myself...), am pretty tanked myself, wearing this lovely off-white tailed tuxedo w/chocolate brown trim, and a very ruffled shirt (1981, remember) when this totally blitzed cat in dirty overalls, a thermal shirt, and a well-worn gimme hat walks up to me, looks me dead in the eye, and says, "You know son, It takes a big woman to weigh 300 pounds." Pause.... Belch... Then... Hiccup... Then... "And it takes an even bigger wheelbarrow to haul her around in." With that, he turned and walked away. Never saw him again. But I'll never look at wheelbarrows the same way again. So, what wise words sez the drunks you've ran across?

Motown and soul music. Then some good CTI stuff should get him goin'. Turrentine, Hubbard, Bags, etc.

http://www.moers-music.com/catalog/index.html

What does your co-worker ordinarily listen to?

I'm not sure that Joe got past the rehearsal stage w/BST, but I could be wrong. Either way, it was a very short-lived relationship.

This is all operating on the premise that there will always be enough people with enough disposable income to make the choices you describe. Right now, the trend is not in that direction, and as Wal-Mart continues to squeeze suppliers and competition, jobs continue to be lost. And as consumers (seemingly) mindlessly go for the "everyday low price" without any consideration of what the cost of that price is going to end up being, how do you stop the cycle? I live in a pretty affluent suburb, and I can tell you - the Wal-Mart "image problem" is a non-factor here. They gussy up the buildings, put a little extra effort into things like store cleanliness and such, and voila, they're on that Wal-Mart roll. The SUVs are as plentiful in the parking lot as the pickemups and the rustmobiles. Moreso in fact. The only solution I can see is to not shop at Wal-Mart if you don't have to. Lots of people don't have to, but they're doing it anyway. So whatcha' gonna do?

Depends on how thirsty you are.

I hope you're right, vibes, but as long as Wal-Mart's the proverbial 500 lb. gorilla, I can't see America becoming anything but a Third World country in another 25 years or so. Something's gotta give somewhere along the line. Time, as they say, will tell.

And call me a cab, Calloway.

Agreed. J.F. Jenny Clark on bass, iirc. Haden's on a tune or two as well.

Yeah, somewhere my late Dad's having one helluva a laugh at my current worries. But that's the gig. Too late to turn back now.

It can go on forever, and it will go on forever. Guaranteed. There comes a point where you can't squeeze suppliers any more, so you have to look at yourself. If necessity is the mother of invention, and there is a need to cut costs, then ways will be found to cut costs. Note: bold added Ah, there's the rub. The cult of suicide and cannabalism, eating yourself just to stay alive. Doesn't that creep you out just a little? Cost-cutting is always good, no matter who or how many people it hurts? That's a totally arbitrary value-judgement that has been made, and can just as easily (well, not in practice, but in theory) be unmade. If you need more consumers, you need more jobs. Jobs cost money. But they also create spending power, which means making some of the money back, right? Like an old poker buddy of mine says, "You gotta spend money to make money". Look, I'm all for efficiency, making a good profit, keeping your skills at a level of desirability and all that. That's just good old-fashioned smart. But what I'm not all for is this totally arbitrary decision that "there's always more", that you can cut and cut and cut and never bleed. It defies all logic. It's "true" only because "we" have decided that it is. There's no model whatsoever for it actually being true. In that regard, we're our own worst enemies, victims of a self-induced hypnotic trance. It's time to wake up and restore some semblance of sane balance (hell, even semi-sane semi-balance would be good enough) to the equation. Too skinny can kill you just as bad as too fat.

I don't know. I'm too hip to be cool.

Grossman's PM stuff is pretty cool, albeit in a totally gonzo way.

This is all well and good, but when does it reach the point of diminishing returns? And what does it mean when said point is not recognized as such? Stocks? Yeah, ok, so Mr. and Mrs. Normal American have a portfolio. Right on? But when they lose thier gigs and can't get comparable salaries, and they need some buckage? What're they gonna have to do? sell the stocks, right? And what are they left with then? Shit for money and NO portfolio. Let the good times roll. This whole cost-cutting and efficiency shit can't go on forever w/o eventually becoming counterproductive. It just can't.

