patricia

Welcome back to the fold, Shawn. My soon to be son-in-law is 23 and I turned him on to vinyl about a year ago. I had replace the turntable I mentioned earlier and gave the other one to him, along with some records from the '80s that I bought, with him in mind. He likes Nirvana and Blondie and some other groups. My daughter is neutral, but I guess he could be hooked on something worse. If anyone says that they don't understand why we would want to collect vinyl when most music is available on other formats, it's just not true, if you are into jazz. There are whole labels that never went to CD, like Jazz Tone which was a label that only sold through mailorder. Those, among others of course, are treasures and usually, though not always well-looked-after.

Took me about eight years to rebuild my vinyl collection, Shawn. I stupidly gave away my turntable a few moves ago, along with my records. I realized how much more I loved records than I had thought. I found a turntable at a secondhand store in excellent condition and from there my collection it took off. I had been scouting out LPs for a friend in NYC for a couple of years and had nothing to play them on. Gradually, I haunted secondhand stores, used record stores, yard and garage sales and classified sections and now have a collection of about 3,000 albums, all in near-mint condition, including some from the 40s and 50s. They range from old jazz [of course] to classical and some miscellaneous. Yes, it does take a while, but you have to start somewhere. It's not about which music format is easier, or takes less room. Vinyl is a whole experience, warmer, more intimate, IMO.

Tiny stack of '45s today: Dalbello Why Stand Alone - Tango[i love this. Thought it was lost last time I moved.] An EP on RCA - Glenn Miller S 1 Elmer's tune - Moonlight cocktail S2 Johnson Rag - Missouri waltz Al Hirt Mame - Seven Days to Tahiti Mister Mister Broken Wings - Uniform of Youth Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters - Ghostbusters [instrumental] Prince When Doves Cry - 17 Days Ben E. King Spanish Harlem - Stand By Me Manhatten Transfer Boy From New York City - Confirmation ..................................... And now to some 10" LPs. George Wettling's Jazz Band on Columbia. Some great playing on this album, with NO personel list. DAMN!

I see we have a "Red Green" devotee in the house. I was once proudly shown an end-table that was made using a couple of dozen old 8-track tapes cleverly arranged in a T-shape, held together with duct tape. The creator couldn't understand why his wife was reluctant to put it in the living room.

Yes, dads are certainly more involved with the kids now than they were in the past. Good thing. Especially with the transition from having one child to having two. I know that the work and the attention needed doesn't just double. The logic of math in these circumstances becomes irrelevant and you're going to find that the work increases about five to ten-fold. But, worth it.

WOW!! She's a beauty. Congratulations Jim and most especially to your wife. Also, pay particular attention to Zora at this stressful time for her, even though she loves her new little sister. My daughters are 6 years apart and it's quite traumatic for the first child going from being kid-on-the-hill to an also-ran, even if it's just a perception problem for them. Sometimes people do walk right past the oldest as if they are invisible to get a look at the new baby. Spend time with Zora. She'll thank you for it later.

I suddenly realized I am a grownup. I walked over to my neighbour's house to tell their teenage son to turn down his boom-box which he had blasting on the driveway while he washed his car ..................................and he did, immediately, without a word.

Oh, I don't know about that, Bill. Yes, I get up at 4:30AM, but I never go to bed before midnight. Because I work out of my home, I can set aside an hour or so in the afternoon to have a re-charging nap. I imagine that if I had to keep regular office hours I would sleep later and walk on a treadmill in the evening.

4:30AM. I get up, read the paper, then I go for a 2 mile walk [or slow jog if I'm feeling particularly energetic when the cold air hits me]. I turn on my coffee on my way back into the house and it's ready when I've finished my shower. I work until about 2PM, then usually have a nap for about an hour to re-charge. I like the early morning because it's quiet and I can think.

Quite a few older people eat, rather than use topically, Vicks VapoRub. I don't know who originally thought it was a good idea, but they swear by it. When my oldest daughter was little, she found a large jar of it I had and, when I left her in her room to play for about an hour, meticulously painted, with a box of Q-Tips, an entire chest of drawers, including the pulls. I wondered why it was so quiet and when I opened the door to her room, the sinus-clearing power-of-the-Vicks worked on me like a hot damn. MAN!! So, just putting a shot of it on your upper lip does clear your head. My Vit C/multi-vitamin routine doesn't get rid of a cold if you already have one. But I do it regardless and it seems to stop me from ever getting one. Go figure. I claim no medical expertise at all.

