RDK

Hey now! As someone who detests all things pickle or mustard - seriously, I can't stand them! - my hot dog condiment of choice is ketchup or bbq sauce. But if it's a really good, flavorful dog I actually do prefer them plain. Now this I can agree with! Jon wins!

Me neither. I dig emotionalism in music and don't at all consider the expressing of it to be "corny."

Ah crap. I saw Billy only once in person, with Kahil and Hamiett, and it was one of the most memorable performances I've ever seen. You sometimes don't hear it in his fiery playing on record, but in person he was so lively and fun, always smiling and laughing as he (and the band) was tearing it up. He will be greatly missed.

I don't admit this often, but I've just never gotten Zappa.

Same here. I've been on FB since almost the start and rarely get any unwanted emails or friend requests.

That would only sully Shatner by associating him with mere "artists." I say we start a "Living Legend" sub-forum.

Great link - thanks.

Man, I wish these guys would play L.A. one of these days. Would love to see them.

You have got to see this! http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/03/17/japan_cartoon_nuclear_crisis/index.html

Mathematically it ain't possible - unless you round off pi that is. http://www.eveandersson.com/pi/digits/1000000

I was skeptical as well about the Rivers big band, but I'm sampling Aurora now on CD Baby and really enjoying it. I dig the fact that it's a different sound than your traditional big band. That e-bass is pretty damn neat! I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I don't think I have any Lunceford in my collection (maybe an old LP somewhere). Not sure if a 7-disc set is the place to start, but this is the kind of stuff that Mosaic does best. Looking forward to the Tolliver as well. His other Select box is a favorite. But no money right now!

Some of those images are incredibly surreal. And the videos are terrifying. What's even more frightening is thinking how much worse it could've been if the epicenter was under a city like Tokyo. I'm glad to hear that our Japanese board members seem to be okay.

Moose, check out the link I posted above. It's actually interesting to see the difference between older CD releases and some newer remasters. Check out some of the heavy metal albums especially - it's really pretty shocking. Fortunately, a lot of jazz and more acoustic music hasn't been affected... as much. I honestly don't hear it that much in the stuff I listen to, but it does seem pointless, and past a certain point it does adversely affect the sound quality. This might help demonstrate the problem...

I'm not Chuck but probably 95% of all pop/rock music from the last 50 years has purposeful compression applied to it. It is a tool that's part of the production process, to get the right sound for a recording. The problem now is the prevalence of needless overcompression that's used to make a recording sound louder. It's no longer enough just to maximize the volume of a track, but to squash its dynamics to make it sound even louder.

It may be overstated by some but it's absolutely not bullshit. The problem is not making current CDs louder - it's the senseless reduction of dynamic range in order to achieve this that's the problem. I don't put too much stock in charts and graphs when it comes to stuff like this, but the data here is interesting and mostly confirms the listening experience. http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/ It makes the quieter passages louder relative to the louder passages, i.e. the dynamic range of the music is reduced. Excessive compression quashes the dynamic range. Exactly - which is why compression doesn't make the music actually "louder". Loudness = volume = decibels. What we're talking about with compression is not increased loudness, but decreased dynamic range, a flattening/condensing of the dynamic range, the relative volume, not the actual volume. It only seems louder because you're raising the floor, not lifting the ceiling. Now, what usually results is a more prolonged/sustained period of higher-than-ordinary lower volumes. But the most loud portions of the sound stay right where they are. You can say that a loudening of softer passages makes the music "louder", and maybe, but unless the peak volumes are bumped higher than they originally were, I think the distinction has to be made between compression and loudness, volume. Otherwise it's like saying that getting fatter makes you taller. It's the exact same effect you get on TV when a "loud" commercial comes on.

If you don't mind mp3, emusic (and I assume other places) have it for download.

Even the single disc Rykos have lots of bonus stuff (and even some different stuff than the Rhinos iirc). I've seen some of these used for as little as 3 or 4 bucks.

