RDK

Yep, the AJI is relying on us street teamers to get the word out...

24 and Idol... my favorite time in the TV season...

A terrific film; one of the best of the year. But it'll make you think twice about going camping with your best friend...

Definitely worth seeing. One of my favorite Robert Wise films - much better than those damn musicals of his.

Best news I've heard all day.

I don't think now that you'll get more than anecdotal evidence since both sides spin the figures so much to make their agenda. But in my case it's certainly true that I've bought many more discs and have been exposed to many artists I otherwise wouldn't have heard of if not for borrowed discs or downloading. Heck, I wouldn't have become aware of Mosaic if a buddy hadn't loaned/burned me several oop sets. Ah, and then there's those pesky shades of gray again. Personally I don't download released and/or available albums and I generally refuse to make copies of same for others. But if something's oop or otherwise not officially released - say, live broadcasts/bootlegs - then that, to me, is another story (though I concede a different set of legal/moral issues to that as well). I can't walk into Best Buy and steal something that they don't carry.

I might... if someone asked. -_- Seriously, it's so much easier to burn a disc these days (I know - another thread!). I do have a few friends who i would trust with my discs and they would trust me with theirs - but not many. A few years ago I met a guy on the old BN board who lives here in town. He bought something from me, we hooked up for lunch, and hit it off. I had only recently at that time become familiar with Mosaic Records and was rabidly seeking out some of their oop sets. He had many of them, all oop and very expensive, and offered to let me borrow them. He wasn't able to burn CDRs at the time, so he just just gave them to me, four or five sets at a time. I was stunned as this was someone I had met only once or twice but who trusted me enough with what would have been hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of CDs. I treated them well, of course, and tried to return them asap (i was so concerned that something would happen to them), but he never once called or pressured me into getting them back to him. After that I couldn't not loan him a few discs as well, but overall it was a very one-sided trade in my favor and I think it was much harder for me to let my discs out of my possession than him his.

Welcome back, Moose!

Rather than "I'm not sure," choice #3 should be "It depends."

You get what you pay for. They're good value for the money, though the sound can be spotty. Some of the sets are more "ethically-challenged" than others - I'd stay away from the Mingus set, for example, which I believes rips off the Uptown CD, but the Proper "Big Horn" box is terrific.

The other thing, too - and I know the results are often inconsistent - is that AMG claims that the star ratings are in relation to an artists' work as a whole. So while different albums might rate from one to five stars each, a boxed set of those same albums could still get 5 stars for how they might represent an artist's oeuvre.

Well, those French will eat anything...

Rhino is closing too.

Meanwhile, I think i still have a pile of .02 stamps left over from the last price hike.

I wonder what they'd do if you tore up an unused .37 stamp into three or four parts and used those...

He also does a killer version of "Softly as a Moanin' Sunrise."

It's not worth buying, but it might be worth a free download if you know where to look...

On CNN now. Wow - amazing news! Did anyone expect them to still be alive?

Brilliant!

My favorite scene was when the monkey threw his poop - about the size of a small car - at the guy making faces at him...

But is this really any different from how most labels have handled their catalog over the years? I surely don't have to remind you, Chuck, of how many Blue Note or OJC labels titles were oop over the years on LP (let alone the myriad smaller labels). Heck, when I was discovering jazz in the early 80s, I had to hunt down oop Mingus for crissakes - and to me that's like making Shakespeare unavailable. Weren't deletions a necessary part of the business model, cutting the chaff as it were and opening up shelf space for new records? I can't help but think that we may have become spoiled somewhat by Fantasy's willingness (or ability) to keep everything in print. Don't get me wrong - like everyone else I think it will be unfortunate if Concord deletes titles, but are we expecting/presuming too much in thinking that they wouldn't/shouldn't? Or that perhaps Fantasy's decision to keep everything in print may have helped lead to the circumstances requiring them to sell out in the first place? Given the widely reported "low sales" of most jazz titles it's astounding that Fantasy was able to do what they did for so long and remain profitable. Even before the sale to Concord I figured it was only a matter of time before Fantasy made much of their catalog on-line only, per something like emusic or itunes. I certainly hope that Concord continues to keep the OJC titles in-print, but i find it curious that we expect them to do something that no other label - jazz or otherwise - has managed to do with their respective back catalogs.

I recommend not worrying about it. If a disaster like that struck your house, I'm sure the good folk on this Board would be eager to help you out with some CDR's. Count me in. I agree with John. The best "insurance" for covering the loss of Mosaic sets is having friends with Mosaic sets.

Received mine today from CDU. One of the bright spots of a sucky week so far spent in bed with the flu. Wasn't quite sure what to expect (though I've heard some of this stuff before on boots) as electric Miles isn't quite my cuppa, but I really dig this band. Count me among the bigtime Jarrett fans; his work here is quite different, but very interesting.

Sorry, Dmitry, but I'm laid up with the flu so I haven't checked on any gigs in town this week. Look for a copy of the L.A. Weekly - that'll list just about everything. You can also check out lajazz.com.

Surely Kenny G isn't the first jazz artist to make/break a career based on what he chooses to play rather than on what he's able to play... Still, I make my listening decisions on what I hear...