T.D.

Have been reading Alan Greenspan's autobiography. It's not great, but something I just had to read. Found the very interesting Annapurna: 50 Years of Expeditions in the Death Zone, by Reinhold Messner, at the library. The photos are incredible! If you liked Krakauer's Into Thin Air, you should check this out...

Yeah, I hate coughing up the money every year, but (at least in the USA) there's no other reasonable way to get coverage of international affairs. I justify it by reminding myself that I no longer purchase newspapers (once, pre-Economist, I subscribed to the New York Times; I don't miss The Gray Lady one iota, btw...).

You're welcome, BeBop. No offense originally intended on my part; many people swear by Naxos, but I've never been fond of the label. In recent years, however, Naxos has reissued a number of discs that were originally recorded by other labels (Schwartz on Delos comes to mind, and I think the Feldman string quartet (1979) was originally on Koch; I used to own it, but it was my least favorite Feldman recording and one of only two I ever sold...), so there may have been an uptick in quality.

I renewed mine back around '02 (if I recall correctly). Previously had let one expire and had to reapply in '92. Recently feared it had expired (had forgotten the issue date), but checked and it's still good. Haven't traveled abroad on the current edition, but apparently I'd now need one even to go to Canada, so am happy to have it.

I got that e-mail too. Clicked on the link, but it pertains to Naxos releases. Caveat emptor.

I already subscribe to The Economist, and have invariably read the articles by the time they're posted here (which is usually well after the print edition's appeared). Neutral on the merit of posting them; if non-subscribers dig it, OK...

The years with a single week between conf. championships and SB are so much better...we're spared a full week of media drivel. I'm a Jints fan and also like the Pats (due to the BB->NYG connection) and still can't stand to read the crap out there.

Stevenson actually lost a lot of fights (Wiki shows his record as 302-22), but I assume they were early in his career. Mike Vaccaro's column in today's New York Post gave some historic upsets. Here are a couple of the lesser-known ones: 2000: Greco-Roman heavyweight wrestler Alexander Karelin was a 3-time Oly champ, undefeated in 13 years and unscored upon in six years, but lost in the finals to American Rulon Gardner. 1970: The great (absolutely no exaggeration; the guy was incredible, and went on to win Olympic gold) Iowa State wrestler Dan Gable had gone 181-0 in his NCAA career, but lost to Washington's Larry Owings in the NCAA finals.

In Olympics, Eric Heiden! At the 1980 Lake Placid Games, he won gold in all five men's speed-skating events. Can't do any better than that... Al Oerter threw the discus at four Olympic Games, and won gold every time, though he was generally considered an underdog. Emil Zatopek won gold in all three events he competed in (5000m, 10000m, marathon) at the 1952 Olympics. Paavo Nurmi won gold in all five Olympic events he contested at Paris 1924 (one was a team cross-country race). He wasn't too shabby at Antwerp 1920 either: two individual golds, one individual silver, one team gold. Teofilo Stevenson won 3 consecutive Oly golds in heavyweight boxing, and had a reputation for invincibility. Alberto "El Caballo" Juantorena won the 400m/800m double at Montreal 1976, the only athlete to ever accomplish the feat. Edwin Moses had an incredible unbeaten streak in the 400m hurdles (122 races, 107 finals). Set four WRs, won two Oly golds (1976 and 1984; USA boycotted 1980). [Edited to add more athletes and include non-US ones. I used to be an athletics (track and field) fan...]

Welcome, Sandi. I used to visit the AAJ forums, but haven't for a long time. No big deal or underlying reasons: just found myself reading far more threads here. Your musician stories are my best memories of the AAJ forums. I was somewhat curious about the recent influx (welcome to others I may have omitted, btw). Thanks for the account.

I placed another Concord order to beat the Jan. 31 deadline: Lockjaw Davis / Johnny Griffin: Blues up and Down and The Tenor Scene Illinois Jacquet: The Blues: That's Me! and Bottoms Up Barney Kessel: To Swing or not to Swing Shelly Manne: Live at the Black Hawk, v. 1

Haven't listened to it for years, but I recall getting the impression that Feldman's "opera" Neither, at least the Hat Art realization, seemed to make a certain use of "minimalist cells", or something akin to them. Possibly some other orchestral music, though my memory's hazy (can't recall the specific piece) since I personally strongly prefer Feldman's chamber works. But I wouldn't call Feldman a minimalist, or put any other label on him.

'Fraid nobody's been reading carefully. The original article was such dreck that most tuned out.

This is a really bizarre, and practically incoherent article. I can only hope, for the author's sake, that it got ruthlessly edited somewhere along the way... Prefer not to comment on the many gaps and peculiar assertions. (To many veterans of classical forums, the "tonality vs. atonality" subject has become tiresome and troll-ridden.) Thanks for posting it, though.

Gryce was a big (one of the biggest) discovery for me during '07, though I'd of course been familiar with Monk's Music. I also find him an excellent arranger, and am inclined to get any album featuring Gryce for that reason. Meaning to read the bio mentioned above (very interesting life story), but haven't gotten around to it. Mal-1 (Waldron), with Gryce and which I recommend, just so happens to be playing now. In case you don't have it yet, I strongly recommend the Art Farmer Quintet (OJC) with Gigi Gryce; slightly prefer this to When Farmer Met Gryce, though both are excellent. I have ethical problems re. purchasing Lonehill and that ilk, but the OJC Jazz Lab album I have is primo.

Not sure about integrated amps, but if you go the separates route (preamp + power amp), most preamps seem to lack tone controls.

Japan? Maybe Go ratings instead?

Christy Mathewson (Bucknell) Eddie Collins (Columbia) Harry Hooper (St. Mary's, CA) College-educated ballplayers were rare in those days.

Jim McMahon Steve Young Ty Detmer [bYU quarterbacks; not all Mormon, though...]

Frank Zappa (Dirty Love: 'the poodle bites...the poodle chews it') John "Frenchie" Fuqua Johann Fux

I always got the impression that Edgar Bronfman jr. is a moron who basically ran the family's financial empire (Seagrams money) into the ground. There's a book on the Bronfmans, which I've considered reading but passed on because I don't really feel like researching Junior. So I applaud Junior for seemingly doing the right thing compensation-wise this year, but I think the company's in practically the worst conceivable hands...

William Marcy "Boss" Tweed Thomas Nast Ilie Nastase

I'd never have imagined you listen to sports talk radio. [Disclaimer: I used to listen sometimes, while driving. Probably wouldn't listen any more, but currently live out of broadcast range of sports talk stations, so it's not an issue.]

Despite Evan's various sigs and avatars, this doesn't seem like the right forum for that sort of behavior...

Well, the markup on Bose product is huge...there are anecdotes about Bose engineers bragging about the low cost of the paper drivers, etc. used in the speakers. Years ago, I investigated and found that it's possible to buy speakers that use the same multidirectional principles as Bose, but sound much better, for less than half the price...Still, you can't deny that Bose has a massive following, and is (OK, mysteriously to me) exceptionally popular. My theory is that they're incredibly skillful at advertising/promotion.