RDK

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD) Not horrible, Dan, but I've got a little pop ditty that you might enjoy on my upcoming BFT (others, though, might not think so highly of it). Actually, it's the one track I'd bet you'd easily identify.

"Alone Again (Naturally)" Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

You might be pleased to learn (or maybe not) that George Clooney will be starring in and producing (directing even?) White Jazz.

I don't really see it that way. A few encounters with people saying stupid stuff don't make a "social commentary". I think Kevin Drum has it right: "But the lesson of the movie wasn't some razor-sharp subversive point about how we're all racists and xenophobes an inch under the surface, the lesson was that if you act like a complete whack job you can get ordinary people flustered and flummoxed." Guy I tend to agree. Saw the movie a few weeks ago. Liked it, didn't love it. Thought much of it was hilarious, but I couldn't get past the "fake" documentary aspect of it all, some of that due to knowing how it was produced and shot and how people were manipulated into saying/doing things that they might not normally say and do. One thing i found intersting, though, was the different reactions that certain groups of people had to Borat. Someone above posted how "disturbing" it was to see the Christians at the dinner table, at the revival meeting, or at the rodeo, but I actually found those to be among the film's best moments. It was touching to see how the Southern Christians accepted Borat - a complete stranger - at their table and were pleasant to him (for as long as they could at least) while he did his best to insult them. Contrast this to the folks in NYC whose first thought when Borat tried to greet and hug them was physical violence to keep him away. I haven't spent much time in the South, but if that's an example of Southern hospitality I'll take that to the cynicism and aggression of big city life any day.

Yeah, but SED's have been in development for years - and promised to us for years now - and have yet to be delivered. The goods may still be a few years away, and it will likely be costly for the first few generations. Seriously, though, I've found that most of the problems listed for any of the HDTV technologies are really pretty minor. Burn-in of plasmas is much less of an issue than before, and taking only minor precautions (such as not watching CNN or playing the same video game permanently) should aleviate them. And the "poor" contrast criticism of LCDs is overstated as well. Yes, it's not as good as plasma or DLP, but a properly set up HDTV with a good signal in "real world" viewing conditions should deliver a great picture. There are subtle differences, of course, but like auditioning speakers, it might be easier to notice a difference than decide which look you prefer. For me, the biggest difference between plasma and DLP - which led me to buy a DLP even though I initially wanted a "sexier" flat-screen plasma - was due to the much less reflective DLP screen. When I saw them side by side, and saw how reflective the glass screen was on the plasma, it really changed my mind. I've compared it to the difference between a "matte" and "glossy" photo print. The glass/glossy plasma may be better in the right conditions in darkened rooms, but in my living room, with windows and various light sources, the non-glare DLP screen looks much better.

You read college grad Aric's ramblings here every day and you even need to ask this?

CD Trader in L.A. has a lot of OJC "cutouts" as well, most from the summer sale. They have others as well - and always have - but I don't know if they're part of any winter sale.

What Lenny said. I'll add that unless you're planning to hang it on the wall, you might do better with a rear projection set (either LCD, DLP, or LCOS) than with a flat panel Plasma or LCD (though personally I prefer plasma). I'm extremely happy with a 56" Sammy DLP that I recently bought for $1500.

Could be. I just assumed somebody hijacked his account...

Always prefered his LSH work to The X-Men, but as a creator he got seriously rooked by Marvel (as they all did). Was sad to learn of his passing earlier today.

Same here; no complaints from her. But regardless, compared to the mortgage and the monthly bills my music buying is a fairly small percentage of our monthly expenses, even in times of a Mosaic order or a Concord CD sale.

So long as Lou Donaldson can still patent the sammich it's all okay by me...

It's also human nature to strive for success.

Found a sealed promo copy for $30, but gave it to my wife and told her to wrap it and give it back to me for X-mas. lol

Yeah, Boots Randolph. Also: Barbra Streisand Mitch Miller

Jim - That sounds like the plot to that rare, jazz-themed H.P. Lovecraft short story: "Bird Lives."