What I want to know (and obviously never will) is this - if Artest stays out of the stands, does this thing die down eventually and not escalate into a near-riot? That's the point I tried making with my son, that sometimes it's better in the long run to take a hit, walk away, and get over it, instead of immediately going after the instigator. Look at the reality - Artest got hit with a beer, he's fired up and gets pissed. So what? When it's all said and done, he's still making umpteen million bucks, probably getting all kinds of tail, and the fan's still sitting there gonna have to shell out another 5-6 bucks for another beer and maybe have to go home to Rosy. Who's really the winner here. ya'know, thrown beer or not? There was no actual fan/player contact until Artest went cowboy. Then, yeah, he was facing the possibility of actually being assaulted. But how'd he get in that position? He put his own ass there, right? Think of the long-term consequences, not just the short-term "solution", which might end up being anything but. Seems like a good lesson, no? But my boy, he wasn't hearing any of that, and the ESPN guys didn't seem to be either. It bothers me that nobody seems to respect the notion of having the confidence and self-esteem to just walk away from a cheap shot and let a loser be a loser instead of coming down to thier level. If a successful player such as Artest can't see that he's got more in the pot than some loser beerchunker will ever even think about having, and react accordingly, how the hell's an 18 year old kid just now getting out of the house supposed to even consider the notion that discretion is the better part of valor? Especially when there's four guys in suits nonstop on ESPN agreeing with Artest? "Parental influence" only gets you so far after a while... Like my man Brian said, I guess I just wasn't made for these times.

Sears = Craftsman & Kenmore, two very solid brandnames. but what else? Ain't no more Silvertone gitars, alsa... K-Mart=???? Blue Light Specials?

What WAS I thinking!

My 18 year old son and I got into it over this last night. He says that Artest was well within his rights to go into the stands because of being hit by the beer. The whole "self-defense" angle again. "The fans started it with him" is what Charlie said. But I saa, yeah, the fans started it, but who escaleted it into what it became? Artest had other means of "self-defense" at his dispense, did he not? Arena security, police, hell, just getting up and moving away from the stands? Realizing the potential for escalation in any response to a provocation and weighing the implications therein is a hallmark of maturity, I think. But my boy didn't see it that way, and that worries me, even if he is just 18. He's a legal adult now, and if he ever gets into a similar situation, the courts will not likely allow the "Artest Defense". Oh well, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it...

Well, see, that's what I've always maintained has been the fallacy of modern American business, that a consumer economy needs consumers. You know, what if the gave a store and nobody came cause they had no money?Radical notion, I know, but when you look at the ripple-effect of cost-cutting, the jobs lost and only sometimes replaced (often with lesser paying ones), what are you doing to create more and/or stronger consumers? And Wal-Marts led/leads the way in all this. But anyway, I don't wwant this to turn into a bash Wal-Mart thread, at least not primarily so. I'd rather talk about what, if any, advantages will come of the Sears/K-MArt merger.

Yo Clem - have YOU seen the BB episode of "Full House"? No Brian, and not as surreal as the DB "What's Happening" (not too much could be), but every bit as tragicomic. And fwiw, I think you gotta look at Skunk Baxter's role in all this. "Old Doobies" fans tend to hate/blame McDonald, but Baxter was more than able to go into the "smooth-jazzy-pop" thing, and probably more than willing as well. He's a guy who turns up in a lot of places in that bag in those days.

The more I find out about Wal-Mart, the more I realise that my "Wal-Mart is Evil" slogan of the last decade or so isn't just sloganeering. It's the TRUTH! So I hope that something good in terms of stopping the beast's devouring of the soul of America comes of this merger. BUT... To me, it seems akin to the Expos and the Royals combining teams and expecting to win the World Series because they have twice as many players now. Mediocrity + Mediocrity ≠ Excellence... But hey - I'm no "business analyst" or such, so let somebody who really knows something come on with it!

That's him on the left?

That was so cruel of their parents...

So what's he so worked up about? That the pop mentality is often different than the jazz mentality? Wow, who knew?