JSngry

No.

Well, there ya' go, that's all I was saying. Now that we've gotten the Teen Scene out of the way, let's look at the international impacts of COVID-19 on journalism: https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-press-freedom-e11cd2d3-c1c3-4b67-b985-102c882a223d.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosmediatrends&stream=top

It needs bongos.

Look at this - THREE bandleaders on one record!!!!

Is this related to Kenny Rogers and Lincoln Center?

I know. I get most things right!

This too shall pass. Hopefully they all live long enough and healthily enough to get a better song. The "whatever reason" is the immediate circumstance, I'd say, nothing more. I mean, I get it, but life is tragic in all kinds of ways, all kinds of times. That's no excuse for a not good song, no matter how it's done, or by who. I'm too old for that kind of thing. Fuck me, I'm an asshole. Or not. Just don't ask me to be "moved" by that. That's like that guy who sent out a lead sheet of some really bullshit reductotrane cretinous "jazz" song he wrote after Trayvon got killed, sent it to everybody on his social media group and encouraged EVERYBODY to play it on the bandstand THAT NIGHT and call for justice. Well, ok, I guess, I wasn't on that list, but a guy I was gigging with that night was, and sure enough, out comes the chart, and we get a couple choruses in and I just gotta stop and say, hey, this tune is BULLSHIT. The situation is NOT. This is an insult to the gravity of what has happened here, no wonder no progress ever gets made, it's a constant battle between trifling cretins, HOW DARE YOU ask me to play this and advocate in its name. So the guy stops and thinks about it and says, yeah, you're right, this song sucks, and then he called something else that still sucked. But at least it was a love song or a dedication to a family member or some shit like that. Something appropriate for the time and the place of the gig, something that could withstand the scrutiny of the non-discerning. Just saying, I get it, this is a tough time all over, and young people in Italy...I can't imagine. Seriously, I can't imagine. Still - life goes on, so get a better song. The long haul will thank you.

Cover matches music like none other. Not Brazilian, though.

Oh, I see now, they're from Italy, a kids group. Ok, then. Still too emo for me, but I get it better now. But jeezus, get a better song, kids.

The 3x5 cards was something I did when borrowing LPs to copy onto cassette, only I bought them in spiral-ed togetr forms, like a spiral notebook only for index cards. I wrote down EVERYTHING about the record and personnel, even, every once in a while, portions of the liner notes that had historical data. I still have those, as well as the cassettes, and for the tapes I've yet to replace with real copies, it's still a useful research.

Seems kinda emo to me. Then again, I'm not moved by that kind of thing under normal conditions either. So I know, fuck me, I'm an asshole. BUT - this is beautiful no matter what the conditions: That's what records are for, so dead people can still speak their truth in ways we can all understand, at any time. Having a shitty day? Still beautiful. Having a great day? Still beautiful. About to breathe your last breath" Still beautiful (I would hope?), about to take your next breath with no worries about taking the next one? Still beautiful. Fully expressed sexual maturity is more beautiful than death-y fretfulness. Always. Here's beautiful too! The sound of Duke Ellington saying the words "Johnny Hodges" - and anything that is precipitating those words - will always be beautiful.

Wow, that's intense. The window for pickup at our Kroger is just 3-4 days. We pickup one order/cart and start another one was soon as we get home, you can modify/add up until the the night before pickup. Brenda tried the Senior Hour at Costco the other day, and let's just say, uh...putting this as nicely as possible...it was as perfect example of what people mean with the whole "Ok, Boomer" thing as imaginable...

Note the warning!