I take 2000 mg. Vit. C every day, along with a good multi-vitamin, and I haven't had a cold for years. But, should I catch one, I would be really careful about taking anything along with alcohol. Chancy.

Indeed. One should avoid at all cost losing one's pants.

Big Al would have been the big gomer in the back row in 1895, who got big laughs for the answers on his final exam from all his buddies and, back then, would have repeated 8th grade.

Okay, looks like I'm not going to be stalking her after all. Was that a sigh of relief I heard from Paris, or wherever Cotillard lives?

One thing that used to be done that doesn't seem to be done anymore is to hold a student back if they don't learn the material for the grade they are in, before advancing to the next one. If I were to pick one of the most obvious faults in today's elementary and middle schools, it would be that it's not certain that a student has even basic skills when they graduate highschool. Although there are many good arguments for social promotion, all of them forget that the purpose of education is primarily to teach skills needed for a modern world. BTW, I thought that the note Erin attached to the test when she sent it to me was funny. She said, "If I had had to pass this test, I never would have advanced beyond 8th grade. Good Lord!!"

The test that Mr D'Imperio sent to you, Chris, was actually forwarded to him by me and originated with my youngest daughter, who sent it to me. No matter. It's a test that most of us, including those who hold the reins of power, like Dubbya would fail. It's interesting, I think, to note that many respected Canadian journalists did not graduate from highschool. A few who are very well known here are Gordon Sinclair, [8th grade], Betty Kennedy, [8th grade] and Peter Jennings [yes, the late ABC anchorman, 10th grade]. When asked about their lack of formal education they all said that they left school because they had opportunities that they couldn't pass up. All of them also said that they never stopped reading everything they could get their hands on. All of them travelled, learned foreign languages, immersed themselves in other cultures and knew that their formal education was not the end of learning. Contrast that with graduates of, oh I don't know, Harvard, Yale etc. who think that being in possession of a piece of paper that says they graduated from a prestigeous university means that they don't have to continue to learn. Truly intelligent people know that formal education is just the beginning of their intellectual journey.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY + 1 DAY JON!!!! Every year you just get better and better looking and............................that's the truth.

I don't know about the "charge thousands" part. But, I once was witness to a rather novel idea for recycling 8-track tapes. A friend showed me an end table that he had constructed using them and a liberal amount of silver duct tape. He was puzzled that his wife seemed reluctant to use it in their living room.

Steve McQueen will, IMO, never be equalled for the coiled-rage characters he often played. He was a true renegade who made guys like Stallone look like the poseurs they are. Bullitt, for sure. "Switchback" featured Dennis Quaid and Danny Glover. Glover is the serial killer/kidnapper/murderer and Quaid is the good guy pusuing him. Great suspense and stunt work.

I have four renewals. My fourth one expired in '96 and I've procrastinated. But, interestingly, passport renewal fees have increased from $30 to $92 in the interim. I find it extraordinary that passports are now expected, though not yet required for travel to the U.S. from Canada and by Canada for U.S. travellers. I have actually delayed visiting friends that I had when I lived in CA because of the passport situation. I know it's easy enough to renew, but the implied hostility is a little unsettling.

My late mother was born and raised in Edinburgh as well and remained Scottish all her life. She lived in London for ten years, working for the engineers at the Post Office, when she met my father who was in the Canadian Army, stationed in London. One thing that I will always remember is her continuing anger at the English for executing Mary Queen of Scots. She refused to call the present Queen "Elizabeth II", since she considered the line of succession to have been broken at Henry VIII, with a bastard taking a throne to which she was not entitled. That scoundral, Henry VIII. But, mother considered herself Scottish, a British subject, decades after she had moved with my father to Canada. Of course, Canada was tied to the British crown until Trudeau had our constitution sent to us, severing our ties to Britain visibly.

I remember.

Thanks for the great picture, Chris. Now I remember Ms. Nettleton. The name was familiar, but I needed to be reminded of how she looked. Like many actors who played supporting roles for a good part of their careers, she had a long and successful career and I'm sure that lots of us were unaware that she was in a lot of our favourite movies and TV shows. Seeing that picture will jog their memories. RIP Ms. Nettleton.

There's a space for gender selection?? I must have missed it if there is one. How many men do you know whose name is Patricia, Peter?

Clifford Brown Ensemble - Featuring Zoot Sims - Arrangements by Jack Montrose - Pacific Jazz Records - 10" LP - Recorded in Hollywood, 1954. Nice.