T.D.

I've used something very like this from Parts Express. (Links to cheaper items at bottom of page; I'm at work so can't be specific.) I imagine hardware stores have similar items.

Sun Ra, "Artyard in a Box". Recent purchase, glad I acquired it as I didn't own any of the constituent albums. "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Antique Blacks" are favorites which I greatly enjoy.

Finally got here and I went. Greatly enjoyed, but laughter was muted by the historical # of underlying deaths. Should probably watch again when it comes out on video to catch more details. For instance, I totally missed that the concert pianist was Maria Yudina! Agreed that the Zhukov character was most hilarious (I thought of reading his biography a few years ago, but never got around to it). Among minor characters, Paddy Considine as the radio executive Andreyev. Surprised at the utter ineffectuality of Malenkov, and will have to read some history to decide how much was artistic license.

+1 on all this, including the cable-speaker contacts. The brand I'm familiar with is DeOxit. My father was an audio hobbyist who bought a lot of used older/vintage gear from flea markets, eBay and the like. I have personal experience of many amps and receivers that initially sounded like crap and improved tremendously after contact cleaning. Bears repeating that it's also worth cleaning personal gear that's been sitting in the basement or garage, even if for just a few months IMO.

Much of March in my area has been snow hell (well over 4 feet fell, most nights around 10 deg. F). A few warmer sunny days recently, and took great pleasure in listening to "Springtime Again" by Sun Ra and the Arkestra.

I think it [Death of Stalin] is coming to my sticks area soon!

I e-mailed the Mosaic info address. Both MC and Scott kindly and quickly (esp. considering they likely thought it a dumbass inquiry ) replied. There was only one copy of each Select (Tolliver, Rivers big bands), and they sold. I expected as much, so did not ask whether they were complete sets.

Thanks, guys. I'd be shocked if complete copies of those Selects survived four days of the open house sale, but I will inquire to Scott.

Thanks, John.

Damn. Rivers Orchestra and Tolliver Big Band are Selects I really want...but no way I could have made the trip.

I live in the hinterlands so can't speak to trends, but the two semi-local German restaurants I know of (Mid-Hudson Valley area NY) are doing very well. Granted, they rely heavily on craft beer sales and have made some menu updates (e.g. veg/vegan options). I agree that the traditional "stodgy" German restaurant is fading.

Thinking of picking this up, several years behind the curve as usual. Looking at the track listing, I see a lot of pieces with vocals. All other aspects look fantastic, but to date I've been less fond of Parker's work with vocals (admittedly small sample size, though). Should I go for it anyway?

I'm out in the hinterlands so can't speak to trends, but over the past 2-3 years the local (mid-Hudson Valley, NY) shops that deal in used CDs have greatly expanded the book side of their business and significantly shrunk the CD side. [Added] Same shops also sell vinyl, which seems to be faring much better than CDs.

Thanks for the info on Daedalus. I placed many internet orders with them, but none in the past 2-3 years. Thanks also for the tip on the Strozier. I ordered that plus 4 others (Thad Jones/Sonny Rollins, Oliver Lake, David Newman, Pettiford). Several other titles were interesting, but limited budget so I stopped at a few low-priced ones.

Daedalus/salebooks/salemusic seems to still be in business, but on a greatly reduced scale. As noted, jazz down to 6 titles. Classical down to 42, and the book selection is way down from when I used to shop there. Website was inoperative for an extended period recently. Future does not look promising.

Barry Harris Trio, "Bean and the Boys" from Magnificent!

Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet, flugelhorn Marion Brown - alto saxophone Billy Bang - violin Sirone - bass Fred Hopkins - bass Andrew Cyrille - drums

8/10, but with several guesses.

R.I.P. I'll say no more because many eloquent eulogies will appear in scientific and popular media.