Used to be that a stereo record was pressed(?) in such a way that playing it with a mono cartridge/stylus would fuck it up. Then they fixed that somehow. That's probably what they refer to here, seems like the time frame is right. This guy seems to remember it like that: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/will-playing-a-mono-lp-hurt-my-stereo-stylus.805886/ For a time early LPs, which all were mono, had 1 mil wide grooves, not .7 mil wide grooves which were used for stereophonic LPs, which were introduced around 1957-58. Stereo LPs in those days had warnings on them NOT to play them with mono needles (which were too wide and could damage the grooves). New stereo record players, of course came with stereo cartridges sporting the correct width needle. But if you had an old portable record player and wanted to play the same stereo record on it too, you had to upgrade at least the stylus or the stylus and the cartridge if that was easier. Once you had a stereo cartridge/needle you could still play any of the old wider grooved mono LPs you had. The slightly narrower needle for stereo LPs would not damage the wider-grooved mono LPs. Soon mono LPs were pressed with the narrower groove used for stereo. Only very early mono LPs have the wider groove. Of course ALL LPs (and 45 rpm singles) are considered "micro-groove" recordings, because most of (not all) the earlier 78rpm records had grooves about 3 times wider. There were several years when stereo was available but a lot of people still only had mono equipment and records. What if you just bought a new phonograph the year before stereo came out? Most people then, less indoctrinated in the throw-away society, weren't going to just throw something like that out. Also, for several years, stereo versions of the same recording could cost as much as twice as much as the mono version. Some people couldn't afford it. Also, there were some people who thought that stereo was just a fad that would pass. They waited until it had been around quite a while before getting on board. There are other differences between the mono and stereo recordings, but so far as groove width issues go this is the gist of it, unless I got the units wrong or something like that. I'm sure someone will correct anything essential I left out. One other thing, needles for the wider early mono LP groove are available still for some cartridges. Some audiophiles prefer to play those records with the stylus width intended for them.

Yeah, still not leaning on delivery other than what we already get delivered via Amazon (which was NOT groceries, I was not a particularly ardent fan of Whole Foods anyway...). But definitely leaning on curbside pickup now. Never had use that until now.. Does your grocer offer curbside for foot traffic? I've become a fan of that under these conditions. Still get out of the house, still keeping the revenue streams going, but significantly reducing the number of closed-environment encounters. I very much worry about the store employees, though, and find it a bit criminally negligent that the people who are keeping us going are not being provisioned with an adequate shield of protection. The Amazon and DoorDash employees who have been threatening to go on strike about this concern have my full support.

It's like a weed-eater, only it's a lawnmower, good lord, what's not to love there? Is there an issue with height adjustability or some other drawback? Come Lord Flymo Cut my grass And let these other mowers Kiss my ass. AMEN!!!

Does your grocer offer delivery?

I've heard that about so many players of the last 40 or so years, that they're "promising"...in light of the ongoing results, I have to wonder what the hell it is that they're being perceived as promising to us. Not to be proddy or anything, genuinely curious, what does that phrase mean to you, "promising player"? And what will it look like if/when that promise is delivered?

I worry that Barry Livingston's characters might be lost to time. But that is one of the greatest descritpions of anybody I've ever hear - "Like Frawley after rehab"...jeesus, yeah, you go Ernie, you GO!!! But before he was Ernie, he was....BARRY!!! did you know that Sam Drucker was actually a doctor? Probably moved to Hooterville to get away from all those malpractice suits...

But...look at how many satellite businesses there are that depend on a centralized office development model...I think the transition is inevitabel, but it won't be painless, and there will be significant pu$hback that will be effective for a good long while before it finally gives up its ghost. The same thing, or sort of the same thing, is happening with malls. It's not just the malls that go, it's all the satellite business as well, little by little. I keep comforting myself with the pseudo-realization that seldom is evolution instant (and if it is instant, is it really "evolution"? Or is it something else?). But it is inevitable. My most personal/selfish love of telecommuting is that I hate all the forced "team" activities that come with being in a group environment. I'm here to do a good job and get paid for it. If it doesn't involve that, PLEASE leave me the fuck alone.

OH LORD JESUSGOD!!!!

I've casually seen a few reports indicating (or at least suggesting) a drop in immediately obvious pollution levels here and there as a result of the significant uptick in telecommuting (of which, in my own circumstances, I am an extreme fan). Hopefully, serious real-time data is being collected as we go through this, including what the impact of increased demand on bandwidth is. I'm sure nothing's free, but unless and until we can become less fossil-fuel dependent, reducing the most obvious variable (driving everywhere) seems to not be the worst outcome of mass telecommuting? otoh, I would expect massive pu$hback from the potentially impacted commercial real estate interests, and understandably so. But oh well about that. Evolve or die, right?