Big Wheel

a RAID array? Still hard drives, but at least you get some security with the redundancy. If your DVD burner supports dual-layer burning, you get 8.5 GB per disc, which isn't terrible. Cloud storage? There's still some risk and getting the data up there could take forever, but chances are your data won't be lost entirely if something goes horribly awry in the datacenter. I'd think most providers build in redundancy. All of the above?

Agreed, but unfortunately that is likely much of the appeal to sellers. I once read through some of the documentation on Amazon Marketplace and I seem to remember that Amazon kicks back at least a chunk of that $2.99 to the seller to "cover shipping and handling costs." So a canny seller can mark down their goods knowing that the price they'll get for it is almost $2.99 more for every item. Does anyone know how bulk product uploads are done on Amazon by Marketplace sellers and what information a seller can download in bulk? I'm curious as to how "sticky" prices tend to be in the Marketplace and am wondering how easy it is for a Marketplace seller to get into a price war with other Marketplace sellers selling the same items.

I as well.

Ugh...if it's true that Jazzloft is just ordering from ESP when you order from them rather than keeping stuff in stock, that's really annoying. Because Spirits Rejoice was taken out of the sale early on ESP's site, I wonder if I'm going to get screwed out of the sale pricing.

Did you order directly from ESP or from the Jazzloft? I ordered from Jazzloft on 2/8 and still have no shipping confirmation. My concern is that I ordered a title they didn't actually have in stock (it was Spirits Rejoice, which had disappeared from ESP's sale the day before) and they failed to update their website (which they only do manually - it doesn't appear to be tied to any inventory system).

Argh...I can't believe I broke down and got the Montego Joe record (budget has been tight lately and been trying to buy only the essentials). The samples just sounded like too much fun to pass up.

Anyone want to weigh in on which of the sale discs they think are must-owns? I'm most likely getting the two Aylers, the NYAQ disc, and either the Paul Bley or the Lowell Davidson, but want to make sure I'm not missing anything exceptional.

From this description it sounds like the Cafe Bohemia jam's drummer who was in Europe in 1968 must have been Art Taylor, and the organist was of course Jimmy Smith. Anyone know who the alto player was? Was it Cannonball as the NYU page hints? Wayne, Cannon, Taylor, JOS, Pettiford - even though Wayne and Jimmy weren't fully formed stylistically in 1956, that must have been sick!

Cool to see the Ammons "Autumn Leaves" solo on there. The Sonny Stitt solo on that cut was one of the first transcriptions I did.

The support is only ending for version 6 and MS is already up to version 8. IE 6 is over 8 years old at this point.

The same rhythm section on "Energy Fields" is anything but '50s West Coast mellow to my ears; rather, it's cooking and thrashing, with drummer Joe Corsello, as Michael Cuscuna says in the liner notes, in the vein of Tony Williams and Joe Chambers (I'd add Billy Hart). Huh, that's interesting. I've met Corsello and heard him play with pianist Joyce DiCamillo and never would have guessed that he'd be into that bag.

Some of the hits are shown in the final 30 seconds of this clip: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-the-coaches/09000d5d815f7aea/The-Coaches-Why-the-Vikings-lost -That hit from MacCray on the handoff: yeah, that's borderline. But again, the tight end missed his block, allowing MacCray to get close to Favre. -The hit from Sharper: that looks absolutely legal to me. He comes in a split second after the ball is released and it looks virtually impossible to avoid hitting the QB when you're going that fast. That's why you blitz! -The hit from Fujita (55) and Hargrove (69): Again, this looks legal. Hargrove has his left hand almost on Favre's right side at the moment the ball is thrown. The left tackle was totally beaten on the play and nobody appears to have even attempted to chip-block Fujita on the blitz.

As touchy-feeley sports, that was discomforting for me to watch too. But as military strategy, it was hard for me to argue with, especially considering how the longer the game went on & the more hits Farve took, the more he reverted back to his "crazier" self. That last throw, the int, might well have not happened if he hadn't taken all those hits before and not gotten beaten "literally" out of his cool & collected zone. So, whaddya want, a Geneva Convention for the NFL? GA, yes, that usually is the case....and we're talking about a series of late hits, so of course the offensive line isn't protecting him at that point --- the play is over...which is why they were getting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties! This doesn't make any sense...it's not like the whistle was blown and then a defensive lineman ran over his man after he'd stopped blocking and decked Favre. Most of the hits I saw were either from a lineman who had already beaten his blocker or a blitzing LB or safety who was coming in either at the time the ball was released, or a moment after it. The low McCray hit looked illegal under current rules, but the point is that any team that good really needs to be blocking way better than that so it's not even a close call.

I'd add to Dave Garrett's suggestions: Bongo's Fury, Zappa in New York, The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life, Make a Jazz Noise Here, BUT ABOVE ALL Roxy & Elsewhere You deserve it and you'll love it. I have had this record in heavy rotation lately. FZ seems to have been at his best with drummers that grooved hard, and Thompson and Humphrey fit the bill IMO much more than Bozzio, Colaiuta, Wackerman et al. The depth of that pocket on More Trouble Every Day and the bridge to Village of the Sun is just awesome. Plus, George Duke is just a badass.

I think this comment on that clip wins the Internet today:

Ugh, so if this subject wasn't complicated enough, what do I come across today but a blog post from some other Zappa fanatics who link to yet another YT video of this tune. This sounds a lot to me like the one I figured was the 1984 CD...but the uploader is claiming that this is the original vinyl. Does the vinyl version really sound like this?