Who added the (sic) to the mispelled title? If Chewy did that from the start, then he's a funnier/smarter dude than I thought!

Jim, when all is said and done, that's probably as likely as anything. Anyone who's seen Richards on Fridays or Seinfeld can easily see that he's an, uh, odd person. Yeah, sure, he's acting, but that's not all of it. He's an eccentric, intense performer, and perhaps wired a bit differently than the rest of us (not unique by any means in Hollywood!). Combine that with a lifetime of trying to provoke and amuse with edgy, offbeat humor and seat-of-your-pants improve, and the line between propriety and offense can get rather blurry. I don't buy that this "rant" was part of any act or joke that got out of control. Richards simply flipped out, and unfortunately for him it was all caught on tape. (Reminds me of those Buddy Rich tapes in fact.)

Speaking of "detached from reality," how do we explain Richards' behavior? Bigot/racist or not, who in their right mind would even consider making racial slurs and insanely over-the-top "jokes" about lynching to a black man in a crowded audience? I'm not of the belief that using the "n" word automatically makes one a racist - I tend to believe that actions speak louder than words and take to heart my mom's "sticks & stones..." advice - but Richards' outburst was clearly irrational. He's a celebrity, a seasoned performer, and knows full well the power of the media. Even David Duke would be smart enough not to spout off like that anywhere outside of a Klan rally...

From what I've read, Richards has tried to apologize personally to the men in question, but they've refused to meet with him and have said that they won't accept any apology from him anyway.

No surprise, but the offended hecklers have lawyered up. From www.TMZ.com... Laugh Factory patrons Kyle Doss and Frank McBride appeared on the "Today" show this morning, and gave their account of what you didn't see on the now infamous tape of Michael Richards' racist rant. According to the two men, they were out for a night on the town to celebrate a friend's birthday. They arrived at the Laugh Factory at the beginning of Richards' act. They ordered drinks and acknowledged they probably disrupted Richards' act with their talking. What they got next was outrageous. Doss says Richards made a racial comment and gave him the finger -- and then launched into the tirade caught on tape by TMZ. The two are now represented by omnipresent publicity hound Gloria Allred, who says a retired judge should decide what monetary compensation these two should receive. How very "People's Court" of her! WTF? What did Richards do that requires them to be compensated? Hurt their feelings?

Heh, if I ever needed a shrink I'd try to book a consult with Denny Zeitlin...

Again, talking of TVs rather than DVD players, but the upgrade from standard def TV to HDTV is like going from a boombox to separates. I doubt that one could upgrade one's stereo system to match the improvement you can get in televisions.

No reason to wait on a HDTV set for the HD-DVD/Blue-Ray side of things to settle out. HDTVs are fairly cheap now and the quality is great. Just bought a 56" Samsung DLP a few months back and all i can think is how much i wish i'd bought one sooner. It upsamples fine from my "standard" DVD player (one doesn't even need an upconverting player since the TVs do it, and many do it better), and we haven't even gotten around to getting the HD DIsh package yet either since HD over the air is generally superior to anything you'll get over cable/satellite anyway. So while I'd recommend holding off on getting a high-rez DVD player until the format wars either ends or becomes moot, I don't recommend waiting to purchase a HD set if you have the means and desire for one. (And personally, I wouldn't get a flat panel unless i wanted/needed to hang it on the wall.)

Yeah, it'll be two discs of vinyl rips, but I'm not sure just how "rare" some of the tracks will be. My original intent was to stick with stuff that hasn't made it to CD, but between imports, bootlegs, and oop discs, that turned out to be unworkable. It's really quite impressive to realize just how much jazz music - so long unattainable in the vinyl era - has been released at least somewhere on CD over the last twenty years! At the very least it'll be stuff that I don't have on CD.