RDK

Well that's the thing they seem reluctant to admit over there: it is predominantly an audophile music forum - not just a music forum - so the emphasis is understandably on the sonic stuff. And yes, as Chris says, much of it is boring - especially if you're there for the music.

Hey, if it means that I too can have an LCD rug in my living room then I'm all for it!

Indeed. Looked terrific in HD. That last thing they did with the dancers on the globe was stunning. I also really dig watching the "parade of nations." It's just so satisfying to see these athletes - especially those from the "tiny" countries - get their brief moment in the spotlight. The looks on their faces are priceless!

Guess that means it will be up to Lonehill/Gambit/Jazz Factory/Definitive to put it out. Better it be blogged? My thoughts exactly.

I've learned to accept that I live in a glass house.

How many times has "Cherokee" been transformed into another jazz tune?

Yeah, ain't those CC cards nice? Heard they're now available at Best Buy as well.

From what I've seen, foreign coverage of the Games is no better. One of the advantages of cable is that NBC now covers the Games on many channels. Primetime NBC coverage is usually full of athlete profiles and travelogues, but if you just want the sports there are now several options, MSNBC among them. I believe Universal HD channel is covering the games nearly round-the-clock in HD.

Grabbed it this morning and am listening to it now! There's been a ton of good stuff on emusic lately.

The weird thing about the Olympics - and I always end up watching far more of it than I expect to - is that I don't give a shit about watching baseball, football, tennis, hockey or any of the other "pro" sports that I might usually watch, but instead I become a once-every-four-years fan of shotputting, archery, discus tossing, curling (!), and all the strange other stuff that I might otherwise make fun of someone else watching. As somebody above said, maybe it's because we no longer see such things on "Wide World of Sports."

as every space exploration program since the end of Cold War

For those interested - and I know some of these world music discs are tough to find - emusic has a ton of very fine offerings.

Funny! And for me personally, for a minute and a half, I actually didn't want to kill her.

- Thom Jurek You should!

Ask this when the ratings come in. Like it or not, ratings are almost almost huge, which means that millions (if not billions) still "pay attention." This year will be tough for NBC because, as you noted, China is half a world away. Just be glad it's not your money being spent or your company doing the fucking.

and hope against hope that it's not true.... this was on the 78L list: Unfortunately, yes. I visited that vault with Steven two years ago, and with his authority was able to "check out," lending-library style, about ten metal parts. There was a corner of the building with metal racks that contained hundreds and hundreds of them in a lot of cardboard boxes marked "Hoffman." That would be Steve Hoffman, who worked for MCA in the late '70s and early '80s, producing LP reissues of hot stuff. Steve cherrypicked the vast archive of Decca metals, pulling every Gennett, Vocalion and even Paramount mother or stamper he could find. He took these home to transfer, and then KEPT them! MCA busted him for possession - I don't know his punishment for this "crime" - and returned it all to the vault. The metals were never re-intergrated into the files, and in 2006, were in exactly the same state - packed willy-nilly in their cardboard boxes - as when they were repossessed. This should tell you how much MCA really cared about them. They would have been a lot better off in Hoffman's house. Anyway, with Steven's help, I took home and transferred the parts for "West End Blues" by Zach Whyte's Chocolate Beau Brummels; two sides by Pine Top Smith, including an unissued take of "Now I Ain't Got Nothin' at All" and eight others. I almost but for some &(^%$( reason DIDN'T take the two Gennett sides by Carmichael's Collegians, "Walkin' the Dog" and "March of the Hoodlums." I can still see them leaning against the box where I left them. I had reason to hope that Steven and I - or Steven alone - could return there on a regular basis, but for reasons he never made entirely clear, he wouldn't and we didn't. Now, as far as we know, all that metal is SLAG. Along with all the acetates and tapes that I presume were also still there. This Lasker story has been repeated all over the net since the fire, but I'm not sure how much stock I'd put into this "rumor" since it's at least two years old and even at the time of the fire the UMG people said that much of the material had already been moved to other locations. Now I don't know which is true - probably a bit of both - but this story keeps making the rounds to "prove" something that may no longer have been the case. Believe me, I work at the studio (Uni Pictures rather than Music, though, a whole different thing now) and can tell you how much they can lie with a straight face, but until I hear more recent, credible reports I'm going to assume the best rather than the worst.

I meant to add that much of this stuff would probably be better off in the public domain or in the hands of the "illegal" reissue labels.

Not that I wish to diminish the seriousness either - if it, in fact, is true - but what were the odds any of this would have been released anyway? We're at the tail end of the CD reissue boom, the future of digital distribution is still questionable (at least in regards "ancient" archive stuff that wasn't fit to be released on CD in the first place), the congloms are buying up more labels than they know what to do with already...

One of my favorites. I have never seen a Strata East album in person. http://strata-east.blogspot.com/

Exactly, Lon. Not that I don't think Ledger did a very fine job, but the Joker was the best-written role of the movie and given many of the best lines. I think almost any decent actor could have had a similarly great performance in that context.

Why did you wait so long to reissue it? It was originally titled "Basra," and then things... well, you know...

You're kidding; this is actually going to happen? Damn, if it's done well... Don't worry, it won't be. I dunno. The script was quite good, Zack's a fine director (300 notwithstanding), and what I've seen so far is very encouraging. Have you actually seen the teaser?

I'm with Chuck on this one.

And I thought the payday was due to her willingness to show her teats.

"Between your faith and my Glock nine millimeter, I'll take the Glock." - Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in "End of Days" (1999)