While I liked True Grit, there were several films that I felt were more deserving this year - and I saw 9/10 of the Best Picture noms. It certainly was "Oscar worthy," but obviously not every one can win. Spielberg made an excellent point during his presentation of the fine company the "losing" films are in. As for the show being a "self-indulgent love fest," well of course it is. It's an awards show that's meant to celebrate an industry. Nobody should ever expect anything different. Yep, there is that.

Fairly predictable in both the show and the results. I'm a big King's Speech/Colin Firth fan, so I'm happy for the win. I thought Social Network was overrated and True Grit a bit pedestrian for the Coens (though I certainly liked both films). I did think that Tom Hooper wasn't quite as deserving of the Best Director win than several of the other nominees - though if you'd asked me I would have given it to Chris Nolan for Inception even though I didn't like Inception all that much. But I know enough about making movies to know that Inception was an incredible feat, both technically and creatively, and that it was Nolan who held it all together. Was also very happy for Christian Bale - his performance in The Fighter was scary good.

That is wrong on so many levels.

I think it's funny that Berigan doesn't know what to say when we all agree with him on something.

+1 Does she need to progress , yes ! Will she , only the future will tell, meanwhile let's appreciate it, sme way we're thrilled gere for Arcade Fire despite thinking the album they did was probably the weakest one. Not to derail this thread, but perhaps to show how opinions differ, but I find The Suburbs to be AF's best album by far. Maybe it was because I grew up in the 'burbs, but that record really speaks to me.

Chuck - In all honesty, do you really hear a sharp difference between WAV files and MP3s ripped at over 200 bits? I don't. Of course, maybe if I had an extremely expensive system, I would. But good quality earbuds and high quality MP3s can brings quite a lot of musical enjoyment. +1. There's a huge difference between earbuds/phones whether one is listening to CDs, WAVs, or mp3s.

Just took a quick glance at your comments, Flurin, as I'd still like to guess some more. But... that's not Jack Sheldon? Really?! Damn...

I'm terrible at guessing artists and I can't remember most song titles either, so let me just throw a few general comments out there about these tracks. It's a wonderful compilation, Flurin, but unfortunately I've been forced to listen while mostly doing other things (like working -_- ) so these tracks rarely got my undivided attention. But I have listened to some many times over and have enjoyed most of them. I hope to get some more careful listening (and maybe some guesswork) in this weekend, but I wanted to at least get my initial reactions down first. 1 Shepp-like, but not him. I really like this “traditional” stuff done with the gritty passion of a 60’s firebrand. I should know this – one of those old Louis Armstrong “Blues” numbers. 2 Sounds much older than I think it is. Is that an electric guitar? Sounds odd, but I like it. 3 Nice, moody piece, but almost a bit too minor, depressing in its tone. There are times when a trombone is my favorite jazz instrument. It works here, but I don’t think I’d want to hear a whole album of this. 4 “Street of Dreams,” apparently, but I’m unfamiliar (I think) with the vocalist. Sounds like it could be from a motion picture soundtrack circa 1940. 5 Jack Sheldon. I’ve seen Jack perform many times here in L.A., but not recently and I feel terrible about it. He plays every Thursday night (and has for years) at a place not 10 minutes away, and yet it’s been several years since I’ve seen him there. He’s a local (if not national) treasure. 6 I like the sound of the bari, but the tune’s just okay. There’s a faraway quality to the sound/recording – it’s obviously live, but maybe an amateur or bootleg recording? 7 Love the energy here – great track! 8 Okay, but not a favorite 9 Love the intensity of the sax solo juxtaposed with the coolness of the ensemble horns. Very curious about who this is. 10 Least favorite? 11 Better, but only okay 12 Good, old timey stuff, but I’m not really into it at the moment 13 Poinciana – I do like the guitar solo 14 Like this, nice slow version but I can’t recall the title 15