Most likely will be dining with the production folks and almost all locals and of course the band mates.. Plan to wander a little by myself.. What's the crime situation there? Pick pockets and scammers a problem? The Lonely Planet guide did say that there have been some muggings of tourists in the Albaicin and also the Sacromonte neighborhood near the edge of town. I didn't really feel unsafe, but those narrow streets probably get a little spooky at night. I would keep an eye on your wallet as a general rule...my cousin once caught a pickpocket red-handed in Spain, but that was in Barcelona.

A couple words of caution on the paella. Paella is eaten in southern Spain, but it is more of an eastern Spain (Valencia) thing. If you do see paella offered, ask if it is being made to order. A lot of places will just reheat old paella. The rule I heard is that if it takes less than 30-45 minutes for your paella to come, they aren't making it fresh. To be honest I think many of the more informal eating places cut some corners on the cooked food - I made the mistake of ordering octopus in a bar with my glass of wine, and then watched the waiter pull it out of the microwave behind the bar 5 minutes later. It helps to have an idea beforehand of which places have good reputations.

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused. I didn't mean to imply that the traditional Spanish tapas bars are bad in Granada - I love those kinds of places (I still fantasize about moving down the street from Almeria's Casa Puga, possibly the best tapas bar on Earth). All I meant was: relative to most of the rest of Andalucia, Granada is an especially cosmopolitan place and there is a whole lot of experimentation going on in tapas there, much of which manages to be very tasty. So if you're going to Granada for two weeks, after you've taken a few days to familiarize yourself with the basic Spanish tapas, you really owe it to yourself to try some of the funkier stuff too to see how various people are putting a more modern twist on things.

Comparing it to the clip on Amazon, yes it is! But on this YT clip: claims to be the CD version, and these versions differ significantly! Plus this site http://www.lukpac.org/~handmade/patio/misc/way_beyond.html does not mention how radically different they are, which means nothing in and of itself, but they're so anal about noting every minute difference, how could they miss a major difference like this? So what, are there three different versions off Ruben now? the LP, the radically differnt CD, and one which is not so radically different? This was never a favorite Mothers album of mine, so I've not bothered, but still... So, I don't claim to be an expert on this subject, but here is my best guess: In addition to the now-widely-available Ryko issues that were done in the mid-90s, Zappa also re-released most of his catalog on CD in the mid-1980s, very early in the CD era. One reason these issues were notable was that Ruben and We're Only In it for the Money had those notorious re-records done on them. My assumption is that he monkeyed with Ruben yet again when preparing it for its eventual reissue in 1995. The new bass and drums by Barrow and Wackerman were carried over for the most part from the '80s CD version...but then other changes were done as well. So that second YT clip, with its much more "explosive"-sounding snare drum, is likely from the '80s CD. As for why the lukpac guys didn't catch it...it appears that they did not listen to that first generation CD in the case of Ruben. On their overview page they say: Thus this appears to be erroneous. They guessed that the earlier CD version must sound the same as the 1995 version, but it actually doesn't.

It sounds identical to my mid-90s Ryko CD of Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets (and the track length is the same, both clocking in at 3:34). This is the most widely available current version of Cruisin' with Ruben and the Jets...I think this one is the much-maligned version where Zappa re-recorded the bass and drums in the '80s.

I was there last April. The city is a hell of a lot of fun but gets absurdly crowded with tourists. You may be lucky and have to deal with fewer crowds in winter. Weather: I doubt it will be especially warm in February (looks like typical highs are in the upper 50s with lows around freezing). The highest mountains in Spain are on Granada's doorstep and so it can get colder than the coastal cities to the south. Food: Hit as many tapas bars as you can. Granada is a city with a tradition of one free tapa plate with each drink you order. The tapas in Granada is often non-traditional. There is this Japanese-themed tapas bar as well as a good tapas bar with Brazilian dishes (run by an expat) and a North African one nearby. Granada is a big college town and you'll see a younger crowd at a lot of these places. Beer and wine are really cheap by US standards. Eating in a sit-down restaurant is more expensive. Sights: everyone goes to the Alhambra. Walking around the Albaicin and Realejo neighborhoods is really pleasant. If you aren't getting free lodging and need somewhere decent and inexpensive to stay, try the Pension Rodri. It was new last year and an incredible value. I also liked Malaga and Almeria, which are not too far away, but I don't know how much time you'll have to roam around in Spain.

I don't have as strong a feeling about it as some people (one of my most knowledgeable friends said that it shows Brooks has "zero understanding of Haiti's history" and called him a straight-up racist for writing it). But I think Brooks is at a minimum being way too glib. There are a bunch of things I can think of off the top of my head to explain the differing fortunes of the two: Haiti has significantly less land than the DR, despite having the same population. The DR probably benefits from sitting on the windward side of the island (more rain=more stable agriculture, although I've heard that Haiti's soil is exceptionally rich.) Nicaragua isn't a whole lot better off than Haiti...but nobody's blaming Nicaraguan culture for their woes. Trujillo was probably a much better dictator for the DR (economically) than the Duvaliers were for Haiti. Though both governed in the model of sultanistic dictators, it sounds like at least Trujillo built some infrastructure that the country could continue to build on in later years.

I thought some of the Guy Ritchie tropes were over the top but overall was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Law and Downey are underrated actors and you can tell they enjoyed themselves making this one.

Sorry to hear about this. Coincidentally, my great-grandmother (who lived to be 107) emigrated from Tolchin, Ukraine to Halifax via London around the time you describe, before eventually settling in Chicago by the time of my grandfather's birth in 1919. I wonder what the chances are of their having crossed paths...